Review: Sennheiser HD1 Free Wireless Bluetooth Earphones
The humble wired wireless Bluetooth Earphones. They used to rule the world of wireless stereo Bluetooth earphones before the invention of True Wireless earphones. My first set of stereo Bluetooth earphones were the wireless but wired Bose SoundSport Pulse, and though I believe that they have excellent sound quality, they also had one very big issue: audio latency! They were great to listen to music, but not so good for watching videos or playing video games because of that high latency. Their build quality was also not up to spec, and I actually had to get two warranty replacements. But I did like the audio quality, and I hoped that technology would improve enough so that the latency would be a thing of the past. Those hopes lead me down a path of trying various Bluetooth products and exploring the technology, with some of what I’ve learned posted in my A Tale of Bluetooth CODECs and Video Games article. As promised there, a series of reviews was scheduled next, and here we are.
This product is actually the first one that I intended to review when I thought that it’d be a fun project to tackle, but I got sidetracked with the Fiio LC-BT2, which I review in another article of mine. I really like that product, but it’s not very useful for those that don’t own earphones already as it’s just a Bluetooth adapter for use on existing earphones. The Sennheiser HD1 Free is an actual set of earphones; there’s no need to buy or own any other product (besides the audio source) to enjoy them.
I took longer to get to this review than I expected, so my apologies for that. Anyway, a few disclaimers before proceeding:
- I am mainly interested in the convenience and performance of these products when used for gaming purposes. If I enjoy the particular product in question for other purposes I may make a note of it but the aim of this review series is mainly related to possible latency when gaming.
- I don’t really get to spend long stretches of time to myself to enjoy my hobbies, so I won’t be doing battery life tests and chances are that I may not run down the batteries on most of these.
What are (is?) the Sennheiser HD1 Free?
As a pair of wireless Bluetooth earphones, the Sennheiser HD1 Free falls into the category of a wireless set of phones joined together by a wire. These earphones can’t be untethered from each other, as most stereo Bluetooth earphones were until the invention of the “True Wireless” category just a few years ago. They include a lovely but large “pleather” case in black with red accents. Said case has room for a few extra accessories, which I use to bundle in some extra tips, an aptX Low Latency 3.5mm Bluetooth adapter I’ve paired to them, and their charging cable.
Speaking of that charging cable, this set of earphones charges through a micro-USB port. Not a big fan of old micro-USB, and for a 2019 device that sold for a bit of a premium, I really think that Sennheiser cheaped out. I know I already had several USB-C devices by the time these were released to the market, so that’s a disappointment.
The Sennheiser HD1 Free is not a new product. It’s been on the market since 2019, which means that it is practically an ancient relic as far as this kind of technology goes, so why bother reviewing it now? I’ve been following the market as far as Bluetooth audio goes and I’ve noticed an interesting trend as companies release new versions of products: many companies are removing technologies that prioritize audio latency. The Creative Outlier 3’s removed aptX support (granted, they only ever had vanilla aptX, but that’s still better than no aptX), Sennheiser’s own Momentum True Wireless 2 removed aptX Low Latency.
I have chosen to give a bit of a spotlight to a product that boldly supports aptX Low Latency, even if it’s not a new product. We need these products to enjoy low-latency audio, and we need companies to know that there is a need for them. Even Qualcomm themselves are moving away from aptX Low Latency and pushing a new flavor of aptX called aptX Adaptive. While aptX Adaptive sounds good on paper (it can adapt its bitrate to fit the use case), it never reaches the same low-latency communication as aptX Low Latency does.
Anyway, back to the Sennheiser HD1 Free, starting with specs.
A few stats to keep in mind:
- CODECs supported: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Low Latency
- Frequency Response: 5Hz ~ 22kHz
- Bluetooth Version: 4.2
- Weight: About 40 grams
Build Quality and Wear Experience
Wearing the HD1 Free headphones is an interesting experience, both on the positives and the negatives. The audio quality that you experience with these will really depend on the way the earphones fit you, and that’s the one area that I walked away somewhat disappointed. While it includes the 4 different tip sizes (extra small, small, medium, large), I didn’t find any of them to provide me with a particularly good seal. Worse, the barrel design doesn’t really seem to work well with the tip design, so the tips will periodically just fall off the barrel. I’ve removed them a few times with no tips. Most of the time the tips are still in my ear, and I just need some persistence to pull them out, but I actually lost my medium tips this way. I moved up to the large ones, which aren’t as comfortable, but still do the job. So right off the bat, the tip design is not my favorite.
