Bose SoundSport In-Ear Wireless Headphones

This review will get a little detailed and the main goal is to compare the Bose SoundSport with the LG Electronics Tone Pro HBS-750 Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headset - Retail Packaging - Black, which I have been using for almost five years now. The short version of the review: The Bose has much better sound quality but in most other regards, the LG HBS models are functionally superior. Here is some detail: 1) Basis of the review: five years of using the LG units across the line of their models HBS-700W, 730, 750, 760, and 900. The Bose I have had for only 3 months, so too soon to make any longevity claims; only almost daily use of both units for the past three months. My application is 3-6 hours per day, split between listening to audio books, podcasts, and other voice media (70%) and with perhaps 30% to music. I use both for phone calls and to participate in VOI meetings, perhaps 5% of my usage per day. A typical example was today when I listened to my book as I worked around the house and garden and now am enjoying some music while I work on the computer. As background, I have owned all three generations of Bose Quiet Comfort over-the-ear headphones and would not get on a plane without my current QuietComfort 35 wireless. I was a sound engineer in an earlier life and own several other headphones, including studio-quality AKG K 240. I have also tried a long series of portable wireless headphones and would not consider anything except the LG and the SoundSport. 2) Comfort: this one is subjective so I will dispense with it quickly. I find that over time, the LG BS-750 are more comfortable. And by time, I mean hours of continuous wearing. I put headphones on shortly after I get up and often wear them through my commute, for calls and music while at my desk, for the commute home, and around the house at night. The comfort difference is not huge and is, of course, too subjective to be important; neither is uncomfortable. 3) Sound quality: also an easy one to settle. Despite efforts from LG, their headphones are not even close to the Bose in terms of quality of listening to music. The voice listening is also better with Bose, but the difference is minimal or at least not significant for that purpose. Both seem to generate about the same sound levels. 4) Bluetooth reception and performance. No significant difference here that I could detect. I did not carry out extensive technical comparisons and focus here on real world and subjective comparisons. 5) Ease of use and wearability. This is where things start to get different and defining. The LG have a neck collar that contains the electronics and light earbuds connected with very slim wires and the result is a comfortable and stable experience. I can wear them without adjustment for hours, even with only a single earbud in place, a convenient way to track my phone while still having a conversation with someone. None of this works well with the Bose. The wire that connects the earbuds slides around with my own activity and I regular have to realign it so that it does not tug on one or the other ear. In a feeble attempt to compensate, Bose provides a small clip that I could never get to work; it also required that I actively unclip before taking the headphones (or my shirt) off. The one-ear mode that is so easy with the LG is almost impossible for more than a few minutes with the Bose. As soon as I move around even my desk, the implanted earbud starts tugging from my ear. Another important feature is how comfortable the headphones are to wear when not in use and here, again, the LG is superior. The earbuds snap into the collar unit via magnets (or some models retract) so that the whole package hangs around the neck unnoticed. The Bose, by contrast, dangle in the way, slide around, and as often as not, end up falling off (or are annoying enough that I remove them and leave them lying around somewhere). A simple solution would be for the earbuds to connect to each other but only other brands have thought of this, not Bose. 6) Wind noise. One of the features I see in reviews is the utility of the Bose for runners and cyclists, with the touted benefit that a lack of noise cancellation allows one to wear the SoundSport and still be aware of acoustic activity in the vicinity. While the comparison may be apt for a noise canceling headphone, the LG achieve this goal in a much better manner; they block less ambient sound and allow the single-ear mode so important when cycling in traffic. Much more important, the wind noise that the Bose SoundSport generate when cycling makes them almost useless, even at modest speeds (e.g., 20 km/h). I found the background wind noise completely overwhelmed the text of my book to the point I could not follow it. The LG actually reduce wind noise and only at 50 km/h+ do I need to turn them off because I cannot hear well enough. So for a cyclist, the Bose are completely worthless. I wear them only when sitting at my desk or walking quietly around the house. 7) Controls and connections. This is another major differentiating topic. The LG have a wider range of controls that are much easier to operate than the Bose. The LG have not only volume control but both trackwise (one and multiple) and continuous fast forward and reverse. For book listening, this is a very important feature. The Bose require double and triple clicking a fairly viscous switch for skipping by track, much harder to use and without a way to scroll back a few seconds, only by a single track at a time. A plus for the Bose is that they have a finer volume control. Another major differentiating factor is the ease of wearing the headphones. The controls of the LG models are more accessible, more numerous, and easier to activate. The Bose has a built-in handicap with their small size and only a single control block with three buttons and an on/off switch. But why is it so hard to push the on/off control on the Bose? 8) Weather and water resistance. I have five years of experience with the LG and they are moderately resistance to water and sweat. I commute by bicycle most days over 30 km with a 300 m elevation gain on the way home and I live in Utah, so there is plenty of sweat going around, whether commuting or working around the house/yard. I find I get about 6 months of life from the LG units and have to replace them for what I assume are internal failures due to water/sweat. I cannot tell how the Bose will do in this regard, simply too early to tell. 7) Battery consumption. I cannot claim careful testing, but my empirical sense is that the LG last hours longer than the Bose under identical usage patterns. Both report their battery levels when activated and so I can track approximately how quickly they lose charge. The summary? For active use, and especially cycling, the LG are functionally much superior, at a substantial cost in sound quality for music. The Bose sound great, but otherwise have numerous weaknesses that limit their practical use and the whole advantage of using wireless headphones in the first place. And the Bose cost about twice a much as the LG.