The Aerial7 Sound Disk Sports Headband was intriguing at first sight. I have to admit, it sparked in my mind as to why I never thought about making something like this. It seemed simple and useful for anyone who enjoys brief or even heavy workouts. Then, after testing it for a few days, I realised that it did have its imperfections.

Let’s go with the great parts of the headband. First and foremost, you need to understand that it is, after all, a headband. It’s meant to look and feel simple. Nobody wants to do his or her workout with a heavy unicorn-shaped headband, for example. It feels light from the moment you put it on. The headbands elasticity is surprisingly close to perfect as it wraps your head nicely. It’s the right amount of tightness to make sure the wiring and speakers don’t run out of place.

The audio jack extension that’s provided provided was a smart call for the product. You have the option of using it (which has a microphone by the way) to connect to just about any phone or mp3 player. Should you have a small mp3 player (like an iPod Shuffle), you could easily clip it on the patch placed behind the headband. The microphone attached to the audio jack extension also has a button that you can use to pick up or end calls if it’s connected to most smartphones, as well as to control music that’s played (so far, I tested it with Apple products, and the one, two, and three-button push commands work fine).

As a headband should, it does absorb sweat from your forehead. As you exercise, you won’t need to use your face towel too often anymore as the headband absorbs your swear while still looking dry from the outside. This gives you more focus on your workout.

A big plus would be the speakers. Once you adjust the speakers to cover your ears, you can definitely block out any outside noise, which would include gym music or even conversations. The bass is surprisingly good considering the speakers do not have any outside rubber or in-ear fittings that a pair of earphones would.

Now, for the other side of the coin. I honestly can’t see too many Malaysians wearing these. Reason? We live in a humid country, so while this soaks up sweat, it certainly makes you sweat more. It gets warm quickly. Imagine if you were on your treadmill and you’re working up a sweat. You’d want to cool your body down so you can continue your workout. The headband, however, seems to add the extra body heat and directs it straight to your forehead and ears. It feels uncomfortable when that starts, forcing you to either stop running or to simply take them off to suddenly feel hot steam coming out of your ears and forehead.

My second point would be abnormality of wearing this headband, in particular. If you see some tennis players who wear headbands, it will be placed around the head and ABOVE the ears, not covering them. As the speakers are nice and thin, a first impression from someone who doesn’t know what they are would think you don’t know how to wear a headband properly, or that your ears must be that cold until you wear it so. Did I also mention that it would be extremely uncomfortable if you wear it with glasses/sun glasses? Contact lenses are recommended when wearing this headband.

For hygiene purposes, it would be advisable to wash the headband after each use. This sounds perfectly understandable until you realize that you’ll need to remove all wirings first before washing it. It is a bit of a hassle when trying to remove the speakers through a very small lining inside the headband’s stitching. The lining hole is small and it feels like you’re going to rip it while trying to take out the speakers. Sure, it can expand, but you’ll feel scared to stretch it too far. At least, that’s how I felt.

My last point would be just of a suggestion that the audio jack extension’s microphone would’ve come with volume control. Instead of having to take out your mp3 player or phone to adjust the volume, it would’ve been of great convenience if we could control it straight from the wire.

In the end, the headband serves its purpose. It does exceptionally well for what it was made for. The only hiccups fall at all the things before and after you use it. It’s not too common to see headbands being used in Malaysia (for humid reasons) yet, but it would be acceptable, nonetheless. If you do have the time and patience to carefully take out and re-insert the wiring when washing the headband, it wouldn’t hurt for you to try it.

Thank you Azree for the images and detail review. Aerial7 Sound Disk Sports Headband was provided by Juztshop.com for review purposes.

Price: RM179, comes with another free headband worth RM69 for a limited time only.
Where to buy? Go to Juztshop.com. Register and get a RM20 e-voucher!