5 Reasons to invest in good quality headphones.

We have all done it - bought a £10 pair of headphones which lasted 2 weeks and the gone back and bought another pair, and so on. However, I've take it one step further and invested in a higher quality pair from the brand Skulcandy. These, however are only £25 and broke within 6 weeks. There is definitely an alternative; Think long term.

These are my top 5 reasons to invest in high quality headphones;

1: The most expensive headphones come with warranties.
Yes, cars have warranties. Did you know, you can get warranties with headphones as well? If your headphones break during the course of normal usage, you can claim on your warranty and get a replacement pair for no extra cost, so even if they DO break, then you won't have to buy another pair of headphones with your hard earned cash - imagine breaking your headphones and not having a warranty? They are broken, you need to buy new ones. The warranty means that a headphone broken is a headphone replaced.

2: They will not be poorly made.
We all know that cheap headphones are made from low-grade plastics, use the cheapest metals in wires and spend as little time on the design as possible to make the most profit. This is not true for high quality headphones. Beats, for example, use metals in the design, to make the headphones LOOK good. They cost a lot, but they have sat down and worked hard on the design, they use premium materials and they offer warranties, so that they have to pay for any that break - it is inn their interest to use high grade materials, so they don't miss out on the sales that broken headphones lose them. You'll be changing your headphones once every 3 years, not every 3 weeks.

3: They look great.
How many times have you seen somebody walking about with cheap headphones and thought; "Wow, they are awesome, I have to get me some of those!" - I'll answer for you. Never. When you buy a reputable, named brand, like Beats, Audio Technica or Bose and you will catch jealous eyes, and return their gaze with a sickly sweet smile as you walk on by. These designs are specifically made to look great and catch they eye, especially in bright colours.

4. They sound great.
From experience I can tell you that you are not hearing the whole song from cheap headphones. You hear a tinny bass, perhaps some fuzzy highs and variable mids. With quality headphones, you hear the deep, booming baseline, you hear the highest highs and the smooth mids. You can hear every instrument. You can feel the music. You will hear rhythms and beats in songs you never knew existed until you listened to it with high quality headphones. Trust me.

5. Wirelessness.
I myself, have invested in some wireless headphones and I can tell you that there is nothing more freeing than not having to deal with a wire dangling from your head to your waist, you can move your head without pulling your audio cable out.. You don't have to deal with TANGLES in the cables. It is so much easier and comes standard in many high quality headphones, or is a more expensive model - it is well worth it. Also, if you use bluetooth headphones, your phone won't have to power them, meaning your phone's battery will last longer!

So, now it's down to you. Will you be purchasing some high quality headphones? Do you already have some and agree -- or disagree with me? Let us know, in the comments, below!

Lumsing Harmonica 16,000 mAh Power Bank Review

When you’re away form the office or your house for extended periods of time, it’s often useful to have a portable battery handy. As a consumer who carries both an iPhone 6s Plus as well as an iPad Air with me, it’s essential that I’ve got a battery with enough juice to charge up both my devices in case I find myself short of power. Enter the Lumsing Harmonica series power bank. This is actually one the most unique designs I’ve seen for a power bank, and for a lot of reasons.

Design and features

One of the main things you’ll be concerned with when dealing with an external battery is its ability to simply get the job done, but since I usually carry mine along with me daily, design and feel is critical. Was quite impressed with this power bank, as it manages to boast a large 16,000 mAh capacity whilst still remaining very small and not at all too thick. It’s no bigger than my iPhone 6s Plus and thanks to the curved edges and glossy finish, it feels smooth and comfortable to hold; unlike those brick shaped, sharp edged ones that you find all the time on amazon. The Harmonica looks like just that, it’s a long rectangular box that curves on one long end and is tapered on the other. The Lumsing power bank is about 5.5 inches long and about 2.5 inches deep and 0.8 inches high. As I said before, the curved design means its comfortable to hold in the hand for extensive periods of time, should you need to.

It’s not too heavy at all, weighing in at around 8 oz, which is hardly noticeable when you’re throwing it in your backpack of briefcase, but if you’re putting it in your pocket you’ll definitely notice it there. The longer side of the Lumsing Harmonica power bank is where you’ll find your micro USB input to charge the unit as well as a button and 4 LED cut outs. This is what you’ll press to check the charge of the device quickly and to activate the charging functions. There are 2 USB output ports on the shorter side of the device, stacked on top of each other. They’re not labeled with amps but instead simply “OUT”. Now, in terms of charging the unit up, since its 16,000 mAh its going to take a while. I found that leaving it overnight is the best option as it does take several hours to fully charge from 0-100%, but when its there it’ll last you all day and even weeks if you only charge your phone on it. This brings me swiftly on to the second section of this review, capacity and charging.

Capacity and charging
 

The Lumsing power bank has a 16,000 mAh capacity. To give a little context to this, the iPhone 5s has a 1,560 mAh battery and the iPad Air uses an 8,827 mAh battery. This means that, in theory, it could charge the iPhone 5s over 8 times and the iPad Air once with capacity to spare however there are factors which will increase inefficiencies and result in variations in experience and results (heat primarily).

In my tests I found that when charged to 100%, the Lumsing Harmonica was able to power an iPad Air from 5% battery all the way up to 100% capacity in approximately 4 hours. When testing with my iPhone 6s Plus I found that from 5% it was able to charge all the way up to 60% in just over an hour, and in about 2 hours it was back to 100%. There’s also the ability to charge 2 devices simultaneously, thanks to the dual USB output ports, however keep in mind this does result in slower charging times.

Conclusion

Overall the Lumsing Harmonica power bank is a large capacity, well designed, lightweight and stylish solution to power. It’ll get you through your day and make sure you’re never without charge. The power bank market is a saturated one, but Lumsing has done an excellent job of standing out with designs and performance like this. What’s best is, it’s only £18.99 on Amazon! Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2bZMWre

Beats - Do they really beat the competition?

In 2011 Dr. Dre partnered with Monster Cable Co. to produce what would become the worldwide phenomenon; Beats Headphones. These headphones were around the first to feature flat - 'tangle free' cables which had "ControlTalk" meaning you can control your music from the panel on the cable, if you're using iOS of course - otherwise, the pause and play feature will function, but the volume controls will not.

These headphones have become 'THE' fashionable brand on the market, due to their colourful, understated design and the prominent 'Beats b' logo. The headphones come in various designs, from wireless In-ear earbuds to huge over-ear headphones, all claiming to allow you to hear music 'How the artists wanted you to hear it', according to Dr. Dre himself.

However, having owned the costly PowerBeats 2 Wireless Sports earbuds for some time now, I have grown used to this high level of sound quality boasted about by the manufacturers and I am truly impressed. I thought that the brand name was all people bought the headphones for, but after using these headphones for almost a year I can't go back to stock headphones, or even cheaper designer headphones - they simply are not nearly good enough.

If you want incredible sound clarity and quality, this is not the place to look. Manufacturers like Audeze or Audio Technica have produced far better sounding headphones with open backs, sound isolation and noise-cancellation. However, in my opinion, they don't look as good as Beats br Dr. Dre. This, obviously, is very subjective, I will not have the same eye for fashion as you, however, the headphones come in many colours, from white to designer colours, such as snarticulture designed pure white.

If you are an audiophile, choose a different brand, perhaps, but if you want a great sound quality and a great looking pair of headphones, this IS the way to go.