 When Apple announced the AirPods in 2016, they were criticized for being both ugly and impractical. Three years later though, the form factor has been all but completely normalized, just in time for a new product to make us all feel uncomfortable, yet intrigued. Introducing the human headphones. They go on like this. How the hell do they go on? Like this. So, that's a cool idea. But do they really offer earbud convenience with over-ear sound quality? Or are they just a weird-looking worst of all worlds? We're gonna find out, courtesy of today's sponsor, Pulseway. With Pulseway, you can remotely monitor, manage, and control all your Windows, Mac, and Linux machines from one app. Create your free account today at the link in the video description. The human headphones look and feel amazing in the hand. They've got an elegant shape, a premium feel, and a satisfying magnetic when you put them together, which actually turns them off too, kind of like OnePlus's bullets wireless. But they're not meant to stay in your hand, they're meant to stay on your head with their striking, and so far controversial, floating ear muff look. So how do they do that? Well on the inside, there's a torsion spring connected to a crescent-shaped arm that fits in between your ear and your head. And at just 42 grams each, the headphones are lightweight enough that the arm doesn't need to pinch too tightly. So while putting them on does take a few tries to get used to, they're actually surprisingly comfortable for a while. After about 90 minutes of use, your mileage may vary, but I got sore where my outer ear met the headphone arm. Though to humans' credit, they do include two different sizes of these fit attachments to accommodate as many users as possible. There's also two sizes of cushions for in between your ear and the 30 millimeter drivers, which a lot of headphone makers overlook because that's a common spot to get sore during long play sessions. With these, I'm happy to say that was a non-issue. And then obviously, there's no headband to dig into your head, so... bonus. But despite humans' focus on customized fit, I never really feel like they're really on. And it's not that they fall off easily or anything. Like, we tried jogging, push-ups, and even slinging out some casual burpees, and they remained completely unmoved. Okay, they move a little. But the main problem is the lack of a seal around your ear. Because even if the front face of the human headphone rests against your actual human face, like the fit guide says it should, there's no escaping the gap at the bottom and the back, and this has implications on how these things sound. Here's the thing. Whether you're talking about over-ear headphones, in-ear monitors, or something in between, creating a seal around the ear aids in both isolation and bass response. And no matter what your ear shape is, these headphones are not going to be as isolating as, say, over-ears from Bose or well-fitted IEMs, which basically act like earplugs. That means that if you're using them on a plane while riding the bus or outdoors where a car might drive by, you may find yourself struggling to hear the details of your music. Unless you crank them up. Which is an okay solution, I guess, until you realize that the human headphones get distorted and harsh sounding at high volumes. Not to mention that they leak a lot of sound, which could be annoying to the people around you. As for low frequencies, they're present, but I wouldn't recommend these for you absolute bass freaks out there. With all that said, if you're sitting at your desk in the office listening at reasonable volumes, the sound is clear and articulate with a surprisingly wide soundstage, and they also have a blend mode which uses the onboard microphones to feed the ambient sounds around you back through the headphones. So a quick press on the side makes it easier to hear whatever your colleagues are talking about. Dude, I got this hoodie, I got everything from ldtstore.com. Or not. Which brings us to the interface, starting with the good stuff. Even though you won't find a single button on the device, all the touch commands work equally on either headphone, even with wet hands. There's tap for pause, horizontal swipe for track skipping, and vertical swipe for volume. However, one vertical swipe equals one single volume step, which in my opinion made drastic changes in volume a little cumbersome. My preference would be to have more of a slider, but in fairness, I do know that can be difficult to get just right. Our biggest issue with the interface was getting it to do what we wanted it to do. Sometimes you'll probably find yourself pausing when you're trying to hit next, or you'll turn on ambient sound when you were actually trying to get your phone's virtual assistant. Another weird thing is that each headphone knows when you take it off your ear. It actually stops playing and disables the touchpad. When you take them both off and stick them together, the music actually continues to play until they finally shut down. Which brings us to another neat trick that they have when they're in this position. And that's that you can use the human headphones as a Bluetooth speaker. That's a pretty cool concept. But in practice, it's about the same loudness and clarity as a premium smartphone, which presumably you already have nearby anyway. By the way, guys, our review of the ROG Phone 2, which has the loudest speakers I've ever heard in a smartphone, is coming soon. Subscribe now so you don't miss it. First though, it's time for another almost useless feature. For whatever reason, the app has a translation mode, and we tried it out, and obviously it's bad. So we're looking at this going like, why did you guys spend time and money on this? Again, we already have a phone. You are headphones! Leading me to the rest of my complaints. For starters, the outdated Bluetooth 4.2 connection and high latency. When I watch videos with these, the audio is noticeably out of sync. That is completely unacceptable. Especially considering how many of the cheap wireless headphones in our recent roundup had decent latency and Bluetooth 5. Then there's the call quality. The mics are fine, but voice sounded a bit off, as if it was coming through either earphone at a slightly different time. It's subtle, but kind of icky feeling. Then finally there's the app. At first, it seemed fine, until it stopped being able to detect the headphones, preventing us from using the Bluetooth speaker mode, making that mode officially useless. But that's not really the point of this. Our question was whether the human headphones actually accomplish what they set out to do. Deliver over-ear quality with earbud convenience. And well, they are absolutely more portable than regular headphones. And not even much bigger than some wireless earbuds charging cases. But here's the thing. Those are charging cases that can in some cases deliver multiple days of listening. I mean sure, the humans do offer 9 hours of battery life and come with a nice 15 watt USB-C charger. But when you're on the go, the 280 mAh per earphone is all you get. As for over-ear quality, to me that's kind of a weird target to aim at in the first place. Since some of the best audio that I've ever heard came from a pair of thousand dollar IEMs. Not from over-ear headphones. And even the $250 PowerBeats Pros sound better than these. You can check out our full review here. Bringing us to price. The human headphones launched for $400. About the same as many prosumer over-ear flagships with active noise canceling. These are not worth $400. But fortunately, the price has recently been dropped to $260. That is still really expensive, but this is a novel form factor that obviously took a lot of research and prototyping. Which doesn't come cheap, especially considering the premium feeling product and the packaging that it comes in. So even though I can't find a compelling reason to use this odd looking, kind of floppy feeling form factor. I can't think of a reason to wear these either. You know, you never can tell what some people will buy. And at least the human headphones will probably yield attention from much cooler people. 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So get the starting deal at DollarShaveClub.com slash Linus. We're going to have that link below. So thanks for watching, guys. Would love to hear what you think. Do I look great or what? Human headphones? Made for humans? Yes? No? See you at the next video. Go join the forum.