RC014

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
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Model: FIIL T1XS
Price: £54 (reduced for 11.11)
Vendor Website: FIIL
Review Reference: RC014

Manufacturer Specifications:

• Brand Name: FIIL
• Model Number: T1XS
• Control Button: Touch Control, two modes
• Active Noise-Cancellation: No
• Chipset: Airoha Luoda AB1536
• Communication: BT5.0
• Volume Control: Yes
• Auto ear sensor: Yes
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• APP Support: Yes (of 3.3.13)
• Number Of Drivers: 2
• Driver Diameter: 6.1mm dynamic
• Frequency Response Range: 15Hz - 22KHz
• Microphone: Yes, Dual mic with ENC
• Charging Method: USB-C Charging case
• Charge Time: Earbuds 45 mins, Case 1 1/2 hours
• Quick Charge: No
• Single Use Playtime: 6 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 24 hours
• Case weight: 29g
• Item weight: 9.6g
• Water Resistance: IPX5

What's In The Box:

1 x Charge Case (Micro-USB)
2 x Earbud
1 x USB-C cable
1 x User Manual
1 x Quick Guide
3 x Tips (pairs)
3 x Wings

Real Life Experience

FIIL may not be a household name in the consumer audio market - their website doesn't even have an 'about us' section, and googling them is eerily footprint-free, but in the chifi audio world they have been one of the best kept secrets for some time.

FIIL were founded by Chinese rock-star Wang Feng in 2015, aiming to emulate the successes of Dr Dre in the US, and is heavily involved in R&D and tuning. Bringing in Leon Wu as CTO from Plantronics was part of this journey, and the $30m+ ploughed in by VC seems to have pushed them in the right direction so far. After their Diva Pro succeeded on Kickstarter and received rave reviews across the board, they became the top selling mid-range headphone manufacturer in China within 2 years of their foundation and have won various design awards - IF Dot and CES, to name but two.

In 2020 they attacked the TWS market fiercely. The T1XS were the first of a number of excellent releases from FIIL, and paved the way for the success of their T1 Pro, later OEM'd as the Earfun Free Pro, and in 2022 they updated the portfolio further, with the popular T2 Pro succeeding the T1 series.

The Unboxing - 8/10



If you've ever purchased FIIL earbuds before, you'll know the score with the packaging. It's definitely at the premium end of budget, with a hard cardboard box displaying the key features on the front and back. Because I'm impatient, I ordered from two different sellers on Aliexpress. It didn't help, they arrived at the same time!

The FIIL branding is immediately evident on the impressively finished case and padded insert which holds it in place. It is a step up from the 'crate' approach usually adopted by budget vendors, and makes for a rather pleasant experience.



The overall unboxing is a similar experience to most 'semi-premium' chifi earbuds. The charging case nestles into a soft foam insert, underneath is the plastic insert within which a charging cable (USB-C), a choice of three sizes of eartips and wing-tips, an easy enough to follow quick guide (in English and Chinese) and a manual (completely in Chinese)

The Case - 8.5/10



The T1XS improved upon the previous FIIL case by going portable, glossy, and high quality. The outside of the case is finished in a very premium-looking glossy white, with the FIIL logo screen printed on the top of the lid. The rounded edges give the case an even smaller feel to it than it actually is, and it has escaped scratches very well due to the finishing.



The case achieves its portability goal, and is also well-designed, with a nicely weighted hinge that does not look like breaking any time soon. The lip at the front makes them ideal for single handed use - flipping it open is very straightforward and pain-free, unlike many cases at this price-point. At just 29g it is one of the lightest I've ever tested - 30% lighter than the original T1X case, and over 40% smaller. It is marginally taller than other 'semi-premium' chifi offerings, but they are unquestionably pocket-friendly. You could easily walk around all day with these in your jeans or trouser pocket and not look like you're pleased to see everyone!

They've settled on a slim, bar-shaped design that is similarly proportioned to the Tronsmart Onyx Free (without the placebo-esque 'UV' feature). Helpfully, if you prefer to use third party tips, the box closes and charges fine with, for example, the ikko i-planet TWS foam tips, as well as a number of other OEM offerings (Spinfit CP1025, Dekoni, etc).

The light at the front denotes the level of charge in a red/amber/green configuration that is a handy pointer if you're leaving the house and want to know whether you need to grab a cable or not. FIIL don't specify what percentage each light corresponds to, but if it's red - give it a blast via USB-C.



The case is powered by USB-C. It gives you a total of 24 hours playtime, and the earbuds charge fully in 40-45 minutes. There is no wireless charging for this model, but they do support quick charge, giving you an hours playtime from around 15 minutes of juice.

The Ergonomics - 8.5/10



Firstly, the finish is clearly very high quality. The T1XS is available in a satin white or piano black finish, with grey wings that match the eartips, and they come in several sizes to suit almost all ear sizes.



The driver surround is metallic rather than the usual plastic, giving it an IEM feel, but this does not detract from the comfort. The battery connectors are located at the top, with a pressure release hole on the inside, and this is quite important, as the fit is rather invasive.



A voice mic is located on the bottom to maximise call quality for this form factor.



Another mic, a feedthrough or ambient mic, is situated on the top, in order to facilitate the noise reduction they advertise. As can be seen above, they differ from other popular models at this price point - the Tronsmart Apollo Bold and Edifier TWS NB2 - in both size and design. FIIL have gone for a brief that suits exercise, with an IP rating of IPX5 a little low compared with many that support between IPX6-IPX8, but making them more versatile - back in 2020 it was rare to see quad-mic array buds with a higher IPX rating than this, so FIIL have made a compromise allowing them to exist as practical all-rounders that won't break down if you break a sweat, but don't lose compromise on call quality, and are thus suited to a variety of applications.



When comparing the shape to similar designed earbuds, the closest equivalents are probably the Tronsmart Free and Whizzer E3. The design perhaps aligns closest to the Whizzer, due to the 'right-angle' connection into the ear canal. This sort of design really relies on wing tips to keep them in place, so it was a smart move by FIIL to include these. They tuck into the top of your antihelix and keep the buds secure very well, and the borders are rather thick, so no danger of them coming loose.




The straight nozzle is not especially conducive to the modus operandi FIIL intimate - they are meant to worn at a slight angle to best suit the mic design (pictured above). Had they angled them down a little like the Tronsmart, it would facilitate a better fit for the average ear size. These are certainly more suitable for smaller ears.



The smallest wing tip struggles here in the orientation FIIL recommend, so you either need to use the large, or tilt them slightly. Unfortunately I found the large to be rather uncomfortable.



Above shows the fit with the larger wingtips, which increased their stability, but I wasn't as happy with the sound or the comfort - within a very short time I was struggling with ear fatigue. I recommend people with larger ears use them in this way:



On the plus side, they seal magnificently with foam tips, giving excellent passive noise isolation. On a windy day here in the UK I couldn't hear any wind or passing traffic, which was similar to the Whizzer. The app supposedly allows you to manage how much ambient noise is filtered through.

My recommendation is to just fit them how you think will fit best rather than following FIIL's guidance - I went back to silicone after a while and the seal was very tight.

Sound Quality - 8/10 (for the price paid), 7.5/10 (raw score)

It is always a difficult balance reviewing raw sound quality against intermediate sound quality (i.e. sound quality against price). These were particularly difficult to judge, because whilst their sound signature is not my favourite, I cannot argue against how balanced and smooth they sound for a v-shaped set of Bluetooth earbuds.

The frequency range is advertised as 15Hz to 22KHz, and objective testing revealed that they do notch a little later than the majority of earbuds, but without the nasty spikes you hear on some budget options, which bring screechy vocals and sibilance to the high hats.

Low and high mids are delivered pretty well by Bluetooth TWS standards, no matter how complex the track, with decent imaging albeit at the expense of an expansive soundstage - the T1XS are deep fitting, which makes it nigh on impossible to give them an airiness through auditory masking. This results in them definitely sounding more 'intimate', but their clarity is still very good by 2020 standards.

I put them to the test with a variety of different music styles and vocal ranges, and I couldn't get female vocals to wash away, although with tenors and mezzo-soprano you may not be so fortunate. Typically at this price point you get a very clear V with recessed, muddy mids, but some mid-bass bleed aside (expected at this price point) they don't perform too badly. They get even better with improved tips, where the soundstage seems to expand a shade. With FLAC testing on Windows - again, they did not disappoint, delivering very decent sound, albeit nowhere near the tuning of a similarly priced wired IEM.

The FIIL+ app gives you lots of control over EQ, and you also have the option of Wavelet on Android.

Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors - 6.5/10

There is clearly some noise cancelling going on with the mic array. They are much better at filtering out the low end. Ambient adult voices indoors are evidently muffled, children's voices not so well.

Outdoors, whilst wind is not prominent, you can clearly hear passing traffic, but your voice is natural and audible with no connectivity drops.

I took them out in my 'test of the extremes' recently where I tested call quality in wind, rain and traffic. FIIL performed very well considering the shape keeps a distance between the ear and your mouth compared with the stem based designs.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 8/10

Connectivity is strong. No issues at all whether indoors or outdoors. They are Bluetooth 5.0, and it is possible to use them in single mode.

There are 'gaming' modes and a number of other features available. When I first reviewed the T1XS some features were limited but now they are fully integrated into their feature-rich, if a little sketchy, FIIL+ app, with lots of EQ presets, as well as a custom 10-band equaliser, the ability to change the default control mode, and yes, changing the default language to English (see my instagram video for details) FIIL made the odd decision to ship these by default in 'easy' mode, which only allows you to skip tracks with the touch controls, so remember to switch it in the app to facilitate volume control.

They support auto-pause when removed from your ear, adjustable sensitivity modes, low latency mode, and battery saver mode, which reduces the sound quality, but keeps them alive a little longer.

Bluetooth Tweaker revealed some oddities. On SBC they have lowered the Bitpool differential by reducing the max bitpool from 2 to 8. This meant that I was able to achieve the lowest latency I'd tested to date - 170 ms source to destination - so ideal for casual YouTube viewing. Interestingly, these do not support MPEG-4 AAC LC - only MPEG-2 AAC-LC. This means they are able to up the bit rate to 393,216 - roughly the equivalent to AptX.

Battery Life - 8/10

The T1XS advertise 6 hours. I got just over 5 on one earbud, the other drained slightly quicker. This was with the odd phone call and listening at around 70% volume, which will be more than suitable for most.

The charge case gives you around 24 hours in total, and real-life was not too far short of this, but bear in mind the more phone calls or features you use, the less battery you will get.

It supports quick charge as stated - 40 minutes to charge the headphones fully, and 15 minutes gives you around 1 hour. This can be extended by choosing power saving mode, but will be more than adequate for most users - revisiting this review in 2022 shows we haven't moved much in this area.

Final Comments

The T1XS are a really solid release from FIIL that massively improve on their original offering. I didn't try the T1X until quite a long time after they were released - they were pretty good, but not as good as they were hyped up to be. I'd expected a really clear sound signature and got a more dynamic sound, which is fine, but the T1XS are far more to my liking, adding clarity to the trademark FIIL punchiness.

The audio performance is, for the price, very good, and unlike the Apollo Bold and Edifier TWS NB2, they are great all-rounders - you can use them for sport with no fear of them popping out with the array of tips, as well as a daily commute. They are good for YouTube videos and not bad as a headset for calls, provided you aren't subjected to lots of chatting and other ambient noises.

Absence of ANC is the only negative, but the passive noise isolation is not that much worse than Edifiers ANC! The tight seal ensures little noise gets through outdoors and unlike others in this price bracket, such as the Ugreen Hi-Tune, 1More Colorbuds and Tranya T10, they combine excellent isolation with thoughtful ergonomics that suit all ear shapes and sizes.

Releasing them at the same time as the T1 Pro means the latter will inevitably get more attention, but FIIL didn't do a bad job at all with this release.

SEP 21:

I have added a score bringing the review up-to-date for 2021 and 2022, as it seems like the T1XS are still popular. The Earfun Free Pro or if you're feeling adventurous, the FIIL T1 or T2 Pro, are available for a similar price offering better features and sound. I'd favour those models over this, since technology moves at such a fast pace.

Price Weighted Score: 88%
Raw Score: 84%
2021 Score: 81%
2022 Score: 80%

FIIL Review Inventory:

CC Pro
CC2
T1 Pro
T1 XS

About FIIL:

FIIL were founded by Chinese rock-star Wang Feng in 2015, aiming to emulate the successes of Dr Dre in the US, and is heavily involved in R&D and tuning. Bringing in Leon Wu as CTO from Plantronics was part of this journey, and the $30m+ ploughed in by VC seems to have pushed them in the right direction so far. After their Diva Pro succeeded on Kickstarter and received rave reviews across the board, they became the top selling mid-range headphone manufacturer in China within 2 years of their foundation and have won various design awards - IF Dot and CES, to name but two.

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)

Model: Whizzer E3
Price: $25
Vendor Website: Whizzer
Review Reference: RC013

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Whizzer
• Model: E3
• Driver: 6mm Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Not known
• Mic: 4
• ANC: No
• Volume Control: No
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• Sensitivity: 89±3dbdB
• Resistance: 16ΩΩ
• Frequency Response Range: 20 - 200000Hz
• Earbud Weight: 3.94g
• Earbud Dimensions: Tiny!
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 57g
• Case Dimensions: 60mm (width) x 47.5mm (height) x 43mm (depth)
• Case Charge Capacity: 380mAh
• Input: 5v 1A
• Full Charge Time: 90 min
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 4 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 20 hours
• App Support: No
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX7

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x Micro-USB Charge Case
1 x Micro-USB Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual
1 x Quick Guide



Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the Whizzer E3. Whizzer are a popular IEM brand originating in, unsurprisingly, Shenzhen. The Shenzhen Whizzer Technology Company go under the brand names Whizzer, Opera Factory and Kylin, and have a strong reputation for good looking, well-performing buds, certainly in the IEM market.

Several of their releases have won awards, including the 2013 detail innovation award, and in 2019 their HE03 won the lifestyle VGP award, but their releases are quite rare, with a focus seemingly on the OEM market.

Regardless I was keen to try the E3 due to their odd-looking design, and whilst they aren't going to displace my MTW any time soon, they still aren't half bad at all.

The Unboxing - 8/10



The unboxing of the Whizzer E3 has a premium feel to it, which will be no surprise to those who have purchased a set of their IEM's. The rose gold finish to the lettering is probably aimed at the female market, as reflected by the marketing images and overall design.

Inside the Pandora-style box is a pebble-inspired charge case, quick guide, micro USB charge cable and spare tips. The large white enclosure which houses them is rather impressive, and the box sits aloft a premium-feeling foam insert. The only blot on the copybook is the supplied tips, which are pretty low quality, as you would expect. Overall though, a fairly pleasant experience.

