Fact: workouts are better with good music.
Also Fact: your headphones probably sound like crap.
I had no idea what I was missing out on during my workouts until I upgraded my headphones to some new fancy wireless ones. I settled on the PowerBeats2 for super shallow reasons: I like the way they look and I wanted to see what all the hype was about with Beats. (Side note: I'm not here to convince you Beats is better than any other brand...just the merits of good, wireless headphones.)
My new best friends during my workouts.
OMG, wireless Is Awesome
Riding with wired headphones sucks.
I started looking for a wireless headset upgrade when I realized how annoying it was to ride a bike with wired headphones. With my iPhone mounted to the handlebars and a cable draped up to my ears, it didn't take long for various moving parts to grab hold of the cable and give me several accidental ear-yanks. It was time to go wireless.
I've always avoided bluetooth headphones for a myriad of reasons (another thing to worry about charging, signal drops out from time to time, they're useless if the battery dies, etc. etc). Well, I think I'm willing to make the trade off because I now realize just how annoying wired headphones have been. No more routing a wire through my shirt when I wear my iPhone on my arm for a run. No more trying to hold the wire while I ride my bike or run on the treadmill. No more weird, itchy feeling when the wires stick to your body because of the sweat. Nope. Just pop the wireless set in your ears, turn 'em on and go. This alone was totally worth the upgrade to wireless.
But the real reason it was worth the upgrade....
Holy Sound, Batman!
Most people suffer from "good enough" syndrome. You know...where something works and as long as it's not super crappy, then who cares? Apple has unwittingly contributed to this because of the headphones they ship with the iPhone. They sound OK, so why bother with anything else? Well, as much as I love Apple, I've come to realize there are much better headphones out there.
With the right fit, good headphones like these will totally envelope you in jaw-dropping sound...and that's good for your workout. I found I started running a little faster to the beat. My rides are going a little longer because I'm just enjoying the music. Songs I had gotten tired of suddenly sound awesome again. The best way to describe it is like going from Standard Def to HDTV – you don't know what you're missing until you see it (ok, hear) it for yourself.
Bottom line – do yourself a favor and get some nice headphones. It's totally worth the upgrade.
A Quick Tip For Better Headphones Sound
I learned a valuable tip when I got these headphones, so if you use 'in-ear' style headphones listen up. If your headphones came with various sized inserts for your ear canal, take the time to try each set to see which ones fit and sound best. See, I always thought these were just for comfort but they're just as important for good sound.
The right sized ear inserts aren't just for comfort, they'll actually make your headphones sound better.
When I first got the PowerBeats2, they sounded just OK. I thought 'What's the big f'ing deal with Beats?' So much so, I was actually going to return them. At the last minute, I decided to swap the inserts. I thought maybe the earphones weren't sticking far enough into my ears so I tried the smaller inserts. Nope...still sounded terrible. So out of desperation, I swapped them for the biggest inserts to see what would happen.
BOOM. Turns out, those bigger inserts sealed up my ear canal better which is crucial for getting good sound. So there's your tip: play around with those inserts that came with your headphones – you may be missing out some seriously good music!