As with all of Silicon Power earbud models the shipping container is both attractive as well as informative. The front is made from a rather thick but clear plastic (not cellophane) which allows you to see the BP81’s before purchase while at the same time protecting them from scratches.
Since the carrying case and earbuds are surrounded on three sides by form-fitting cardboard blunt force trauma is also unlikely to cause damage while in transit. Basically, the only way they are going to be damaged is if the force of the blow is directly over the earbuds or carrying case. Anything else will be absorbed by the cardboard and not transferred to them. Overall this combination is a decent compromise between protection and (pardon the pun) transparency. We really do like it when you can see something you are going to be sticking in your ears before you have to buy.
As expected, given the asking price, the list of accessories is a tad small. In grand total you will get a small pamphlet that goes over the usage and operating procedures of the BP81’s, three different sized silicon sleeves (S,M,L) for tailoring the fit to your ears, and a small USB charging cable. The only thing we would have liked to have seen is the silicon sleeves been dual flanged instead of single, and arguably even a pair of triple flanged silicon or soft foam inserts also included. Triple flanges are an… acquired tasted, but the vast majority of people will find dual flanges to be just as comfortable as single while also providing noticeably better ambient noise reduction. Foam does an even better job, but they do wear out (whereas silicon sleeves last a nice while… and can be easily cleaned).
As it stands the Silicon Power Blast Plug BP81’s does a decent job at blocking out ambient noise but there is room for improvement…. If you do not want to hear anything in your surrounding area. Of course, this is a double-edged sword and many a jogger has been in an accident because they could not hear that car/truck/bike coming… nor the shouted warnings of people around them. In either case, picking up ‘better’ sleeves is neither expensive nor time consuming.
Moving on. Even though the specifications state these are 16mmx23.5mmx25.1mm sized earbuds… that is a bit misleading. Much like a pair of Shure, Westone, or Ultimate Ears the vast majority of the body sits outside your ear cannel, and only a small tube actually goes in your ear. In this regards the design is more Shure or Weston than Ultimate Ears as they do not stick out all that far. Instead they lay flat along your ear. So much so you can lie down with them in your ears… it just will not be as comfortable as Westone or Shure designs. Of course, with only a 3 – 4 hour run time you probably will not want to sleep with them in anyways.
This brings us to our biggest issue with the specifications. In testing spoken word (e.g. Audiobooks) at moderate output levels do indeed last about 4 hours (in our case, an average of 4hrs 5minutes), and ‘music’ playback is indeed about 3 hours at moderate levels. At higher levels this will go down to 2 to 2 half hours (depending on how loud you set them). Distance will also play a role in battery life. Once you move the connected music player further away than a couple feet… expect battery life to quickly decline in direct proportion to how far the signal has to go. In either case, when they are dead you can not charge them and use them. Instead you have to place them in their dedicated charging / carrying case… and wait one full hour. As such the 15hrs of playback is a tad misleading. It is more like 3-4hrs, wait an hour, then another 3-4hrs of music… etc. etc.
Yes, the obvious solution of, having two USB cables hanging off your ears would be… sub optimal to say the least, but a slightly larger LiPo battery in each earbud would have extended the play time. We personally feel 5-6 hours of music playback would be optimal… j ust like the previous BP51’s offered (though with two-hour charging time). You may feel different and think a shorter charging time is worth the tradeoff in runtime… as such Caveat Emptor is in full effect.
The reason for the moderate to short playback is two-fold. The main reason is Silicon Power wanted them to be as light as possible. At this goal they succeeded. They do only weight 7.9 grams each (down from the 13grams the BP51 weighed). This is well within the realm of reasonable for most people… and why we compare them in feel to entry level Shure or Westone or FiiO models.
The other reason is that these are IPx5 rated… and the larger the chassis the harder it is to seal them from water. In this regards Silicon Power knocked it out of the park. We not only used these at the gym and got ‘buckets’ of sweat over them, we used them outside in the rain with zero issues. Basically, as long as you do not stick them under your tap or submerge them in water to clean them… they will (most likely) be fine. The one thing you will have pay careful attention to is the two small, and recessed posts on each bud. These are the pos and negative terminals and how their internal batteries get recharged. Since they will be facing your ear when you are wearing them… dried sweat can cause a thin film of minerals to cover these terminals – and keep them from charging. We would recommend occasionally using a Q-tip, and if necessary, a dab of rubbing alcohol to keep these critical ports clean.
On the positive side both earbuds also have small magnets housed inside them, so once you are even remotely close to fitting them in their dedicated charging port in the included ‘carrying case’ they will snap right into position. When they are fully charged the LED will go from red to white… and if left longer in the device will turn off (as the charger is smart enough to stop at 100% and disconnect them). When you want to use them again, simply lift them out of their slots… and bam they are good to go as if you have manually turned them on.
Speaking of the case it is pretty darn good. Not only does it charge, but it protects the buds while in transit – as the charging cradle slides in and out of the carrying case. Mix in four white LEDs that tell you how much charge is left in the 580mAH carrying case battery, with a nice and light (52.7grams) form-factor that easily fits in a pocket and overall it is a pretty elegant solution. The only issue we have with it is there is no integrated USB cable nor way of it holding / carrying a removable USB cable. A simple rubber band around the case will allow you to carry the USB cable with the charging case… but considering Silicon Power external storage devices have already solved this issue we are unsure as to the reasoning behind not including such a feature on the BP81s.
We have already gone over the largest downside to their small form-factor, but there is a second issue. That is control. As you can see there is only enough room on each earbud for two small buttons. The ‘top’ button (furthest away from your jaw when in your ears) is for paring (the right pairs with your BT enabled device) via a quick double click and the left pairs with the right earbud. In an interesting move, if the buds are in your ears when you do pair them, expect a nebulous… near sultry (and slightly lispy) ‘Asian school girl’ voice tell you that they are connected… which is not vaguely disturbing at all… nope not at all.
The ‘bottom’ button’s use is complicated. A double click of the left earbuds bottom button reduces volume, and a double click on the right earbuds bottom increases volume. A single click on either top pauses or resumes playback. This does create a wee bit of a learning curve, e.g. if you are off on your clicking you will hear a beep as they pair with either each other or the device… again… instead of pause/resume music like you had intended, but it is more than adequate. Of course, a more optimal layout would have been three buttons on each bud with dedicated up and down volume control in each bud.
Thankfully, you really only have to mess around with pairing them once (per device). This is because as soon as they are removed from their charging station they not only auto-power up but also auto-pair with your BT device. Things do get a bit tricky if you have previously paired them to multiple devices in the past, but overall this is very user-friendly.
In regards to their BT wireless range, it varies from very good (20 feet) to stunning (30+ feet). This variance is mainly due to two things. First and most important is how many walls are in the way of the transmission signal, and if you have the right earbud pointed vaguely in the direction of your playback device or not. A combination of right ear bud towards our BT5 enabled devices and three walls in between the earbuds and said phone resulted in about 30 feet. No walls and the distance is even greater. But with three walls and the left earbud pointed towards the phone and we could only get about 20 feet before transmission artifacts (random pauses, stuttering, etc.) occurred. Either way that is pretty darn impressive.