The Case - 7/10



The case is another oddity to the release - the pebble design is unique, and asymmetrical, which I would usually hate, but it suits the style of the bud and feels quite substantial. The Whizzer logo in silver looks quite nice on the front, and has stood the test of time really well.



With 4 lights on the front denoting the battery of the case, this makes it easy to see how much juice you have for the day. The hinge is good enough, and while portability is questionable due to the dimensions (6x4.7x4.3cm), it is novel and looks pretty.



Another minor problem is it is powered by Micro-USB, which means no wireless charging and no quick charge, but I'm not going to be too harsh on them as they were released nearly a year ago.

The Ergonomics - 8/10



The stone finish is a nice touch and the nozzle is well proportioned to give a comfortable fit for short spells.

The E3 are designed to rest in your ears, and due to the short, 90 degree neck, this means they can rest quite well just inside your ear canal without being too invasive. As a result, passive isolation is pretty poor, so if you push them in too far you will feel discomfort. Pushing the tactile button simply accelerates the point of diminishing returns.



As you can see above against the Tronsmart Onyx Free, they are designed to sit against the cartilage and nestle into the concha. Whilst absolutely fine most of the time, when you need to initiate the tactile buttons (pictured in the case section) you instantly notice the experience is not quite as pressure-free as the Tronsmart design, where they have angled the neck to run adjacent to the antihelix.

Still, I bed tested these without foam tips and they were acceptable, even with foam tips they were one of the few that I haven't spent the next morning scrambling around the bed looking for! They are nice and lightweight, so ideal for snoozing listening to podcasts or audio books - but can sound hollow without the foam tips, so that's your trade off.

They are stated IPX7 - I favour wingtips for exercise, so wouldn't recommend them for this use case, especially since they are essentially resting at a right angle inside your concha, although they did pass the shake test and subsequent tests during exercise demonstrated no issues.

The microphone position is, like many that were released around that time, not high on the priority list, and this results in predictable flows of background noise interrupting call quality in noisy environments (as below).

Sound Quality - 8/10 (for the price paid), 7/10 (raw score)

It is always a difficult balance reviewing raw sound quality against intermediate sound quality (i.e. true sound quality against expected sound quality for the price paid). Now bear in mind these are £26, use AAC, and are very Chifi (even the announcements are in a Chinese accent), I was not expecting too much.

First subjective roll with the supplied tips sounded really hollow. None of the tips fit me particularly well and I would imagine this to be the case for anyone - they are a bit flimsy - not great quality on the outside, albeit well insulated in the inside of the insert.

I don't usually find myself sticking with foam tips. I find the ones that do fit well have to be removed to fit in the charger case with almost every TWS, and the ones that fit in the charger case, like the Ikko i-Planet, can't be suppressed sufficiently to fit nicely into your ear canal to get the required seal. However, with these, like the Boltune BT-BH024 (the other of the few where I favour foam tips) I have to make an exception.

As soon as I got some medium length foam tips on these the soundstage blasted through. Wow, much better. They are very fit dependent - once you get this right, the lower frequencies are elevated giving a warm but rich feel to baritone vocals, bass guitars and strings. More complex tracks see the instruments take a backseat to allow the vocals to come to the front, and as such the detail can feel a bit lacking. This was especially the case when I tested a few FLAC's from St Germain, St Etienne and John Legend, but in all honesty if you want an audiophile experience from a $30 set of Bluetooth earbuds, I want some of what you've been smoking!

Overall though, really impressive at the price - a joy to listen with, regardless of music style, and a nice break from some of the too consumer-sounding buds I've tested lately.

Call Quality - Indoors - 5/10, Outdoors - 4/10

Definitely not a set you want to make calls with - certainly not the worst I've tested but it's clear the mic was bottom of the list of priorities with the design.

These are on the 'let everything through' side of the coin - they pick everything up, as well as your voice, and when you see the positioning you understand why - they have to, because otherwise you will sound like you're mumbling into a pillow. This may (barely) help indoors, but the moment you get any ambient noise, it's game over.

The sound is a little robotic when it does come through as well, but you can at least make it out - better than the MPOW, Nillkin and Aukey efforts I reviewed recently. It does announce the name of the caller on iPhone - a nice touch.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 5/10

Connectivity in the beginning was a bit iffy. I didn't manage to make it beyond my usual cut off point - which is about 10m away - before it started to cut out. I also had an issue where it wouldn't automatically detect to the previously connected device, and went into pairing mode again by default. It allowed me to connect on both iPhone and Windows, but the 'pairing' announcement left me a little confused. No drop offs however. EDIT - since, no problems.



Tactile controls are fine, although no volume, and as I mentioned earlier to get the full benefit of the sound these need to be inserted quite deep into your ears, which then can cause a little discomfort to use the controls until you get used to it.

There is nothing else to note really. Since the buds are not Qualcomm chip-based, there is no aptx support or any kind of noise cancellation. They isolate reasonably well with foam, dire without. Latency is a little ropey, there is no quick charge, no wireless charging, no app support. They do support voice assistant, and are IPX6 water resistant.

Battery Life - 6/10

Not brilliant. No quick charge and the advertised 5 hours was ambitious - I got just over 3.5 with periodic calls and blasts of podcasts connected to my iPhone 8. The charge case gives an extra 4 charges, and there is a standby time of 120 hours. For a full charge of the case and buds, you're looking at around 90 minutes.

Final Comments

The Whizzer E3 are a novel, attractive and comfortable TWS with an enjoyable sound signature. That said, even at their low price, there are some factors that should be taken into consideration.

Their awkward, right-angle design will not sit well with everyone - it will not offer much in the way of passive isolation without foam tips, and finding use-cases for them other than vegging out on the sofa is difficult as they offer little more than lightweight footprint and good audio. Battery life is weak, latency is not great, there is no real feature set to speak of, and calls are a non-starter.

Still, they are good for sleeping in, if you get caught in the rain they won't fry, and as a spare pair of buds, $30 is not too much to lose. It looks like they are going to release a Qualcomm-based version of this in the near future, and if this irons out the latency issues and improves the battery, I could be persuaded to sacrifice the sumptuous pebble charge case!

Price Weighted Score: 77%
Raw Score: 69%

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)

Model: MPOW M12
Price: £18.49
Vendor: Amazon UK
Review Reference: RC012

Manufacturer Blurb:

• Brand: MPOW
• Model: M12
• Driver: 6mm Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Not known
• Mic: 4
• ANC: No
• Volume Control: Yes
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• Full Charge Time: 2 hours
• Quick Charge: Yes
• Wireless Charging: Yes
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 5 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 25 hours
• App Support: No
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX8

Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the MPOW M12. MPOW are one of the first names that jump out when you search TWS on Amazon, with 377 5 star reviews for this very product! With it's impressive feature-set and low cost, I took the plunge, which is kinda apt, because they would ultimately end up down the toilet!

The Unboxing - 6/10




No different to any other cheap earbud really, standard cardboard surround revealed a second box, within which the plastic shroud houses the case and the buds. Like many earbuds nowadays, these arrived separated from the case, meaning they were DOA and required charging.

Inside the box we have the amusing 'You've won an Amazon voucher...just leave a 5 star review and email us the link' card. Oh dear. And so many suckers fell for it!

PLEASE STOP DOING THIS!!



Otherwise it's the standard fare: quick guide, user manual, warranty extension card, spare tips, usb-c charge cable, case, buds.

The Case - 8/10

Nicely compact. No case size comparisons this time I'm afraid, but I'd say it's similar to the Aukey EP-T25 I reviewed not so long back - around 60mm x 40mm. The main issue - not a problem for me but will be for some - is the depth. It sat higher than most of my TWS, making it kinda bullet shaped, which is not going to sit well in pockets compared to, for example, the Boltune BT-BH024 or Edifier TWS NB2.

So why the high score? Well, firstly it supports wireless charging, secondly it is USB-C (although that is almost a given now), thirdly you get a reasonable 20 extra hours from a fully charged case, and finally as well as supporting quick charge, it also has 4 lights on the front showing how many charges remain. With many cases not having this feature, it's nice to see it back. Oh yeah - it also supports hall switch mode, which means instant pairing - no racing to get the buds out of the case before they shut down!

The Ergonomics - 7/10



The M12 is another from the 'bulbous brigade' designed to balance noise isolation, fit and touch control. And in all honesty, it does it pretty well. Noise isolation is surprisingly really effective and the large 'fingertip-friendly' touch surface area is sufficiently spread to prevent pressure on the ear and minimise accidental touches. I shouldn't be surprised, because these are designed similarly to the Tranya T10, which were also very good at isolating noise.



The driver housing is not overloaded with a heavy surround (unlike the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79) so the fit is quite comfortable, but due to the width of the bud, they are not ideal for listening in bed or for strenuous exercise.



The IPX rating suggests they were designed with exercise in mind - IPX8 means they are fine in heavy rain - but I gave them the shake test and unfortunately they didn't fare too well compared to something like the Nillkin TW004, which don't budge, the above-pictured Tronsmart, which angle more with a shorter neck, and even the Apollo Bold, which pack your concha.

Sound Quality - 5.5/10 (for the price paid), 4/10 (raw score)

It is always a difficult balance reviewing raw sound quality against intermediate sound quality (i.e. sound quality against price). What are you expecting at this price? Honestly I wasn't expecting much, and unsurprisingly they didn't deliver much either. Some music sounded OK on Windows, mostly non-complex pop. 'Calvin Harris - Summer' sounded passable, but anything complicated and they started to suffer.

My usual reference tracks, which really test the buds ability to separate low and high mids around a mixture of vocal ranges, sounded almost distorted, especially where multiple groups of the same frequency range instruments combined. On some tracks, as vocals tried to push through, in trying to create a wider soundstage the higher frequencies thin and the lower frequencies distort. John Legend would have barely recognised 'Love Me Now', and 'Right Out of Heaven' by Bruno Mars lost all of it's charisma.

It sounds silly making these comments about £18 earbuds but I think it's important to know what you are and aren't going to get - these are low complexity specialists which boost the trebles and try to boost the lower mids without emphasising the bass too much - a problem with most of MPOW's previous releases - if you like pop and dance, these genres should for the most part sound well rounded and not too harsh even at quite high volumes, but if you like baritone vocals, opera and anything remotely complex in the lower frequencies, prepare to be disappointed.

Call Quality - Indoors - 2/10, Outdoors - 1/10

I didn't anything could be worse than the Aukey EP-T25. After multiple resets they improved somewhat. These are the new worst.

I reset them several times. Still I cannot make out a single word I said with a little ambient noise. It actually sounds like it is trying to cancel EVERYTHING out! Without any ambient noise, you sound a little distant - you have to raise your voice a little to be heard.

I even checked for stickers that might be covering the mics, nope, they're just rubbish, or possibly faulty. Do not even consider these if you intend to use them for calls and you have any kind of ambient noise!

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7/10

These are theoretically great. The large surface area of the touch pad is perfectly sized, for example, but totally unresponsive. You touch the controls and maybe a few seconds later something will happen. Holding the buds down turn the volume up and down supposedly, again, theoretically great but I couldn't get this to work at all, it just skipped tracks.

Connectivity was OK - the usual distance (<10m), but I didn't take out to test if they worked in congested areas.

These feature SIRI or Voice Assistant by triple tapping, which I managed to achieve on multiple occasions when trying to skip track

The M12 do not use a Qualcomm chipset SoC, so they default to AAC on Android and IOS. I had too many applications open to reboot to test through Bluetooth Tweaker to see what was going on with the codecs. Wireless charging is a great bonus at this price point.

Battery Life - 7/10

At the lower end of average, but perfectly acceptable - over 4 hours from a single charge, including music and phone calls. This extends to around 25 hours with the case. It's a 90 minute charge with USB-C and around 2 hours wireless.

Final Comments

In the sub £20 market these aren't all that bad. They do some stuff pretty well, but are far better on paper than they are in practice. The jittery controls and poor microphone made them frustrating to use, and latency issues on YouTube didn't help their cause.

I can accept these frailties if earbuds sound good, but sadly the M12 don't even do that. There's a reason they are 5 star throughout on Amazon - and it isn't because they're 5 star headphones.

Price Weighted Score: 62%
Raw Score: 50%

RC011

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
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Model: TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79
Price: £29.99
Vendor Website: Taotronics
Review Reference: RC011

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Taotronics
• Model: Soundliberty 79
• Driver: 6mm PEEK
• Chipset: Not Known
• Impedence: 16Ω
• Frequency Response Range: 20-20000Hz
• Mic: 4, elevoc voc-plus
• ANC: Yes, up to 40dB
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• Case Charge Capacity: 220mAh
• Full Charge Time: 120 minutes
• Quick Charge: Yes
• Wireless Charging: No
• Input: 5V 1A
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 8 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 30 hours
• App Support: Not currently
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX8

In The Box:

1 x Pair TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79 headphones
1 x USB-C Charging case
3 x Eartip options
1 x Wing Tips
1 x USB-C charging cable
2 x Manuals

Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79. Are they sports buds? Are they office buds? I don't think Taotronics know, so lets investigate....

The Unboxing - 6/10



I've tested TT headphones so I knew what to expect. Nothing exciting. The box is small and it contains the bare essentials - user manual, case, charge cable, quick guide and voucher exchanging an Amazon gift card for a 5 star review....ahem, I think not.

The Case - 7/10



The case is generic - it looks identical to many others on the market, including Taotronics SoundLiberty 94. It is portable enough to go in a handbag, but the pill shape makes it ill-equipped for jacket pockets.

The case gives an extra 22 hours charge via USB, supports quick charge but no wireless charging.

Ergonomics - 6/10



The buds look nice, slotting into the case tip down. They have the Taotronics logo etched in with a shiny metallic finish to the edges. Whilst they look good, the ergonomics are sadly not great - and here's why:



The nozzle is too short and without any kind of gradient, and the thick ring surrounding the driver is gives it a diameter of over 7mm. This makes it very painful when inserting deep into your ear canal if you have thin ears. I tried every one of the supplied 6 (yes, 6!) sets of tips. The tips are sadly poor quality, but I tried foam tips and spinfits - still the same problem.

Unfortunately my phone managed to destroy the images I took of the calipers measuring these areas but you can see from another reviewers picture what I mean.

Sound Quality - 7.5/10

If you can get a good fit, then the 79 actually sound pretty good. The bass is pretty flat throughout, and this gives the mid ranges a punch, retaining speed and minimising bloat. They've also engineered the mid ranges really nicely, and vocals do not take a back seat, instead really coming to the front without losing any accuracy in guitars or drums.

The higher frequencies are also rather good, with the low trebles elevated. This brings to life jazz and classical tracks, although there's a bit of a spike at 4000Hz which can make certain vocalists sound a bit shrieky, which sounds odd when the trebles are by and large quite neutral.

Unfortunately to enjoy the buds soundstage you need to insert them properly, which was simply too painful for me for prolonged use.

