I recorded an audio clip and you could hear everything going on around me but not me. Very smooth and quiet. It took me maybe 15 min to assemble with included allen wrench and it was very easy. I must comment that I paid close to $100 dollars with prior headsets so the comparison is somewhat unfair. this is your product! Why? Others cost $12 for 60 pair, or $5 for 25 pair. In terms of performance, the wifi is respectable and currently maxes out throughput on my "Gig" internet (which lately is more like 500Mb/s, but whatever). I stop by my mobile carry and they recommended Powerbeats High-Performance ones. Just hoping Adidas makes some of the easy improvements I listed for the next gen bag. A hard line started to form near the tong.