I was wearing Wireless Neckbands for headphones long before it became a cool must-have fashion accessory... well, I guess the wireless part became the fashionable thing, and the neckphones idea remained a mark of extreme nerdity and lack of fashion style (or was that a studied uncaring?). I rocked my beloved LG HBS-900 Tone Infinim around with me all over the place for over 4 years... to the utter dismay of my wife! Until the day that loose connections within the neckband meant that the audio output was incredibly unreliable and finally died in the both earpieces.

So, it was with great sadness that I moved to Bose QC35 as my outdoor headphones... which were fine, but they were supposed to be my indoors headphones and not my walk around town looking cool earphones! Anyway, I persisted for half a year... and then finally I had had enough and starting shopping around for a pair of neckphones again.

I wasn't prepared to spend too much on the headphones at this time, as I had recently made some pretty hefty personal purchases, so the guilt factor was pretty strong... so I finally settled on this strange Chinese AMZLIFE (not related to Amazon, but selling on Amazon!) neckphones which were priced pretty appealingly at around 50 euros!

When it arrived, I wasn't really expecting too much in the way of quality... just something that I could play podcasts whilst I was out and about... or while the girls at home were rocking out to Spotify next door and I wanted to opt-out out of the volume arms race! So, as you can see above, the tech specs of the neckphones were handily listed on the back of a non-descript packaging on the box. As with most of these off-brand Chinese imports... I would probably take these technical specifications with a hefty grain of salt... after all, they can quite often be somewhat different to reality!

Unpacking revealed the neckphones, along with a spare sizes and replacements for the earbuds and a USB A to micro connector. So, pretty minimal inclusions... but that was to be expected for a pretty budget purchase!

The headphones are really quite flexible... I'm not sure if that is going to be a good or bad thing in the long run. It does allow it to be stuffed into a bag quite easily without snapping... but the extreme flexibility of the central portion leads me to wonder if it will survive long-term wear and tear.

One thing that is missing in comparison to the LG HBS-900 is the retractable earpieces... in the end, it is a mixed blessing. I have a feeling that the retracting mechanism was what eventually pulled out a connection in the LG neckphones, but it was oh so handy just to press a button and have them snap away rather than hanging out all the time. The adjustable length was also a huge bonus! However, no point complaining... these AMZLIFE versions just don't have them. They do have a nice thick cable that is a good length, enough to reach easily from neck to ear (however, I don't have a giant neck to ear distance... so it might be something to keep in mind if you know if you have a very long head!). Unfortunately, as I tend to do things with only one earpiece in the ear, it does mean that the other ear piece is hanging awkwardly... sometimes dangerously hanging over cooking...

The earpieces are quite comfortable and sit firmly in the ear (at least for me, different sizes of inserts are provided) and they have a magnetic back to keep them tidy when not in use. Simple in-line controls are also included on the right hand cable.

Bluetooth pairing was simple and easy, with no hassles. There is no app that I know of, so there may be difficulty in updating any firmware or tweaking frequency response...

Now, the most interesting thing was how far audio speakers for earpieces has progressed since the LG Tone Infinim lauched about 5 years ago. With the LG, it was one of the best audio neckbands (and earpieces) around at the time... however, I was always a bit disappointed with the clarity and depth of sound (especially on the bass end)... and this is speaking as a professional musician, for podcasts it wasn't so bad but for music it really was quite terrible in comparison to a proper set of cans or speakers.

Fast forward 5 years... and this AMZLIFE neckband produces a much higher quality of audio in clarity and depth (and bass!) for a much cheaper price point! The upwards march of technology is something amazing to experience! Of course, it isn't quite on par with pricier headphones from Audio Technica, Bose or Sennheiser... but for that sort of quality, you are paying a significant premium for it.

Music sounds pretty decent (Classical, Jazz, Punk and Ska) with a decent enough soundscape and depth. Speech Podcasts are more than adequate with the talking being crisp and clear with a greater depth in comparison to the original LG neckphones. These are now my daily headphones on the road and walking around, good enough audio quality headset. As far as that mission goes... these are the perfect fit!

There is a built in Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), but I've not really found it to be that useful. It works, but it isn't anything to write home about. Personally, I've been turning it off and leaving it off... to get more battery life! Speaking of battery life, there have been no complaints there, several days of constant use without charging... this is the perfect travelling companion.

Phone calls have been a bit mixed, with the quality sometimes coming through and other times not (for the receiving end, there was never any problem for audio on my end). That said, this would when the headset would be under a scarf and a jacket... so, it was situations where the LG equivalent would also struggle.

USB micro... no C... ah well, that is what you pay for... but seriously, how much more would that have cost?

Verdict

If you are looking for a cheap and decent sounding neckphones to listen to podcasts (and some music background listening) and you aren't scared of looking like an idiot with a electronic neckband, then the AMZLIFE Neckphones are potentially right up your alley. Good sound at a hugely affordable price point... it can't compare to the heavy hitters in the audio space, but it is also roughly 5-10 times cheaper!

PLUS

• must have fashion accessory!
• cheap and decent sound quality!
• decent battery life.

MINUS

• don't kid yourself, it is a nerd look!
• who are AMZLIFE?
• Flimsy construction.
• ANC is relatively weak.
• no app to assist with firmware updates/frequency tweaking