Call Quality - Indoors - 8/10, Outdoors - 7/10

Whilst your voice can sound a touch hollow, the 'smart-AI' is no gimmick - it actually works.

I put the TV on, stood with my head practically in a fan...nothing. It hides everything.

Outside was not so hot. Cars were audible (wind was cancelled out which was impressive, although it was not a particularly windy day). When I played back the recording, my voice was a bit in-and-out, so it's clear it is prone to over-isolate.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7/10

Connectivity surprisingly very strong. They took a little longer to cut out than most. I should not be surprised, this is the second set of TT headphones that have outperformed the average in this area.

Sadly the controls let it down. They are all over the shop. You can at least change the volume with a single tap (left down, right up) (in theory) which is my preferred default. Sadly this hardly ever happened, all I kept doing was accessing SIRI!

Double-tap is play or pause, triple tap right advances track/chapter, left does the previous.

When a call comes through, a single tap answers and a long press rejects. I kept rejecting then immediately activating SIRI!

The IPX rating means you can swim with these and the fins are a nice addition.

6 pairs of albeit flimsy tips is a nice touch.

Battery Life - 8/10

A good 8 hours and 30 with the case. I couldn't keep them in my ears long enough to double check.

Final Comments

At £30 I wasn't expecting much. I didn't expect the AI mic to be as effective as it was - indoors it works very well, but this is a little odd in that these don't really jump out as commuter buds. The fins and IPX rating suggest these are designed for sport - well, you won't be making many calls under water and if you're running or cycling good luck with the controls!

The main issue is the design. The driver surround is too thick and there is no graduation making them awfully uncomfortable unless you have thick ear canals.

The SQ is OK but at this price point, you have the likes of the Tranya T10 which is far better. I'd even put the Edifier X3 and MPOW M30 Plus way ahead in this field. Already in the box on the way back. Sorry Taotronics, not good enough I'm afraid.

Price Weighted Score: 63%
Raw Score: 60%
2022 Score: 59%

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Model: Edifier TWS-NB2
Price: £59
Link: Edifier
Review Reference: RC010

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Edifier
• Model: TWS NB2
• Driver: 10mm Composite Driver
• Chipset: BES 2300
• Impedence: 24 Ohm
• Mic: 4, ENC
• ANC: Yes
• Codecs: SBC
• Earbud Weight: 5.3g
• Earbud Dimensions: 34mm height, 30mm stem length.
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 44.68g
• Case Dimensions: 65,5mm (width) x 48.2mm (depth) x 25.6mm (height)
• Case Charge Capacity: 500mAh
• Full Charge Time: 120 minutes
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Input: 5V 1A
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 9 hours (ANC Off), 7 hours (ANC On)
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 31 hours (ANC Off), 23 hours (ANC On)
• App Support: Yes, IOS and Android - Edifier Connect
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: BLE/ HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX54

Includes:

1 x Pair TWS NB2 Earbuds
1 x USB-C Charging Case
3 x Pair Silicon Eartip
1 x USB Type-C Cable
1 x User Manual
1 x Cloth Carry Bag

Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the highly-anticipated Edifier TWS NB2.

Edifier specialize in the design and manufacture of premium audio solutions that showcase technological innovation and design excellence. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Beijing, China, they claim to deliver outstanding sound experiences through a wide range of home sound, professional audio, automobile audio, headphones, and microphones for personal entertainment and professional use. In 2010, they were regarded as the only Chinese enterprise for national trademark strategy implementation, and in February 2010, joined the Chinese stock share market and became the first enterprise listed in the Chinese audio market.

Edifier has won many international awards, such as the "Red Dot Design Award", "CES Design and Engineering Award", "JIDPO Design award" (Japan Industrial Design Association Award), and the iF Design Award. In 2012, Edifier acquired the Japanese company, Statx Ltd., which was famous for its static earphone brand. In 2016, Edifier cooperated with the top U.S. tablet headset brand Audeze LLC to implement its global market strategy. Edifier is reported on many top media sites, including Forbes, Yahoo, CNBC, CNET, and more.

The Unboxing - 9/10



If you've ever bought a Tissot watch...well this kinda feels like the same experience. Not quite a Rolex, or even an Omega, but they've made an effort. The front outer inlay, pictured in the title pic, nominates their headline features - ANC, app support, battery life and bluetooth 5.0 (hardly something you should be leading with really, but there you go!). The back elaborates further, with features detailed in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese.



The faux leather box is nice, and gives a real premium feel to the release.



Opening it up reveals a solid foam casing in which a grey cardboard box houses the case and buds, and when you pull it out you find it contains the cables, tips, manuals and cloth drawstring bag.



The manual is in a bunch of different languages as pictured above, and is straightforward and easy to follow.

The Case - 8.5/10



The same faux-leather finish as the box. On top is an embossed Edifier logo, which again feels very premium. At the rear you have a USB-C charge socket, a sturdy hinge and a light to denote charge status.




The light inside denotes the charging status of the buds, which would be handy on the outside in all honesty. The buds rest face down into the charging case, and here you can see the pairing button, which sits exactly in the middle of the two buds.



Whilst it is larger than some of it's contemporaries, its' pebble shaped design is portable enough, and lightweight so it's suitable for jacket pockets and handbags alike.

The Ergonomics - 8/10



The Edifier TWS NB2 are quite distinguishable with their 3D stems and gun metal exterior.



There are mic chambers at the base for the voice, and at the top for ambient sound. On the inside is a pressure relief chamber and feedthrough mic.



They are bulbous, like many others, in order to maximise passive noise cancellation. It doesn't detract from the comfort - they fit nicely, although the stock tips that are fitted are visibly better quality than the other supplied sizes, which is a shame.



Despite the bulbous neck and stubby ends, they sit quite nicely in the ears, although the silicone tips feel quite cheap, so they can feel a little loose. I would recommend changing these out as quickly as possible, otherwise you may find them slipping out rather easily.

The buds are IPX54, so I wouldn't recommend more than a dash to the station in them - certainly no showering or swimming.

Sound Quality - 7/10 for the price, 7/10 raw score

It is always a difficult balance reviewing raw sound quality against intermediate sound quality (i.e. sound quality against price).

Subjective tests were good. They immediately jump out as having a slightly broader soundstage than your average $10-20 buds, retaining more detail than I come to expect, without sounding especially exciting. Bass guitars have weight and kick drums have punchiness about them - the lower frequencies are unquestionably enhanced compared with the NB1, but not offensively so - subbass has no nasty surprises, and the raw sound is more refined than something like the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, but they do a lack a little richness, especially on rock tracks, and even house and techno, where high hats, snares cymbals can leave you feeling a little short changed. Inevitably reviews of the NB2 or Apollo Bold turn into a competition between the two, but both feel a step up from a lot of the buds I've tested of late, just in different ways. I find the Apollo's sound raw and a little harsh at times, and the Edifier a bit thin, with the mid-range frequencies often lacking punchiness and even warmth.



Gaming mode takes latency to just 80ms. This is the best I've tested so far - bear in mind aptx is around 200ms this is out of this world - but there's a catch. Only SBC is supported. No AAC, no AptX.

Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors - 6.5/10

On the day I tested the worst earbuds for calls (the Aukey EP-T25) I found the best so far (apart from the Galaxy Buds and Apple Airpods Pro). I'd heard some iffy reviews of call quality on the NB2, but initial impressions were extremely good.

Most frequencies are cancelled to a market leading quality, despite using a proprietary noise cancellation methodology (no CvC or MEMS) and your own voice is exceptionally clear in all environments. This was one of the best features of the earbuds, it really does shine here. The one blot on the copybook is it can sound a touch robotic at times compared with some headsets, but this isn't frequent and is a small price to pay for outstanding clarity.

Fast forward a few months on and the cracks start to show. Outdoors the TWS NB2 over-compresses sound in harsh or complex environments. Out in the wind and rain with traffic, unlike most cheaper earbuds that try and amplify your voice over a loud backdrop, the Edifier just compress the hell out of everything, making you sound muffled and indistinguishable from your surroundings.

I guess this is why they have had such mixed reviews. Something usually has to give, and here it is harsh conditions. These are without doubt fair-weather performers, that would be ok in a reasonably busy office and a quiet commute in countries in good weather, but deviate from that and you're going to see, or rather the person on the other end is going to hear, the flaws.

ANC - 7/10

Not quite as good as I expected. Certainly not as good as the Tronsmart Apollo. It's...ok. I suspect with a better seal it could be improved. And sure enough, a month later, by angling the buds slightly further anti-clockwise I am getting better results - not in the league of the Apollo Bold - they seems better at cancelling out more distant sounds than close by - but not so bad that I was about to send them back thinking they were faulty, which I did when they first arrived. Even so, it's debatable whether it is that much more effective than the passive isolation on the Whizzer E3 or Fiil T1XS.

There are 3 modes, off, on and ambient. Ambient has a percentage bar within the app, which is a nice touch. When using with windows, noise reduction and normal mode show little difference. Ambient is very apparent.

ANC is activated by double tapping the left bud. Even on iPhone, where it seems to perform better for some reason, there is often little noticeable difference when you activate it, both to sound quality and the ambient sound in silence, which gives the feeling it could be better.

Deeper evaluation revealed noise cancellation is far better on these at low frequencies. With the fan on a low setting in bed this morning, it cut out all of the rumble, and the switch from off to on was much more noticeable.

Without music, ambient chatter and TV sounds are still audible with ANC on, but it dulls your keyboard taps and traffic if you're sat near a window . This will be music to the ears of home office users.

As usual, Edifier are doing things their own way. The ANC is certainly not a major disappointment, but it's also not a stand-out feature of the buds either, from what I've heard so far.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7.5/10

Connectivity is as expected and as advertised. These performed identical to others in their field. I haven't been able to test in a busy metropolis given the current climate, but interference kicks in internally at around 8-10m. Outdoors, no pocket issues. Over time, it seems to be getting a little weaker. I'm getting similar ranges to my other bluetooth earbuds, whereas it was very strong in the early days.

Pairing was immediate with the first device. The second device required the button to be pressed inside the case for 3 seconds. This obviates the need to touch the buds when pairing. Only one option shows (single bud use isn't through the pairing, which is good). Auto-connect is flawless. It is one of the few sets of earbuds I never have any problems with in this respect.

Controls are reasonably straightforward - double tap left tip for ANC mode, right tip for pause/play and answer/end call. It seems to also answer calls if you double left tap by mistake. Tap left 3 times for gaming mode, right 3 times for next song.

No volume control and a small surface area to get the right connection can cause problems here until you get used to them. The Apollo Bold and Aukey EP-T25 for example are designed for finger sized taps. These aren't, so you sometimes have to feel your way around the top before making contact. This can result in errors. The right / left delineation takes some getting used to. You are told most of the time what you've selected, which is handy as many don't (or default to Chinese like the FIIL!).

Single earbud use is possible. I don't like using earbuds in this way, but these worked fine when tested. Because of the delineation in button control, you're better off using the right bud.




Connection to the Edifier Connect App was very straightforward, and it gives some good options. The front page allows you to turn ANC on and off, turn ambient mode on or off, and a slider bar allows you to define how much ambient noise is allowed through - a really nice touch. It also shows the current battery level of each bud, and you can play and pause here too.



The settings area gives you a bit more to work with such as how the buds behave as pictured. You can control volume in here as well as shutting the device down and setting a timed shutdown. I could see this being useful on bed friendly buds. These aren't bed friendly. The user manual is here too.

Music pauses when the buds are removed from your ear, and its possible to toggle this in the app.

Button sensitivity is also configurable. This was using app version 6.1.

Battery Life - 8/10

Battery Life is a strong feature. With ANC on you still get a good 5-7 hours. The charge case gives you around 22-25 hours with ANC on, and even more with it switched off. This puts it towards the top of the league - real-life testing revealed they do not cut corners on the specification sheets. Contrast this to Anker, whose claims are wildly inaccurate and have an asterix with on 50% volume next to it in the small print!

The Edifier, for their flaws, remain my go to for work. They last all day, and whilst your voice will not sound as natural as even budget sets such as the Boltune BT-BH024 or Omthing Airfree, they are solid performers that keep going.

Summary

Despite only supporting SBC, Edifier have delivered decent quality earbuds that come with many of the key features that consumers desire currently, with nice ergonomics and an impressive case.

They are almost certainly aimed at gamers and those working from home, sat on Zoom or Teams, given the low latency, reasonably good microphone and limited codec support. They would also be great for commuters who have to take calls, listen to a mixture of podcasts, audiobooks and music, and want to change to something fresh in their ears when working out - which these are definitely unsuited to - for those living in countries or climates where the noisy ambient surroundings don't pose a problem.

ANC is 'ok' - nothing outstanding, but it is acceptable at this price point. I see 'seansays' has rated it higher than the Apollo Bold - in my opinion it definitely isn't close, at low or high frequencies - it is very subtle, but good enough. Sound quality is good. Soundstage is not too narrow, and airy enough to create space between the frequencies - low mids and vocals are clear and relatively uncluttered.

Aesthetics are also pretty good, the charge case is portable, and the app is 'oven-ready' and works well.

At £60 these are mid-tier buds with some good features and some notable absentees, but it is unquestionable they are worthy additions to the armoury, and I'll definitely be keeping them, and testing with some alternative tips to see if I can get more out of the ANC.

Price Weighted Score: 84%
Raw Score: 80%
2022 Score: 74%

2022 Comments:

As users often come back to my old reviews, I will caveat that whilst the NB2 were pretty good in their day, two years have passed, and they are showing their age. Sound is very bloated in the lower frequencies and far less detailed than more recent releases, and this is simply a bi-product of innovation unfortunately. A good option at the time, but every feature - ANC, call quality and even comfort - has now been overtaken even by buds around the $20-30 mark, such as the QCY T13. When looking at reviews, always look at the date!

RC009

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Model: Aukey EP-T25
Price: £17.84 (Usually £25.49)
Vendor: Amazon UK
Review Reference: RC009

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Aukey
• Model: EP-T25
• Driver: 4mm Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Not Known
• Impedence: 16Ω
• Frequency Response Range: 20-20000Hz
• Mic: 2, MEMS
• ANC: No
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• Earbud Weight: 3.5g
• Full Charge Time: 90 minutes
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Input: 5V 500mA
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 5 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 25 hours
• App Support: Not currently
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX5

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x Type-C USB Battery charging case
1 x Type-C USB charging cable
1 x User manual, quick guide, warranty card



Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the Aukey EP-T25.

In the UK we have have a little bit of a blind-spot for brands we can recall quickly. Take your pick of the plethora of cognitive biases at play here, but I have my own name for it - 'ankering'. (see what I did there?)

