I have been using some Adidas/Sennheiser running headphones for the last couple of years. They've been great, good fit, good sound, reliable and durable.
What I really disliked was trying to feed wires under clothing and through bags to keep them out of the way. I know, I know, meanwhile in Syria. This is very much a first world non-problem and as much as it was frustrating I used very little energy over it.
I did start to notice the rise of Bluetooth headphones- I think it was the Beats wireless ones that caught my attention. The price, though, was prohibitive. Looking around online I started to see some Sony ones, specifically the catchily named MDR-AS800BT's. I know Sony, I like Sony so thought I would go for them.
They were duly added to my Amazon wish list and Santa did not disappoint.
Getting new tech is always exciting and I wanted to test them immediately. This, though, was not intuitive and I did think that I might have the wrong ones as they seemed to be for android (I use Apple iPhone). I eventually figured it out and got them connected only for the sound to be inaudible.
With the phone at full volume I couldn't hear anything except the wire rubbing on my neck. As excited as I was by Santa's delivery I was now disappointed. A quick search online for the manual revealed the way to increase the volume.
There's a small button. Actually it's more a pad than a button on the right earphone. It's a multi function button. You press it in various configurations, a bit like morse code, to do things. For example a long hold powers them on and similarly powers the off. These functions are met with a short jingle.
To play is one press and to stop or pause is similarly a single press. Two presses skips to the next song and three goes back a track. Volume up is more tricky being a short and long press in quick succession.
This took me an age. How I still have the headphones is beyond me, I came so close to throwing them out of the window. For the first week or so that I owned them I didn't use them as they didn't work. If I had kept the packaging I would have returned them.
Then I figured it out. The button that you need to press is more pad than button and when it says press it means touch or tap. Just like you would tap a table or phone. You just tap the button and it works.
Having figured the subtleties between press and tap I now love these earphones. They work! Which is all I wanted. They are lightweight and despite being quite chunky in what goes into the ear (actually its the bit that sticks out) they feel really secure and never like they will fall out. I have run miles and miles using them and not had an any issue.
Pairing can sometimes be frustrating and this evening before running home I had to 'forget' the headphones from my iPhone and then reconnect. Not sure why this happens as there's no pattern but this does work.
Overall these are good headphones, they do have better sound than the wired Adidas/Sennheiser ones I was using previously. The controls are ridiculously fiddly and they are a little bulky but unless you're wearing a beanie over them they don't look too bad. Think Frankenstein with the bolts in your ears not the neck.
What would have made these great would be a better multi function button and perhaps hiding some of the tech that's contained in the ear units into the wire. That said these are great sounding headphones and at a good price for a reputable brand.
It's not really a problem at all to run with wires but running without them is disproportionately better.
