Sporting Music Technology

bluetoothSport

I workout but I need to stay connected.  Connected to the internet?  Well, not so much, but it does help.  Connected to music?  Definitely.  It’s the major motivating factor in my, and probably your, workout routine.  There’s just so many pains around the delivery that makes the routine hard to manage.  Welp, I think I finally found a way to make it easy.  And all on the cheap too.

I got a beautiful pair of Sennheiser ear buds for my birthday last year and I was really hoping to take care of them.  You all know the story.  Get ear buds, workout, watch them break.  They can break in so many ways.  The sweat can short out the speakers, an errant arm swing can knock them out of your ears and bash it against something, or you could even stretch a weird way to wear the wire around the jack thin and useless.  So after going through another pair in almost record time,  I knew it was time for the internets to help me out.

Research abound from Googles to Lifehackers had me compile a tasty list of ingredients that combined into the flavorful workout accessory I have today.  What is it?  It’s 1 part Monoprice MEP-933, 1 part marshmallow ear bud plug, and HDE Bluetooth Receiver.  The combined forces makes it versatile, inexpensive, and a good quality sound.  I can even replace each individual item fairly quickly.

So apparently the ultra cheap Monoprice MEP-933 puts out good quality.  I grabbed the guy from Amazon and gave it a twirl.  So the sound is pretty crisp, right up there with my old Sennheisers, but the lows could not keep.  It’s not too terrible of a nit pick.  Especially when 6 of the Monoprice MEP-933 could garnish me another Sennheiser.  One thing I did do, however, is replace the stock rubber stoppers with some marshmallow ear bud plugs.  The sound was better but that’s not why I replaced them.

Now on to the HDE Bluetooth Receiver.  I heard about this guy as well and fell back to it after checking out the prices for the Bluetooth wireless sport ear buds online.  This device was advertised as incredibly simple to use and easy to maintain.  They were mostly right.  The biggest issue I’m having right now with HDE Bluetooth Receiver is the board keeps jostling loose from its plastic encasing.  That causes the switch to go wonky and leaves audio jack in an impossible place to plug in.  Everything else works as advertised so it’s only a notice and not a warning to stay away.

The combination of the Monoprice MEP-933 and the HDE Bluetooth Receiver works out great at the gym.  Since it is wireless, I can rig the cloth Monoprice MEP-933 cable to be shorter and closer to my body.  Granted, I would’ve done this before, but I also had extra room in my workout arm band to stuff in the extra cable.  Because of that, I also am heading off any worn wire at the jack issues.  Plus, because I’m a huge nerd and lug around 3 different Bluetooth capable devices at the gym, I can switch between all of them when necessary.

One more warning, Bluetooth itself isn’t as high a quality (at least the version that HDE Bluetooth Receiver is using), so if you are expecting near clear sounds you won’t get it with this setup.  What you will get is flexibility, increased protection against wear and tear, and some extra bucks in your pocket.  Go ahead and try this setup out.  Or better yet, if you have something better, please let me know.  Happy workout!