Aukey doesn't quite have the same allure as Anker over here, but the branding - AU (the chemical symbol for Gold) and key is nicely presented in their literature, and a 'cornerstone of pride' in Chinese. I often read quotes like 'The MPOW M30 were good, so the M12 or whatever should also be good as well', and without doing your research - typically beyond that of a regular consumer, why would you be bothered about OEM and ODM? Well, it means you can't rely on a brand name, that's why.

When you review Aukey's patents and core business areas, they are essentially investing all their R&D in smart home and charging. So if you buy a set of Aukey earbuds - well, they probably aren't actually made by Aukey. Here at head-fi most of us know that, but for those visiting from Reddit, HUKD or other areas I discuss and review different brands and products, it's worthy of a mention, and one that usually elicits a partisan response, sadly.

The EP-T21 are quite obviously the QCY T5 (first edition), but finding whether the EP-T25 are definitely OEM and their origin was tricky. I haven't managed it to date.

The Unboxing - 7/10



Once inside the earthy, minimalist container with a nice stencil of the design, it's the usual fare - buds, tips, cable, manual.

Similar to their other models, although this wasn't quite as impressive as the more expensive EP-N5, Aukey's branding has a mystique about it. Their marketing appears to be aimed at those who value sustainability, although given the plastic used to make the buds, I'm not sure whether that's wise or not. Whether it is or not is not for debate here - it's the angle they've gone with, and who am I to judge...all I care about is whether these sound good or not!

As per my previous Aukey reviews, the symbolic matrix style card is included again. 'The Lock to the Golden Key' is something I actually enjoy about Aukey's TWS products!!

Inside the box, typically, the USB charging cable and tips are located in a section below the case. It features 3 sets of tips, which are different from most by deploying a red-inner-colour scheme.

There is a manual and a quick start guide but in all honesty you won't need it, these are very straightforward to set up. The buds have blue stickers on the battery points - more on this later - but make sure you remove and charge before use.

The Case - 7/10



The Aukey case is nothing special to look at, but it's nice and compact - pill shaped in the same way the Taotronics SL 94 and some others are, albeit a shade smaller. The brand is embossed into the front.



The buds rest inside on the top, so no issues getting them in and out of the case. The magnet is nice and secure, and the beveled out spaces in the lid mean no chance the buds will rattle around and lose charge. The case also has four lights on the front, denoting how many extra charges the case can give the buds - very handy.



In between the L and R, denoting which earbud goes where, for those of you who can't tell your left from your right, is a red light, which turns blue after a few seconds of being open.

The case is nothing to write home about really, but it is nice and compact and well finished inside and out. It gives an extra 4 charges, taking the total charge up to 25 hours - below most earbuds, but acceptable.

The Ergonomics - 9/10



One thing Aukey never fail to get right is the fit. Once again these are ergonomically excellent. The stem lines along the jaw beautifully and like the branding, is understated. Once again, wearing Aukey earbuds is no hassle at all. The slightly bulbous design is not uncomfortable, far less obtrusive than the APP or APP-inspired-style buds, and provide decent passive noise isolation, although the finish on the mic holes is bad close up.



Despite being stem shaped, they are about the size of the Tronsmart Onyx Free - much shorter than the pictured Boltune BT-BH024, but have a nice, flat touch area to ensure good controls.



Above, pictured with the Tronsmart Apollo Bold and Edifier NB2.



Other than that, there's not much to say other than they're typical stem-based in-ear design. The flat edges mean touch controls are at least intuitive, there is a hole on the top, I assume as an ambient MEMS mic chamber, and a hole inside for pressure relief. The buds do have battery connectors on the inside, which means not advised for allergy sufferers. The IPX5 rating makes them acceptable for workouts, and the flat edge aids the touch control.

Sound Quality - 6/10 (for the price paid), 5/10 (raw score)

It is always a difficult balance reviewing raw sound quality against intermediate sound quality (i.e. sound quality against price).

Subjective tests were OK. I wasn't expecting much after the EP-N5. Actually, they were marginally better. The mids are chaotic and the low end is massively over-emphasized.

I have seen some reviews saying they don't support SBC. They actually default to SBC on Windows, because they don't support the newest iteration of AAC, instead being backwardly compatible with MPEG-2 with a reduced bitpool down from around 49-51 to 37, and whilst this probably means very little to most, it's another sign Aukey have tried to cut corners a little here, so you will get SBC on some devices, but the sound will be bad, and is not much better on AAC. No aptX support - no Qualcomm chip.

The chipset is not named, but I suspect it is one of the early BES chips. They were, let's say, market testers. This was before the Chinese had managed to recreate Qualcomm-ish quality. These early chips found balancing latency, connectivity and audio delivery quite tricky, so unsurprisingly the sound is really quite poor, the latency bad, and the mic worse.



Objective tests showed a drop of at 16.1KHz. These are the total opposite to the EP-N5 which are flat and unresponsive - these have some strange peaks around the low mids and this would explain the congestion on bassy tracks.

The spectral flatness is, well, lets just say all over the shop. These are £18 earbuds so it is hard to get too narky - if you want refined sound, you're asking a lot at this price, but these just don't cut it, and with many others now on the market at a similar price, passable sound is the very least consumers should expect. The sound stage is really narrow, and compared to buds like the Tronsmart Spunky Beats and Edifier X3, even the Alien Secret QCC010, they sound very compressed and don't respond well to EQ either.

Call Quality - Indoors - 4/10, Outdoors - 2/10

Initially, these were the worst sounding earbuds I have ever tested. I thought the Nillkin TW004 were bad, these were so bad I actually thought they may be faulty. The volume waned in and out throughout various recordings and calls with my voice impossible to decode.

This seems strange as the mic arrays are well-placed, but these MEMS mic systems seem to be a disaster in every set I've tested.

After multiple resets, they ended up settling down, but they don't isolate anything - all background noise is picked up. And I've adjusted the score because there are some far worse as I've since discovered!

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 5.5/10

As well as getting the booby prize for calls, these also struggle with connectivity. Not much worse than the rest, but they cut off at around 7-8m, or at least start to struggle.

Controls are, well, better than some. Nice flat, finger sized area to touch that is responsive and intuitive. Double tapping answers calls (you don't wanna do that), triple tapping activates SIRI. You can play and pause, and skip tracks, but no volume. Skipping tracks can lag occasionally.

The earbuds can, at times, remain connected to your device even when you put them back in the case, so you have to manually find them and disconnect them. The blue stickers that cover the battery connections - might want to keep those handy! This is obviously an annoyance and not uncommon, but no amount of resets managed to prevent it from reoccuring.

Battery - 6.5/10

Battery Life is pretty good - 5 hours, 25 hours total, and 1 hour charge is great - they get to around 90%, and a bit longer for full charge. They support USB-C charging, which at the time wasn't the de facto, but I have noticed the battery drain has come on very quickly. Beware! May be due to the fact they are connecting all the time!! Otherwise they would have scored much higher.

Final Comments

It's another average set of earbuds from Aukey. For £18 you can do worse, but they are still on the market in 2021 and we now have far better options often for less money.

The problem areas: the microphones, the strange charging issue, the defaulting to SBC and the poor connectivity are, even at this price point, not really acceptable.

Unfortunately, I have to give Aukey another poor rating, which I hate doing because their earbuds always look so nice, but practicality has to take precedence - these just don't pass the test.

Aukey bombarded me with emails after seeing my reviews claiming they are a poor ($1m) family business and rely on Amazon's 5-star reviews, asking me to change my reviews here and on Amazon in exchange for a $45 gift voucher. I replied politely declining. So they bombarded me relentlessly for 3 months until I reported them to Amazon, twice. Not good practice Aukey!

Price Weighted Score: 59%
Raw Score: 50%
2022 Score: 42%

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Model: Avantree Aria Pro
Price: £89.99
Manufacturer Site: Avantree
Review Reference: RC008

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Avantree
• Model: Aria Pro
• Driver: 40mm
• Chipset: Qualcomm
• Impedence: 32Ω
• Frequency Response Range: 20-20000Hz
• Mic: Boom Mic included
• Multipoint: Yes
• ANC: Yes, 22dB
• Codecs: aptX-HD, aptX-LL, aptX, SBC, FastStream
• Earbud Weight: 3.96g
• Headphone Dimensions: 19 cm x 17.5 cm x 8 cm
• Weight: 230g
• Earpad Dimensions: 5.6 x 3.6cm / 3.5cm (extra deeper)
• Case Charge Capacity: 220mAh
• Full Charge Time: 120 minutes
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Input: 5V 1A
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 15 hours
• Playtime with ANC: Up to 24 hours
• App Support: Allegedly
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP v1.2, HFP v1.7, AVRCP v1.6, A2DP v1.3.1
• Water Resistance: IPX5

Includes:

Avantree Aria Pro
Detachable Boom Mic
3.5mm Audio Cable
Charging Cable
Carrying Case
User Manual

Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the Avantree Aria Pro Multipoint ANC headphones.

The Unboxing - 7/10



Nothing spectacular. As advertised they feature an enclosed charger cable (micro-USB - although the new model is USB-C), a compact case, and boom mic.

The hard shell case is compact and well designed, with suitable space as pictured in the first section and a thin velcro pocket to hold the boom mic, charging cable and 3.5mm jack cable.


Ergonomics - 8/10, Build Quality - 8/10



The headband is well padded, and the Aria take the padding right across the band. On this model, like the Bose Quiet comfort II, it is necessary, as the measurements are slimmer than most of the chunky over ear headphones I've reviewed - 190x175x180.

Pleasingly, the band is reinforced with metal, adding to the longevity of the product, and the positioning and presence of this extra metal does not detract from the weight - at 230g they are still one of the lighter headsets around and they feel great to wear for long periods. Despite the slightly tight fit the clamping force is not too tight, with good passive isolation and little leakage, but overall very respectable ergonomics.

Aesthetically, a cursory initial look is a little uninspiring. Headphones of this ilk are unlikely to offer anything new, and the limited colour scheme means you're stuck with grey and black. There is a heavy scent of the QC II about them, but closer scrutiny reveals a decent, albeit flimsier build quality.



My first thought was that the hinges felt too wobbly to stand the test of time. And yet 3 months of continual usage (and now almost a year of owning them) has had no impact on the hinges or any other aspect that may become loose. They are deliberately a little maleable to allow for extra maneuverability, and the materials are strong enough to facilitate this. In fact, if anything the creakiness has worn in, and they wear much better now. The use of screws to reinforce them is testament to the quality.

The headband has lost a little of its bounce over time, but is nothing to complain about. Sure, they don't feel as substantial as my WH-1000XM3, but they're not meant to, and it works for the design.

Adjustments are pleasant, although the cups have a limited movement range compared to the Tronsmart Apollo Q10, but comfort is good, you can wear these all day with no problem at all. They are reasonably flexible, strong and very comfortable.

The soft protein padding on the cups is a little weak, as I find is often the case with 'faux leather' designs. Like the Soundcore Q30 it spreads easily. This can leave you feeling a little hollow on the ears if you're used to thicker padding, but you get used to it quickly.

The inside of the cup is relatively narrow - 45mm high, 31mm wide - just about spacious enough for my big ears, but less than the Tronsmart Q10 and Soundcore Q30.



The buttons are dispersed across both cups, something I don't usually like, but they are for the most part intuitive. Like most I've tested, power and volume are kept on one side, but the volume buttons have a different feel to them, so you can avoid accidental shut downs. There are no controls for advancing tracks.

The power/bluetooth button is a bit odd, you kinda 'flick' it on into the middle to turn it on, and hold it further to pair. This sits on the right cup, with play, pause and volume up/down.



The left cup has the ANC button, which lights up green when on, the 3.5mm jack port and the voice assistant button which doubles as answer call. In the middle of the ANC and voice assistant buttons is a 'cancel call' button. This seems in a strange place and is the one real oddity of the arrangement. Sadly they are charged with micro-USB.

The jack port can also be used to attach the boom mic (see calls), but without the boom mic, the other mics are also pretty good. As you can see, microphones exist on both cups, and as with many they have also allowed for microphones within the roof of the cup, in order to facilitate better call quality. This is now a tried and trusted feature that is effective and commonplace across most over ear cans.

Note - the boom mic when inserted, but switched off, kills all microphone capability from the headset. Likewise, in wired mode there is no mic usability at all! Slightly strange, but the button does give you the 'mute' option which, until we all started living 'on teams' was actually very handy!

ANC - 7/10

I've seen a fair few poor reviews of the ANC on this model and as usual, it is down to expectation. ANC works fairly well on low frequencies albeit less well on high frequencies, therefore - whilst rumbling underground trains and wind are dealt with for the most part well, some close chatter and keyboard taps are still plainly audible.

Those expecting Sony quality ANC need to remember the price tag. The ANC is comfortable - no jawache will precipitate, no vertigo, etc, but it is nowhere near the level of Sony or Bose. It doesn't cut conversation out altogether at close range - at less than £100, this is hardly surprising - the 22dB value on the datasheet is fairly accurate in this respect.

The design does not clamp too hard against your face, so some sound leakage but acceptable passive isolation ensures a good balance of comfort, ANC and sound. These work perfectly for me. Sadly there is no ambient mode, which is disappointing, but it's unlikely you would ever need it in an environment where these are best suited anyway.

Sound Quality - 7/10

Sound quality is, well....a bit mediocre. I often find at this price point (below £200) releases are rather v shaped, but that's not the case with the Aria. Frequency response is fairly accurate and sound profile is pretty flat. Detail is good, low mids are uncharacteristically not excessively muddy, but at the same time, listening to music is pretty dull. The treble is rolled off and the soundstage is pretty narrow, something I've started to become accustomed to with over-ears.

Those conditioned to bass monsters will be disappointed. Trebles don't jump out either, and yet nothing becomes congested when you EQ via Wavelet, so it's a tuning issue if anything.

It improves on Windows 10 compared with iPhone, probably down to the absence of AAC - the codecs present on this device are AptX, AptX-LL, Aptx-HD, Faststream and SBC.

The soundstage is clearly not designed with the consumer in mind - it gets worse with ANC on, but is completely inoffensive and designed with practicality in mind. These really are the Volvo of headphones. You can listen to music, watch TV, use them for home office, youtube videos...everything sounds, well, pretty good. But don't expect to start dancing on your commute.

Latency is pretty good. I measured 156 ms on a FLAC on Windows 10 - not bad at all at this price point, but without an AptX receiver, expect to see some delay.

Call Quality - Indoors - 8.5/10, Outdoors - 7/10



Without the boom mic these are pretty average, but with they become extremely clear in all environments, but for home office in particular they are winners. I have seen some reviews saying the boom mic clips - I didn't have this problem at all, maybe it's the way I wear the headphones I'm not sure.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 8/10

The Aria have some good features at this price point. Connectivity is excellent. Multipoint is flawless. This is a big thing for home office use. Controls as per the previous section are quite good, and the presence of Aptx-LL and Aptx-HD, whilst geared up towards using Avantree's other audio transceiver equipment, are handy. These supposedly support NFC but I've never tested it.

