Google Pixel USB-C Headphone: A Complete Review

Along with its new phones, Google also released USB-Type C headphones to sell alongside smartphones. We will find out whether they are good very soon.

Who is the Google Pixel USB-C made for?

• For Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phone owners, because they come with them.
• For those who do not have a 3.5mm audio jack on their phone. People are forced to buy headphones with a USB-C connector, and they see the Google Pixel USB-C.

How to use Google Pixel USB-C

It’s effortless. Connect the headphones to the USB-C port of the phone. The operating system recognizes them as a sound playback device, and the music should automatically play through the headphones.

However, things are not so simple with USB-C, since many phones use a real USB-C, but a modified one, which hides a regular USB controller inside. This mainly applies to inexpensive phones from third-tier manufacturers.

If you are using a phone from a well-established brand, the devices widely sold in our country, there should be no problems with compatibility.

How Good Is The Google Pixel USB-C

Most of the people who left their reviews on the Internet, and I, the author of this review, encountered the following problems while listening, about which below.

Headphones fall out of ears.

The Google Pixel USB-C is very similar in design to the Apple EarPods, and this is where their main problem lies – they don’t hold well in your ears. The headphones’ design feature is that they do not have any ear cushions that could be held due to friction in the ear canal. The earbuds are inserted into the ear, and the only hope is that they will not immediately fall out – if you are fortunate with the shape of the ear. If not, then the headphones will constantly fall out, even if you sit quietly in place.

To solve this problem, the Google Pixel USB-C provides special silicone stops, which should hold the headphones in place due to their hook on one of the auricle cartilages. But it isn’t easy to make such a system convenient, and in this particular case, this was not achieved. The Google Pixel USB-C still does not hold well in the ear and is still uncomfortable with its ear rests.

No ear cushions mean no passive noise isolation.

The Google Pixel USB-C headphones have no ear cushions, which means there is no noise isolation. This means that you will hear absolutely everything around you at the same volume as without headphones.
In other words, even if you are lucky and the headphones will not fall out of your ear, you can only effectively listen to them in a relatively quiet place: at home or in a cozy office. But most people use headphones like this to while away the time while commuting to work or school, and this is where the problem arises – you won’t hear the music.

The peculiarities of human hearing are such that if a loud and quiet sound sounds simultaneous, then the loud one disguises the quiet one, and you cannot hear it. Many music compression algorithms, such as MP3 or AAC, are built on this effect. Due to this phenomenon, many sounds are removed from music that we do not hear, or at least which we ignore.

There are also pitfalls – the volume level. Imagine that you are driving in a subway car, it is noisy, and you completely stopped hearing music. You will make it louder and, yes, you will hear it a little better. But if you look at this carefully, it becomes clear that you have masked the already loud noise of the carriage with an even louder sound from the headphones. As a result of this exercise, your hearing begins to degrade seriously.

It is hazardous to hearing health. Remember: hearing cannot be returned. Once planting it, there is no way back.

Therefore, for the metro and other types of transport, headphones with good passive noise isolation, and, if possible, with active noise cancellation are needed. You will not have to turn up the volume of your headphones too much in this situation, and your hearing will be safe.

External noise makes Google Pixel USB-C sound quality poor.

Whether we like it or not, any headphones’ sound quality depends on how well the noise cancellation is organized. This is especially important for in-ear and in-ear headphones. They have a small driver, and for it to provide good sound quality, the maximum possible noise isolation is needed.

However, Google Pixel USB-C does not have any noise isolation. This suggests that even if it is not very loud around you, for example, you are walking in a city park or walking along a not very busy highway, all the same, all third-party sounds instantly mask the sounds of the music you are listening to. And the louder the sounds around you, the worse you hear the music.

The peculiarity of this problem is that even if you have to increase the headphones’ volume, you will still hear only part of it. This isn’t good.

Conclusion

No, definitely not worth it. If you’ve been eyeing the Google Pixel USB-C as an option to buy, don’t do it. The earbuds are not comfortable, have no noise isolation, and don’t sound very good on their own. These headphones are suitable only for telephone conversations, and then only in a relatively quiet room. If you want to listen to music on the go, please choose another model.

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