The Mpow 059 Bluetooth earbuds are making the market freak out for just one fact – they don’t cost hundreds of dollars. Many tech reviewers think these are excellent service Bluetooth headphones at an incredibly low price. To some extent, we agree with this opinion. These headphones have a beautiful design, comfortable fit, and reliable connection. Where we find them suspicious is the sound quality – although they are loud and powerful, there were some compromises with clarity during testing. This may be good for you, depending on the music genre you choose.
Design: sporty, modern and stunning
The design is one of the best reasons to buy the Mpow 059. They lean in the direction of Beats by Dre with oval ear pads that sit inside a separate headband ending in teardrop plates at both ends. We ordered a pair with a red and black color scheme, further highlighting the Beats influence.
The inside of the strap is red, while the ear cups and the outside are mostly glossy black. There are some silver accents (further emphasizing that teardrop shape we mentioned) and it all comes across as a flashy aesthetic. If you’re going to take a look at the Beats, they’ll do the job perfectly.
What’s more, despite the fact that most of the construction is made of plastic, all stress points on the headphones are reinforced with metal brackets or metal screws.
In addition, there are 8 different colors to choose from, including hidden black, black and green, silver, pink, rose gold, and more. It’s great to see that Mpow gives you plenty of options because many top manufacturers save on design choices. It’s worth noting that the 059’s glossy finish makes them a little less eye-catching than the matte, rubbery finish of more expensive brands, so you won’t hide the fact that you have a cheaper set of headphones. But, in our opinion, it does not take too much away from the eye.
Comfort: really comfortable and pleasantly light
These headphones are amazingly comfortable to wear. The earphones are made of artificial leather covered with pseudo-memory foam. The emphasis here is on “fake” and “pseudo” because neither of these two materials looks as premium as those from Bose or Sony. But while the foam is not as soft as memory foam, we were pleased with how they felt. Since they are large cups with an oblong oval shape, they fit our ears well, and the foam forms well.
The tight fit seems to affect the sound quality (we’ll get to that later) and also has the side effect of blocking the ears from airflow. This results in a bit of warmth and some congestion, so they can be a little uncomfortable to work with. But for everyday listening, you can easily forget they’re on. It’s also likely due to the fact that they weigh just under 11 ounces – impressive considering how big they are.
Plus, the soft, matte rubber interior of the headband with matching leather/foam band makes them really nice on the top of your head too. The 059 scores above average in the comfort category.
Durability and build quality: Impressive for the money
The build quality of the Mpow 059 is average. On the one hand, they don’t feel great, as much of the construction is made of plastic with a glossy finish. But, on the other hand, they don’t give much, so we are sure that they will survive for a long time. They come with a thin velvet pouch that provides little more than scratch protection, but since they fold into a compact form, you can easily carry them in your everyday bag. The leather upholstery of the cushions is not the best we’ve seen and lacks resistance to dirt and grime.
What’s more, despite the fact that most of the construction is made of plastic, all stress points on the headphones are reinforced with metal brackets or metal screws. In fact, the entire adjustable headband is made from a durable steel-like material. Mpow has made sure that the folding hinge – the point where many budget headphones start to break – is reinforced with solid metal. The buttons feel a little cheap, in line with the rest of the aircraft’s plastic construction, but they do offer a crisp click, which brings us to our next point about functionality.
Setup, control and connection process: Surprisingly intuitive for budget headphones
On their surface, the Mpow 059s work just like most simple Bluetooth headphones. A long press of the main button turns them on and another long press puts them into pairing mode. A long press will turn them off, though we found it took almost 5 seconds, which is a bit of an annoyance. In addition to a multi-function button that plays/pauses and answers phone calls, there’s a four-way button pad that lets you adjust the volume and skip tracks. This setup allows for more control than some premium headphones, so it’s good to see Mpow provide the full package here.
Connectivity was also a pleasant surprise. Because they offer a state-of-the-art Bluetooth 4.1 protocol, you’ll get a range of around 30 feet and a stable connection. Too bad Mpow chose to only include support for SBC compression here, meaning you won’t get AptX audio quality levels. We also found that some people using Bluetooth devices lost connection. But under normal conditions, call quality and music were great on the 059, a fact that’s even more impressive when you consider how affordable these headphones are.
Sound quality: quite loud, a little muffled
In terms of sound quality, the Mpow 059s are passable but not mind-blowing. 40mm drivers offer plenty of volumes; in fact, we tended to leave the maximum volume at two-thirds, while most other headphones require a three-quarters volume. This fact is all the more impressive when you consider that we took them to the bustling stress of New York and the subway.
40mm drivers offer plenty of volumes; in fact, we tended to leave the maximum volume at two-thirds, while most other headphones require a three-quarters volume.
Where you find some shortcomings in terms of sound quality is the intricacies of the frequency profile. This choice seems to fit the inspiration of the 059s: Beats by Dre. These headphones offer disproportionate bass levels, sacrificing clarity and brilliance. To be honest, when we listened to top 40 and rock music, the sound quality was excellent. When you add movies, videos, and podcasts to the picture, you lose the shine.
Movie trailers, in particular, because they are so full and compressed, sounded very muffled on these headphones. At $35, it’s hard to hate the sound quality too much, because compared to other budget headphones, it’s good. But if you want something with a lot of high ends, we recommend increasing the price.
Battery Life: Pretty solid, nothing special
Mpow measures the battery life of the 420mAh of these headphones at around 20 hours with average media consumption. This is close to what we experienced and quite impressive for the price. While some top-tier headphones usually give you around 30 hours with much better audio performance, it’s good to see Mpow putting a lot of emphasis on battery life. Another thing to note is that it took a couple of hours to fully charge via the micro USB charger, even with the power charger.
It’s not terrible, but in a world where headphone brands give you a quick charge option to save hours of listening in a pinch, it’s frustrating to charge the 059 so slowly. We’ll talk about connectivity in the next section, but a final note: if you plug and unplug these headphones to many different devices multiple times, you’ll notice a definite negative effect on battery life. We’re still talking about longevity, but it’s important to remember that your mileage can vary depending on your lifestyle.
Price: Surprisingly affordable while maintaining reliability
Obviously, the price of headphones will be a major consideration for budget-level headphones, and at $35, the Mpow 059 does not disappoint. The multitude of features (convenience, connectivity, and attention to detail) make them well above their weight compared to the competition. As a foreign brand, you will find that the price will fluctuate, and if you want a different color, you may have to shell out a few extra dollars. But you’re unlikely to see these headphones cost more than $50, which is a lot cheaper than Sony, Sennheiser, and Bose.
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