As of late 2020 Avantree released an updated version, the only difference seems to be USB Type C charging. Avantree do have an app, but it does not appear to support the Aria.

Battery Life - 6.5/10

I originally gave these a pretty high score but have retracted it over time because firstly the battery has degenerated a fair bit - 15 hours is a good result - and secondly it is dwarfed by newer releases such as the Q10 and Q30. At the time, it was pretty decent, but Avantree haven't improved it with future upgrades.

Summary

These headphones are one of the more underrated sets on the market. No big noise about them, no huge advertising, barely anything on social media...totally understated.

Yet they are one of the best kept secrets around. At the price point they perform all tasks well - they are marathon runners that keep pace with the big boys without ever threatening them, but at this price, they are a respectable for the home office.

The cups are a little tight but the build quality has stood the test of time. They don't track your head as nicely as the Tronsmart Q10 but don't stick out like the Soundcore Q30. The boom mic is essential for calls, but wear it outside and you may get shouts of 'Yupeee'. Still, with codecs galore - these were supporting the whole qualcomm suite long before it was popular-they work great on Android and PC, although you're stuck with SBC on IOS.

The addition of an app, which only works on other models (I couldn't get it working on the Aria Pro) and changing the charge to USB-C (which I understand is now present) would be welcome additions. Otherwise these are great all-rounders for those who aren't expecting studio quality sound.

Price Weighted Score: 81%
Raw Score: 78%
2022 Score: 75% (updated with USB-C charge and improved sound)

RC007

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Model: Boltune BT-BH024 (Now rebranded as the TaoTronics BT-BH024)
Price: Approx. $39.99 from Boltune direct
Vendor Website: Boltune
Review Reference: RC007

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Boltune
• Model: BT-BH024
• Driver: 10mm PEEK PU Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3026
• Mic: 4, cVc 8.0
• ANC: No
• Volume Control: Yes
• Codecs: AAC, SBC, AptX
• In Ear Detection: Yes
• Earbud Weight: 4.21g
• Earbud Dimensions: 44.7mm stem length
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 54.23g
• Case Dimensions: 74mm (width) x 39mm (height) x 29mm (depth)
• Case Charge Capacity: 400mAh
• Input: 5v 500mA
• Full Charge Time: 2 hours
• Quick Charge: Yes, 1 hour from 10 minutes
• Wireless Charging: No
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 7 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 42 hours
• App Support: Yes (Android only)
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.1
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX8

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual

Real Life Experience

The Boltune BT-BH024 are a real mystery. They've stayed in my collection for years, because the specification was MILES ahead of it's time when they were released, and they've periodically dropped as low as £10 on Amazon before being unceremoniously dropped during the Amazon 'vouchergate', likely due to their parent company Shenzhen NearbyExpress Technology Development Company. Doing some investigation work on them revealed very little. I suspect they are part of the same group of companies as TaoTronics, Hootoo and Anjou, but the branding doesn't seem to have taken off - I found little of interest on social media and even their website looks like it was written in Dreamweaver.

Now initially the BT-BH024 did not exactly get the excitement flowing for an audio extravaganza., but looks can be deceiving, and the BT-BH024 remain a firm favourite with many, and with good reason too.

The Unboxing - 6/10



The unboxing as about as clandestine as you can get. The logo and design are etched in red...and that's about it. You'll need the manual, as the controls are not exactly intuitive, and there is one - I just didn't take a picture of it. Sorry! You get the usual USB-C charge cable and spare tips.

The Case - 8/10



The Boltune case is unique - very intelligently designed with a cloth-style finish, a change from the usual matte black plastic. The hinge is robust, a little stiff if anything. It is charged with USB-C to the rear, and provides up to 42 hours playtime - very impressive for any earbuds, let alone a budget set. It also supports quick charge, giving 1 hour playtime from 10 minutes juice.

A single LED on the front signifies charge. Some will dislike this, as it doesn't tell you exactly how much charge the case has, in the way that 1More or Boya do with their traffic lights or multiple lights methods, but for most it will be an adequate trade off.

Inside the case, it tells you which slot is right and which is left. The magnets are powerful enough to withstand being held upside down and unlike many the buds snap in intuitively.

There is a reset button at the back in case you need to hard reset. I've never needed to, and it needs to be held down for long enough that initiating it by accident is unlikely.



Despite this, it is lightweight and portable - heavier than average topping the 50g mark, but has stood the test of time really well.

A point of note - like many cases, it does have a tendency, with both foam and larger silicone tips to 'retrain itself' to not bother fully closing, kinda like my fridge door. This may result in the buds connecting to your device and will result in the battery draining. A way to combat this is a few weeks of using kids 'Bobby clips' or elastic bands around the case to retrain it closed again. Job done.

The Fit - 7/10



I reduced this from an 8 retrospectively, as since there have been releases from QCY and Boya that set the bar high for comfort.



The stem is one of the longest I've tested, topping the 40mm length that seems to be the average of this type. They are shorter than the Taotronics 80...and that's about it, the majority are shorter these days. That's not necessarily a bad thing - it brings the mic closer to your mouth, for one.

Getting a good seal is always a challenge with the supplied tips, regardless of vendor. I tried all three sizes of the supplied silicone tips and none quite fitted properly. This meant keeping them in my ear was problematic, and of course readjusting them means touching the controls and the things skipping tracks or cancelling calls. Spinfits didn't work for me here either as they were too narrow.

I've always been a fan of foam tips so thought I would give my trusty INAIRS a go. Sadly they were too deep for the case to close. This would be the same with Comply if you prefer paying for the name

Eventually I found the Ikko I-Planet. Problem kinda solved. These were designed for the Jabra 65T (I think). It took a little edge off the upper mids but suddenly the fit became outstanding, with no issues at all, and the case closes fine too. If you don't like foam, then the Feaulle latex h360 are also an excellent (and my prefered) option.

The angular neck is rather odd for a tws design and this makes getting the tip right important. Ergonomically they are OK, but also bear in mind the battery connectors like most of this style are on the inside of the stem, which can increase the probability of a skin flare up should you be allergic to the alloy used.



At 4.2g they are certainly not heavy, and this helps with their stabilility.

Passive Isolation - 7/10

In listening mode there are no claims from the vendor that noise is cancelled. The shape is not designed to passively cancel noise either - whilst they are bulbous, they aren't shaped in the same way the 1More Pistonbuds are, for example. They practically track your ear, making noise isolation very straightforward.

With the ikko foam tips, PNI is good. Chatter is reduced, low rumbling is reduced. These, as you can tell, come to life with the right tips.

Mic noise 'cancellation' should not be confused with hybrid or active noise cancellation but often is. Boltune advertise cvc8.0 and it is evident here- it works ok - applying a slight muffle to very low frequencies but letting high frequencies through freely (see Call Quality)

Sound Quality - 7/10 (Price Weighted), Raw Quality - 6/10

For the money, it is difficult to argue with the BT-BH024. With a full, albeit rather bloated bass representation and only minor recess to the mids, EDM and dance tracks sound beefy and thumping without bordering on fatiguing.

The trebles can vary - there is a clear dip around 8k, and that removes some of the sibilance you hear on budget buds, at least without hammering the volume.

Vocals are clearly brought to the front but the soundstage is somewhat narrow and predictable- again, this is a feature I find synonymous with almost all earbuds, especially at their date of release and considering their form factor.

One added bonus is they have a default template in Wavelet designed to give you the ideal EQ for this model - great for Android users. This does allow you to improve the sound quite nicely. The sound quality and latency on Windows is far better than iPhone, which suggests they are probably better for Android users, as Android will, like Windows, pull the aptx stream.

AptX is a codec which stipulates certain parameters very clearly, unlike SBC or AAC which can be variable. This ensures that sound is compressed to a level commensurate of a 320k mp3 and also minimises latency to sub 180Ms, give or take a few % owing to the device you're playing it on. In order to offer the Qualcomm codec you need to use the Qualcomm chip. Qualcomm are not cheap compared to Realtek, Airoha or Pixart, three of the commonly-used vendors for buds of this price point, from the perspective of the chip or the license you have to pay them to support and advertise the codec, so the offer prices always surprise me to the point of 'How are they actually making any profit?!'

Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors - 6.5/10

For relative unknowns, they designed these buds very intelligently to optimize calls. The first microphone is on the inside of the earbud, the second is dispersed through an array of holes at the edge of the stem.

This works surprisingly quite well. It cuts out a fair bit of low end, air conditioning and other ambient noise. However, whilst it was passable at cutting out adult voices, it seemed to struggle with Children's voices, which overpowered my own at times. This is closer to a 'let everything through' set than 'compress like mad', but bear in mind the price and compare to something like the Anker Soundcore Life P2 or Aukey EP-T25, both of which you could easily pay double for depending on Amazon's latest giveaway price, and they destroy both.

Overall though - very decent. Your voice sounds quite natural, not robotic, and motion does not detract from clarity - often a problem for stem style buds.

Temper expectations. Wind will have an impact. CvC8.0 is designed to cut out frequencies outside your own, but this only goes so far. Subsequent tests however, which involved me taking no less than 8 sets of earbuds out in wind, rain and heavy traffic, saw the Boltune perform better than the Edifier TWS NB2, 1More Colorbuds and many other more expensive earbuds. Bravo!

These were my findings on 31.10.2020:

Clarity is decent but a little inconsistent - moving them around changed the dynamics, there is virtually no high end suppression despite claiming CVC8.0 so rather than traffic flying past instead you hear the puddles splashing where the traffic flew past. These were tested on a main open road with probably the worst conditions and yet they performed better than some of the more expensive buds. Voice sounded much more natural than some of the others.

Clarity - 8/10
Affected by the environment - 6/10
Suppression - 6/10
Naturalness - 7/10

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7/10

The buds connect to the previously connected device no problem. Nearly 12 months later with little use I took them out the box and they connected to the last device immediately!

Range is OK - they struggle around the 10m mark despite being advertised as 20m. I tested these initially pre-COVID and had no connectivity issues in busy London stations. This is the norm.

They can be paired individually if you want one ear free. It shows up as Boltune BT-BH024 L in the bluetooth pairing list. This is a little less intuitive than newer models that do it automatically, but I find these models often suffer from getting 'stuck' in single mode and need multiple hard resets to redress the issue, so horses for courses.

The high IPX rating (IPX7/8) means they can be rinsed under the tap- surprising given the double mic array. I can confirm they've been pushed to the limits and are still running fine.

Controls are the achilles heel. Whilst volume, skipping tracks, activating SIRI can all can be done via the touch control, which is not the norm at this price, I have never found them to be particularly accurate. In fact, they are a pain in the ass. The touch controls are comfortably the worst feature of the buds and whilst consistently a problem area for earbud vendors, the shape makes it difficult to adjust them without doing something unintentional.

Tactile buttons tend to place extra pressure on the ear canal and unless you have a flat surface, which is starting to become more popular with the likes of FIIL and Redmi both introducing this form factor, but nevertheless every adjustment is going to cause a problem to a lesser or greater degree. The Tronsmart Onyx Free have great tactile buttons and the FIIL T1 Pro have decent touch control, but don't let touch control govern your purchase decisions - for many of us it will matter very little in the grand scheme of things.

Finally, they have automatic ear detection. It worked when I first got them, I just re-tested and it still works well. They lack some features now that are more commonplace, such as wireless charging, app support, etc, but when they were released they ticked nearly all of the boxes - only father time has caught up with them.

Battery Life - 8.5/10

Battery life is still performing well nearly 12 months later - I can get most of a days work out of them, and a stellar 35 hours plus with the case is worthy of a 9/10. There has been no degradation at all, which was nice for my first earbuds after the Anker Soundcore Liberty Duo, whose battery life diminished within a few months.

Final Comments

Never judge a book by its cover. These had no right to be any good. Who the hell are Boltune? They don't even have a proper website! Their history in the audiophile world is hardly up there with Sennheiser, or even generic tech brands like Anker, and yet they tick a lot of boxes. I am fairly sure these are a sub-brand of Taotronics, who we know of much better here in the West.

For stem-based earbuds I actually found them better than the Anker SLP2, which have no volume control and iffy connectivity, and better than the Aukey EP-T21 or QCY T5 on handling ambient noise for calls. In fact I have only found one set of stem-based silicone buds - the Omthing Airfree - that I like more, and they unfortunately suffer from the shortest battery life outside of KZ!

Considering they are a few months old now, and this market moves fast, they still command top spot for me at the sub $40 silicone stem price point. That they are often on offer and available through Amazon is a no-brainer. With the Qualcomm 3026 chip these have and will stand the test of time better than the Airoha or Realtek releases of around that time. It's surprising how good they were on release, so naturally this still makes them a solid purchase even in q1 2021 (at the sale price anyway!) Battery life and water resistance are good and have remained strong in the year I've had them, and sound profile is passable even by 2021 standards and with Wavelet really pretty much good enough for the average user.

Overall the BT-BH024 are a no brainer. They are not especially great at anything but have no real flaws either, and when you're playing in this ball park that's your barometer for success really. Yes they are better with foam tips but you could get away with silicone and be satisfied. Yes the design could leave them more prone to the battery connectors getting obscured and the user feeling like one bud has stopped working - but plenty do the same, and good maintenance will keep these from having any issues.

Price Weighted Score: 86%
Raw Score: 75%
2022 Score: 72%

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Model: Aukey EP-N5 ANC TWS
Price: £47.99 - no longer available on Amazon due to malpractice
Link: Aukey
Review Reference: RC006

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Aukey
• Model: EP-N5
• Driver: 10mm Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Not known
• Mic: 4 ENC
• ANC: Yes, up to 28dB
• Volume Control: Yes
• Impendence: Up to 32 Ohm
• Sensitivity: 101dB
• Codecs: SBC only
• Earbud Weight: 4.6g
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 48g
• Case Charge Capacity: 500mAh
• Input: 5v 400mA
• Full Charge Time: 90 minutes
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 7 hours (4.5 hours with ANC on)
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 35 hours
• App Support: No
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX5

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x Warranty Card
1 x Quick Start Guide


Real Life Experience



Welcome to the Regancipher review of the Aukey EP-N5.

My last review of Aukey earbuds didn't end well, and despite their attractive packaging and strong reputation for USB and smartphone accessories, the Malaysian vendor's OEM selection has been sketchy in audio products, other than the QCY T5, who every man and their dog sold as 'their own product'.

Aukey claim they are 'a team of techies with a common appreciation for the finer details and utility of great products - from USB-C accessories to smartphone lenses to Bluetooth audio products, we are continuously developing and expanding our product portfolio to bring you practical, next generation tech to complement and elevate your digital lifestyle'

Bold claims, let's see if it holds up with their ANC release, the EP-N5.

