Average headphones with a couple of interesting features for a reasonable price, for casual music listeners.
When Bluetooth headphones first hit the market in the mid-2000s, they were a great idea and a step forward for consumers that found wired headphones a hassle to use. But they had plenty of problems -the sound was discernibly worse.
Connection problems were abundant, and they were expensive. But a decade later, consumer research companies agreed that Bluetooth headphones have finally outsold their wired competition – the technology improved, they became much cheaper and gave better features than their predecessors 10 years ago.
So you are really in a need for a good Bluetooth headphone set – it’s 2018, technology is here – who needs those nerdy-looking headphones with a cable anyway?
You’re sitting at your computer, googling up for some good headphones. Damn, these are expensive. These are ugly. Again, the expensive ones. It seems that it’s impossible to find a good and relatively cheap headphone that doesn’t cost a small fortune but are good enough- and then you stumble on it – the Holy Grail of modern technology for a moderate price – the (in)famous MPOW 059 headphones.
Man, these cans are dope. Everyone really loves them on the internet and even though the price is moderate, they seem to sound awesome and are durable and cool looking.
After reading countless positive things about them, I was interested in MPOW 059 – is it really possible to find an affordable headphone set that provides you with a decent sound and durability? Will they live to the expectation or is there a catch?
Let’s put MPOW 059 on the table and see what they come with.
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Improvements
The problem with today’s merchandise is that it’s a common practice for a product to be made (materials, labor, and shipment) for 50 dollars per piece, but than retailed for 500 dollars – the price rise mainly because the marketing for that product is too expensive.
With that in mind, I really admire MPOW 059 – they don’t have famous stars to advertise their product which reduces the amount of the money that is spent on marketing, thus lowering the average price of the final product.
And faced with a lower price, but a similar product in the term of quality, their competition will have to think again if it’s wise to spend millions of dollars on aggressive marketing – to the joy of us, the consumers – because we will gradually see a drop in the retail prices of our music equipment.
Construction
These headphones are almost entirely made of plastic, and because of the glossy finish, they look rather cheap.
The grip is strong on the ears and the head, so if you have bigger ears or head I don’t recommend buying them – you will probably get a headache. Still, if you have small ears they will suit you nicely – the padding is above average both on the headband and the earpads.
MPOW 059 is foldable, so at least that is a plus. They are kinda flimsy, so forget about working out in the gym or running with these headphones on your head – they will probably fall off.
They do seem quite sturdy and the design isn’t bad – earpads are quite soft but the headband isn’t fully adjustable. The glossy plastic parts are coated, so they aren’t going to scratch easily which is a big plus.
Sound Quality
The sound isn’t amazing, the bass is a little bit overemphasized, mids and lows are a joke and there is a big difference between wired and wireless mode regarding the sound quality (it gets worse when you plug it in). The sound quality also drops a little when you volume up music to the max.
For phone calls or chatting via computer, there is a small microphone input on the lower right cup, and maybe it’s because of their design, but some of the people I talked with complained that they could barely hear me. There were even some occasional dropouts in sound when connected through Bluetooth.
Sound Isolation
As you all know the noise isolation headphones can’t block the outer noise entirely, relying on the design of the model to grip around your head and over your ears to prevent surrounding noises to mess up with your listening experience.
And because of their design, where the position of the earpads isn’t fully adjustable – Mpow 059 is not an ideal choice if you want to listen to your tracks in an extremely noisy environment because the outdoor noise can spoil your music experience.
Also, they leak a little bit which can be uncomfortable if you listen to some loud audio in a quiet environment (like in the office), but you can use them freely, for example, while commuting without disturbing others.
Control
The controls are on the outside of the right cup and are tricky to access when you are wearing them. You have to feel around a bit for the buttons and the clicks on the controls are very loud and require some pressure.
The controls include volume up and down, power, play, pause, call, and next and previous track. The buttons are rather big, and you can adjust easily to using them after just a couple of hours of wearing.
Battery Performance
Battery performance is about 12 hours of listening to music, so that’s a first big plus for this product. Hurra for MPOW!
The headphones charge via a micro USB port on the outside of the right cup with included USB cable. The unit takes around four hours to attain a full charge (if you figure it out when to charge them because it isn’t really clear when they are low on power and when they are fully charged).
Even though they have a long recharging time (4.5 hours), they still provide 12 hours of non-stop usage, so unless you travel a lot and have a problem with charging your headphones, I find you may like Mpow 059.
Connection
Comes with two cables: USB charging cable and 1/8″ TRS-TRS audio cable.
The MPOW 059 (with a 4.0 Bluetooth version) has a slightly above average wireless range. They reached up to 37 ft when the Bluetooth source was obstructed. This makes them a little better than the average pair of headphones to use but the lack of an NFC chip makes their pairing procedure a lot more complicated for my taste. You also need to know that when you wire them up with audio cable, the microphone doesn’t work anymore.
Color Range
There are a couple of different color patterns – black, red, black-and-gray, green and pink. This model is a copy of Sentey B-Trek H10, so the color variations fit them nicely – nothing extravagant or unique, but if you disregard the glossy finish of plastic, they look cool.
Price Range
MPOW 059 Bluetooth is currently retailed for a little bit under 40 dollars, which is quite a modest sum for this type of equipment.
They are comfortable enough for longer usage, providing a decent sound with a stronger bass that fits the modern music and on top of all – they are Bluetooth, meaning you can wear them everywhere you go.
This model also comes with a wired/wireless mode, so with everything combined – Mpow 059 are really a good piece of a headphone set with an affordable price tag.
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Reasons to buy
When deciding if some headphones are good enough, you need to look at their comfort, sound quality, battery life, and appearance they provide compared to their price. In that regard, I find Mpow 059 very interesting to say at least – for under 40 dollars you can get stylish, modern Bluetooth headphones with decent sound quality and great battery performance.
Their comfort is above average because of the really soft earpads (if you can adjust them to your head snugly), and they provide a great variety of usage – you can use them to listen to music, watch movies or you can connect them to your Android and use them to make some phone calls.
Overall, for a really moderate sum, MPOW 059 provides a great way to have a bit of fun with, for example, listening to music while commuting.
Conclusion
Their strong points are a good comfort level with a decent sound, wired/Bluetooth mode, and above-average battery performance.
Their weakness is average isolation and non-adjustable headband that won’t give you the option to go to the gym with them. The microphone option is a big plus – but only for non-professional use only, I don’t recommend them for some serious work-related activities.
To conclude this review, MPOW 059 Headphones is a great purchase if you are in a need for solid, modern-looking wireless headphones for listening to music or taking some casual phone calls. They aren’t the best wireless headphones on the market, but because of their affordable price and the features they provide, it’s understandable why they are so popular.
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In the box
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does the MPOW 059 work with the PS4?
Yes, it does. But you might need to purchase a USB-Bluetooth dongle to put in the PS4 so it can connect. At Amazon a USB-Bluetooth dongle cost around 12$.
Do the Headphones turn off automatically when not in use?
The MPOW 059 does not have an automatic shut down feature, But the current drain of the battery in idle state is undetectable.
Does the MPOW 059 work with TV’s?
Yes, it does vie Bluetooth. If your TV does not have Bluetooth yet. MPOW sells (separately) a Bluetooth transmitter and a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver that can be used to turn a non-Bluetooth enabled TV into a Bluetooth-enabled TV.
