So who’s looking for an entry level in-ear wireless Bluetooth solution that won’t cost you anything? Although some consumers prefer to chase after the best sound their budget can get them, some are ready to settle with something affordable that simply works. Say you need something for when you are doing chores around the house, walking the dog, or taking the bus to school. Another scenario is that you simply need something to hook to your tablet for the young ones (at their age, they just want any kind of sound).
We got in a pair of Blast Plug (BP61) wireless earbuds from Silicon-Power recently and have been testing them out. A simple pair of buds with a wrap around the back of your neck design, meant to get you through the day with. Something you can find at nearly any store willing to sell your daily essentials.
You might not have known about Silicon-Power offering headphones. This is the first we’ve had a chance to listen to a pair ourselves. Typically, when one hears the name, the first things that comes to mind are SSD (solid state drives), thumb drive and SD solutions. However, their catalog does stretch a little further than that.
Design
Diving into this, these earbuds look a lot like your average pair of wireless headphones with the wrap around your neck kind of design. The only thing different is the shape of the buds themselves.
These buds feature an all-black theme, with an in-line controller closest to the right earbud (which is the common location for such). Everything is plastic with a nice silicon wrapped wire.
They come with your typical three sets of silicon tips (small, medium and large), and also include two pairs of ear hooks to help hold them in your ear with (which we do recommend for these). The ear hooks seem to fit quite well between average ear sizes, even though there only being two sizes to choose from. It is nearly always important to have multiple tip sizes due to the various sizes of ear canals. However when it comes to hooks, we have tested models that come with a large number of sizes, just to find out a majority of them don’t fit worth a [you get it]. So to only have two sizes, yet no ears feeling left out, it is a pretty good delivery.
We recommend using the ear hooks because you’ll appreciate their ability to keep the buds in your ears with. Due to the shape of these buds, it isn’t so easy to push them in all the way to get a nice deep/tight fit (to maximize bass capture with). This also means they may not tightly hold into your ears like some. So the hooks really deliver on this pair.
The in-line remote looks like any other for the most part. You have the typical three-button configuration for controlling them with. The middle button acts as your play/pause/answer button (as well as power and triggering the pair mode), while the outside buttons will allow you to control which track you are listening to (forward and back), as well as volume up and down.
There is also a micro-USB port for charging them (with the included cable) with, and a small hole which hides the microphone that sounds pretty decent when taking calls.
Performance
As I pointed out, these are great entry level buds. When we first tested them out, we did so blindly, not giving a look at price or what is printed on the box. This really helps get the best first impression with. Then we can dial things in from there with all of that other information to best determine our rating. Doing this, we thought that these didn’t live up to some of the things we have stuck in or on our ears recently. Of course, we have been working with models ranging into audiophile categories, so our ears have been a little spoiled as of late. Settling our expectations down a little, we began to understand what these really are.
They perform best with their mid-high to high range (frequencies), as they are quite crisp, allowing you to appreciate vocals and any instrument that shines in the same upper frequencies. Clarity is important, and these do just fine here. The mids and lows however are mostly average to mediocre (they might be a little better if you can get the buds in a little deeper, but as I said, the shape kind of prevents you from doing that).
These are meant for the frugal shopper who simply needs something that works, vs something expensive. Work, is definitely something these accomplish. They are light in weight, connect without hassle to your device(s), and put out non-distorted delivery of sound. The battery life (up to 8 hours of continuous use) is somewhere in the middle (in fact, just above it), providing you more than enough for the average consumer, and it comes with everything you need (including an extremely short cable for charging it with). Then we saw the price.
A pair of these are marked (MSRP) at only $24.99. So they scream “affordable” and “entry level”, and does get better–which is good, because there is a TON of competition within the entry level headphone bracket.
Taking a look at Amazon, the price is currently marked down to just above $15. Now you have a pair of entry level Bluetooth earbuds, but at the price of an entry level pair of basic wired headphones. This makes quite the deal.
So if you are looking for something simple that gets the job done but won’t take out the wallet, Silicon-Power has nailed it with the BP61’s.
What’s in the box?
Like I mentioned, it comes with everything you need (well, except for a storage solutions, like a drawstring bag or something). You have the three pairs of tips, two pairs of ear hooks, and a shortly USB cable for charging them with.
There is a small instruction manual to walk you through getting started as well as pairing them with additional devices, and a small little plastic pieces that attaches to the cable and slides up and down, allowing you to control the length of the wire going around your neck.
That’s it!
Now if we can just get a hole of one of their M.2 NVMe solutions to test out. There is nothing like a good ol’ fashion speed and performance test when it comes to solutions for storage capacity. That will have to wait until next story though, if the opportunity presents itself.
Our Conclusion
These are great for the frugal shopper. An entry level pair of wireless in-ear headphones that sound pretty decent, while only costing you as low as $15 (Amazon), or as high as $25. They look good, and they wrap around your neck nicely without too much noise from the cable rubbing around. The shape of the buds could be improved on a little, in case you are looking to get a deeper fit, but beyond that these are pretty nice (and on sale!)
| Buy from Amazon | |
Our Rating | Average Price* $24.99 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
Additional Images:
Specifications:
- Standby time: 220hrs
- Charging time: 1hr
- S/N ratio: 95 +/- 3dB
- Bluetooth version: 4.1
- Chipset: CSR8645
- Supported profile: HFP/HSP/AVRCP/A2DP
- Audio technology: CVC 6.0™, aptX™
- Wireless range: Up to 10m*
*Range can vary depending on surroundings - Talk time: up to 8 hours
- Music time: up to 8hrs
- Weight: 13g
- Color: Cobalt Gray
- Certification: CE/FCC-ID/WEEE/RoHS/Green dot/Recycle code
Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