The Unboxing - 8/10



Usually, I couldn't care less about the unboxing as long as they perform, but this is one area where Aukey differentiate with an understated but earthy feel. The plain cardboard box has a nice feel to it. My impression was Aukey were Malaysian - and they are - but the buds are made in China, shipped from the Ruhr - AMZLAB in Essen, who I'm guessing are some kind of marketing company for far Eastern brands in Europe selling via Amazon - and like many brands who cover off the spectrum of popular electronics, they are not actually manufactured by the name on the badge, which brings a wild variety of sound signatures and form factors, but usually it's disappointing (see Lenovo, Baseus, etc.)

Anyone who recognises my avatar will see I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to imagery, symbolism and basically anything that leaves you thinking....What?! Quite what the purpose of a card with a keyhole and a Matrix-style pattern is, I have no idea (it isn't a warranty card and there's no hidden QR), but the fact it seemed to serve no purpose was even cooler - well played Aukey, I approve!

The 'experience' is not what I pay for, but there you go - if you're buying as a gift, at least the recipient will enjoy the unboxing!

The Case - 8/10



The case is pretty nice - kinda generic with that archetypal matte black finish and grey etched logo, but the buds slot in the top nicely, the hinge is OK too. Four lights denote charging status, and the USB-C charge socket is located on the bottom.



There is no quick charge and no wireless charging. Total charge time for buds and case is 90 minutes. There is no hall-switch feature and no quick charge. The case is not spectacular, but it serves its purpose.

The Fit - 9.5/10



The EP-N5 are amongst the best fitting stem earbuds I've ever tried. The stock earbuds gave a good seal, they fit precisely along the side of the face and are barely noticeable. At this point, I absolutely loved them. I even tried running in them and they stayed in (briefly). Their short-ish stem allows them a very natural fit. They also look simplistic and nice, with a matte finish throughout.



The outside of the bud is very similar to the QCY T10/T11. The stem joins the head at the edge, and this type of bud fits really well. The stem length is rather short, which again makes for an almost invisible fit. The elegant design is probably the best feature of the EP-N5.

ANC - 4/10

Here's the first problem. How can an earbud with such a good fit deliver borderline non-existent ANC? Ergonomically, they would seem on the face of it to have struck the right balance between ANC and PNI...but it just doesn't perform.

If you've tried over-ears, something like the Sony WH-1000XM4, you know the ANC is insane compared with earbuds. You could be in a war zone and be oblivious. Then you move down to earbud ANC - so something like the Tronsmart Apollo Bold - pretty good, but you can still hear high pitched or very low rumbles. Then look at something like the Tranya T10 - no ANC but ergonomically designed to cut out noise passively. And does a decent job.

These, well, I don't know how there are so many 5 star reviews on Amazon but they cut barely anything out. I tested against the TaoTronics Soundliberty 94 and they were far worse than them. They also have no ambient mode - not a major issue as you can hear everything anyway, but even so, very disappointing from an implementation perspective.

The biggest culprits are higher frequency sounds - the EP-N5 simply lose the battle. Fans, ambient chatter, mechanical keyboards, TV, cars, you name it...it comes flooding through. With lower frequency sounds they perform slightly better, but it's still bottom-of-the-barrell stuff. I live near the M25 and a few lorries cut through, I usually go and do some of my testing around a cut through and it was clear that they had engineered them with this sort of sound in mind. The problem is...COVID-19. We are all working at home. We don't need to cut out low rumbles quite as much, it's the top end we're looking to isolate. Even out of lockdown, the paucity of performance is still unacceptable. Such a shame.

Sound Quality - 6/10 (For the Money), 5/10 (Raw Score)

Subjective tests were really bad. On iPhone they performed disastrously, especially with ANC on. Bizarrely, they seemed to perform better on Windows 10, despite no aptX support. I like a range of music styles but I listen to a fair bit of opera (I was a house music producer...then I hit 40 ) and I know the orchestral arrangement of the songs I test with very well.

The real problem is in the low mids - like with many budget earbuds the vocals just bleed incoherently into the bass. Whilst trebles are prominent, giving the impression of an (artificially) airy soundstage, strong vocals amongst high hats and cymbals can sound fatiguing. Where you have plenty of brass instruments, clarity is actually quite good, but the recessed mids, especially where you have a consistent bassline, spoil the experience.

I put them through the FLAC test and this revealed more struggles. I tried the entire St Etienne reference album that many headphones struggle with - these were no exception. Low mids are especially muddy - they aren't the only earbuds to suffer this fate, but there's no clarity in the instrument separation at this end of the frequency range either - instead it sounds rather processed and almost distorting. Again, here they performed better at the top end - vocals were nice and clear, without being too overpowering, but it's really quite poor for a set of earbuds retailing at the best part of £50.

Like many buds at this price range, turning ANC off reduces the volume and improves the neutrality of the sound signature.

Call Quality - Indoors - 5/10, Outdoors - 5/10

Considering the shape and position of the microphones, these performed dismally. The worst of any stem-shaped TWS I've tested yet. I really don't understand why. Outdoors, I get it - they put a mic on the outside to try and negate the ambient sound, but it seldom works, and no difference here.

But inside? I actually checked if I had them on the wrong ears! They were so muffled it reminded me of some of the worst in-ear buds I'd tested, like the Nillkin 04. On cell calls, I sounded robotic and over-compressed, and the other person sounded robotic too....total disaster!

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7/10

The EP-N5 are not awash with features. There's no alternative codecs, no app support, no passthrough, no low latency mode, etc. ANC, for what it's worth, is easily turned on and off by holding the buds for a couple of seconds, Siri is the usual 3 tap, but I couldn't work out how to control the volume - pretty sure you can't, couldn't see any mention in the instructions.

Connectivity is the usual 'Bluetooth 5.0 - 10m and you're cutting off', but they passed the pocket test on the train into London with no cut outs.

Battery Life - 8/10

Battery Life is very strong, even with ANC. 7 hours without, and around 3.5 hours with is good value, and I got fairly close to this even with volume on >70% and taking a few calls. This isn't market leading, but it isn't bad at all. The case gives a further three charges.

Final Comments

Aukey have always flattered to deceive for me. Their tendency to release well-designed but weak-performing OEM earbuds continues with the N5 - they look and feel great, the case is nice, the ergonomics are bang on..... but sound, ANC and call quality are all way below the level we expect even in budget buds, let alone mid-rangers.

If these were £20-30 I'd have accepted some of the flaws, but ANC is so bad, at £60 there are far better options out there. The previously-mentioned TaoTronics Soundliberty 94 performed better, the 20Decebel aren't great but still improve on these, and the best in class at this price point, the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, are vastly superior.

Save your money and look elsewhere.

Price Weighted Score: 58%
Raw Score: 60%
2022 Score: 51%

RC005

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
YouTube: regancipher

Model: Tronsmart Onyx Free
Price: £29.74
Vendor Website: Tronsmart
Review Reference: RC005

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Tronsmart
• Model: Onyx Free
• Driver: 6mm PU Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3020
• Mic: 4, cVc 8.0
• ANC: No
• Volume Control: Yes, Panasonic tactile buttons
• Codecs: AptX, AAC, SBC
• Earbud Weight: 4g
• Earbud Dimensions: 16 x 27 x 22mm
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 44g
• Case Dimensions: 66mm (width) x 30mm (height) x 32mm (depth)
• Case Charge Capacity: 420mAh
• Input: 5v 500mA
• Full Charge Time: 1 hour (earbuds) 2.5 hours (case and buds)
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 7 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 35 hours
• App Support: Not on this model
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX7

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual


Real Life Experience

Welcome to the Regancipher review of the @Tronsmart Official 'Safer than Ever' Onyx Free.

Tronsmart are now fully established as a mid to premium range earbud vendor, with their focus almost solely on audio products - mostly speakers and headphones. Founder Eric Cheng, a self-confessed geek, founded the company with his first paycheck (where was he working?!), building a lab to disassemble audio products with the aim to recreate them in his own vision at a cost-efficient price point. After bringing in ear-chewing trophy-winning footballer Luis Suarez as an ambassador, the company have gone from strength to strength, building a close relationship with Qualcomm, and bringing two of their chips to market first with the Apollo Bold, and the Apollo Air, which uses the Qualcomm QCC3046.

This release also used a Qualcomm chip - the QCC3040 - and was no slouch, offering long battery life, tactile Panasonic buttons, and a unique 'UV sterilisation' feature within their case. After the success of the Spunky Beat, how would the Onyx Free fare?

The Unboxing - 8/10




Tronsmart's orange and purple branding is very easily identifiable, and whilst theoretically garish, it does a job - you know it's Tronsmart! The tagline for this model is SAFER THAN EVER which is their selling point over releasing a follow-up to the Neo so quickly.

The right hand angle of the case always tells you what is inside - instructions, eartips, USB-C, case, etc. The left features a QR code that takes you to the manufacturers page.

Once inside, everything is held into place with a plastic crate, in order to avoid damage in transit.

The Case - 9/10



The piano black topping is a nice change from the matte black Spunky Beats and the case is smaller than most on the market, which makes it convenient for commuting.



I was a bit critical of the Neo case, which seemed to go backwards from the excellent Spunk Beat offering. The biggest problem was the the hinge was so weak it would easily topple over, and they removed the fly lead. The hinge on this model is slightly stronger, it stands up straight, and the buds are easily replaced and removed. Good job!



There is no USB-A fly lead on this model, but it is powered by USB-C and claims to give 4 full charges (I got 3). There are 4 lights on the front. They also fixed the dodgy hinge - now it feels like a quality case.

Here's the pièce de résistance - UV sterilization. Well, it isn't. This is a bit of a gimmick at a time where people need a feeling of reassurance. There is no way the level of sterilization would kill germs in 30 seconds, and it is telling there is no mention of any specifics anywhere on the Tronsmart site. BUT, importantly these are IPX7 and can be rinsed under water for up to 30 minutes. Don't be fooled by the sterilization, but DO make use of the waterproofing.

The Fit - 9/10

Sumptuous. They are suitable for ANY scenario. They are better suited with silicone tips than foam, this is something I had to get used to.



They differentiate from the Alien Secret (above) by angling downwards into your ear. The touch control, like the Alien Secret, is tactile, and large enough for your fingertip without being intrusive nor invasive.



The footprint is far less that the FIIL (pictured above) and their Apollo Bold. I can fall asleep in these, they're so comfortable and extremely practical.

Isolation

No active noise cancellation on these (see the Apollo Bold). They do isolate passively to ambient levels reasonably well due to the excellent fit. They also balance isolation and 'thuddiness' well. The microphone noise cancellation is OK but the call quality in general has regressed from earlier models (see later in the review)

Sound Quality - 8/10 (Price Paid), 7/10 (Raw)

Subjective tests revealed that Tronsmart have done a very good job optimising the sound for most music styles. The Spunky Beats and Ace were a touch too bassy and too bright for my personal tastes. The Free are much flatter and more mellow.

There are no nasty surprises in the sub bass area. The low mids are quite good, good enough at this price point. On house or techno tracks they can sound a bit thin at times. Top end is well done, it notches when it should just before 20KHz and again, no nasty surprises. Vocals sound really quite good at this price point.

For audiobooks and podcasts these are a dream, and you'll find them palatable for prolonged listening regardless of music style.

Call Quality - Indoors - 6/10, Outdoors - 5/10

The good old earbud conundrum. Why does the Free sound worse than the Spunky Beats or Ace? Because they removed the inside mic. Why did they remove the inside mic? Because they were only IPX5. The slim design doesn't allow for a semi-permeable membrane to permit the inside mic from existing without compromising the waterproofing - the big feature. So as soon as I saw the absence of the inside mic, I figured we were in for compromise, and that's exactly what has happened.

Indoors you can sound muffled and robotic. Outdoors, any gust of wind is a problem.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7/10

Bluetooth 5.0, as we know, means diddly squat. Connectivity was a problem on the Spunky Beats. Controls were a nightmare too. Both improved marginally on the Ace.

The Free are best in class - no connectivity issues at all in 3 months of continuous testing and buttons are intuitive and perfectly pressure-tested - some button based earbuds put too much pressure on the ears causing discomfort - not so with the Free.

Tapping 3 times changes tracks, tapping twice is volume up on the right and volume down on the left. A single tap answers calls. Rejecting calls is meant to be done by holding the earpiece down for 2 seconds but I switched the bud off every time. Convenient as I don't particularly like talking to people. These are SIRI/Google Assistant enabled, I didn't use, but did accidentally activate the other night.

Battery Life - 9/10

Battery Life is very strong. The reported figures are not far short. I often fall asleep with these in and they are still going strong.

Final Comments

Tronsmart took the minor issues associated with the Spunky Beats and Ace and solved them. The improved case and controls are a big plus. Connectivity is unquestionably better, and the sound spectrum is less punchy, in a good way.

These are the best budget earbuds bar none, provided you don't need to rely on calls very often. Microphones have been sacrificed in favour of water resistance. No issues from me there. They come into their own for bedtime podcast or audiobook listening due to their unparalleled comfort, but are equally adept at music with a nicely tuned soundspace that emphasizes bass slightly, but is pretty clear at this price point. The UV sterilization is a gimmic, but the IPX rating makes these safe to wear and rinse - a big plus given the current climate. The support for Aptx will be welcome for android users, and they use the full bitpool on SBC, a sign of a product that has not cut corners.

For comfort, all types of music, podcasts and convenience, these are super little earbuds. Well worth the money, and still the leader in their field many months after their release.

Price Weighted Score: 88%
Raw Score: 75%
2022 Score: 74% (No longer available to purchase though)

instagram: regancipher

Tronsmart Review Inventory:

Tronsmart Studio
Tronsmart Apollo Air
Tronsmart Battle
Tronsmart Onyx Apex
Tronsmart Apollo Q10
Tronsmart Onyx Free
Tronsmart Apollo Bold

About Tronsmart:

Tronsmart are now fully established as a mid to premium range earbud vendor, with their focus almost solely on audio products - mostly speakers and headphones. Founder Eric Cheng, a self-confessed geek, founded the company with his first paycheck (where was he working?!), building a lab to disassemble audio products with the aim to recreate them in his own vision at a cost-efficient price point.

After bringing in ear-chewing trophy-winning footballer Luis Suarez as an ambassador, the company have gone from strength to strength, building a close relationship with Qualcomm, and bringing two of their chips to market first with the Apollo Bold, and then the Apollo Air, which uses the Qualcomm QCC3046.

For speakers, the range is now almost as extensive as their earbuds, ranging from 7, 10 and 15w mini speakers through to the 60w Force Pro and Mega Pro.

Tronsmart remain one of my favourite mid-tier vendors, outrunning their budget competitors by releasing flagship products alongside the run-of-the-mill releases, and demonstrating transparency and commitment to quality and innovation with every release.

