These futuristic wireless earbuds just beat Apple's AirPods to the punch

Sometime in the past two years, the tech industry decided that headphones should be fully wireless.

The Bragi Dash blew up Kickstarter with the promise of headphones with touch controls, fitness tracking, and motion sensors. The word "hearables" came into existence. Headphone jacks were murdered. New wireless audio tech emerged.

And through it all, the wave of truly wireless earbuds - some of them simple, some of them like miniature computers - has grown and grown. It's not stopping.

There's just one problem: None of these gadgets are any good.

What's available today is consistently plagued by poor battery life and brutally choppy connections. Using them is an exercise in caution - you can't bury your phone too deep in your pockets, or put your hand over its antennas, or swing your arms too far while running, because any unsettling of the equilibrium could cut your music off at the knees.

You can't just wear them. Plus they're expensive.

And those are just the ones that've actually come out. The likes of Apple and Doppler Labs have had to delay their highly anticipated pairs to keep from suffering the same issues. It is simply very difficult to pack the necessary electronics into a design this small with any competence.

But Bragi has done it. No, not with the sensor-loaded Dash, but with The Headphone, the German startup's second pair of truly wireless in-ear headphones. Yes, that's their name. They cost $149 ($10 less than Apple's AirPods), and strip back most of the Dash's smarts to focus on the fundamentals. For the most part, they nail it. Let's take a look.