There are very few who do not feel the need to get more active these days. And, while the first shopping spree to get fit will involve picking up running shorts, breathable T-shirts and a fancy water sipper, a whole new industry is gearing up to lure you into buying gadgets to accompany you in your quest for those six-pack abs.

We’re talking about sports audio equipment. While still a nascent category of products in India, there are a few companies such as Sennheiser and Philips who’ve already launched headphones/earphones designed to withstand sweat and grime just like you do.

Bose, which has till now mostly been popular for its home and personal audio equipment recently took the plunge into this category with the Bose SIE and SIE2 headphones. Designed exclusively for fitness enthusiasts, the headphones were designed in partnership with Reebok. We plugged in the SIE2i headphones for a couple of runs to see how it fares.

The SIE2i has a pair of specially designed ear buds, which the company calls ‘StayHear’ tips. The ear buds are designed in such a way that an elongated section wraps around one of the crevices in your ear when you put the headphone on. While this was probably done to provide a more secure, snug fit, it doesn’t do much to seal the noise in. While jogging however, the headphones do not get dislodged even a bit.

Most people usually pump up the music to accompany their adrenaline rush while exercising. They might be disappointed with the rather moderate volume levels on the SIE2i headphones. When we tried listening to the same song (on the same volume) in a Cowon player with the Bose as well as a pair of Creative headphones, the volume was a lot more subdued on the Bose. The company claims that the moderation is by design as they do want runners and joggers to be aware of their surroundings (hence the lack of noise isolation) for the sake of their safety.

The headphones with its orange-grey highlights reminded us of a much older pair of Philips sports earphones that we had reviewed. Bose offers a fluorescent green colour option as well.

The headphones come with three soft keys on the body itself. Two of those are volume up and down buttons and the third to receive calls. Do keep in mind that these functions will work only with an Apple iPhone. So, we couldn’t use the Bose SIE2i headphones with any other smartphone, even if we just wanted to listen to some music, and not necessarily use it for voice calls.

We listened to a wide range of songs starting from the vocal-heavy Fast Car by Tracy Chapman to a couple of hip-hop tracks including Hey Ya by Outkast. In the old country song, Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Hank Williams’ soulful voice rang loud and clear through the headphones.  The audio output was quite balanced in terms of bass and treble, neither of them overpowering the other. Hence, bass lovers might miss their favourite thumps every once in a while. The earphones were snug enough to be worn for about an hour, which is the longest we had it on at a stretch.

Do keep in mind that the iPhone 3GS/4/4S are the only smartphones that the Bose SIE2i can be paired with. It’s designed to work exclusively with a bunch of Apple devices. So, you can use it with your iPod Touch (2nd generation onwards), iPod Nano (4{+t}{+h} gen onwards) and iPod classic (120GB & 160GB) as well as with the new iPad. The headphones include an inline remote and microphone for taking calls, talking hands-free, controlling volume and managing tunes within a playlist with Apple devices.

Rs 8,325

mahananda.bohidar@thehindu.co.in

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