Motorola Pulse 2 Headphone Highlights & Review

I'm a bass lover / bass head. Some time ago, my old headphones stopped working. They were China-made, but of decent quality, over-the-ear headphones. They worked for many years, as they had a sturdy, nylon-braided cable.

I had these features in my mind for the new headphones I wanted:

• A good amount of bass for a bass head
• Foldable design that makes it easier to carry while travelling
• Detachable cable
• A mic in the headphone or the cable (would be great as I could use the headphones for phone calls)
• Comfortable fit on the ears at least for 2-3 hours
• Not causing ear pain like many headphones do

I searched for a long time. I read a lot of reviews and lists of the best headphones available in the market. And finally, ordered the Motorola Pulse 2 headphones from Amazon India. Now that I've used them for some time, here's my review of the Motorola Pulse 2 headphones.

Motorola Pulse 2 Highlights:

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Motorola Pulse 2 Sound Quality:

Very Warm Sound Signature

The headphones sound awesome and have a very warm sound signature. The sound clarity and quality is near top notch. If you're a bass freak, you can get these headphones and will love the amount of bass they produce. The mids and highs are also clear and sound is not muffled. The amount of sound output is more than on most other (branded) headphones I have tried.

Bass, Sound Quality And Clarity Beats Some Big Brands

The sound quality these guys produce is excellent. You won't find the sound quality they produce with ease, and of course not in the this range of headphones. Someone on YouTube even compared them to the Audio Technica's ATH-M50. He says the Motorola Pulse 2 outperform the ATH-M50! That's 1000 INR vs 10,000 INR.

Big, 36mm Speaker Drivers

The speakers used in these headphones are of 36mm size. This is why they give excellent bass. In speakers, bigger the size, louder is the sound produced. So, this tells why they produce louder sound than many other branded headphones I tried. (I tried/tested the branded headphones later, at an electronics mall)

Motorola Pulse 2 Convenience:

Receive Calls

There's a tiny button on the cable near the mic. Using it, you can receive or reject calls, and talk using the built-in mic. You can also reject calls by long-pressing on the button. Of course, the headphone should be already connected to your phone.

Control Music Playback With The Button

Using the button on the cable, you can skip to next/previous tracks and play/pause music. To skip tracks, you press the button twice or thrice, Twice to go to the previous track, and thrice to go to the next one. If you press it once, the song (or music) pauses. Pressing it once again plays the song from where you paused it.

Wire Only On One Side of the Headphone Making it Convenient to Use

Like many DJ style monitoring headphones, these have the cable connection only on one of the ear cups. This makes it easy to use. The cable doesn't feel irritating like on the headphones with cables from both the ear cups do. Such cables are common in Philips, Sony, JBL, and many other headphones.

Here are some more pros:

• Sound doesn't leak out even at max volume
• Ear cups rotate at 90 degrees, and can be folded for travel, into almost a semicircle
• Ear cups have better quality cushions than other headphones in this range
• Very lightweight (you won't feel you've worn them)

Motorola Pulse 2 Build Quality & Appearance:

Complete Plastic Construction

Other branded headphones in this range and higher also have a complete plastic build. But the plastic quality and the looks on Pulse 2 headphones feels cheap. This is because the headphones keep making creaking sounds even when you don't move them.

Note: The creaking sounds were much more when they arrived, but had decreased after a few days of use. And after a few weeks, the creaking is almost non-existent. Also note that I later tested many other branded headphones. All had a complete plasticy construction and feel, like these Motorola Pulse 2. So this seems quite normal.

Average Quality Cable, With Gold Plated Connectors

The cable which comes with them is of average quality. Not bad, but not great quality. The 3.5 mm connectors are gold-plated, though, for better connection.

Wearing Comfort:

Not Comfortable To The Ears

The ear cups may not feel comfortable to wear, and may start giving pain to the ears in 10-15 minutes of wearing if the ear pads are not properly adjusted. The ear pads on the ear cups are rotatable. So, I rotated them to make them slant similar in shape to my ears. And, the pain I initially experienced decreased to a great extent, and I was able to wear them for longer periods. Also, after a few weeks, they no longer cause any pain.

Not Comfortable Around Your Neck

The ear cups rotate 90 degrees. This means, you can lay them flat with the ear cups facing down. This is useful when you travel, but you can't do the same thing if you want to hang them around your neck. Headphones which move 180 degrees can do this.

Not Manufactured By Motorola

You'd think how can it be that Motorola headphones are not manufactured by Motorola. But these are Motorola headphones only in name. They are manufactured and supported by Binatone International Pvt Ltd., HongKong. Motorola gave them the license to use. Binatone International Pvt Ltd provides warranty and support, not Motorola. So, you would have to contact Binatone and not Motorola.

Motorola Pulse 2 Review:

Should you buy the Motorola Pulse 2 headphones? Buy them if:

• Your budget is around 1000 INR
• You're a bass lover / bass head
• You need headphones which can also be used for phone calls
• You're fine with cheap plasticy build quality, and creaking sounds for a while (they go away with time)
• You need a foldable, light-weight design
• If you have a medium-sized head and not a small one
• You don't need bluetooth or wireless headphones

Guest Post by Raspal Saini: Raspal is a freelance writer, blogger and web-developer. He enjoys helping people, is interested in technical writing/blogging, and available for hire. Raspal publishes on his tech blog and has published an ebook. He also develops, maintains and fixes WordPress websites. You can follow Raspal's personal and business ramblings at @raspalwrites.