Moving on from the design of the headphone tips, I find the rest of the design to be pretty good. One of my favorite details is the plastic loop that the earphone wire goes through before meeting with the earpieces. Theoretically, these loops should protect the wires from forceful pulls.
The phones are also fairly attractive, sporting a red and black wire, a shiny dark gray earphone, and the circular, shiny Sennheiser disc on the end opposite to the nozzle on the earphones. They look pretty good!
The left earphone is connected to a plastic case that I assume may hold the battery, as it’s just a case without any buttons or interactive points of any kind. The right earphone is connected to a small remote where all the action happens: it has 3 buttons: play/pause (and also power), volume up, and volume down. As with many of these devices, the buttons have multiple functions so you can keep the volume up and down buttons for a while to serve as the track skip buttons. I’m personally a fan of having at least 3 buttons because it makes functionality easier. Not a fan of devices that have just two buttons (or touch panels) and that assign an unbearable number of functions to those. These work great from that aspect. This little remote also has a microphone, and the charging port. The charging port is, unfortunately, micro-USB instead of USB-C. I know these aren’t new devices, but USB-C was already in the market when they were released and I would have preferred a USB-C charging port. The little flap that covers the charging port is also suspect; after just a few uses it doesn’t close very well.
Performance
Having said all that, I have to say that these are fantastic. Sound quality is really good, but I must admit that I’m a Sennheiser fan. I own a few of their open-back headsets, and the Momentum True Wireless 1.0’s after all. Bass performance will depend on the seal, and the included tips don’t work the best for me, but these are tough to beat as far as overall Bluetooth audio is concerned.
Paired with an aptX Low-Latency transmitter, latency between audio and what you see on the screen is minimal, staying within the sweet 32–40 millisecond latency that aptX delivers. I’ve experienced less synchronization hiccups with these than with the Fiio LC-BT2, and that’s great. They’re also really good to wear when going around doing chores or going shopping. I feel much more comfortable with this form factor than with the true wireless form factor when out and about because you remove the danger of losing an earbud, and you also don’t have to worry about carrying the case if you are just wearing a single one of them so you can hear around you.
I’ve also been surprised by their battery life. I’ve worn these while working, then continue wearing them for gaming, and then for doing chores around the house. They still tend to go strong. I’d give them a rough estimate of about 5 and a half to 6 hours of battery life, which I find to be very acceptable.
As I use these while handling chores and not just while gaming, I’ve also taken many calls with them. I’m happy to report that they’re also really good for that. Just make sure to be wearing the right earpiece, as the microphone is located on that earpiece.
Additional Bells and Whistles
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say here. There was an app that supported these phones, but Sennheiser retired it. According to them:
“Sennheiser’s former companion app CapTune has been upgraded to the new Smart Control App. CapTune, which supported some older headphone models (HD 4.40BT, HD 4.50BTNC, M2, CX6.00, CX7.00, etc.), offered an audio EQ which was available for locally stored music files or songs streamed via Tidal. Eventually, this did not reflect the customers’ listening habits anymore and it was therefore decided to cease offering CapTune at the end of 2019.
Having taken valuable feedback from the customers into account, the Sennheiser Smart Control App ensures effortless sound control and personalization for new models.”
That sounds all well and good, except that these are not supported by the Smart Control app. As I never got to use Captune, I don’t really know what I’ve been missing. However, I am confident that I won’t miss it as, after all, “this did not reflect the customers’ listening habits” and that’s that!
Final Words
If you’re looking for a convenient set of phones that can deliver low latency audio for your video games (requiring the use of an aptX Low Latency transmitter), these are a fantastic choice. Fitting was not the best for me, but it may not be a problem for others. The form factor makes them really versatile, and the light weight and its easy to use remote make it a very convenient road warrior for general use, which is what I find myself doing with them most often. Best of all is that you don’t have to sacrifice sound quality for these features, though using a micro-USB port to charge instead of USB-C is definitely a disappointment.
If you enjoyed this review, please consider supporting me by reading A Tale of Bluetooth CODECs and Video Games. You may also be interested in my review of the Fiio LC-BT2 Bluetooth adapter for earphones. Thanks!
