Hands-on with the HTC Active Earphones: Weatherproof, attractive, lightweight, and great sounding

While I wear a wireless Bluetooth headset when I run, I used wired earbuds for my commute and while working. HTC is known for excellent smartphone design, but they also make solid accessories. I've been listening to music and podcasts with the new HTC Active Earphones for the past week.

I often walk in the rain and don't want to risk expensive earbuds in those conditions. HTC's Active Earphones are a reasonably priced option with an IP57 water, dust, and sweat resistance rating.

Retail package

The headphones arrived in a small black box with glossy image of the earphones on the outside. Inside the package you will find the HTC Active earphones, three pairs of earbud tips (small, medium, and large), and a Quick Start Guide.

HTC Active Earphones gallery

Hardware

The HTC Active Earphones are primarily dark gray in color with yellow highlights around the earbuds and on the backside of the remote control. The cable is about 3.5 feet long with the wire being light and flat.

The nice thing about having the flat cable is that the headset doesn't seem to get as tangle up as the round cable earbuds I have. The HTC Active Earphones are also very light so you can run with them and not feel like they are weighing you down at all.

Silicone tips in three sizes are included with the default medium size fitting me best. The HTC name is on the outside of each earbud with R and L embedded in the yellow plastic so you know which ear to place them in.

It's easy to tell which side is the right side since the remote control is on the right side, starting down about six inches from the earbud. The remote is about an inch and a half long with a large center play/pause button and volume up and down buttons on either side of the center button.

You can use the remote to play, pause, skip to the next song, skip back to the previous song, fast forward, rewind, answer a call, decline a call, end a call, and redial. You can also use the center button to active voice recognition software. The functionality of the remote control is dependent on the smartphone you are using. For my tests, I used the HTC One M9 as that offers the best support of all the functions.

Experiences and conclusion

The HTC Active Earphones sounded great and if you have an HTC device with BoomSound support then you should find the software on the device supports BoomSound through these earphones. I found the headset to play louder and clearer than the $100 Ultimate Ears earphones I purchased last year.

One interesting feature on the HTC Active Earphones is that the two earbuds have magnets inside so that they connect back-to-back so they don't flop around in your bag and can also be used to secure the earphones around your neck when you take them out of your ears.

Yellow is one of my favorite colors and the gray/yellow combo looks great on these headphones. I recently purchased the HTC One M9 Active Pro case and these earphones are the perfect companion to that case.

The HTC Active Earphones are available for $39.99, but can also be found on sites like Amazon for about $5 less. If you have an HTC smartphone and want a good pair of earphones, then these are a great option to consider.