PlayGo BH22 Review: Bluetooth Headphones under 2500 INR

World of Play launched this PlayGo BH22 on-ear headphones last month and a few weeks later, I got the product in my hand. I have been using it for some time now and here we will see whether you should consider it as your next headphone purchase. It would set you back ₹2499 and for that, you are getting a 40mm driver output, Extra Bass mode, 35 hours of claimed battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and even a wired option.

Take a look at the complete specs and contents below:

This is the Smartprix review of the PlayGo BH22. Let’s begin.

PlayGo BH22 comes in champagne and lush lava colors. My evaluation unit is the former and the said champagne accent is present on the ring surrounding the earcups. On the outer surface of the earcups, there is the Play branding. Rest, it is black with a soft-touch finish.

The whole thing feels very light, not just in the hands, but on the head too. Even after hours of wearing, I wasn’t feeling any issue with its heft. The headband with a cushion by the bottom also stays comfy on the head and doesn’t feel that tight. It’s only the on-ear design that can make you feel fatigued and sweaty over a longer course of wearing. The cushion on the earpads isn’t bad though.

Now while not wearing, the collapsible design lets you pack it or carry it around easily. While you contract it down, you’d notice a strain of wire coming from the band and tethered to the earcup. This is the only thing that raises doubts towards durability in the longer run.

Finally, for controls, you have three buttons (volume up, volume down, and power cum equalizer) on the left side cup. You can tap three times on the power key to on/off the Extra Bass mode. Beneath these buttons, there is an LED indicator (red for charging, blue for charge full), an AUX cable port, a mic hole, and a micro-USB socket. In 2021, I don’t approve of this choice of PlayGo. I wish the brand had offered USB Type-C instead.

Let’s pair it to a device now.

Pairing is simple as just turning on and headphones and thereafter selecting the same within the Bluetooth settings of the phone or laptop. The thing connects over Bluetooth 5.0. It works within a radius of 10 meters. I didn’t face any connectivity drops. If you want. PlayGo also facilitates wired audio with help of a bundled AUX cable.

There are voice and LED prompts for every connection.

Moving on…

Before we get into the audio technicalities, here are the basic controls for music playback:

• Press + button once to increase loudness
• Press and Hold + to move to next song
• Press O button to play/pause music or pick/cut a call. Long Press O button to reject an incoming call.
• Press O button twice to trigger Google Assistant/Siri
• Press O button three times to activate or deactivate the Extra Bass mode.
• Press and Hold O button to power on/off.
• Press – button once to lower the volume
• Press and Hold – button to return to previous song

The BH22 is harboring a 40mm ‘Extra Bass Extra Loud’ driver. As already mentioned, there is a toggle for boosting the warmth of the sound. This endows a bit more thump to the sounds in the lower frequencies. But it happens so at the cost of high and mid frequencies.

These PlayGo headphones boast to produce sounds in between the 2.0GHz and 2.0KHz range. I tested with my usual playlist of music and felt there isn’t enough room for various music elements. In Björk’s Hunter post the 1:50 mark, there’s a simultaneous play of several sounds, it was all a cacophony on these cans. But these should sound fine for Bollywood and bass-heavy DJ songs.

I used these headphones for listening to music, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, and for chatting with Discord buddies. And there were no instances of glaring latency delays or volume issues. Even calls were okay for both parties.

Now let’s look at how long this music playback can go on —

The headphone is stated to run for about 35 hours and when it hits the rock bottom, dock in a micro-USB charger to refill. This would take around 3 hours. When the indicator rapidly blinks red, it means Low Battery. And whence you charge it, the thing flashes solid red. Upon fully charged (which takes a while), you’d see blue color LED.

And finally, we are at the conclusion.

This is the second PlayGo product that I have used. PlayGo N82 (review) neckband that I had reviewed last year is still going strong. So, I am optimistic about the longitvity of this new pair of headphones too. Well, its build quality (for the most part) warrants this confidence. Rest, the connectivity and audio side of things are serviceable and battery life is good. The use of micro-USB doesn’t sit well with me. Please, let there be USB-C on all World of Play hearables. Also, I wish the charging was fast. If it for not these two quibbles, the PlayGo BH22 would be a decent purchase under Rs. 2500.