NuForce recently became part of the Optoma family of products, and is now offering the first of its new headphones, the BE6. These compact earphones offer Bluetooth connectivity, so they’re great for athletes and anyone else who doesn’t want to be bothered by a cord when listening to their tunes.

Despite their light weight, the BE6’s look very substantial, thanks to lightweight aluminum housing and a sleek, flat cable connecting the two drivers. To keep things nice and tidy, the earpieces can magnetically couple too. They come packed in a hard-shelled zipper pouch, and include several custom designed ear tips to ensure a proper fit. The Comply Sport memory foam eartips are especially good for active users, since they provide a form-fitting grip, and won’t fall out. All the provided eartips provide good isolation from ambient noise.

Audio quality is quite good for wireless earphones, and if your device supports aptX content, they can provide even higher quality audio. The drivers use a combination of magnesium alloy, titanium and brass to ensure minimal distortion, and in my experience, that held true. Despite being wireless, they can push out very high volume levels without cracking up.

Overall sound quality is very good. Vocals are clean and bright. These earphones lend themselves especially well to jazz, classical, pop, alternative and rock tracks. Rap and dance tunes could use a little more low end, in my opinion, though I found that I got much better bass response with the Comply eartips because they provided a tight fit with my ear. The moral of the story is to be sure to try several different sets of eartips with your earbuds – the ones you choose definitely make a difference in both comfort and sound quality.

Battery life is quite good for their size – offering nearly six hours on a charge. There’s a hidden microUSB connector in the control pod for juicing them back up. Speaking of the control pod – it provides remote control of volume and the ability to pause and play tracks, and doubles as a microphone for calls.

In conclusion, I think the NuForce BE6 earphones offer very good sound that’s on par with some of the best wired in-ear headphones I’ve tested. They’re well built and look good, and are comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time. Expect them to sell for $129(USD) when they hit retail. Keep an eye out on the Optoma website for more info.