Customer Ratings & Reviews

These are good headphones, but not without flaws, and depending on your needs there may be better options at this price point. First, the Pros: these Adidas phones are very attractive, with a flexible but sturdy grey plastic headband accented by knitted grey earphone and headband covers. They feel really good in your hands, and the knitted fabric feels good on your head. They're a distinctive design without being overly loud. The multi-function button is another pro of these phones. Pressing and holding it allows you to turn the headphones on and off, while a short press plays or pauses your music. You click the button up or down to change the volume and side-to-side to skip tracks. It's an immediately intuitive design and pretty foolproof. There's also a single button on the left earphone that allows you to perform various custom actions controlled by the Adidas headphone app. The companion Adidas app allows you to both customize the action button (activate voice assistant, play a specific Spotify playlist, etc.) as well as view battery life (which is incredibly long at 40 hours per charge) and adjust the 5-band equalizer, which is a nice touch. It worked most of the time for me, but did once require me to power cycle the headphones before it would work. So how do they sound? To my ears, clean, balanced and neutral. I was now wowed by the sound, nor was I turned off. The highs are not crystal clear, but they're not harsh either, and the mids and lows are present without standing out. The Adidas app allows you to adjust the sound some, with the default being very neutral; I prefer some additional bass response and was able to get this with the app adjustments, but again I wasn't wowed by the sound. However, the sound is good for on-ear headphones, and with plenty of volume to hear music in the gym without having to crank the volume to uncomfortable levels. Now for the Cons: for me, a tall guy with a relatively large head, these phones fit tightly. I have the earphones extended almost as far as they will go to fit on my head, and while the phones don't move much when I'm exercising, by the end of my workout I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. I'm hoping with more use the plastic will stretch just a bit and they will be more comfortable. I did wear the phones with glasses on and didn't feel too uncomfortable, but they are definitely tight-fitting. Another con is that the headphones do not fold up at all. I tried wearing them around my neck when I wasn't listening to music, but they're so tightly-sprung that I almost felt light-headed, but your mileage may vary depending on the size of your head. Finally, contrary to the description, I was unable to figure out how to remove the knit coverings to wash them, which was something I was looking forward to with these phones. Overall, I'm torn: these are attractive and well-made headphones with decent sound, but they don't have any standout features other than their appearance and knit covering, which I could not figure out how to remove. If they fit your head and you prefer a neutral sound, these could work well for you -- definitely give them a few workout sessions before the return period ends.

My first impression was that these were very heavy and since I didn’t read the instructions (you need to download an app) I couldn’t connect hem but once I looked up the instructions and followed them I was beyond impressed by the quality of sound and comfort of these things!

I have been impressed with these headphones so far. The look slick, and definitely appear to be more sport/gym oriented. They seem to grip a bit snug, but that might just be to keep them in place while working out. The material these are covered in remind me of a sock or knit bag, definitely different from the normal leather or plastic coverings of most other headphones. They are soft and stay in place really well. Setup is simple and just like another other bluetooth headset. Sound quality is clear without being overly boomy. I would say these would be a great alternative to other on-ear headphones with more gym/workout focused features.

