The Axgio Backfit sports bluetooth headphones are a interesting pair of affordable bluetooth headphones. When it arrived I was surprised by the minimal packaging. It came in a very small box, just the size of the included carrying case. I like the eco friendly packaging. It comes with S/M/L ear tips, a carrying case, a short micro USB charging cable, and a small instruction manual.
Charging and Batteries
All the electronic access is on the right ear bud. The micro USB charging port and a tiny multi color LED is there. The LED shows red when charging, and turns blue after charged. It took less than 2 hours to fully charge up the headphone and it lasted just under 6 hours on continuous playing to discharge it, well matching the advertised 6 hours of play time.
The headphones have voice response in its operations. It says “power on, connection successful” on power up. Because the headphones have a 10 minutes automatic power off, you can just hold the center button for 3 seconds to switch it on, or hold the center button for 5 seconds to turn it off. When the battery gets low, the headphone will say “battery low”. I got the warning when it hits 10% battery.
Bluetooth Performance
For me, the bluetooth performance is a big deal with there headphones. Initial pairing is simple. Hold down the center button for 5 seconds, and the LED flashes blue and red. I paired it with both my iPhone 7 and my Retina MacBook Pro. The Backfit uses bluetooth 4.1, and will stay paired two devices at the same time. For example, I can be listening to a podcast on my iPhone, stop play, switch to my MacBook Pro, and start a youTube video. The Backfit will switch over automatically from the iPhone to the MacBook Pro.
The bluetooth range is very good. With my iPhone in one corner of the first floor of my house, I can maintain a connection on the entire floor of about one thousand square feet of semi open floor plan.
The instruction manual explains that you can clear the entire paired device list by holding the center button for 5 seconds until it flashes blue and red (which means it is ready for pairing), then release the center button, and hold the + and the - button until the LED flashes blue.
Sound Quality
The Backfit has a high noise floor — there is a audible hiss at low or zero input volume. This is slightly annoying but not a deal breaker as the hiss will disappear with most music once started playing. The sound quality is good but with a pronounced boost at the high frequencies.
Test Tracks
Brandi Carlile, The Story, Wasted: The track starts with a piano chord passage and Brandi slowly adds her vocal. The hiss is noticeable until the overall volume increased. The base, piano and guitars all comes through clearly with good sound stage.
Vienna Tang, The Waking Hour, Eric’s Song: This is a simple track with Vienna’s silky vocal singing along a piano. I can hear all of the nuances of her voice.
Lissie, Catching a Tiger, Record Collector: This otherwise enjoyable track shows the boosted high frequencies problem with the Backfit. The high hat cymbal at the beginning of the track can be harsh.
Radiohead, OK Computer, Exit Music (For a Film): This dark track with low and booming male vocal sounds wonderful with the Backfit. Thom Yorke’s melancholy voice shines.
Sting, Brand New Day, A Thousand Years: This is another track that shows off the bassy sound of the Backfit, but at the same time the high end boost gives too much sibilance to many parts of Sting’s vocal.
Comfort
The Backfit is extremely comfortable. This is the first pair of earbuds with a rectangular shape body that I tried. I thought it would be heavy and hard to stay on. Instead it is very light, and stay on my ear firmly even when I am out jogging. I find the headband unnecessary. In fact it is slightly awkward to get the loop to go above my ears. I have to put the ear buds into my ear first, then move the band into place. It does work with me wearing glasses.
Miscellany
The instruction sheet has some bad formatting, missing spaces, and a typo: “until theearphone…” and "Witch between the earphone and phone…”. I hope they will fix these in the next print.
Conclusion
The affordable bluetooth headphone space is going to get crowded now that Apple has killed the headphone jack. I was surprised how good is the Axgio Backfit. It is extremely comfortable with great battery life making it a good pair of workout or commuting headphones. Something that works and you won’t feel really bad if you loose them. The only downside is the sibilance. I am hoping burning the headphone in will reduce it, or you can correct it with equalization. If you are looking for a pair of budget bluetooth headphones with good overall performance, definitely give the Axgio Backfit a try.
Promotion
The manufacturer has made the following coupon offer:
Short Link: http://amzn.to/2eDOlY4
And the promo information:
Coupon Code: J6QA76WR
Deal Price:$19.49
Normal Price: $29.99
Valid Date: till 12.31
