Review on Cleer Audio Ally Plus II True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds - Long Battery Life of 33 Hours - Top Bluetooth Earbuds with Smart Controls, Cleer+ Mobile App - Midnight Blue by Michelle Miller

These headphones sound better than many other Bluetooth headphones I've tried, but there are some pretty glaring flaws. First of all, I have to complement them in terms of the quality of their sound. For bass lovers, they have better bass response than any of the dozens of other kits I've listened to. I have a couple of tracks I want to use for testing that contain some very low frequency tones that many kits just can't reproduce at all, even with maximum bass in the EQ settings. This set is able to reproduce that rumble surprisingly well. The remaining audio frequency range is also reproduced quite well. You will not complain about the sound quality with this set. Also, their battery life is amazing. I have several sets that max out at 3 hours and they can easily go longer than 8 hours. They also recharge fairly quickly. You have enough battery life to listen to music all day long. The noise cancellation isn't as good as some of my other headsets, even much cheaper ones. It works, but they don't seem to block out as much ambient noise as competing kits. I think this can be improved with a firmware update. So when things get better I will update this review. There are a couple of major flaws that cause me to lower my rating. First, they're kind of uncomfortable. My ears seem to be pretty "normal" in the sense that most headphones fit me just fine, but their shape really bothered me. On the back of the earbuds, where the proximity sensor and charging points are located, is a hard plastic bump that presses against my ear and causes a sore point. I've forced myself to use them for a few days because I like how they sound and I think I should get used to them by now, but the first two days were a bit sore after a few hours. Secondly, despite the huge range of different sizes of silicone tips that come with them, none really fit me. I've tried all but the smallest sizes and none of them gave a good seal. This is important for my next point. I know a good seal is required for optimal noise cancellation and sound quality, but these are the only pair I've tried where a proper seal is REQUIRED even for actual use. When I started using them I thought they were broken until I realized it was a pressure issue. When I tried them with the pre-installed middle earbuds, my right ear popped making it look like it had a blown driver. If the volume was turned up, it would sound even worse, with pops and distortion. I was afraid I would get a bad match, but when I stopped the music to say something to my son, I discovered there was clapping as well. on while I spoke. I realized that the noise-cancellation had issues with sound leaking through a poor seal, and the internal and external mics fought each other and caused unintended behavior when attempting to cancel the noise. I was able to solve this problem by choosing tips that made a better seal and I updated it with some 3rd party foam tips that work even better. However, this is not enough for optimal work. Also with good sealing, with good sound quality and noise reduction. When I speak out loud, I hear my voice out of the left earcup with a kazoo effect. This doesn't happen at normal conversation levels, but when I have to raise my voice a little to shout across the room, the kazoo's voice is a bit startling. I hope that this behavior can be fixed with a firmware update with a better denoising algorithm adjustment. I like the touch controller, although I prefer to press a button. The app feels good and I've heard that an app/firmware update should add some useful features. Cons, they sound so good and the battery lasts so long I still use them every day. Update: I've been using them extensively for about a month and there have been a few changes I want to mention. 1 ) A firmware and app update has been released that adds a personalization feature to the headphones based on a sound test. This is a really nice feature in concept, but my results weren't as good as I'd like. The test doesn't appear to contain any low frequency tones, so my final profile puts too much emphasis on the high frequencies. Although I can hear more detail, all the low frequencies are severely dampened and the high frequencies sound very harsh, almost uncomfortable. You can adjust how much personalization is applied, so I have to reduce the effect and boost the bass with an EQ to compensate, which defeats the purpose. 2) When I tried to use the touchpad on the left earcup about a week ago, I noticed that it was like a button operation. I pulled it out of my ear and saw that the top of the earpiece was starting to separate from the rest. When I pressed it, the top part immediately went up. I have good electronics glue so I decided to just stick it on. As I started zooming in, I saw that the contact pins on the internal touchpad were putting a lot of pressure on the top of the case, causing a very thin layer of adhesive to peel off. I was able to put them back together by carefully applying a small amount of glue and holding the lid down while it set. the openings for the external microphone are not covered by any screen. You can actually see the circuit board through the holes. I think it might be related to the weird noises I sometimes hear when opening doors with noise canceling on since there is no windscreen in front of the mic. Of course, that means no protection from dust, let alone protection from sweat or moisture. 4) All of those things I mentioned before can be dealt with, but this last issue has rendered them virtually useless. Two days ago, the touchpad on the right earphone activated itself. Now when I listen to them, my music pauses and restarts randomly, and sometimes Siri activates. In this case, the headphones are useless. I would like to clarify that my headphones have never been dropped, wet or otherwise tampered with.