Rapoo H3070
MRP: Rs 5000

Wireless headphones free you from the tangles of wires and help you listen to music while moving about, and this is especially convenient when the sound source cannot be carried around. However, many of them are based on Bluetooth, which is a lossy medium of transmission, resulting in loss of quality. Rapoo has the H3070 wireless headset based on 2.4 GHz radio frequency (RF), which is less adversely affected by the compression. Let's see how well they perform.

Build And Features

The H3070 is an on-ear or supra-aural type of headset with an in-built microphone. It doesn't really look anything out of the ordinary at first glance. The cans are rather small, but the 2" diameter is just enough to completely cover the ears. They are entirely black and made of polymer with a rubberised finish on the outside.

The inside of the earpieces have soft ear-pads covered with soft leather. The 30 mm drivers are placed behind microfiber that should keep off dust and permit almost unobstructed passage of sound. The headband, if we can call it so, is just a stiff strand of metal encased in a transparent and elastic plastic piping. It can be slid in and out of the earpieces to allow for some degree of adjustment of size. The overall design is unappealing and the build quality nothing great. However, it is fairly comfortable to wear.

Control button and ports are present on the left ear piece and these include a volume control rocker that also acts as the power button when pressed, and a mini-USB port to recharge the internal Lithium battery. An LED present on this ear piece glows red while charging, switching off, or when the battery is low, and it glows green when powered on. A microphone is also present on the left ear piece to be able to use the headset for voice chat.

The H3070 also includes a small transmitter with a 3.5 mm jack and a mini-USB port. This transmitter works on 2.4 GHz wireless radio frequency (RF) using which it communicates with the headset that is pre-paired with it. The transmitter helps you to use this headset with any 3.5 mm audio source. The mini-USB port in this case serves to charge the internal battery of this transmitter. We must note here that the microphone functionality of the headset can only be used when the transmitter is connected to the Windows PC or Mac via USB and starts functioning as an external sound card. Rapoo also provides a mini-USB to 3.5 mm cable that converts it into a wired headset when the battery is dead or you wish to save it for a later time.

Performance

The headset exhibits decent audio reproduction. However, the bass is noticeably weak, thus taking away from the enjoyment that you derive from thumping beats or the realism of explosions in movies. Music sounds well at high volume with some signs of crackling at volume levels over 90%.

On connecting the transmitter to the PC's USB port, the sound card is instantly detected. The headset sounds the same with its own sound card. It was noticed that the audio is locked to 32 KHz sampling rate in stereo when using the USB sound card in the transmitter. This quality is comparable to FM radio.

Unlike most supra-aural earphones, these don't leak much sound, so your neighbour is not likely to be able to hear what you are listening to. Also, this means that you can listen to loud music without disturbing people around you.

Wireless works up to an unobstructed distance of 8 m, while it reduces to half in the presence of an obstructing wall. In our test, we didn't notice any interference from other wireless sources using 2.4 GHz such as a Wi-Fi router and a cordless phone.

It works well as a communication headset. The voice quality is very clear, and it doesn't seem to gather unwanted ambient sounds.

The headband is not too stiff and when combined with the soft ear-pads, this makes it possible to listen comfortably for long hours. Being very light also adds to the comfort.

The headset works for around 6 hours before requiring a recharge that takes around 2 hours.

Our Verdict

The Rapoo H3070 is a decent performer and it is light and comfortable to wear. It works with any 3.5 mm audio source and thanks to the bundled wireless transmitter you can break free from wires and use it up to 8 m away from the source. It also serves as a wireless headset with mic for voice chat when the transmitter is used as a USB sound card. However, its inability to produce punchy bass and its questionable build quality along with its insanely high price tag of Rs 5000 makes it difficult for us to recommend.

Build: 2.5/5
Features: 4/5
Performance: 3/5
Value For Money: 1.5/5
Mojo: 3/5

TAGS: Headphones, Rapoo, wireless, Headsets