Avantree Audition Pro Wireless Headphone Review: After using it for 3 months

I have been looking for a wireless headphone for quite some time. I got tired of my laptop getting dragged accidentally when my headphones were plugged in and I got tired of headphones slipping down. I didn’t want on-the-ear Bluetooth headphones, as they are aplenty. What I wanted were a good pair of over-the-ear headphones without spending upwards of Rs. 10,000 — preferably less than Rs. 5000.

I looked at the Sony MDR-XB650BT and the Sennheiser RS 120 II but digging around on Amazon.in, I came across a model call the Audition Pro from a brand called Avantree. Looking online, I found out it was a Chinese brand. Not too many reviews could be found on the Amazon India page but Amazon US had the same headphone listed. Much of the user reviews there seemed positive and that gave me the confidence to think about buying it. I checked YouTube, watched a few video reviews about it and felt that it met my requirements.

So I took the plunge. I used a Rs. 1500 voucher I had from Amazon.in and bought the Avantree Auditition Pro for Rs. 3,399 (Rs. 4,899 actual price) back in August.

I tried NFC pairing first, since my phone – a Sony Xperia Z1 – had NFC. Even though the headphones weren’t switched on, as soon as placed my phone near the earpiece, the Avantree headphones switched on and my phone detected it. Next I paired with via Bluetooth to my Macbook Air, which also worked so quickly and without any fuss. When you switch on the headphones, you hear a recorded message saying: “Welcome to Avantree” and “Connected” once it has been paired with any device. Pretty cool.

I’ve been using these headphones for three months now. Listening to all sorts of music and podcasts. Sound quality is great overall and the bass is effective enough without sounding exaggerated. The earpieces are comfortable and don’t pain my ears over extended use. My ears do get sweaty though. But that’s expected with over the ear headphones — you will find yourself wanting to take them off and give your ears some access to fresh air once in a while.

The downsides? Well, I’ve noticed that there’s a big drop in overall sound effect at lower volumes. Best way to describe it is by saying that if you want to hear all that a particular song has to offer, it’s best you listen it at over 50% volume. The difference in how good a sounds is so much more apparent when you turn up the volume at over 50% volume. It’s quite remarkable. It wasn’t like this with my previous Sony headphones, which sounded consistent even at lower volumes.

The other downside is when two audio sources are playing simultaneously. I experience this the most when say, my dad calls on Google Hangouts or when I get a video call on Facebook while I’m listening to a YouTube video. The headphones automatically dropped the audio on the YouTube video and set the video call’s audio to default. In theory this sound like a thoughtful feature but it doesn’t always work well. When the call ends, the audio from the YouTube video takes some time to get back to normal.

Another major headache in wireless mode is when I get video calls on Google Hangout but Avantree headphone’s microphone fails to pick up my voice. Maybe it’s to do with Google Hangout’s failure to pick the headphone’s microphone as the audio source (since it’s wireless) but it has happened once or twice with Facebook calling as well.

Other than these frustrations, audio-wise, I can say the Avantree Audition Pro 4.1 Bluetooth headphones are very good for the price you pay. The battery lasts for more than 3 days on average given my usage and they don’t take much time to charge as well. Would a Sennheiser or a BOSE headphone be better? I’m sure they would, but try to find a wireless bluetooth, over the ear headphone from either of these brands for less than Rs. 5000.

The Avantree Audiion Pro isn’t the best headphone money can buy, it’s just one of the best headphones for your money.