musicanywhere AD0503 Bluetooth Earphones Quick Review

The most popular mode of privately listening to your tunes nowadays is through wired earphones. However, like most gadgets, they have issues and limitations like turning into a tangled mess. You have two ways of solving that though – proper cable management or go wireless. If you’re going for the latter, the musicanywhere AD0503 Wireless Bluetooth Earphones is one option.

To give you a quick background, musicanywhere is a new audio brand that arrived recently in the country. It also has presence in other countries like the U.S. Canada, U.K., Italy, Germany, and Hong Kong. You can read more about musicanywhere here.

Design and Construction

The AD0503 is just one of the earphones musicanywhere has under its Adrenaline lineup. The first thing you’ll notice about this in-ear headphone is its sporty look which is emphasized by its red and black color theme (there’s an all-black model as well). The sleeves, ear hooks, tangle-free flat wire, and physical buttons come in red, while the rest are black.

While the red parts have a rubber feel to it, the black parts are plasticky, specifically the housing and in-line microphone and controls. Not exactly premium, but it’s comfortable and feels solid. In addition, it’s also sweat and dust resistant which makes it good for indoor or outdoor workouts.

The small package comes with the AD0503 earphones, extra sleeves and earhooks, carrying pouch, microUSB cable, clip, and a manual.

Setup and Connectivity

Like most wireless sport-centric earphones, the AD0503 is worn around the neck to prevent the short cable from snagging onto anything in front of you. The housings are also magnetized so you can clip them together around your neck when not in use.

To switch on (or off) you just need to press the Play button (center) for 3 seconds then hold it for another 3 second to initiate pairing (sound prompts and LED light will notify you that it’s ready). To pair with, just switch on Bluetooth on your device and connect to the AD0503.

The AD0503 works on iOS and Android devices. Controls are simple – there’s Play/Pause, Volume Up, and Volume Down. To skip to the next track, just long press on Volume Up, to go back just long press Volume Down.

Connectivity-wise, the AD0503 sports Bluetooth 4.1 with aptX and a claimed operation range of up to 10 meters. So far we’ve had no problems with audio quality when moving to adjacent rooms in the house. Move any further and it’ll start to stutter. That said, it shouldn’t be a problem if your phone is with you inside your bag or pocket or just around your room while working out.

Sound and Call Quality

The AD0503’s sound quality is what we can consider as decent to good. The mids (including upper mids and high mids) were good and tunes were delivered in the way we expect. However, the lows and highs turned out to be its weakness. It’s sibilant when it encounters trebly tunes such as cymbals and other edgy beats, which is evident when playing rock tunes.

Bass lovers need not worry though as the AD0503 can deliver lows that can get your head nodding. However, the very low bass (the kind of bass you feel) is not always present and sometimes sound muddy.

When it comes to call quality, we didn’t encounter any problems with clarity as voices were loud and clear on both ends.

Battery Life

Providing juice to the AD0503 is a 120mAh rechargeable Li-Po battery. musicanywhere says it has a working time of up to 5 hours. During our time with it, we were getting a little over 4 hours on average which is long enough for boring commutes or flights, or physical activities like working out, running, or biking.

Charging is done via microUSB port found in the in-line controls. You can use a regular smartphone charger or connect it to your powerbank. Charging time takes about 2 hours according to musicanywhere, but we can charge it to about just an hour using our powerbank or desktop charger.

Conclusion

If there’s one thing that the musicanywhere AD0503 will provide you is convenience. The wireless feature is a big help not only those for the physically active, but for those working on day-to-day tasks like commuting or house chores. Although sound quality is not perfect, it will suffice for casual listeners who don’t demand much. Afterall, these are for on-the-go listening and not for analyzing high-resolution audio.

Lastly, the price. The AD0503 is priced at Php2,495USD 43INR 3,604EUR 40CNY 310. It’s pricey if you compare it to wired types, but definitely less expensive compared to wireless alternatives from more well-known brands. So if you’re on a budget, then the AD0503 is worth considering.

The musicanywhere A0D503 Bluetooth Earphones is available for purchase at Lazada (see listing here), and in PC WORX Megamall, Festival Mall and Gilmore.

musicanywhere A0D503 Bluetooth Earphones specs:
Bluetooth Protocol Standards: Bluetooth V4.1 w/ aptX
CSR Solution: HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP
Support for Audio Decoding Formats: SBC, APTX
Transmission Power: Class 2
Operation Range: Up to 10 meters
Frequency Range: 20Hz ~20KHz
Impedence: 32?
Battery (Built-In): Rechargeable120 mAh Polymer Lithium Battery
Charging Voltage: DC5V
Charging Time: ~2 hours
Successive Working Time: ~5 hours
Standby Time: ~350 hours
Dimensions: L595mm x W12.4mm x H34.5mm
Weight: ~15g
Button Function: V-/Next Music/V+/Previous/Pause/Play
Receiver Distance: 10m/360 degree
Speaker diameter: 6mm
Certifications: CE, FCC, RoHS

What we liked about it:
* Wireless feature
* Comfortable
* Decent audio quality and battery life
* Affordable price

What we disliked:
* Plasticky build