Recently I had the opportunity to take the Tracks Air wireless headphones by SOL Republic and Motorola for a test drive, and I have to say, I was beyond impressed. I’ve listened to many different types of headphones over the years and these are by far my favorite. The fact that they’re wireless means I can work out, run or just walk around the house with my own sound track without those cumbersome wires. I love that I can easily answer phone calls with a quick push of a button and the Motorola wireless system means you’ll have a solid connection and clear signal as you move about.
How do Tracks Air wireless headphones by SOL Republic and Motorola compare to the competition or other types of wireless headphones?
Well I can say in comparison to ear bud types, wired and wireless, there is NO competition. The sound in the Tracks Air is far superior with a rich sound that lets you enjoy the full range of your music. Tracks Air headphones will let you rediscover your favorite music. Now, compared to the competition like the Beats wireless head phones, unfortunately, I do not have a direct sound comparison, but at about $150 less than the Beats you will have great sound with money left over. Here are a few differences:
- The Tracks Air is an on ear headphone where the Beats is a bulkier over the ear headphone.
- You can get different head bands for the Tracks Air to customize and change the style.
- It is also worth repeating that they are about $150.00 less than Beats, but with all the quality you would expect from companies like SOL Republic and Motorola.
The bottom line? The Tracks Air wireless head phones won’t let you down. Their electronics are solid, the style and fabrication are first class, the sound is sick and will let you enjoy your music on a whole new level, and they are not over priced. They’re a $199 head phone and worth every penny (I saw them on Amazon for $129).
SOL Republic Tracks Air First Impressions
The Tracks Air wireless headphones by SOL Republic were smartly packaged with a flip open front that gave you some product highlights and insight. This is really about all the instructions you need to get your headphones up and running, but the instruction manual is informative, and gives you a pretty easy run down of additional controls and pairing with your wireless device. The Tracks Air sound engines and head band are slick and you can tell that they have been manufactured with high quality control standards.
Paring Your Tracks Air headphones
Tracks Air makes paring your phone easy. Turn on your Blue Tooth, turn on the The Tracks Air and it will automatically go into pairing mode if it does not see a familiar device, but SOL Republic takes it one step further and has verbal notification that the headphones are in pairing mode. Once the headphones have been paired, you can expect them to reconnect instantly.
Super Power Wireless Connectivity
The Tracks Air has what they call Super Power Wireless Connectivity and I can say that I never lost connectivity or had a digital blip. Is the Super Power Wireless Connectivity going to let you go from room to room without the music source, probably not, but it will let you freely move around the gym while you get new weights and move to different stations. Let’s put it this way, you can move further away from your back pack than you should. If you do get out of range, with just a simple click of the start button you will be reconnected with the song exactly where you left off. In comparing the SOL Republic Tracks Air connectivity with my other Bluetooth headphones, I did not see a substantial 5x improvement in range, but there was improvement and I never felt like the connectivity was weak in any way.
Tracks Air A2 Sound Engines and Head Bands
The Tracks Air headphones are made up of 3 components; a left sound engine, a right sound engine, and a head band. The A2 sound engines are an on ear headphone and have a rich sound that let you enjoy your music at a whole new level. It has been my experience with many headphones and ear buds you learn to settle for sound that is only in the mid-range, but with the A2 sound engines you will once again enjoy deep base and music that has depth. I can also say that I sometimes use my headphones to drown out other music or noises, and aside from just turning up the volume, they also have pretty good ambient noise cancellation. The head bands that come with Tracks Air are quality and do a great job, but is actually a pretty cool feature because you can purchase additional head bands, for a pretty reasonable price, with different colors and patterns, so you are not just stuck with one original color.
Battery Performance
One slick feature that the Tracks Air has is a “Time Remaining” calculation at the startup of every session. I was a little worried at first that I was going to have to charge the headphones once or twice a week or that they would be dead when I went to use them after a few days off. I was pleasantly surprised that many times after extended periods of use I would cycle the power to see how much time I had left only to find out that I had as much time left as when I started. I have yet to recharge the headphones and I have not had any power loss after several days of non-use. My other head phones I have used for comparison have been recharged once. I would say that the stated 15 hours of play time is more than accurate for my level of volume.
SOL Republic Tracks Air Cuts the Cord
I predominantly use headphones for working out, and I have always hated the cord from my music device and my head phones. I tried all kinds of different routings and something was always pulling somewhere and I was constantly re-adjusting and fidgeting. NO MORE! With Tracks Air A2 Sound Engines you will have total freedom and can enjoy your music and work out and smile at all the others that are still cursed by the head phone cord.
Other Tracks Air Features
Some other features are full connectivity to your phone so you can answer calls and be alerted to texts. The A2 sound engines also has a set of controls that allow you to remotely control your music. It is also important to say that the Tracks Air controls are spaced out and configured so you do not accidentally make a call to someone in your contacts when you are trying to skip a Katy Perry track that Pandora thinks belongs in a Rob Zombie channel. Many other wireless headphones have this accidental call issue which sounds funny until it is you running across the room to get to your phone and cut off the call to your boss. Another great feature is the ability to use these headphones with a wired connection, because not everything has Bluetooth connectivity, you can plug your Tracks Air in just like the old school headphones.
Summing Up The SOL Republic Tracks Air Headphones
I have used the Tracks Air headphones past the point of the initial WOW factor and I have to say that I continue to be impressed. The A2 Sound Engines have great connectivity, high definition sound, and give you the freedom of a solid Bluetooth connection. I have a pretty extensive workout routine and they have performed well in all situations, including running. If you are worried that they are too big because your ear buds are so small, once you hear what you have been missing, enjoy the wireless connectivity and realize they have a pretty slim profile, you will be happy you made the switch.
Wanna buy a pair? Check out Amazon.com for the best prices on the SOL Republic Tracks Air and free shipping with Amazon Prime. Love that.
Disclaimer: The Tracks Air headphones were provided for my review, the opinions and experiences are all my own, I had no idea I’d love these as much as I do. The links to Amazon go to my Amazon store
This looks terrific! my kids have been begging for the Beats but they are just silly expensive. Will check these out.
Be sure to check on Amazon for the best price!
Always looking for good headphones and I may look at how much these cost in the UK as due a new pair! 🙂
We are particularly conscious of our kids listening to music too loud and having a really great pair of headphones can make all the difference. These Tracks Air headphones look amazing.
You’re right Mary! I was really surprised by what difference these made in how I listened to music, and the volume I listened at.