RC004

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
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Model: 1More E1029BT
Price: £34.99
Vendor: Amazon UK
Review Reference: RC004

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: 1More
• Model: Stylish E1029BT
• Driver: 14.2mm PU Dynamic Drivers
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3020
• Mic: 4
• ANC: No
• Volume Control: Yes
• Codecs: AptX, AAC, SBC
• Earbud Weight: 5.8g
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 52g
• Case Charge Capacity: 310mAh
• Input: 5v 1A
• Full Charge Time: 2 hours (case and buds)
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 3 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 12 hours
• App Support: Not on this model
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX7

Real Life Experience

The Case - 5/10



One of very few open case designs I've reviewed, and this is no exception to the usual. Micro USB. In 2020. Come on!

I'm not sure what use case they had in mind with this. Branding by the looks of things!! If you put the buds in upside down or the wrong way round, obviously they won't charge. It isn't especially easy to get the buds in and out, but it's low profile and won't take up much room in your pocket.

The case gives you around 12 hours total charge, and supports neither quick charge nor wireless charging.

The Fit - 6/10



I'm biased. I hate the semi-in-ear design. It just doesn't work for me. However, MIFO and Sabbat have proven it can be done without the buds flopping immediately out of your ears. Somebody tell 1More that!



That said, 1More provide rubber covers to try to thwart the slippage that is a hazard for many that favour this style. On the other hand, they stick out so strangely there seems to be no ergonomic rationale to the design. You need pretty large ear canals and a deep antihelix to prevent these from toppling out of your ears - really poor design idea.

Passive Isolation - N/A

These are designed to let ambient noise in. No rating here, but worth mentioning that microphone noise cancellation....well, whatever it is, it doesn't work. The mics picked up so much ambient noise I was illegible on calls.

Sound Quality - 7/10

Well, this was a laborious experience. I had to hold the earbuds in my ears to do many of the subjective tests. The objective tests returned good results, and the subjective similarly good with a really balanced, albeit flat response, that excels in classical or opera, differentiating complex arrangements better than many I've listened to at this price, but it sounds rather strange when listening to house music where the simplistic arrangements can sound, well, boring - neither intimate nor spacious.

I tested using the usual FLAC, mp3 and streaming services.

Call Quality - Indoors - 6/10, Outdoors - 3/10

These are clearly not designed for calls. They picked up practically everything except my voice, even indoors an ambient noise level of above 50DbC is problematic. To compound things, they also sound robotic - very overprocessed.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 6/10

Connectivity was very solid. Expected distances and no interference. When disconnected, you are told they are disconnected rather than a bleep or buzz. You can also charge one earbud in the case and use the other. They are Bluetooth 5.0 only.

Controls are OK, you can adjust volume and change tracks, even disconnect the power to the buds - helpful with such short battery times. Button touches are reasonably responsive and intuitive.

AptX is supported, assisting with latency. Synchronization was no different to most Qualcomm-based buds - a slight delay on YouTube, but no worse or better than others.

Battery - 5/10

Battery Life is woeful. The figures given are at 50% volume, and because of the design, at 50% volume you don't hear much. 12 hours total playtime at a push, with no wireless charging or quick charge, is not going to last anyone the day.

Summary

I gave these a shot because of the rubber tips and low price, but this type of earbud just isn't for me. I have tried to be as reasoned as possible because I know it is the shape of my ears that renders this type of earbud unsuitable for me, and I hope that is reflected in the review of the sound quality, where the objective tests showed a decent frequency response and pleasant if a little thin sound signature, certainly in line with the manufacturers claims.

The short battery life and odd fitting make these a strange set of earbuds though, and call quality was terrible. I don't really understand the use case but the 5 star reviews on Amazon suggest some people like it. Not for me though.

Price Weighted Score: 56%
Raw Score: 56%
2022 Score: 49%

RC003

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
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Model: Nillkin TW004
Price: £38.99 (£59.99 with 20% off voucher)
Vendor Link: Nillkin
Link: Amazon
Review Reference: RC003

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Nillkin
• Model: TW004
• Driver: 6mm Custom Engineered Dynamic Driver
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3020
• Impedance: 16 Ohm
• Mic: 4, ENC
• ANC: No
• Codecs: SBC, AptX
• Earbud Weight: 5.4g
• Full Charge Time: 120 minutes
• Quick Charge: No
• Wireless Charging: No
• Input: 5V 400mA
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 13 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 65 hours
• App Support: No
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX5

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x User manual, Chinese and English
1 x Warranty Card


Real Life Experience



Welcome to the Regancipher review of the buds with the most futuristic case I've reviewed so far, the Nillkin TW004.

Most of us are more used to buying protective sleeves for our Chinese phones from Nillkin, so their entry into the TWS market was a mild shock (only mild since every man and his dog seems to be having a crack these days).

Even in 2021 they are not cheap, so they would have to be good to retain that level of value legitimately.

Unboxing - 9/10



After a while working out how to open it, the unboxing feels rather premium, with good quality materials revealing a tody array of accessories, including a nice easy to follow manual that reminded me of being at the opticians.



You get a lot in the box, including a nice flat USB-C charge cable, wing tips for sport, an assortment of tips and even a belt clip for the charge case.

The Case - 10/10



WOW! The case is something else. Looking more like something out of Westworld or Limitless, the USB-C charged case rotates to reveal the earbuds, rather than a capsule that provides eternal life. Still pretty cool. The roatation is solid - no danger of these disappearing in your bag, and requires a rubber end to be turned to initiate the rotation.

Occasionally, the end of the case even lights up like a torch. Why, I'm not sure, but it does. It tells you why in the manual, but I can't be bothered to explain it. It comes with a clip that allows them to be bolted onto key rings, backpacks or belt clips. Apparently it is made of Zirconium Oxide, and the case gives up to 52 hours of extra charge time, which is impressive by any earbuds standards.

The Fit - 9.5/10



When earbuds arrive, you never quite know what to expect. These looked little different to offerings from Enacfire and others I've reviewed over time. In reality, ergonomically they are outstanding. The fit my ears with the biggest tips on perfectly giving a really nice snug fit with superb isolation and minimal leakage.



The wing tip sits above the touch controls, although it twists quite easily, and they lose half a mark as the silicone tip also tends to unfold when removed, which is a tad annoying (see pic). The touch controls are intuitive and responsive, and underneath you will see the voice mic, which is exposed via a small gap.



There is a touch of the FIIL T1XS / Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo about the design, and despite it looking bulky both in pictures and in specifications, it certainly doesn't feel it.

Isolation

No active noise cancellation, but passive noise cancellation is out of this world. The best I've ever experienced on any set of headphones. These blew the ANC on the Aukey EP-N5 out of the water. Not only that, they didn't suffer badly with the 'thud' you expect with earbuds that create such a strong vacuum. Bravo!

Sound Quality - 5.5/10

And it goes downhill from here. First test on iPhone with Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears. No problems. Sounded fine. However, as I moved through the tracks, the regression was apparent. First signs of struggle were on I'll Be There by Jess Glynn - I don't particularly like this track but I keep it on my phone because it seems to bamboozle earbuds in parts. These were no exception. They struggled with differentiating mid-low frequencies and later on the vocals. Then Pavarotti.....he'd be turning in his grave. When EQ'd to flat or 'Electronic' they sounded...well, passable, but the nasty spikes and dips are borderline dangerous at high volumes.

I ran it through a few pieces of software I use to test if I'm really not sure. The result got worse every time. There is a big spike and dip around 8KHz - beyond 15KHz....nothing. In fact, there is something.....but it isn't pleasant. It makes for grim listening at times.

I will keep persevering with different tips and see if anything changes, but these are so muddy they are not only bad for music and audiobooks, they're also bad for your ears. Any kind of volume around 50% leaves you with a pretty nasty feeling in your ears, I guess down to the sub-bass being bloated. Such a shame.

Call Quality - Indoors - 10/10, Outdoors - 4/10

Indoors these are one of the best earbuds I've ever tested. They cancel out fans altogether, your voice sounds very natural, it is actually quite scary how good they are.

Outdoors, they are possibly the worst I've ever tested. They pick up practically everything except your voice. Background voices are clearer than your own. A shame, likely down to the odd position of the microphone, which runs perpendicular to your nostrils!!

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 8/10

Connectivity was very solid. Expected distances and no interference. A little latency, but no more than usual. Battery Life is phenomenal - 13 hours advertised, passed the 12 hour mark on first run.

Controls are OK. I worked out how to answer calls, play and pause, skip tracks and reject calls. Voice assistant is, like most earbuds, 3 clicks. Touch control is easy enough to use and not erratic, but slow...there is a long delay between your touch and anything happening.

BT Tweaker revealed the usual array of proprietary codecs and defaulted to Aptx on Windows and Android. Not sure about vendor response, I have not been in contact with them. I will though.

Final Comments

The biggest disappointment in my time reviewing headphones. These are a masterclass in how to get all the fancy stuff right and fail drastically on the fundamentals. The case, the fit, the package, the battery life, the noise reduction - all sensational. It actually feels pretty exciting opening them up.

The problem is, you absolutely MUST follow up with even average to above average sound quality. The mids are TOTALLY unacceptable at this price point (MSRP is around £60 so these are not your average chifi pricing)

These are so disappointing. They have the makings of quite revolutionary buds, they are super comfy, great for exercise, very good for calls indoors, but they absolutely suck for outdoor calls.

I will give them a few days to wear in and make them aware and see if they have a response, because I absolutely adore everything about them other than the crappy sound quality. Jesus my hearing is bad enough, these will finish it off for good!

Price Weighted Score: 52%
Raw Score: 56%
2022 Score: 50%

RC002

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
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Model: Tranya T10
Price: £29.99
Distributor: Amazon UK
Review Reference: RC002

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Tranya
• Model: T10
• Driver: 12mm bio-compound diaphragm
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3040
• Impedence: 32Ω
• Frequency Response Range: 20-20000Hz
• Mic: 4, cVc 8.0
• ANC: No
• Volume Control: Yes
• Codecs: AptX, AAC, SBC
• Quick Charge: Yes
• Wireless Charging: Yes
• Input: 5V 1A
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 8 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 24 hours
• App Support: Not currently
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX7

Includes:

1 x Pair wireless earbuds
1 x Type-C USB Battery charging case
1 x Type-C USB charging cable
1 x User manual, quick guide, warranty card

Real Life Experience



Welcome to the Regancipher review of the Tranya T10. Tranya made big noise about upsetting the applecart with their beefy 12mm drivers dwarfing the typical 6mm drivers seen in TWS, and with the Qualcomm chip allowing low latency and charge case supporting Qi charging, the T10 are very impressive...on paper, at least.

The Unboxing - 7/10



Tranya have neatly packaged the T10 in a small, understated cardboard box with a cutout for the case and the tips and charge cable inside another small box that sits at the bottom. They've added a foam layer for protection in transit, and all in all, it's a nice unboxing that doesn't feel like it cost £29.99.

The Case - 8/10



Solid, if unremarkable. Larger than most TWS cases, it has a quality feel to it. With 4 lights indicating case charge, it has a practicality that many cases skip nowadays. The magnets snap in pretty solidly which makes chances of losing the buds during a transaction slim - a good thing unless you are trying to yank them out in the dark!

With few cases supporting Qi at this price point, this is a definite big plus point, especially for those short on space. The case, whilst larger than the average, iswell proportioned. It's not as portable as the tiny FIIL T1XS, or the similar-shaped Edifier TWS NB2, but it won't weigh your pocket down like the Wizzer E3. It also supports USB-C and quick charge.

You get 3 extra charges from the case, giving you a total playime of 24 hours - above average, and enough for most people..

Ergonomics - 6/10



The achilles heel. Tranya have angled the bud to maximise noise isolation and best accommodate the larger driver, which, rather than following the shape of my ears, jabs into them and sticks out quite a bit, since you can't insert them deeply into the ear canal.

This could suit some people, but it ruined a good set of buds for me as the plastic top of the bud pressed against the cartilage in my ear. The discomfort became apparent after about 30 minutes to unbearable after an hour - a real shame.

A recommendation would be to provide a rubber surround like FIIL. The rubber causes less pressure on the ear and thus negates the discomfort. Or modify the curvature of the design like the Alien Secret QCC010.

Regardless, it should still not be a reason not to try the T10 - everyone's ear shape is different, but they didn't fit mine well.

Passive Noise Isolation - 8/10

No active noise cancellation (apart from on the mics - see call quality) but passive NC is really good. Many earbuds have followed this design of late but Tranya were one of the first. The PNI is better than the ANC on many of the earbuds I've tested this summer, so hats off to Tranya here.

Audio - 7.5/10 price weighted, 6.5/10 Raw Score

Actually very good for the money and an improvement on previous Tranya models that suffer with notched top ends- these are much clearer at the top and the bottom. If you like bass these come into their own, and the frequency response in general is good for the money. Baritone voices are rich and well separated and blend quite well into the darker tones of RnB tracks - often a real challenge for lower quality earbuds.

Unfortunately like every Tranya model I've tested, female vocals can get a little lost on some tracks. On the T10, they are weaker on female vocals on dance tracks. Some tougher tracks that trouble most headphones are exposed with FLAC on Windows. St Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart - is not going to blow your mind on these, as you would expect at this price point. That said, most genres are comfortable and easy to listen to.

Call Quality - Indoors: 8/10, Outdoors: 7/10

Call quality on the Tranya T10, considering they are all-rounders as opposed to stem-based conference call specific models, is excellent - indoors in particular is clear and crisp, and whilst outdoors as usual suffers a bit with traffic and other similar-frequency sounds, the cVc 8.0 is uncharacteristically very well implemented.

The mic array is as you would expect, with one ambient mic on the outside middle and one voice mic on the bottom. This is how an all rounder should be. It makes for decent quality all-round and it got good scores on all the tests.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 8/10

Connectivity was very solid. Expected distances and no interference. A little latency, but no more than usual. I have seen some reviews claiming that connectivity is poor - this was not the case when I tested them, it was very strong indoors and didn't suffer in the pocket.

Qi wireless charging is a nice feature that will please many. There is no app support.

Controls are decent. I don't really like them at the best of times but the basics - volume control, answer calls and pause - work well. A beep signifies successful application of the action. Note - no voice assistant on these. No multipoint and no quick switch between devices.

BT Tweaker revealed the usual array of proprietary codecs and defaulted to Aptx on Windows and Android.

Battery Life - 7.5/10

Battery life didn't quite live up to what was advertised - but still very strong for its class. I got over 6 hours from a single play, which included calls. Very impressive at this price point.

Summary

Tranya don't release buds too often, and aren't an especially prominent name in the chifi space, nevertheless this isn't a bad attempt. The build quality is good enough. The sound quality, whilst not amazing, is good and improving with every iteration. Call quality is also impressive considering the form factor.

Whilst these are very decent for the money, the key metric for me is use-case, and with these that's where you run into problems. It is difficult to find a use case other than 'commuter'. They aren't really suited to conference calls due to comfort (although may work for some, this is entirely subjective) although have excellent mic quality, they aren't exercise headphones, they aren't audiophile headphones. I guess you could call them commuter headphones - useful for quick bursts, jack of all trades, master of none.

