The Optoma NuForce BE Sport 3 headphones fit the Buffalo lifestyle. They have excellent range and battery life, great sound, deliver a good time, have good clarity for phone-calls (most importantly, your girlfriend), and are sweat resistant for work-outs. Wear them while walking around the Albright Knox Gallery, cruising the stores, cafes, restaurants, bars of Elmwood Village, or to the serious gyms on Elmwood, Catalyst Fitness or LA Fitness.

Excellent Range and Battery Life

The Optoma has a 30 meter/98 foot range which allows me to listen to music anywhere in my apartment without losing connection. Admittedly, the connection can get fuzzy on the one farthest wing near the street and windows. Still, this  is a big improvement over Denon’s  Fitness Freak ATH-W150 which lose connection whenever I left the room.

The Sport3’s 10-hour battery gets me through my commute and full-workday without an additional charge, as does the Archeer AH-07 Over-Ear headphone which bests this time with 14 hours of playback per charge. The ATH-W150 fares worst with only a 7-hour battery life, meaning it needs to be charged by mid-afternoon.

Great Sound

The inclusion of AptX, a loss-free Bluetooth protocol that transmits the full sound wave instead of a compressed version, sounds noticeably better than the ATH-W150, which uses the lossy BT 3.0.

The timbre of the acoustic guitar on Elliott Smith’s “Sweet Adeline” on ‘XO’ was so rich and full-bodied. His soulful voices was rendered with a punchy kick because these ‘phones add a vocal boost much like the iPhone equalizer option in Sound Settings. These are about feeling and fun. I was able to feel the swing in Waltz #2 viscerally, and the NuForce had me tapping my foot with excitement. Purists may complain that these do not offer a neutral sound signature, yet they excel with amplified instruments such as guitars and the keyboard and organ.

The Nuforce’s soundstage was among the most expansive I’ve heard from BT in-ear headphones.

A Good Time Will Be Had by All

They also remind me of my high school days when I blasted the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround system in my attic. They had a huge sub that was palpable and fueled my adrenaline when I would breakdance. This phenomenon is well captured in sensational music critic Stephen Meijas’ tagline, “Fun Not Fidelity.” While these earphones are likely inconsistent with the artist's true and original intentions at the mixing board, they had me smiling as I walked around the tree-lined streets of Elmwood Village.

Girlfriend Approved

Perhaps this is the most important consideration on this list. If my girlfriend is happy, I'm happy. The microphone on these is much better than the ATH-W150 and the Archeer AH-07 for calls. These are the first BT headphones I could receive calls with intelligibly. She said “These are so clear, I can actually hear you.” That is a first.

Sweat resistant

This isn't really a selling point for me on either the Sport3 or the ATH-W150. Most sport headphones are sweatproof,  including the Bose Aqua SoundSport ($149), Monster iSport ($99.95), Powerbeats 3 ($199.95), JBL Synchros Reflect I Sport ($59.95)

Highly recommended.