Review on 🎧 Bose SoundSport Wireless Citron: Sweat Resistant, In-Ear Headphones for Active Lifestyles by Paul Williams

This review will be a bit more detailed and the main purpose is to pair the Bose SoundSport with the LG Electronics Tone Pro HBS-750 Bluetooth Stereo Headset to compare . - The retail packaging is black which I have been using for almost five years now. The short version of the test: Bose sound quality is much better, but otherwise the LG HBS models are functionally better. Here are some details: 1) Review background: Five years of using LG's HBS-700W, 730, 750, 760 and 900 models. I only have 3 months from Bose, too early to make any claims about durability; only almost daily use of both devices in the last three months. My usage is 3-6 hours a day split between listening to audio books, podcasts and other language media (70%) and maybe 30% music. I use maybe 5% of my daily consumption for both phone calls and attending VOI meetings. A case in point today was when I was listening to my book while doing housework and gardening and now I enjoy music while working on the computer. I've had all three generations of Bose Quiet Comfort in-ear headphones as a backdrop and wouldn't have boarded a plane without my current QuietComfort 35 Wireless. I was an audio engineer in a past life and have several other headphones including a studio quality AKG K 240. I've also tried a wide variety of portable wireless headphones and haven't considered anything other than LG and SoundSport. 2) Comfort: Is subjective, so I'll get rid of it quickly. I believe that the LG BS-750 has become more comfortable over time. And by time I mean hours of non-stop wear. I put my headphones on as soon as I wake up and often wear them on the way to work, on the phone and listening to music at my desk, on the way home and at night around the house. The difference in comfort is small and certainly too subjective to factor into; none of them is uncomfortable 3) sound quality: also easy to install. Despite LG's best efforts, their headphones don't even come close to Bose in terms of the music listening experience. Speech hearing is also better with Bose, but the difference is minimal, or at least negligible for this purpose. Both seem to produce about the same sound levels. 4) Bluetooth reception and performance. I couldn't find any significant difference here. I haven't done extensive technical comparisons and have focused on real and subjective comparisons here. 5) Easy to use and comfortable to wear. This is where things start to get different and defining. LG has a collar with electronics and lightweight earphones connected by very thin wires, which ensures comfortable and stable operation. I can wear them for hours without a fit, even with just one earbud - it's a handy way to keep an eye on my phone while I'm talking to someone. None of this works with Bose. The cord connecting the headphones slips through my own activities and I have to re-route it regularly to keep it from tugging on one ear or the other. In a feeble attempt to compensate, Bose delivered a small clip that I never got to work; Also, I had to actively unzip them before removing my headphones (or shirt). The one-ear mode that is so comfortable for LG is almost impossible for Bose for more than a few minutes. As soon as I move even around my desk, the implanted receiver starts sticking out of my ear. Another great feature is how comfortable the earbuds are when not in use, and again, LG beats them. The earbuds snap into the collar (or retract on some models) with magnets, allowing the entire package to hang discreetly around your neck. Bose, on the other hand, dangle in the way, slip and fall off very often (or so annoying that I remove them and leave them somewhere). A simple solution would be to connect the headphones together, but only other brands have thought of that, not Bose. 6) wind noise. One feature I see in the reviews is the Bose's usefulness for runners and cyclists, with the touted benefit of the lack of noise cancellation allowing you to wear the SoundSport and still be aware of nearby acoustic activity. While the comparison may be relevant for noise-cancelling headphones, LG achieves this goal significantly better; They block less ambient noise and allow for one-ear mode, which is so important when cycling in traffic. More importantly, the wind noise produced by the Bose SoundSport when cycling renders it almost useless, even at low speeds (e.g. 20km/h). I found that the background wind noise overshadowed the text of my book so much that I couldn't follow it. The LGs do reduce wind noise, and it's only at 50 km/h that I have to turn them off because I can't hear well. So for a cyclist, Bose is absolutely no good. I only wear them when I'm sitting at the table or walking around the house quietly. 7) Controls and Connections. This is another key differentiator. LG has a wider range of controls that are much easier to work with than Bose. In LG there is not only volume control, but also track (single and multiple) and continuous fast forward and rewind. This is a very important function for listening to books. Bose requires a double and triple click of a fairly viscous switch to skip through a track, which is much more difficult to use and with no ability to scroll back a few seconds, just one track at a time. The good thing about Bose is that they have more precise volume control. Another important differentiator is the wearing comfort of the headphones. The controls on the LG models are more accessible, more numerous and easier to activate. Bose has a built-in edge with its diminutive size and just a three-button, one-switch control unit. But why is it so hard to press the power button on Bose? 8) Weather and water resistant. I have five years experience with LG and they are moderately water and sweat resistant. Most days I bike over 30km with 300m of elevation gain on the way home and I live in Utah so there's a lot of sweat whether it's commuting or doing house/yard chores. I've found I've gotten around 6 months of life from LG units and need to replace them believing it's an internal water/perspiration fault. I can't say how Bose will behave in this regard, it's just too early to tell. 7) Battery consumption. I can't claim to have done rigorous testing, but my empirical experience is that LG lasts several hours longer than Bose for the same usage patterns. Both report battery levels when activated, so I can roughly track how quickly they're draining. Summary? For active use and especially for cycling, LG is functionally much better, but significantly reduces the sound quality for music. Bose sound great but otherwise have many flaws that limit their practical use and most importantly all the benefits of using wireless headphones. And Bose costs about twice as much as LG.