AEC BQ-621 Bluetooth Headphones (review)

In a sea of wireless headphones, it’s difficult to decide which ones are worth buying. At deTeched, we are in the business of swimming through all types of headphones to figure out which ones are worth your hard-earned money. It can be a daunting task. Just search headphones on Amazon and see 171,663 results pop up. Regardless, we don’t mind taking one for the team for our readers.

I was recommended the AEC BQ-621 Bluetooth headphones from a friend and I decided to make it my primary headphones for the past couple of weeks. Without further ado, let me share my experience with these headphones.

Build

The AEC BQ-621 Bluetooth headphones feature a neckband style design. The earbuds extend from a long plastic band that houses the battery and is designed to sit behind your neck. I am not the biggest fan of this type of style, but there are numerous benefits to this the neckband design. The earbud cord is much shorter, which helps to prevent the tangled mess most people are familiar with. Also, neckband headphones usually have better battery life due to the increased bulk of the plastic band that wraps around your neck.

The AEC headphones feature two control buttons near the left earbud and two control buttons next to the right earbud. The two left control buttons control skipping or repeating a song by simply tapping on either button. Holding the button will give you the ability to control the volume. The two buttons next to the right earbud are used to control the power and play/pause. The headphones are charged via micro-USB, which is provided in the box.

Sound

The sound quality of these Bluetooth headphones are more or less what you expect from cheaper headphones. I would compare them to the quality of Apple’s Earpods. Here’s the kicker: the earbuds were designed to look exactly like Apple’s Earpods. There were times where I accidentally grabbed the AEC headphones because I only saw the earbuds and mistook them for my Earpods.

Despite looking exactly like the Earpods, the listening experience is enjoyable. Similar to many budget headphones, the mids and the lows are the main focal point in the sound. Any genre of music that you would listen to at the gym is going to sound pretty good through these earbuds. If you’re like me and hit PR’s listening to Call Me Maybe, these headphones should be more than sufficient for your needs. The bummer is that at 100% volume, the bass starts to overwhelm the vocals making it tough to hear the lyrics. If you’re okay with listening to the music at 75% volume, you’ll be better off with sound quality and battery life as well.

Usage

The biggest complication I had with the AEC Bluetooth headphones was figuring out how to pair it with my iPhone. This is mostly my fault because the first thing I do when I buy any device is to instantly throw out the instructions. So if you’re like me, here is the quick guide on how to pair these headphones. Make sure the headphones are off and hold the power until you hear “pairing”. Make sure to keep holding the power button even after you hear “power on”. This will not work if the headphones are already on. Holding the power button will only turn the device off, leaving you extremely frustrated with your new headphones.

These are great headphones to use at work whether you sit at a desk all day or move around the like I frequently do. AEC claims that the wireless headphones have a working range of around 10 meters and I was pleasantly surprised to easily get 10 meters before running into connection problems. Having a far working range comes in clutch at the gym. I absolutely hate the extra bulk and weight my phone has in my pocket. I like to be able to leave my wallet and phone on the ground, while I hit my lifts.

The AEC Bluetooth headphones can be great gym headphones under certain conditions. The IPX-4 rating ensures that sweat or a splash of water won’t destroy your phone. This is incredibly important during tough cardio conditions where you’ll be sweating a ton. However, the neckband design can become a nuisance in certain lifts like the squat. I felt like I was going to crush the plastic neckband part with the barbell or the cord would get caught in the barbell and pull the earbud out. If you plan on using these headphones while running, you definitely need to use the mini-clip to secure the two cords together. It doesn’t take much for the neckband part to slide off your neck, which results in the headphones dangling around your mid-back.

The battery life I got was around 4 hours listening at 50-60% volume. This is a bit off from the 6 hours of claimed battery life, but I find it to be decent. You can get in about 2-3 workouts before having to charge the headphones. To compare, the top dog Jaybird X3’s get around 8 hours of playtime.

The call feature worked with no hiccups. The microphone is located next to both the left and right earbud. I had no problem hearing people on the other line. The other party heard me crystal-clear even if I was walking outside and cars were going by.

The biggest gripe I had with the AEC BQ-621 headphones were the control buttons. The four buttons located next to the left and right earbuds have no discerning characteristics. This means you have to memorize exactly where each function is located. Also, volume up and down should be controlled by tapping the button instead of holding the button. This makes it easier to fine-tune the volume, which is not necessary for skipping or repeating a song.

Overall

The AEC BQ-621 headphones can be found for $29.98 on Amazon. You get two color options: black or white. Comfort should always be one of the main factors in purchasing new headphones. If it’s not comfortable, it doesn’t matter how good it sounds, you won’t use it. I would make sure that Apple’s Earpods are comfortable in your ears because these fit the same. For $30 dollars, you can expect to get comfortable headphones you can wear all day with decent sound quality comparable to other popular budget headphones.