Teufel Move BT: sporty music via Bluetooth

Those looking for headphones for sporting activities will sooner or later end up with various Bluetooth in-ear models: The Berlin company Teufel is sending their model "Move BT" into the race, which I tried out once.

Application: primarily on a rowing machine (Concept2), which generates the resistance by a wind turbine. Side effect of this brake: a uniform noise, which quite effectively prevents the use of normal speakers during exercise (unless you want to reach sound levels at which all the neighbours also have something of the fitness playlist). Another challenge: since the rowing movement takes up quite a lot of space, the only thing that would remain with wired headphones would be to attach the mobile phone to the arm.

After some research, I chose the Teufel Move BT: for about 100,-€ you get Bluetooth headphones with aptX support, which should last up to 20 hours of playback on one battery charge (which is much more than I did in one training session) and are also protected against sweat (they will probably survive a light rain shower, but this happens rather seldom in indoor rowing - but summer is still coming).

Teufel Move BT: Wearing comfort

In-ear headphones are difficult to transfer comfort from one user to another: the ear canals and ears are too different. With my ears, for example, a good fit only works with the second-smallest silicone ear adapters (a total of four different sizes are supplied). Placed with a slight twist, the Move BT will then sit firmly and without the risk of falling out of the ears during exercise.

Due to the tight fit, the ambient noise (the noise of the ergometer) is also well dampened, so that you don't have to use a too high volume level.

Devil Move BT: Sound

Of course, you wouldn't expect such small headphones to produce the same bass as full-size models such as the Beyerdynamic MMX300 - but because they are placed directly on the ear, you still get a very decent sound (delivered here via a Bluetooth connection from iPhone X with iOS 11.2.5).

My sports playlist is mostly composed of fast rock and 90s techno - my comparison headphones are, besides the MMX300, the Bose QuietComfort QC25, with which I free the everyday office life from noise.

Teufel Move BT: Operation

The operation is kept very simple: a long press on the middle button of the wired remote control starts the headphones, which a friendly voice acknowledges accordingly. A long press afterwards activates the Bluetooth search mode, which makes it easy to pair the Move BT with suitable Bluetooth 4.0 devices. This worked with both an iPhone X and an iPad Air 2 without a murmur at first go.

20 meters range as written on the devil's web page I can't reach at least in the apartment, there are probably too many interferences here - but you don't have to carry the mobile phone around with you all the time, you can leave it in one place without interrupting the transmission.

The Move BT are loaded via a micro USB port hidden behind a small rubber cover - here I am a bit sceptical about how long this will last: the construction does not feel particularly stable. Thanks to micro-USB, no one has to worry about not having a suitable charger: USB-C would be the more modern standard, but a micro-USB cable can be found in almost every household. The charging itself is pleasantly short with 2 hours, a charger itself does not come with Teufel.

Devil Move BT: Conclusion

Even without having a direct comparison - the Teufel Move BT help me to train regularly. Especially when you're not only listening to music, but maybe also consuming a series via Netflix on the side, the time on the rowing machine flies by pretty fast. An alternative, which I might order for a try out, are the Creative Outlier Sports, which cost a good 60,-€, a little more than half of the Teufel offer. Until then the Move BT will continue to accompany my training!

Hint: This article is about my personal impressions, the purchase was neither supported nor sponsored by Teufel or others.