As more manufacturers started releasing luxurious wireless headphones over the last few years, higher-priced options with leather trim and metallic highlights have become commonplace. There are plenty of Bluetooth headphones under $150, but most of them, to be frank, can't keep up sonically (or visually) with their higher-priced competition. The $149 SuperTooth Freedom is a no-frills, over-the-ear headphone pair—comfortable, and capable of delivering deep bass without distorting, even at top volumes. Other than a detachable cable, it's light on accessories, but its audio performance sounds similar to pairs that cost $50 more or higher. It earns our Editors' Choice for those of you looking for balanced, rich Bluetooth audio on a reasonable budget. If you want to splurge on Bluetooth headphones, consider the more expensive Harman Kardon BT, another Editors' Choice that features some luxury touches.

Design
The Freedom's outer shell is glossy plastic with versions in black/gray, black/blue, or white/gray. The underside of the headband is a padded rubbery material, and along with the circumaural (over-the-ear) earpads, the Freedom is extremely comfortable. The earcups pivot at the attachment point to the headband to better fit your head, letting you wear the headphones for long listening periods without discomfort.

On the right earpiece, a multifunction button covering the entire outer panel answers and ends calls, plays and pauses audio, and navigates tracks, all depending on how many times you press it. The button is quite easy to operate, but is just as easy to inadvertently press when you pick the headphones up or remove them. This could lead to you playing, pausing, or accidentally hanging up on calls. This happened multiple times to me, but I'm sure over time users can develop a technique to avoid this annoyance. The left earcup also holds a 3.5mm audio jack behind a rubber cover, for listening to the headphones in passive mode.

Dedicated Power and Volume Up/Down buttons sit on the right earcup (the volume controls work independently of your mobile device's volume). The right earcup also holds a rubber-covered USB port for the included USB charging cable and a NFC zone for pairing NFC-enabled devices.

Pairing the Freedom with an iPhone 5s was a quick and simple task, and the headphones auto-connect when you power them back up after pairing for the first time. Connecting the 3.5mm audio cable for wired playback automatically powers down the headphones for use in passive mode, which is a huge battery saver and a way to use the headphones when the battery is dead. However, the included cable doesn't have an inline remote, so you can't use the Freedom to make or answer calls in wired mode. SuperTooth estimates the Freedom's battery life at roughly 15 hours, but your results will depend upon your usage—particularly how loudly you listen to your tracks.

The headphones ship with a drawstring carrying pouch along with the USB cable, but no dedicated power adapter for outlets. You'll need to use your computer or a USB charger you buy on your own to power the Freedom.

Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Freedom pumps out some laudable deep bass, and it does not distort even at top volume levels on both the headphones and the Bluetooth audio source. This is impressive, but it should also be noted that the Freedom also does not get quite as loud as most competing models at top volumes. This shouldn't be viewed as a negative; other headphones get, arguably, too loud, and the Freedom stops short of levels that might cause not only distortion, but hearing damage. The lows on this track are delivered with gusto, but the spotlight belongs to the mids and highs. This is a bright sound with some robust low-end support.

On Bill Callahan's "Drover," this high-mid focus lends itself nicely to the vocals, which already naturally have plenty of low-end. They're delivered through the Freedom with some added definition alongside the guitar strumming, while the drums receive a tiny bit of added low-end presence. Overall, this is a pleasantly balanced sound, with the focus sitting firmly in the low-mid to high-mid range.

The attack of the kick drum loop on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" is delivered with enough high-mid presence to slice through the mix, but its sustain also receives some healthy power in the low-mids. The vocals float cleanly and often brightly over the mix, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with enough thump to imply their serious depth. Still, lovers of subwoofer-level low end might want something with a bit more sub-bass boosting.

Classical tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' "The Gospel According to the Other Mary," receive a bit of boosting in the lows. This lends the lower register instruments a bit more gravity, but the focus remains on the high-mids, and thus the higher register strings and vocals.

Conclusion
The Freedom is not as flashy as some other models; the design is simple but not clunky, and the accessories are kept to a minimum. Still, it's rare to find a Bluetooth headphone pair that delivers this much rich bass response paired with such articulate presence in the highs. At least, it's rare at this price. If you're looking for a Bluetooth option with more low-end while staying below $200, the SOL Republic Tracks Air offers gobs of low-end for big bass lovers. The more expensive Harman Kardon BT and AKG K845 BT, meanwhile, are both fine options with differing levels of bass and balance. If all of these pairs are out of your price range, consider the Outdoor Technology DJ Slims, which is not on the same level of audio performance as the above-listed models, but far more affordable. For $150, however, the SuperTooth Freedom is closer to the budget end of the spectrum than the luxury end—yet its audio performance sounds a bit higher end. It's not fancy, but if audio is your top priority, the Freedom delivers, and wins our Editors' Choice award.