Bluedio T6
Pros
- Great Sound
- Nice Design
- Comfortable Ear-cups
Cons
- Poor ANC
- Lack of Accessories
- Poor Packaging
- No Volume Buttons
As time went on however it seems Bluedio may have begun to slack on quality control, I imagine after a while the bottomline becomes more important than impressing customers when a company reaches a certain size. The Bluedio T6 seems to have suffered a bit because of this. While the general performance of my unit of the T6 worked just fine, there were a few issues that made a lot of customers including myself quite uneasy.
Design
If this were intended to be a fashion accessory then they absolutely got it right. You will spot the very attractive and hip design of the Turbine 6th generation and be absolutely taken by it, especially if you got them in one of the two available color variants asides black (Red & Yellow). The fact is they simply look good. And there is no denying they are easily one of the prettier headphones I have owned. Although some might say they might have copied the BeoPlay H8 just a little bit on this end.
- Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound with ANC
- Aluminum touch interface with complete control
- Up to 14 hours of battery life with ANC and BT
- Lightweight - only 255 grams
- Rich deep red coloring inspired by Nordic nature and fall fashion trends
Build Quality
I believe the Turbine line of headphones were always the sturdiest feeling branch of Bluedio’s entire product lineup. Usually constructed with some type of metal that maintains it’s luster over time. Not to imply this does not carry a fair bit of plastic – because it does – but however feels very well built without necessarily being heavier than it should be for comfort or carry around. Dropping this a few times will not break it is what I would think… But you really shouldn’t be dropping your headphones in all honesty.
Sound Quality
While I understand that there are $20,000 monitoring headphones out there somewhere that will be rated 100% by many audiophiles, I don’t think it would be particularly fair to compare a $70 pair of cans to those. I usually try to base my judgement of sound quality relative to the price of the headphones and for what I paid for this I am pretty impressed. So basically all I am trying to say is “For the price they sound pretty clutch”. The bass is pretty nice and the high-end and mid-range sound pretty cool too. I have never experienced any issues with sibilance or poor sound reproduction switching from one style of music to another and I listen to a very diverse library of songs ranging from hip-hop to pop, trance to country and sometimes even omo shepeteri music is on my playlist (Hold tight Slimcase).
Needless to say this is probably the most important aspect of any headphone review, the quality of the sound. Followed very closely by comfort which we will talk about next.
Comfort
The Bluedio T6 is very comfortable, I thought the Bluedio Faith 2 was comfortable, this one takes it up a notch! Larger ear-cups with very soft membrane cushions that will have you forgetting you even have headphones on. Not the usual “clamped-head feel” I used to get with the T3 plus or the regular old T3’s. I have enjoyed having this on with no problems, discomfort or pain after use.
Battery Life
I have never been one to use my headphones for more than an hour or two at most when I need it. I much prefer working with studio monitors and referring to cans maybe a few times while working. Only other times you will find me wearing my headphones would be during weight training at the gym. If we take into account however, the fact that the headphones proudly boasts of a 25 hour playtime – I would say the Bluedio T6 over delivers. 25 hours is grossly conservative but that might be owed to the fact that I don’t really use my headphones at extremely high volumes… On that note volumes is something we need to speak about.
Functionality
For some reason Bluedio completely got rid of the volume controls on the T6. This is something users are quite used to and has become a very important feature in selecting bluetooth headphones. The ease of being able to leave your phone charging indoors while working on your car in the garage or doing the dishes in the kitchen is amazing. You are still able to adjust volumes when the quality of mastering or style of music changes and you are able to skip entire tracks using these buttons. Except now you can no longer do this. I am not sure how the decision to remove that from the T6 was rationalized but it was a very poor decision. The T6 plus sounds like a great time to update and put the volume buttons back in. Infact I am pretty sure they are going to have to, the general reaction from customers and the poor reviews because of this missing buttons will force their hands.
Still speaking on volume, some customers have reported very poor volume levels on Samsung phones for example. More specifically higher end Samsung Note 8/Note 9 users. Not sure why that is the case but the same users reported no issues when using the same headphones on other phones like an iPhone 6 Plus for example. So I am wondering, what gives? Personally I haven’t had any such problems but then again I do not currently use a Note 8, neither do I plan to switch from my Blackberry in the nearest future. So maybe this is a quality control issue or it is a Samsung specific issue. We are yet to know for sure.
We also cannot speak about functionality without pointing out that relatively useless Active Noise Cancellation button that is added to the Bluedio T6. Honestly, useless is the only word that can effectively describe this thing. It’s just really bad or maybe it isn’t. Point is – It simply doesn’t do anything. ANC isn’t a feature I personally ever use though, so it really doesn’t matter to me – but I understand that it may be important to other users and this will be a huge let down.
Packaging & Accessories
The only way to properly describe this packaging is poor but I guess that’s OK considering you won’t be carrying a package around. Still it would have been nice to have for people who have an headphone collection like myself. The significantly cheaper T3+ had way better packaging and I am wondering why Bluedio seems to be skimping on value these days. They also reneged on providing the very necessary USB-C to 3.5MM jack cable that lets you use the headphones wired. If you want one you have to buy it – which honestly sucks. I know its probably a sub $5 dollar purchase but still… No!
My honest verdict is poor packaging and they skimped out on including accessories.
Bottom Line
If you care very little for the 3.5mm cable, the packaging and the lack of volume rockers then this will be very quality headphones that will serve you about as long as every other Bluedio headphone lasts… which is mostly never more than a year or two if you are lucky. I also believe you can generally expect to enjoy them like I did if you do not get a defective unit. For some alternatives, please check out the table below.
Some alternatives to the Bluedio T6
