(e)scape Platinum with AVEC Microphone (BT-S15BK)

A simple pair of headphones, best for those on a small budget.

Nowadays, people are busy; We get busy. While we all can sit and debate about the current nature on the country's economy, we're constantly working to make ends meet. Getting used to that workload, we often cater to music to ease us through the effort in getting things done. In fact, there's nothing worse than getting caught up in your work, forgetting about the headphones in your head, and then your wires either breaking off, the wires tugging your computer off the desk, or getting tangled up to another obstacle nearby. There's even a TV commercial about what happens when you use wired headphones, causing vandalism-like wreckage to murder. That's beautiful, fear-mongering marketing scheme there, folks.

With all that said, wireless headphones have become a discrete option for those who are always on the go. These ones by (e)scape make great starter, budget-friendly headphones. That's not all: This comes with an Micro SD card slot for mp3 playing, a wired option AND an FM radio. All these features for under $30? Let's talk about it.

Headphones are sturdy and strong, covering your entire ears (that is, unless, you have ears so massive that they didn't cast you for the movie Dumbo). The cushions on the headphones takes some breaking in, and can feel a little rigid. This feature, we feel, is debatable because the muffs are supposed to provide comfort but at the same time, its build quality shouldn't allow outside noise to seep in, unless you have the volume on low.

Speaking of volumes, it has volume buttons alongside the ON/OFF button. Underneath them is an "M" button which activates the FM radio. You can scan through the channels using the volume LEFT-RIGHT buttons to find the station with the best frequency. You can also push the (e) button which acts as an MP3 player playing the files on the Micro SD card (if inserted in). And finally for the wired option, the audio plug is on the left earphone underneath the circular buttons (you can't miss it). The headphones don't need to be booted up to use the wired plug.

While we don't have a full comparison, we found this to have a bit more on the High Pass with a gentle bass added to it (this critique is subjective as it depends what songs/podcasts you listen to and its finished output). Compared to, say, our Sony wired headphones, our Sony has a lot of bass. It all really depends on the equalization of the content being played, but again, we found these headphones to have a more gentle bass and more on the high pass filter (perhaps we could say it's similar to quality heard on vinyl records).

As for the pre-built audio instructions, the voices are as follows:

[MALE VOICE]: "Bluetooth device ready to pair", "Bluetooth device is connected", "FM mode"
[FEMALE VOICE]: "Low battery", "Power off"

When powering off, the female voice is so loud we have to remove the headphones before turning off. It's the loudest instruction compared to audio indications of low battery and bluetooth connection.

All in all, these are great for those slowly making the transition to wireless headphones. If you're an audio engineer, podcast producer or video editing, we DO NOT recommend going wireless as there is roughly about a 0.6 second delay. Technologically speaking, it's the nature of wireless headphones. Always go wired to avoid that delay.

There have been talks about injecting 5G technology which is so strong, it's been said to cause radioactive rupturing in our brain cells (compared to talking on the cell phone in general). Saying that, we suggest using wireless headphones on occasion while stepping away and taking frequent breaks. Going wireless is good and convenient, but take note of the radiation intake you can only take in. It may not play a factor today, tomorrow or even next year. Best to play safe, embrace the outside and give your ears a rest.

Not perfect but certainly not expensive. Give it a try!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he started blogging in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, plus playing old video/MS-DOS games, digital video archiving, listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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