Early in July, I needed some new Bluetooth headphones at short notice, and so I bought this cheap pair of Kvidio Bluetooth headphones from Amazon (sponsored link). At the time, they were around £16, but at time of writing they’re selling for £14.20, which is only a little above half their recommend retail price.
Note: this blog post was written before Apple announced that their AirPods Pro would have a hearing aid mode.
Now I’m no audiophile, although I do like headphones that at least make some effort with sound quality. And quality-wise, these sound like headphones in the £30-40 range. Which is pretty good considering their price. They’re nowhere near as good as some much more expensive headphones, but in terms of sound quality, they’re excellent value.
Two devices
One great feature is that they can be paired to two different Bluetooth devices simultaneously. I have my headphones paired to both my iPhone and iPad, and you can switch between the two sources just by starting playback on the other device; your other device will then pause. It supports Bluetooth 5.3, which is currently the second-newest release, and puts it ahead of my iPhone (5.0) and iPad (4.2).
You can, of course, use the headphones for calls, and there’s a microphone included. I haven’t tried recording sound from the microphone but people I’ve called whilst wearing them haven’t commented on any sound issues.
In terms of physical ports, charging is with a USB-C cable, and there’s a 2.5mm audio jack for devices that aren’t paired via Bluetooth. Note that the 2.5mm jack is input only – the microphone only works via Bluetooth. There are three buttons – the centre button pauses playback, and can be held down to turn it on or off. The other two can be used to skip tracks forwards and back.
Another sign of their cheapness is the sounds that the headphones make on startup (a very poorly digitised voice saying ‘power on’ and ‘connected’) and a loud beep when the pause button is pressed. More premium headphones will probably have more pleasing sounds.
Battery life
Battery life is claimed to be 65 hours, and I’ve only needed to charge them once since I bought them nine weeks ago. The long battery life is probably because these are noise-isolating headphones – i.e. they’re a snug fit around your ears to block out noise, but they don’t feature active noise cancellation. That also contributes to the lower price.
They’re quite lightweight – indeed, they don’t feel very solid although I’ve not managed to break them yet. As such, they’re quite comfy to wear, even for long periods.
For what they are, these Kvidio headphones are very good value for money. Sure, there are many better quality options out there, but I think you would struggle to find something else as good as these at this price point.
