Usage & Testing
The first thing you are going to want to do with the Pulse Mobile Wireless Headphones is charge them up. Antec does include a microUSB charging cable, but no AC adapter to connect it to, so you will have to charge it with a USB port on your PC or laptop. The LED on the bottom of the headset will turn red to let you know the headphones are charging.
Next you will need to pair the headset with your device. To put the Pulse in pairing mode press and hold the power button for about 6-7 seconds. You will see the LED flash blue and red. Once in pairing mode open the Bluetooth section on your device and you should see the Pulse listed. Select it to pair and you are good to go. I had no issues at all pairing the Pulse with my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop and my iPhone 5s.
I listened to quite a lot of different music with the Pulse headset. I instantly could tell the difference is audio quality compared to cheaper headphones and earbuds that I had laying around. The Pulse does produce a very full sound across the whole spectrum. The bass was also quite powerful, this is thanks to the 40 mm drivers. I enjoyed a few different TV shows and movies using the Pulse and it is sure an improvement over earbuds and the built-in speakers on my laptop.
I took a few calls on my iPhone 5s using the Pulse and while the person on the other end said they could hear me, they did say that I sounded distant like I was further away from my phone. They also said there was about a 1 second delay where they could actually hear their voice. I tested this twice with the same result. The call answer button on the side of the headset works great and makes it easy to answer your phone without having to grab it from your pocket. I also took a few skype calls using the Pulse and everyone said I sounded fine, actually better than on the phone they said. The issue were callers said they could hear themselves was not present when using Skype.
Besides the call answer button the buttons on the Pulse are very small and quite hard to use without accidentally hitting another button. I guess Antec was trying to keep the great look of the headphones are thought larger buttons would mess it up. I do like that there are multimedia buttons on the headset. This way you can play/pause and skip songs without having to take your phone out of your pocket or touch your laptop. The power button also acts as a multi-function button. When you have the pulse paired with a smartphone a single press of the power button will activate voice commands and double press will call the last number that you dialed. It just makes it easier so you will not have to go into your phone to do certain things.
If you happen to not have a device that does not support Bluetooth or the battery on the Pulse runs out it does have an audio pass-through port. This allows you to listen to music with the included audio cable, Antec even includes an airplane adapter. The audio cable is a bit short though. The controls on the headset will also not function if you are using the headset in audio pass-through mode. Talking about battery life we were able to get about 9 hours out of the headset before we needed to charge it. Charging takes about 2.5-3 hours for a full charge.
