How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want an ultra-light, all-silicone in-ear pair you can wear lying on your side and fall asleep in, choose MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon; if you need a proper on-ear work headset with a boom mic, a mute function and a cable that actually reaches across your desk, choose Wantek Headset wtih Mic. These two share almost nothing except a 3.5mm plug and a microphone. One is built for comfort in bed and on the move, the other is built for long calls at a desk. Picking the wrong one is the whole problem here, so let's sort out which side of that line you're on.
• MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon — biggest strength: soft silicone in-ear housing with a tiny 5–6mm dynamic driver and 16 ohm impedance, designed to sit flush in your ear without pressure, even against a pillow.
• MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon — biggest trade-off: it's a wired in-ear bud on a short 120mm cord with a 3.5mm plug only, so it needs a headphone jack and gives you no boom mic, no mute switch and no headband.
• Wantek Headset wtih Mic — biggest strength: on-ear design with a padded adjustable headband, memory foam cushions, a rotatable 330° boom mic with mute, and USB plus 3.5mm connectivity on a roughly 7-foot cable.
• Wantek Headset wtih Mic — biggest trade-off: it's a 180g on-ear headset with a 30mm driver, so it's bulky for travel, useless for side-sleeping, and it wants to live on a desk.
• Who each pick is for: MAXROCK for sleepers, side-sleepers, runners and anyone who wants near-weightless earbuds with basic call controls; Wantek for office, call center, Zoom/Teams, online class and gaming use where a real boom mic matters.
The MAXROCK is a niche product, and it knows it. The whole design revolves around one idea: a soft silicone housing that conforms to your ear instead of pressing into it. The driver is tiny — the spec sheet lists 5mm in the description and 6mm in the measurements — and the impedance is a low 16 ohm, which means it's easy to drive from a phone, tablet, laptop or game console. Frequency range is a standard 20Hz–20kHz, so it's tuned for everyday listening rather than studio work.
Where it genuinely earns its place is sleep and travel. If you're the kind of person who needs music, an audiobook or a podcast to fall asleep, a normal headset is a problem: it's too big, it jabs your ear when you roll onto your side, and it hurts by morning. This one is built around that exact scenario — the soft silicone tip is meant to sit gently enough that you can rest your head on a pillow without the usual pressure. The 120mm cord is short by design, so it doesn't tangle around you in bed.
What you get on top of that is basic but useful: a built-in microphone, an inline multifunction button for answer/reject/end, play/pause and track skipping, and a black protective case. Compatibility is broad — anything with a 3.5mm jack, including iPhones, iPads, iPods, Samsung Galaxy and Note models, MP3/MP4 players, laptops, tablets, PCs and game consoles.
Who should skip it? Anyone who takes a lot of calls in a noisy room or needs to be heard clearly on a video meeting. This is a tiny in-ear mic, not a boom mic. And if your phone or laptop has no 3.5mm jack, you'll need an adapter. It's also worth checking the current price on Amazon before you commit, since pricing on small accessories moves around.
The Wantek is the opposite kind of tool: a work headset. It's an on-ear design in black ABS plastic, weighing 180g, with a 30mm dynamic driver, 32 ohm impedance and a 20Hz–20kHz range. That's a bigger driver than the MAXROCK's, and the larger on-ear cup is what lets it deliver fuller sound for speech, meetings and casual gaming.
Comfort is clearly the priority in the design. There's an adjustable padded headband with memory foam cushions wrapped in breathable protein leather, and the ear cups rotate 180°, which helps them sit naturally on your head over long stretches. The boom mic rotates a full 330°, so you can swing it up and out of the way — or mute — when you're not talking. That's the single most useful feature for anyone who lives on calls.
Connectivity is the other headline: it works over USB or 3.5mm, which covers PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, iOS and Android phone. The cable is about 7 feet long, which is the difference between a headset you can actually lean back in your chair with and one that yanks your laptop off the desk. It's also built to work with Skype, Zoom and Teams, which makes it a sensible pick for online classes, remote meetings, call center work and gaming. There's a 12-month warranty listed too.
The trade-offs are real. It's a wired desk headset — no Bluetooth, no wireless freedom. It's on-ear rather than over-ear, so it may not fully seal out a loud office the way a big over-ear cup would. And the single-sided, open-ear style mentioned in the description is a deliberate choice: it keeps one ear free to hear your surroundings, which is great in an office but less ideal if you want total isolation. It is not a travel or sleep product at all.
• Best for sleeping and side-sleeping → MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon. The whole design is built around soft silicone and zero ear pressure against a pillow.
• Best for long work calls, Zoom and Teams → Wantek Headset wtih Mic. The rotatable boom mic with mute and the 7-foot cable are exactly what desk calls need.
• Best for running, travel and everyday listening → MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon. At roughly 50g it's near-weightless, with a short 120mm cord that stays out of the way.
• Best for an open ear to your surroundings → Wantek Headset wtih Mic. The on-ear, single-sided style keeps you aware of what's happening around you.
• Best for connecting to a laptop or PC with USB → Wantek Headset wtih Mic. It does USB and 3.5mm; the MAXROCK is 3.5mm only.
• Best for the widest range of 3.5mm devices → MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon. Phones, tablets, MP3 players, consoles, laptops and PCs are all listed as compatible.
• Best for clear voice pickup on a call → Wantek Headset wtih Mic. A 330° boom mic positioned near your mouth beats a tiny inline mic in almost every noisy-room scenario.
• Best for wearing all day at a desk → Wantek Headset wtih Mic. Adjustable headband, memory foam cushions and 180° rotating ear cups are designed for extended wear.
If I had to pick one, I'd pick based on the job, not the product. For desk work — meetings, calls, classes, gaming — I'd buy the Wantek Headset wtih Mic, because the boom mic, mute, USB/3.5mm flexibility and long cable solve problems the MAXROCK simply isn't built to solve. If your need is sleep, travel or featherweight everyday listening, I'd buy the MAXROCK Total Soft Silicon instead; nothing about the Wantek works in bed. In my opinion these aren't competitors so much as two different jobs, and the person who buys the wrong one will be disappointed for reasons that have nothing to do with quality. Check the current price on Amazon for whichever one matches your actual routine.
FAQ
how to use headphones with microphone
how to test headset with microphone
Connect it, open your sound settings or a recording app, and speak while watching the input level meter. Both headsets use a wired connection, so there's no pairing step — if the mic doesn't register, check that the plug is fully seated and that the correct device is selected as the input.
how to headset microphone
Position matters more than anything. On the Wantek, rotate the 330° boom mic so it sits near the corner of your mouth and swing it up to mute when you're done. On the MAXROCK, the mic is built into the inline housing, so keep the remote near your chest or collar rather than buried in a pocket.
how much are headphones with microphone
I don't quote prices here, because they shift constantly and I don't want to give you a stale number. Both the MAXROCK and the Wantek are wired headsets with built-in mics, and wired models like these generally sit in the affordable end of the market. Check the current price on Amazon using the button on this page.
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See also: MillSO Headphone Splitter vs Wantek USB Headset, Witmur Trucker vs Swiitech Headset: Business Bluetooth, BUTFULAKE Gaming Headset vs 4Gamers C6-100