INTRODUCTION The headphones are products by Zound Industries. I’ll admit that I had to Google them to learn about the company. Turns out they also manufacture products under the labels of Marshal and Urbanears. They are an on-ear style headphone and are covered in a special knitted type of fabric that is removable and washable. What a great idea!!! The headphones are very rugged and “bendy”. They are able to take the abuse that a trip in the gym bag and a hard workout will subject them to without issue. The headphones charge via a USB-C cable and tout up to 40 hours of playback time. They feature the latest Bluetooth standard: 5.0. Controls are very simplistic. One headphone has an Action Button to select your digital assistant and/or streaming service and the other has a multi-function button that controls Power, Fwd or Rew, Bluetooth Pairing, and Volume. SET-UP Set-up was extremely simple. A simple long press of the square multi-function button is all that is needed to enter the product into pairing mode. The headphones showed up immediately on both my Android phone and iPad. No other interactions were required. Music, TV, Podcasts, all played instantly with absolutely no fuss. USE I consider myself quite snobbish when it comes to audio products. It takes a great deal of effort and execution to get me interested in a product. I like the idea of a “workout” oriented set of headphones, but temper my expectations, as sound quality is never really a priority with a majority of the workout-oriented products that I’ve encountered. So, with a slight yawn at their first audition, I put the headphones in my gym bag and headed out. Sadly (for me), I had to cut my workout short, as I ran out of time. Why? I was actually quite impressed with the performance of these headphones and kept stopping to find new material to listen to just to enjoy with these headphones. They far exceeded my expectations. Bass response was really well done without being boomy and he mid-range audio was warm without sounding tinny. Good job Adidas!! Are they perfect, no. I will cover the shortfalls next. CONS In my opinion, there are only 2 real negatives about this product. One. The software. Adidas tells you that you need to download their app to “complete customization and installation”. Their app is next to pointless. It does offer some built-in EQ curves to scroll through, but the EQ curves don’t really do a whole heck of a lot to customize the sound. Furthermore, there are only two options for changing the properties of the Action Button. One is the ability to assign the Spotify app to the Action Button, and the second is the “Default Digital Assistant”. There are no options for iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Music, nothing. A complete letdown at this point. The app is so pathetic, that I would recommend saving space on your device and just using the default Bluetooth settings of your device. Second. The high frequency details. The headphones have a sharp drop-off on high frequency details in use. Streaming Amazon Music through them, even while using the Adidas app to add upper range enhancement, really accentuates the inability to accurately reproduce high frequency details. To be fair, I’m not sure this is an issue with the headphone drivers, or just a lack of some form of mp3 software restoration wizardry. The sharp high frequency cut off is noticeable on all material I listened to and not just limited to mp3 playback (Yes, I know this is an inherent problem with both the Bluetooth and the mp3 codec, but the shortfall can be somewhat masked with good software). FINAL THOUGHTS Even with the shortfalls of high frequency reproduction, the lousy software, and the small buttons to control functions, I still really like this product. Normally, I would be tearing it apart, but I think they can be made excellent with just some additional tweaking in the app. I think adding an mp3 restorer function and expanding the offerings of what the Action Button can do for you should be a priority for Adidas. I don’t necessarily care for an on-ear headphone and have always preferred an over-the-ear style. But, these headphones fit snugly and molded themselves to my ears quite well. I feared they would want to slip around and come out of position while working out, but between the nicely grippy knitted fabric and the tension from the headband, they stayed put, and most importantly, stayed put comfortably. Good job! No easy feat. At this time, I will give it a 4-star rating. The app really detracts from a good, premium-feeling product. Honestly, I would give the app a 2-star at best. I don’t use Spotify, so the Action Button is almost pointless for me at this point. If Adidas could expand the abilities of the Action button and work on restoring some of the detail lost in the upper frequency range via software, these would be an easy 5 star product. Bottom line: Will they be replacing my noise cancelling headphones for trips, or isolating myself from the rest of the world with music? No. Will they replace my earbuds for the gym and general day-to-day use? Yes, Absolutely.

I have always wanted a pair of on-ear headphones for working out. I have tried other headphones in the past. However, because they weren't designed for working out they had a host of issues. They wouldn't stay on my head during sharp movements, and they would get incredibly warm on my ears. Now, there are plenty of work out earbuds out there, but not full-on headphones like these. They solve both of the issues I've had in the past working out with headphones. They sit snug on my head through burpees, jump roping, and running. A really nice feature is that you can remove the fabric on the earcups and wash them. Since these are marketed directly for working out I think it's a very well thought out idea. Now, how does the sound quality hold up? Actually not bad. If you already own a nice pair of headphones then these likely will not replace them. The sound is exactly where you expect it to be for lightweight $169 headphones made for working out.

