A quick look at the dodocool foldable Bluetooth headphones

Introduction

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably looking to buy a new pair of headphones for your devices, after the last one bit the dust. At least that’s why I agreed to take a look at this dodocool pair, a company I had never heard of previously. But before I tell you how the headphones fared in my tests, you need to know a tiny bit about how I use headphones.

I’m a person who listens to a lot of audio content, though it’s rarely music. For the most part, I listen to an unhealthy number of podcasts, oftentimes while walking around town or doing housework. It’s not uncommon for me to spend six to eight hours per day with headphones plugged in my ears. As such I go through pairs of headphones quite quickly, and I tend to either lose or ruin a pair on a monthly basis. That’s why I usually go for decent affordable devices, instead of high-end ones.

That’s where these dodocool in-ear headphones come in. With a price tag of $18, and numerous features promised on the box, I was curious to see if these could fit my needs. As a direct comparison to a better-known product, I’d probably put the dodocool models up against Samsung’s entry-level U headphones, though I prefer the dodocool ones.

Specifications, design, and build

The dodocool Bluetooth 4.1 headphones are obviously wireless, come with NFC for easy pairing, boast high-quality audio, through the aptX codec, and promise battery life of up to 10 hours, all for $18.

To make a long story short, I had very low expectations for these headphones, but they won me over and left me impressed.

To start off with, they came in a small, convenient pouch, which can be zipped up and easily carried around if you want a safe place to deposit the headphones. They’re also easy to carry and store even without the pouch, thanks to the way they fold in on themselves.

In terms of design and quality, they seem to be well built. Given the low profile of this company I was half-expecting some cheap, unreliable plastic, but instead these feel like a quality, sturdy device. They also come with a small USB cable for charging as well as different sizes of earbuds for extra comfort.

I used the headphones extensively for about a week, and I must admit it took a bit to get used to them. After the six hours of continuous use, my ears felt really sore, because they weren’t used to the way these fit. It wasn’t so much about the buds themselves, but more about the plastic casing that hit me in a weird way. Still though, by the second day, I was used to it and they became quite comfortable. Not the best headphones in this department but good enough. They also felt well attached to me and I didn’t have to worry they might fall off or get thrown off while jogging.

Sound quality

Now, moving on to the important bit: sound quality. Again, I had low expectations, but given I mostly listen to spoken-word content, I wasn’t too worried about this aspect. Surprisingly though, the dodocool Bluetooth headphones sound remarkably good. They support aptX so pairing them with my Qualcomm-powered Android smartphone resulted in some very pleasant listening experiences. Where the quality really shows was when watching movies – where the fast decoding and good audio range was noticeable. One aspect I really appreciated was that dodocool did not overemphasize the bass, as so many other headphone manufacturers do.

On the other side of the equation, voice quality when on a call is decent. Other recipients were able to hear me loud and clear most of the time, albeit a bit echoey due to the placement of the microphone. One instance when the headphones fared less well was on a crowded, noisy street. It felt as if there wasn’t enough noise cancellation and many of the background sounds came to the foreground.

Connectivity

Going back to the issue of pairing, the dodocool Bluetooth headphones have an NFC tag embedded in one of the earbuds, making for convenient and easy pairing. Of course, this will also depend on what smartphone you’re using them with and whether bumping the phone to the headsets is easier than tapping a few times on the screen.

Another pairing-related feature that dodocool advertises is multipoint support, which lets you connect two devices at once. Unfortunately, this feature was a bit too finicky for my taste. Most of the time it did not work, even though I tried to get the headphones to connect to laptops, tablets, and a bunch of Android devices.

When I finally did get it to connect, to a Windows phone of all things, the results were less than impressive. Yes, the headphones were connected to two smartphones at the same time, but there’s little benefit to that. If one device was already playing something the other would get ignored no matter what I did. Usually, in scenarios like this, starting playback or getting a call on one device, is supposed to cut off the other, but nothing happened here.

Battery life

Finally, I did some extensive testing of the battery life of these headphones. For me personally, given that I roam so much and require a constant input of sound to drown out the voices in my head, battery life becomes the most important feature of such a device.

dodocool says the headphones can last you up to ten hours given continuous playback and up to 180 in standby mode. I never got to completely discharge them just in standby, but I did push them to the limits during playback. I consistently managed to get around eight and a half hours during playback. That’s quite decent and very much in line with other, more expensive devices. When recharging, which is done via the included Micro-USB cable, it takes about an hour and a half for the headphones to go from zero to 100 percent.

Other considerations

A few other miscellaneous items I need to mention include the frustration of not being able to see the battery life of the headphones directly. You can go through your phone’s software, if it supports that for connected Bluetooth devices, but that’s not a universal solution. Also, worth mentioning is that dodocool says these headphones are IPX4 certified, meaning they should be resistant to water splashes. I only tested the mildest splash on them, and they fared well, however I didn’t see what their true limits were. They can definitely stand up to sweat, which is what they’re built for.

Final words

To conclude this no-longer-quick-look at the dodocool Bluetooth headphones, I think they’re worth your consideration if you have similar needs to mine. For $18 I’m not afraid to lose or abuse this pair, they fit well, though they’re not the most comfortable, they sound good and they have a few extra bells and whistles on top.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, you can purchase the dodocool Bluetooth headphones from Amazon. Our readers can get a 20% discount on it, by using this code: L2PN7NWA at checkout.