THE GOOD:
STYLE: I am a BIG fan of the style of these headphones. They are a mix of dark-gray/black fabric, with a sturdy black plastic that helps them feel very light-weight and far more premium than your average pair of wireless headphones. There is a white Adidas logo on the inside that accents the black head strap, and each earcup is labeled for convenience. Unlike many wireless Bluetooth headphones which have a glossy plastic design, these feel right at home with other high-end athletic styles. Overall, while the style might not be to everyone’s tastes, these fit right in with what one would expect of the Adidas brand, which I consider a great compliment.
FIT: They conformed nicely to my larger-sized head, with earcups that rotated to the size of my ears, and a just-right level of tightness that always kept them on my head without feeling like my skull was being crushed. Despite my best attempts, the headphones never shifted as I lifted weights, did calisthenics, and biked; they really do what they are supposed to as a pair of headphones designed for all manner of exercise. No complaints in terms of keeping these on my head.
EASE OF USE: These headphones are generally very easy to get set-up and get running. There is a companion mobile app which walks you through the set-up process, and allows you to tune things like audio equalization, as well as a customizable action button on the left earcup that can be mapped to three different presets, such as a voice assistant, music app, and more. There are also a number of preset sound profiles such as “Rock”, “Pop”, “Electronic”, etc. for those who don’t wish to spend much time create a custom equalization profile. In general, I found the default “Adidas” equalizer to be good for most of my music needs, which provided a more neutral sound signature that never overpowered the music. The right-earcup contains a control knob which acts as the power button, Bluetooth pairing button, volume dial, and music controller, and together is very easy to use to control the core functionalities of the headphones without needing to regularly open the mobile app. The headphones charge fully within just a couple of hours via USB-C, and have a battery rated at up to 40 hours. I am not sure if this claim is true, but since getting them, I have only needed to charge them once, so I have no reason to doubt these claims. No complaints from me on the battery life.
CLEANING: Since these headphones are designed to be used primarily for exercise, it is important that they don’t suffer excessive wear and tear or sweat absorption. Thankfully, Adidas’ claims about their sweat-resistant fabric hold-up, as these headphones do a very good job of repelling sweat, rather than absorbing it into the earpads like many other headphones I have owned. Additionally, the fabric portion of the cups can be removed, making for easier cleaning after a heavy gym session. As a minor nit-pick, the headphones themselves don’t come with detailed instructions, and so it took me longer than I would like to admit figuring out how to get the earcups off and then reattached. The cups themselves rotate about 90 degrees and pull off gently. However, when reattaching them, you need to ensure that the fabric is stretched back over the cup so that you can properly align the pins. Additionally, you’ll need to make sure the USB-C charging port is properly aligned when you rotate the cup back into place on the right ear. Overall, once you get used to it, it isn’t bad; but be aware it can take more than a few minutes to figure out the first time if you don’t know what you are doing.
THE SO-SO:
SOUND QUALITY: I would consider the overall sound quality on these as good, but a bit lacking as well. For reference, I have a pair of Bose QC15s, a pair of Phillips SHP 9500s, and a pair of Sennheiser Jubilee 58xs, all of which are wired over-the-ear headphones certainly not designed to be used with the kind of versatility the Adidas RPT-01’s are capable of. However, objectively speaking, I don’t think the Adidas’ sound quite as good as what I was hoping for their price point and amazing style. The sound signature is generally neutral, with a present if slightly soft-bass across a variety of music genres. Detail is good, but they can sound a bit sibilant at higher-volumes, which caused fatigue for me after a longer listening session. On the other-hand, while not directly noise cancelling, these do an excellent job of shutting out outside noises. I had a very easy time shutting-out the world when working out, and never had to worry about sound leakage, even when someone was standing right next to me. Overall, I would consider the sound quality on these to be good, if a bit lacking. There isn’t a whole lot to complain about, but just not as much to distinguish them either. However, for the versatility they provide as a pair of wireless workout headphones, they more than meet the standards set for them.
THE BAD:
COMFORT: This is the one area of these headphones where I feel they simply missed the mark. A lot of this could be down to head and ear shape, however, I personally found these to be quite uncomfortable after leaving them on for a few hours at a time. The water-resistant fabric tends to itch, and I found myself regularly adjusting them when the fabric got uncomfortable against my ears. Normally I don’t think these would be too bad, however, since these are tighter on the head than normal headphones by design, the discomfort caused by the fabric becomes exaggerated over time. Additionally, while I don’t normally sweat easily, I found that the fabric on these tended to heat-up my ears quicker than most headphones, making sweat build-up around the cups faster than normal. Again, part of this is likely due to the pressure/fabric combination, but even so, these were simply uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. Other’s mileage may vary, but overall, I think the comfort on these should be a point of focus for improving if a new generation of these headphones are ever released.
NOTE: If you wear glasses, you will likely want to take them off when wearing these. This isn’t a knock against these headphones necessarily, since these aren’t really meant to be worn with glasses due to the pressure they put on your head, but it is worth mentioning that these are very uncomfortable when wearing glasses. I tried using these when working at my computer, and I simply found them too uncomfortable to be worn with my glasses on. If you need to workout with glasses, I would highly suggest buying a pair of earbuds instead. Again, this isn’t a knock on these headphones, since any pair of workout headphones are likely to be just as uncomfortable with glasses due to the pressure necessitated to keep them on your head, but it is worth mentioning for those who need to wear glasses.