Sick of wires getting in your way while you listen to music? Try a pair of Bluetooth headphones, such as the iMage Beatz from Accuratus. Visit Group test: what are the best headphones?
Pleasingly, the Beatz generally sidestep the usual down sides of wireless models. For one thing, they’re pretty affordable – not a budget pair by any means, but well within reach for the average buyer. See Sennheiser 220 review.
The sound quality on Bluetooth headphones, too, can sometimes suffer a little – interference can creep into the signal. But other than a very slight lack of clarity (they’re prone to the merest hint of fuzziness), we really rated these headphones’ audio output. They’re warm, rich and adept at handling moderate amounts of bass.
High volumes can push them into the realms of minor distortion, however, and may introduce sound leakage into the equation. These are not designed for sound isolation.
Physically the Beatz are great, with a clean, smart look and a comfortable but secure fit on the head. You can adjust their size by extending the arms, and they fold up for portability.
The only really serious issue we had was with the built-in touch controls. There’s a large central button that allows you to answer and end incoming calls, which worked fine, but this is surrounded by four controls for volume up and down, fast-forward and rewind, and these did not. For one thing it’s hard to locate them blind – all you have to help you is the moulded icons on each control, and as soon as your finger hits one it activates. And they can be frustratingly unresponsive.
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