I was quite surprised to find out that Adidas made headphones. I’m not a sports fan, but I generally think of shoes when I think of Adidas, surely not headphones. The bigger surprise, however, was the build quality, comfort level, and sound quality. Let me start off with a disclaimer; I am an audiophile. I have loved music as long as I can remember and started buying quality audio gear as soon as I was old enough to afford it. And 40+ years later, I am still enjoying music via high-end audio gear. So, I started this review with a level of skepticism. Initial Impression: Upon opening the packaging, which isn’t too far behind Apple packaging, I was impressed with the nice look of these cans. They were a bit smaller than I expected, but that is nice being these are sports headphones. The last thing you want is big, clunky headphones when you are exercising. The cloth earpiece covers are nice and quite comfortable. And I like being able to wash them after a good workout. The headphones are rated at IPX4, which indicates that they are protected against damage from splashing water for a period of 10 minutes. That’s more than enough to protect from sweat and sports-related water. The manual that comes with it is only good for pointing out where the button is. To get anywhere you need to install the app. After downloading and installing the app, you are well on your way. The app pairs the headphones for you which is super easy. I was able to pair it to my iPhone is less than 15 seconds by following the commands in the app and letting it do its thing. The app offers the ability to customize the buttons and operations and offers an equalizer for sound quality. During my test, I used the default equalizer settings first and then customized them. The default settings are pretty good in themselves, but customizing the settings lets you dial in the sound. I have 2 other pairs of audiophile-quality headphones that have an app, and it’s more trouble than it's worth using the app with those headphones. The app for the RPT-01 headphones is an absolute pleasure to use, and other companies could learn something from the simplicity of this app. Testing: I used Apple Music on my iPhone 11 for the test. This is what I use when listening to Bluetooth headphones, so I wanted the same platform for testing. During the test, I used easy listening, rock, hip-hop, and music most likely used for workout routines (at least by me). I started with easy listening/POP. For this category I listened to Dire Straits “Love Over Gold” and various songs from Simon & Garfunkel, Jim Croce, ELO, and Randy Newman. These cans did a decent job with this music group. They were a bit shallow in the midrange, but not bad. I adjusted the eq settings in the app and was able to wake up the mids. For hip-hop/funk I listened to Trip Lee, Lecrae, NF, and some old-school like Slick Rick, Rick James, George Clinton, Gap Band, Digital Underground, and others. These headphones did surprisingly well in this category. They did not have any problem throughout the entire range offered in the eq. The bass was strong and tight and never distorted. The mids were strong and the highs were clear and crisp. For rock, I started with a bit more old-school. I played David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Queen, and Rush, and then picked it up a bit with Ted Nugent, Metallica, Slipknot, Anthrax, Faith No More, Rage Against the Machine, and the Vandals. These headphones did really well with this entire group. The music was strong but never distorted. And unlike a lot of headphones that I have listened to with rock/metal, the music was definitely alive. For the workout playlist, I played B-52’s, The Prodigy, Beastie Boys, The Gap Band, Gorillaz, and others. This is the category in which these cans really shined. And it’s not surprising as this is most likely the category of music that will be played by many people during workouts. The sound was strong, clear, tight, and never distorted at high volumes throughout this whole test. After listening I looked up the specs. I’m not sure what the audio specs are because Adidas only provided the physical specs. I wasn’t surprised to read that these headphones are made by Zound Industries. They make some good sounding equipment, including Marshall Amps. This might be why these headphones did so well in the rock category. The workout: I have a set of in-ear sports headphones made by a high-end audio company that cost me 3 times what these headphones cost. They sound good, but not exceptional, and being wired they can be a bit of a pain on exercise equipment. The Adidas RPT-01 headphones really shined while working out. They sound better than my stock pair, and are more comfortable. They hold on to my head tight, never threatening to fall off. And even though they grip my head, they never gave me a headache or felt tiring during a workout. I am retiring my audiophile sports headphones for these Adidas RPT-01 headphones. Conclusion: If you are an audiophile looking for audiophile-level sound, these won’t be the headphones for you. But if you are looking for a good pair of sports headphones then you should really consider these headphones. I was able to listen to these for extended periods of time, including walking around, sitting on my couch, and exercising on the elliptical. They are comfortable during a workout, the sound is good, and the app makes them very easy to use.

I really have mixed ideas about these headphones. First, the good news. They sound great. Highs are clear, and the lows are solid. I could detect no booming or irregularities. No muddiness that I sometime detect in headphones. But for me, there are more “bads” than “goods.” First of all, they are not particularly comfortable. Maybe it’s just my head, but while they were OK at first, they started to hurt my ears after a short period of time. I know these are meant for exercise, and so they have to fit pretty tight so they don’t fall off—I understand that. But still, after a short time, I wanted to take them off. On the other hand, I did some running with them, and they were solid on my head. I never felt like they were falling off. My other problem with them was the controls. The “control jog” button is used for almost all actions. But it was hard to tell what it was doing, at what time. When I turn it on, it makes a sound. When I turn it off, it makes the same sound. While there is an LED, somehow it’s not clear to me when it’s on or off, whether it’s in pairing mode, or what. I eventually got it, so it’s not a deal breaker. If you’re like most people and only pair it with the one device, then this problem is not a big deal. Just annoying, I guess. Honestly, while these did not work for me completely, I think it’s got to be a personal decision. Because while they weren’t particularly comfortable for me, that’s a personal issue, and they might (I’m sure they do) work for others. The issue with the controls is annoying, but minor.

First off, I am by no means an audiophile. That being said, I love these headphones. The bass is surprisingly deep, yet the mids and highs are clear. The ear cups, although appearing small, fit comfortably over my large ears. Bluetooth connection is incredibly strong (left my phone in my bedroom on the 2nd floor- stayed connected all the way in my basement without any distortion). The fabric covering on these headphones was a bit visually odd at first, but I'm getting used to it.

After about 100 miles, I'd say these are a keeper. I have a very narrow head, and they stay clamped on the smallest setting. No discomfort, I don't feel them after a mile. They aren't reference sound, but they have a good bass thump for working out, and the bluetooth is 5.0 so the connection never cuts out. I'd recommend. I got them as an open box discount.