As a part time instructor, self-employed auditor, and writer, I spend a lot of time working in public spaces instead of a private office. This means that I need headphones that allow me to listen to telephone conversations without speaker phone, microphone clarity for my listeners, and easy transportation of device. The Rowkin Bit Charge headphones meet all of these requirements.
A few months ago, I reviewed the JLab earbuds which have totally revolutionized how I exercise. That being said, when I would talk on the phone, I found that I had to bring the speaker right up to my mouth in order to be heard clearly.
Enter the Rowkin Bit Charge With no cord to worry about, these tiny little ear-plug sized headphones are perfectly portable in a pocket or wallet. True to the information on Amazon, they are sightly smaller than my nighttime earplugs. As I mentioned in my other earbud review, I have weird, tiny shaped ears that often means earbuds fall out of them. The Rowkin Bit Charge, however, stay in comfortably. After three weeks of use on a daily basis, neither bud has fallen out of my either of my ears once. Since traditional corded earbuds have regularly fall out, I found this to be pretty excellent.
The microphone sound quality is one of the major selling points. How do I know this? My mom. My mom is the typical Italian-American mom. We talk almost every day, sometimes several times a day. In addition, my mom is also pretty much technologically inept. Yes, this matters. It matters because when I’ve worn other headphones on conversations, she has complained that my voice is too quiet, that I’m fuzzy, and that she can’t understand what I’m saying. This means that my attempt at hands free telephone conversations ends up with my holding a microphone to my mouth. With the Rowkin Bit Charge, my mom hasn’t complained about the sound quality. This doesn’t necessarily mean she hears me better, but it does mean that it’s no longer related to the microphone quality.
My favorite feature of the Rowkin Bit Charge lies in the ability to connect only one earbud at a time. Since I am often in public places, awareness of my surroundings is important. Being able to only have one earbud in without the other dangling off my head like a random alien growth means I can be tuned into the people around me and respond to things while also being zoned out to do work. I can either have music playing or be on a phone call without being oblivious to other people attempting to get my attention.
One of the promoted qualities for the new Bit Charge is that you can sync two earbuds to have stereo sound. My first stumbling block with the stereo sound came in the form of my inability to follow directions. Despite reading the directions, I was unable to link the earbuds to each other. After contacting Rowkin, I realized that my mistake was connecting the earbuds to my phone before connecting them to each other. Having read the directions, I didn’t feel that this order of processes was clear. The second problem I found was that conversations do not work in stereo so the second earbud felt awkward when I was transitioning from music to a conversation. For music, however, the stereo has solid sound quality when the the Bluetooth didn’t lose a connection. This was the third problem. When using just one earbud, the sound is crystal clear. If I put my phone in my pocket, the Bluetooth connection loosens a bit and the sound fades out to then come back. With the two earbuds, the sound intermittently faded from earbud to earbud or entirely from phone to both earbuds. Rowkin did indicate that the earbud to ear bud fade could be iced with a 90-180 degree rotation of the non-primary earbud to better align the antennae and that they’re working on an update to this. Whether I was overloading the Bluetooth with my smartwatch as well as earbuds When it came to the total fade out issue, Rowkin indicated that the issue could be other headsets. I do have a smartwatch and that may be part of the problem. However, it’s not an issue for other headsets so it’s something to think about in terms of the Rowkin Bit Charge.
To be honest, I really feel that the magic of the Rowkin lies in the ability to only have one earbud in. The clarity of sound, both incoming and outgoing, appeared to be stronger with only one earbud. The fact that it fits snugly in the ear without anything hanging down the side of the face creates a clean aesthetic to the product.
Overall, I can safely say that I’ve used the Rowkin Bit Charge every day for the last three weeks. Despite the minor problems mentioned above, they are my favorite earbuds to use on the go due to their portability and clarity of sound.
I would seriously consider these if they lasted longer on a charge, especially at this price point (neither of which are mentioned in this article, in my research I’ve found them for about $60 and only lasting 2 to 4 hours on a charge). I really like the look and how small and portable they are and how small and efficient the charge case is.