Topic: Hooke binaural bluetooth recording system - NOW REVIEWED

[webvan]

So is anyone still using the Hooke ? I decided to look into it again to get rid of the wire but the few LOUD samples they have on their YT channel are pretty disastrous, here's one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-1XPKrCX1E

[jerryfreak]

I’m still of the opinion that craoakie or bare wires are still more low pro than this lit up big piece of hardware behind your ears

[Ozpeter]

I got mine out today to try them with my new Android phone but didn't actually get as far as turning them on.  As for loud, I'm afraid the loudest thing I'm likely to encounter is the vaccuum cleaner.  For me, their chief downside has been unreliability of the app or connection to phone, and they are just too tricky to get comfy in the ears and stay put for a long period.  But as far as the light goes, you can always tape over that.

[Ozpeter]

A few years on, and I tried the Hooke Verse binaural device again.  Maybe there's no much point in discussing it now as the company seems to have gone out of business, but maybe there's a few of them floating around on eBay or whatever.

Anyway, I revisited them as I have fairly recently been putting "Comply" memory foam tips on my Sennheiser and Roland binaural mics to very good effect, but didn't use them on the Hooke device because it needs tips with rather small central holes to attach to the actual earbuds.   In trying to discover the exact size required, I noticed an old advert for the Hooke Verse which mentioned that foam tips were included in the package, and having eventually found them, they actually work pretty well and keep the Hooke Verse snugly in my ears for extended periods.  Then when experimenting with different Android devices I found that my 'daily driver' phone which uses BT to link to two watches (at once, yes, really) exhibited poor connectivity to the Hooke Verse, but another one which had no active BT connections ran fine for half an hour.   So my chief problems seem fixed, finally.

So, maybe I'll start to actually use the Hooke Verse at long last - the battery seems ok - for instance, it would make a good system alongside my Insta360 Go 2 video camera which has poor audio built in (and no mic socket).  The tiny Go 2 can be worn below a face mask (yes, really, again) and with the Hooke Verse worn in my ears, that would be a pretty minimal wearable video/audio system.  Please try to contain your excitement pending the upload of a YouTube video of this in the next few days...

[webvan]

That should be interesting !
Just recently pulled out my Insta360 Go for some sports videos, you really can't beat the portability of these things ;-)

[Ozpeter]

Here you go.  I was actually happier with the audio side of this than the video side, which had a rather restless quality.  It was basically a single 18 minute take but the Hooke Verse behaved perfectly fine for that amount of time, anyway! 

https://youtu.be/deh1XS8ok1w

[webvan]

Good job, thanks for sharing. Yeah the video is a bit "jumpy", wearing the GO on your shirt might work better and be a bit less conspicuous, especially with a black silicon sleeve (if you're wearing black!)

[mysticeyes]

Anyway, I revisited them as I have fairly recently been putting "Comply" memory foam tips on my Sennheiser and Roland binaural mics to very good effect, but didn't use them on the Hooke device because it needs tips with rather small central holes to attach to the actual earbuds.   In trying to discover the exact size required, I noticed an old advert for the Hooke Verse which mentioned that foam tips were included in the package, and having eventually found them, they actually work pretty well and keep the Hooke Verse snugly in my ears for extended periods.

Ozpeter, so....where did you find the foam tips for the Hooke? The ones that came with mine fell apart, and I'm trying to replace them. Thanks for any help on this.

[Ozpeter]

I was going to order some "Comply" brand ones, until I realised that I still had the supplied ones unused.  I have used "Comply" ones in my Sennheiser and Roland binaural earphones very successfully.  On the Comply site there is no recommended size for the Hooke Verse so you'd have to do some measurements - I suspect the smallest core size would be the correct ones to get. 

[Ozpeter]

Just a little update for the archive - I've just obtained a cut price set of Comply earphone tips for my rather neglected Hooke Verse binaurals.  The come in a set of  (3 pairs).  The particular model is the T-100 Isolation - which indeed does achieve a good level of isolation from external noise - and the size is '100' - which is barely possible to get onto the Hooke Verse. I suspect 200 would be the ideal fit.  [Edit - I tried T-200 size and they are significantly too big - so T-100, with a bit of persuasion, is the best size].  Also, I ordered the large size (for large ears) because they were going cheap, but my ear size is actually medium.  The compressable nature of these tips means that this is no disaster, but again, ideally medium would have been better.  Of course, YEMV (Your Ears May Vary). 

Having detailed how I ordered the wrong ones, I am happy to report that they stay in my ears just fine and the isolation from the outside helps judge what I am recording.  With all in-ear mics, the fit to the ear is of considerable importance - if only so that they don't fall out in the middle of a gig! - so the Compy ones get my seal of approval.

It's a shame that the Hooke Verse device now appears to be completely unobtainable.  I think the sound is great - it's the kind of audio that you'd have to carefully compare with something a lot better to be dissatisfied with, if you see what I mean.  And when worn by an elderly gent like me, security is quite likely to assume that they are hearing aids, not recording devices!

[earmonger]

I don't miss my Hooke.

Regarding foam eartips, though, you can find cheaper and more durable ones elsewhere. On AliExpress, Chinese Amazon, there are Anji Rui, Tennmak and some good no-names. You can also get Tennmak from Amazon in the US, don't know about elsewhere.

You'll have to do a little research to find whatever the equivalent is to the T100 nozzle size, but the savings over Comply are considerable.

[bandarn]

I would like to buy these from eBay. But the app seems to be gone from the AppStore, making the headphones useless for recording unless you already have the app since before.

Does anyone have the app and can extract the .ipa file for the app to send me?

Has there been any new bluetooth stereo microphone since these?

[Ozpeter]

This might work -

https://apkpure.com/hooke-audio-binaural-3d-audio/hooke.audio.app/download

But have you thought of trying the Sennheiser Ambeo headset?  Admittedly it's wired, and needs an adapter for Android, but I tend to use that rather than the Hooke these days.

[bandarn]

Thanks for the link. Sorry, the link is for the Android app and I have an iPhone.

Anyone on the forum who still has the app on their iPhone who can extract it using the iMazing program on a computer?

It seems super stealth with wireless, as you can also film with your phone without a cable hanging from the phone

[Ozpeter]

You to security - "You'll have to speak louder, my hearing aids aren't working very well today."