Wi-Gear iMuffs MB210 Wireless Headphones

(Review) - Wireless headphones are the latest in portable audio and for a good reason. Gone are the days of messing with wires. With WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity options available on a variety of modern day devices, it's only logical to adapt with changing trends and embrace the future of wireless technologies. Welcome Wi-Gear and its iMuffs MB210 wireless headphones for the beloved iPod music player. iMuffs is the exclusive product in the company's product line thus far, but the company promises to expand with additional devices later in its lifespan. Considering Wi-Gear's newness to the market, we have to commend them for releasing a decent product, which is saying a lot in the cutthroat consumer electronics industry where it's difficult even for heavyweights to get it right despite having an arsenal of resources at their disposal.

iMuffs MB210 sports behind-the-ear design and is available in black or white. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Wi-Gear. It's amazing to see a company finally release a product that's available in matching colors for the iPod. There are way too many companies who skimp on color options, and trust us when we tell you, if we are going to spend $100+ on an accessory, we'll be looking at product quality and presentation before considering it. Little things like these make a lot of difference. The headphones have a glossy exterior around the earcups, which makes them stylish and impressively trendy. Since the headphones are wireless and you are expected to put away your iPod in your pocket or purse, Wi-Gear has made it easy to work with controls. On the right earcup, you will find the standard play/pause, skip forward/backward buttons on the front, a volume rocker on the inside edge, a pinhole microphone and a mini-USB port for recharging the headset. While everything is fairly standard, the integrated pinhole mic is an interesting option. Yes, it allows you to convert your headphones into a headset automatically, but that doesn't mean we recommend doing so.

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Overall, the product design is impressive, albeit a little old school. Behind-the-ear designs are getting passe, and Wi-Gear could've made the pair smaller for convenience and for an even trendier look.

In our performance tests, the audio quality was excellent with warm and fulfilling sound and just the right proportion between lows, mids and highs. Even the bass was comparatively good. But the headset option was an utter disappointment. Although the headphones automatically pause live music to intercept a call (and replay it again after the call has ended), the audio quality was substandard at best. Our test subjects reported dropped dialogues and disturbance in our conversation, and this issue existed on both ends. Also, as we walk passed others with Bluetooth turned on during our call, we experienced random pauses and static. Wireless strength and battery life at 16:30 hours (official at 16 hours) were great.

Unfortunately, Wi-Gear is charging a little too much for a pair of wireless headphones. iMuffs represent a decent wireless solution for the iPod, but $179.99 for a "Beta" product is pushing the limit. We strongly recommend Wi-Gear to either release an updated version soon or drop the price to make purchasing the iMuffs a more digestable expense for its users. All in all, it's a good product that works well with the iPod, but has a few issues that need to be worked out in future revisions.

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