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The Adidas Headphones app (for Android and iOS) immediately recognizes the paired earphones and leads you through a tour of their features and customizable options. The aforementioned Action button can be set up through the app, and different actions can be assigned to single, double, and triple presses, but customization is limited to voice assistants and Spotify controls. Perhaps the app's most useful feature is the built-in five-band EQ, with several adjustable presets, as well as a user preset labeled Custom. The issue I’ve encountered is that they tend to move around in the ears. The up and down motion of running shifts the position of the earbuds a little, leading to an impact on the seal and music suffering from some leakage. I’ve attached the biggest wing-tips, and it’s only been an issue when vigorously moving about – in the gym, it was fine. Note that attaching the wing-tips can take a little while –it’s a fiddly process of positioning the rubbery elastic in the right place. Conclusions: The FWD-01 is a new favorite for me, as I appreciate the great sound, quality, ease of use, long battery life and that they are less isolating from my surroundings on the run than other wireless Bluetooth headsets that I have used. I use them daily for running, walking, phone calls, working in the yard and around the house and even for watching TV at night when the kids are in bed. I highly recommend them! The sound quality of the FWD-01 is excellent, with a deep range of sound, full, clean rich bass and can easily be customized within the app. Adidas claims that these earbuds should last over 16-hours. My usage saw around 16-hours and 20-minutes.
Four pairs of silicone eartips and earfins are included in the box, which is nice for users of different ear sizes. The fit, however, wasn’t as good as we’d hoped, as it felt rather loose while running. We wager that Adidas’ design intent on enabling some passive transparency (basically reducing the ear tip size to let in a little bit of sound for runners to be aware of their surroundings) was what led to the ear tips being loose. This compromise in comfort could be looked into should the German sporting brand decide to produce a sequel to the FWD-01. Water- and sweat-resistance come in at IPX5, matching the Z.N.E. 01 ANC, which makes them resistant to low pressure and sustained jets of water, while the case is splash-proof at IPX4. The case is an interesting piece of design, with a “breathable” mesh top; if the earphones become wet, it allows the water to evaporate through it (and it works).
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The FWD-02 ditch the stem-based design of the Z.N.E 01 models for a circular shape and attachable wings. You get a five-strong wing-tip selection (including one wing-less design) and four different ear-tips, so there should be a size to suit any person’s ear. I’d say it’s worth experimenting with the accessories before your first run; it would have saved me an ill-fitting set of earbuds had I done so. adidas lists 16 hours of battery life, and while difficult to actually quantify, I believe battery life to be very close to this estimate. I wear them for hours per day (running, walking, using them for phone calls, house/yard chores) and seem to go for days before I remember to recharge them. You can also see a battery percentage within the app, but I rarely remember to look there for status updates (I just never need to really given the battery life, but it is a nice feature regardless). Charging is easy, simply plug in the USB-C cable provided (though very short). Otherwise, the battery in Adidas FWD-01 lasts even longer than the company claimed. And that’s under conditions that would drain most devices over a far shorter period than is claimed. And that’s bearing in mind that conditions such as distance from a source device, volume, media type, and other factors drastically change battery life from user to user. I listened at 90-percent volume from a distance averaging 20-feet. So my use was more intensive than most users’ will be. When it comes to the audio performance, I feel Adidas and Zound have made some decent-sounding headphones. While I can’t speak for the Z.N.E. 01 model, I was a fan of the ANC version, and the performance of the FWD-02 Sport displays similar characteristics: big bass, lots of energy and smooth delivery.
Audio quality isn’t industry leading, but by running headphone standards the Adidas FWD-01 offer decent sound quality. They aim to offer fitness fanatics the ultimate set of collar earphones featuring a rugged sweat-proof design, more wing tip options than can easily be counted, and a marathon-length battery life.
🍪 Privacy & Transparency
From our time using the FWD-01, the controls are satisfactory in terms of responsiveness. Using them isn’t a hassle either, which is good especially when you’re running and don’t want to fuss over the controls too much. While they aren’t the prettiest gym headphones around, when it comes to functionality they easily match competing sets from the likes of Jaybird.
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