I had been looking for a quite a while for a decent Bluetooth headset that wouldn’t cost me my next paycheck. Corded headphones are nice, as I pointed out with the Zagg iFrogz Audio Coda Headphones, but nothing beats going cord-free while still having great sound and a microphone. Then Zagg sent me a pair of the iFrogz Coda Forte Bluetooth Headphones, and I realized that I’d been overlooking a great option all this time.
These headphones are driven by a 40 mm neodymium driver, and have 32 ohms of impedance. The sensitivity is impressive, at 102 dB +/- 3 dB at 1 kHz, and the headphones offer a frequency response from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
You can adjust the volume with a quick button tap, and change songs quickly and conveniently with same button, and change songs quickly and conveniently, all from the same buttons. You press the button quickly to change the volume up or down, and press the button a bit longer to change songs. There’s also a pause button that will pause the music as well as answer a call from a single press. The headphones also include a built-in microphone for talking hands-free.
My only beef with the button is that you cannot use it to activate Siri. That’s unfortunate, but it isn’t a deal-breaker.
Bass
I could talk all day long about the music quality and how well the headphones reacted with my tone generator, but I’ve found the best way to describe the sound quality of a set of headphones is through music. The Coda Forte Bluetooth headphones pump out bass like nothing I’ve heard in a Bluetooth headset before, providing beautiful, rich, warm bass without any muddiness or static. I tested this out using some rap (Lecrae is awesome, by the way), and the sound was fantastic.
Mids and Highs
To really put the headphones through their paces, I put on Maynard Ferguson’s Chameleon and listened very carefully to the trombone and trumpet lines. Every instrument sounded fantastic, and even Maynard’s screaming trumpet refrains had a crispness and clearness that I loved.
Comfort
I wear eyeglasses and often find that putting any headphone cuffs over my ears causes discomfort after a while. This isn’t the case with the iFrogz Coda Forte Bluetooth, because the cups are oversized and fit snugly, but not too snugly, over the ears. The awesome design of these headphones allow for this comfort without looking like you’re wearing something designed for an astronaut instead of an audiophile, and the comfort level was awesome even after six hours of watching The Walking Dead almost non-stop with the headphones on.
Materials & Construction
The Coda Forte Bluetooth headphones are coated in soft-touch plastic, and are collapsible. They come with a felt bag that holds the headphones, charger, and included cord with room to spare.
For those days when your battery is low or you don’t want to use Bluetooth, the headphones come with a 47-inch (1.2 meter) long cord with built-in microphone. The cord is a tangle-free design and sheathed in nylon, which makes the cord extremely durable.
Available colors are red, blue and black.
Microphone
The built-in microphone works wonderfully, and the people I’ve talked to (Skype) couldn’t even tell I was using a Bluetooth headset instead of my phone. If you need to use the microphone built into the cord instead of the headset’s microphone, it works just as well.
Battery Life
Battery life on these headphones is surprisingly long. Zagg says you can get 12 hours of use out of the battery, but I think I got considerably more than that. I listen to music pretty frequently, and went for more than two weeks without needing to charge the battery. If the battery does die on you, you can always use the included cord to listen to music or place calls; it works just as well, as long as you don’t mind the cord.
Bluetooth Range
Of course, the range of any Bluetooth device is limited by the device you’re paired with, but I found the range to be pretty average. I was able to walk a good 20 feet away from my phone, and was still able to listen to music or talk on the phone using the headphones.
I did find, though, that a slight time delay builds up within the headphones if you move away from the source. For example, I walked away from my MacBook Pro while watching The Walking Dead using the headphones. When I came back to the computer, the sound was out-of-sync with the show by a fraction of a second. Pausing the show and then playing again cured it up, but it is worth mentioning.
Final Thoughts
Zagg’s iFrogz Coda Forte Bluetooth are a great value and provide excellent quality sound for the value. The battery life is more than good; it’s great. The microphone quality is as good as the sound quality, making these headphones an amazing choice for a set of Bluetooth headphones with microphone.