Price Weighted Score: 75%
Raw Score: 72%
2022 Score: 68%

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
YouTube: regancipher

Unboxing (x/10)

Probably my least favourite part, but I'll score the experience and explain the different languages the manual comes in, how easy the manual is to understand, the variety of accessories they come with and whether you would want to give them out as a gift!

Case (x/10)

I usually look for a few different things - portability, weight, position of the charge socket, hinge strength, durability, etc. Also assess features such as 'hall switch mode', charge duration, wireless charging, etc.

Ergonomics (x/10)

I'm usually looking for three things - how comfy the buds are, whether they are appropriate to their marketed use-case, how intuitive they are to use and adjust. Tips are important - I test using a variety: stock, Spinfit, Dekoni, Inairs, Tanchjim, Ikko, BGVP, Feaulle, Misodiko, Azla Xelastec Sednaearfit Crystal.

I use earbuds in four activities - calls, exercise, commute and relaxing. All three are taken into consideration to try to find the use-case, as finding the perfect earbud for all is unlikely to happen due to the variety of ways we choose to supplement our time listening to stuff.

For exercise, I am looking for the ability to stay in the ear. For commuter / home office use, they would need good all-day comfort, and for relaxing they ideally need to pass the pillow test and stay in overnight, and at the very least provide comfort for prolonged use.

Build Quality (x/10)

Here I'm assessing durability, IP rating, and often looking at the buds down to component level. If I get two pairs I'll open them up and see what has been used and how. Often I'm getting information from the vendors or working with other reviewers to get this info. Take this section for what it is - a little subjective.

Audio (x/10 for the price, x/10 raw)

Here I score the buds on how they sound out of the box, how they sound EQ'd, and how they score in terms of their value for money. I'll explain the default sound signature and how they respond to EQ.




I do this just for confirmation of what I'm hearing. I'm not Scarbir, I'm not The Sound Guys. I have a demanding day job, study, three kids and study, so I tend to keep the reviews as brief and to the point as I can.

Call Quality (x/10 indoors, x/10 outdoors)

Now a key feature for buds, I conduct a few different tests, as follows:

• Indoor, static, silence
• Indoor, static, ambient noise 40-60 dB-A
• Indoor, static, high frequency ambient noise
• Indoor, static, low frequency ambient noise
• Outdoor, static, ambient noise 40-80db
• Outdoor, moving, ambient noise 40-80db
• Outdoor, under a nearby railway bridge where lorries pass through
• Outdoor, in the wind and rain when possible
• All of the above but moving
• All of the above moving away from the receiver

I'll usually repeat for both cell and vc calls.

All calls are recorded for 1-3 minutes for future comparisons. I look for voice clarity, voice clarity among noise and glitches, suppression, naturalness and consistency. Where possible, I ask my kids to also test to see what sounds the cvc or MEMS compression method is really trying to stifle, and whether it succeeds

Noise Cancellation (x/10 ANC, x/10 PNI where only PNI is applicable)

As per the call quality tests, I usually test the ANC at the same time, looking for low and high frequency performance. I simulate white noise, use a fan, then take them down to a railway bridge. PNI is also attributed and scored where applicable. Ambient mode is also tested, and particularly important for earbuds designed for exercise.

I suffer from vertigo, jaw-ache and migraines when the ANC is really strong, so I will highlight this where appropriate. To date no earbuds have induced this from the ANC alone and the last headphones to do so were the Sony WH-1000XM3.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features (x/10)

I find most perform almost identically, but do the usual walk test, especially around congested 2,4ghz wifi areas, putting as many barriers as I can in the way to try and confuse them. I leave a router on 40MHz just in case it messes with it, why the hell not?! Now it's a little safer to do so, I take them in congested areas too.

Controls are pretty subjective so I try to just describe them, and look at how sensitive the button touches are.

Other features I look for are wireless charging, quick charge, a feature-rich app, diverse codec support, dual mode, hall-switch mode, latency modes, different ANC modes, 'find-my-buds', speech mode, customised sound, EQ, high res support, etc.

Battery Life (x/10)

A single score here which factors in how they perform (single charge), how they perform (full charge with case down to zero).

Onto the review of the Tronsmart Apollo Bold:

Model: Tronsmart Apollo Bold
Price: MSRP £99.99
Distributor: Amazon UK
Vendor Website: Tronsmart

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Tronsmart
• Model: Apollo Bold
• Driver: 10mm
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC5124
• Earbud Weight: 6.46g
• Mic: 6 cVc 8.0
• ANC: Yes
• Volume Control: Yes
• Codecs: aptX / AAC / SBC
• Earbud Dimensions: 16.86mm x 23.13mm x 23.96mm
• Case Weight: 42.59g
• Gross Weight: 55.59g
• Case Dimensions: 59.8mm diameter, 29mm high
• Earbud Battery Capacity: 85mAh
• Case Battery Capacity: 500 mAh
• Input: 5V 1A
• Earbuds Charging Time: Earbuds 2.5 hours
• Music Playtime: 7 hours ANC, 10 hours ANC off*
• Earbuds and Case Fully Charged Music Playtime: 30 hours
• App Support: Yes
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: A2DP 1.3 / AVRCP 1.5 / HFP 1.6
• Water Resistance: IP45

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case (no wireless charging)
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual, warranty card, app card, safety information
1 x PU carry case



Real Life Experience

Welcome to the @regancipher review of the Apollo Bold, the flagship release from our friends at @Tronsmart Official

Tronsmart are now fully established as a solid mid to premium range earbud vendor, with their focus almost solely on audio products - mostly speakers and headphones. Eric Cheng, a self-confessed geek, founded the company with his first paycheck (where was he working?!), building a lab to disassemble his favourite audio products with the aim to recreate them in his own vision at a cost-efficient price point. After having great success with the Spunky Beat, Onyx Ace, Onyx Neo and Onyx Free, having brought in ear-chewing trophy-winning footballer Luis Suarez as their ambassador, the company have gone from strength to strength, building a close relationship with Qualcomm, with even their budget range supporting the aptX codec, and then bringing two of Qualcomm's lesser-known chips to market first, with this release, the Apollo Bold, and later, the Apollo Air.

Unlike many on headfi, I didn't get a sample of the Apollo Bold. Before I even discovered headfi, I bought them at pretty much full price on around the day of release. By today's standards (April 2021) £99.99 is A LOT for earbuds, especially with a relatively lesser-known brand name, but the new chipset, market-leading ANC and hype that Tronsmart created leading up to release pretty much reeled me in hook, line and sinker.

Unsurprisingly, the price has dropped subsequently, and averages out around £74.99, but even almost a year since their release, they are still very respectable buds in terms of features, offering good quality ANC, 6 mics, decent app support and a chipset that has barely seen the light of day due to Qualcomm's supply issues since.

Note, you may see similar designs such as the Cleer Ally etc. In the earbud market, very few vendors design from scratch and many share similar components, including the exterior shell (you'll see Chipsea and LowPowerSemi chips in almost every design!) so it's unfair to say X copied X, many are just simply manufacturing to a template, especially if they are using the same off the shelf PCB and chipset.

The Unboxing - 9/10



Usually, I couldn't care less about the unboxing as long as they perform, but credit where credit is due, unboxing the Apollo Bold is like getting a Longines or Tag watch - not quite a Rolex, but you can see they've made a real effort. The tagline is HYBRID ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING which is their main USP in this release, as well as Aptx-HD, which we will come to later, and the inlay gives a nice little explanation of the design brief.



They've mixed it up a bit this time, with the box contents, QR code and specs on the back. The sides show the layered build quality, and again emphasize the ANC modes. This is further elaborated as you open out the box. The Bold also come with a draw string bag for storing spare tips - only seen this with Edifier previously, and never used it, but thanks anyway Tronsmart!

The 'experience' is not what I pay for, but compared with your average, budget earbuds, it's a cut above.

The Case - 6.5/10



A little underwhelming, if functional. Like the KZ SA08 and others, they've used the 'hockey puck' design with the logo etched on the top, and it is reasonably portable with a diameter of just shy of 6cm.

The height is nice and slim at under 3cm, and despite a slim hinge that had me fearing for its longevity, a year on and no complaints. The case is charged by USB-C, the port residing at the back.

There is a single light at the front to indicate charge - it flashes red when charge is hitting the perilous level and white when fully charged, and when you replace the buds into the case, the buds themselves have their own lighting scheme to tell you what they're doing - i.e. charging.

The hinge has a nice friction magnet but the charge to pull the buds into the case is very loose, and this combined with the etched out inside lid can cause the buds to come loose during charging.

Ergonomics - 7/10



The Apollo Bold protrude more than most earbuds, and are an odd, double-bubble shape and are more akin to IEM designs than typical TWS.



Side-on, their shape doesn't appear to do them too many favours in terms of getting a seal - crucial for effective hybrid noise cancellation, but a cursory look at the design reveals why.



As you can see, firstly they don't have the elongated neck that the Jabra 75t or TaoTronics SoundLiberty 94 have. This means they sort-of 'sit' against your concha, rather than block your ear canal. This is a clever design that augments noise cancellation whilst ensuring the buds are not too invasive nor uncomfortable for prolonged use.

You can exercise in these, wear them for all day calls, and listen to audio books in bed with them without discomfort. Their shape is evidently designed to balance comfort, microphone usability and noise cancellation. And they've done a good job of achieving this.

The neck that separates the driver and the connection to your ear is oval shaped. This stopped me in my tracks a little. I usually default to foam tips, which I did for a few days with these, but I've gone back to the supplied silicone ones, because I can't seem to get a good fit or sound with foam.

Oval shaped driver surrounds are not a new idea, but are only occasionally seen. I've seen this design on Klipsch wired buds, Linner wired buds, Panasonic wired buds...but rarely on wireless, although more recently ZMI, Honor and a number of others have followed suit.



It's a risky move - you need a good seal, otherwise they will be uncomfortable or the sound will bounce around your pinnae and produce reverb and sound rubbish. This underlines the importance of good tips, cycling the tips to get the right ones, and getting the fit right before making judgement.

Fortunately, the supplied silicone tips are very good for a 'chifi' product. You don't need Spinfits on the Apollo Bold, you may even find they simply don't fit well with them. You get a choice of 3 sizes, and they are double strength around the 'nozzle' to add to the comfort factor. Too many earbuds are ruined because the neck digs into your concha. These aren't designed that way, and the tips complement them.

ANC - 8/10

Until the Soundpeats T2, the Apollo were best in class for TWS. They cut virtually all the low end out and perform surprisingly well at the top end. I can't hear my kids talking with sound playing, and passing traffic is discernible, but not obvious.

With any kind of music playing they perform admirably. They have three modes, ON, OFF and Ambient. Ambient works very well, three taps to either bud changes the mode. I used this to good effect last week during a meeting, where I didn't even need to remove them.

I also tested the Tozo NC9 and Aukey EP-N5 at the same time. These blew them away. Since, I tested the Edifier TWS NB2. Even they aren't in the Apollo's league.

Don't expect over-ear quality, but for TWS they remain a high-scoring feature and one of the best around.

Sound Quality - 8/10 (for the price), 8/10 (raw score)

I've read a lot of reviews where it mentions these are bass-heavy. For me, I just don't hear it. There is a minor rumble around the subbass on techno tracks and this did show on the FR tests, but after the first round and a firmware update the bass still sounded elevated, but slightly flatter. Since the soundstage is a little wider than most in-ear buds, this creates the perception of space in the lower mids, and prevents the Apollo Bold from suffering with excessive mid-bass bleed. There is a clear delineation of instruments, vocals, etc. in the upper mids, with no obvious sibilance.

Latency - no issues on YouTube etc., which defaults to AAC. Haven't tried for gaming - not my thing.

Call Quality - Indoors - 8/10, Outdoors - 7.5/10

Call quality on the Apollo Bold is quite consistent. It does a good job of isolating your voice from low frequency background noise, such as lorries all the way through to traffic, other human voices and air conditioning.



They use a 6-mic array to try to resolve the common issue of clarity vs isolation, and they do a good job, but this can extend too far to the point your voice can sound muffled when moving, even indoors, despite the voice mic being nicely positioned, even pointed towards your mouth.

Two mics act as ambient isolators, one on the inside (difficult to see, but above) and one on the top, but like with many buds where an ambient mic is on the inside, without an accelerometer or method of categorizing frequencies, your own voice can at times end up sounding muffled. That means indoors, it is fine for conference calls - actually quite natural sounding - but as soon as you get similar frequency sounds in the mix, it gets a bit muffled - creaking of your chair, for example (time for the WD40!) I have learned over time that with ANC off they seem to perform better on calls indoors.

Late-2020, I conducted a mic test in extreme conditions outdoors, and the Apollo Bold were one of the star performers, performing better than the first time I tested them.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 8.5/10

Connectivity is strong. They gave me some initial issues on Windows, but a new Intel BT driver has fixed that. They also gave me some problems on IOS 14 beta, again this has been sorted since IOS 14 Public Beta.



They do sometimes fail to connect to the last device, and have occasionally dropped signal altogether, but I had no issues when commuting into London, which is not the busy metropolis it was pre-COVID, but still a decent barometer for its ability to remain faithful in populated areas.

Controls are very good. They have learned a lot from the Spunky Beats days. The large surface area means more often than not you manage to connect well with the button, which requires just the right amount of pressure to connect. Three taps on either ear changes between ANC>Ambient>ANC OFF, as previously mentioned, and other controls are intuitive.

These default to aptX on appropriate devices, but having initially promised aptX-HD support, it looks like this will not be coming, despite the chip being capable of it.

It would be good to see some other app features that, for example, improve the ability to switch between devices, ANC modes and change features such as whether the sound stops when they are removed from your ears (which I personally like, but I know is not for everyone) and gaming mode for latency (again, not my thing but I know others like it)

Vendor response is excellent, as we know from their presence here on head-fi.

These are not for running in heavy rain - they are only IPX45 - but for commuters and general users, you get a good 5 hours out of them, which I would expect to drop over time, on full charge, and 2-3 full charges from the case.

App Support

I usually hate apps for TWS, but owning several Tronsmart products, it makes sense for me to make use of it. And in all fairness, it isn't bad.



The main screen tells you the battery remaining with a bar denoting battery left in the buds. ANC can be toggled here. The three dots in the top right hand corner allow you to update firmware.



As you can see, there are pretty clear instructions on how to update. They have since added 1.2.4, which boosts max volume by a further 30%.



The middle of the three options allows you to choose one of the equaliser options. There's no custom EQ unfortunately. The default profile seems to notch the bass off a little more. The classical overcompresses the mids. Jazz is nice, probably my preferred EQ after the default
Pop rolls the top end off and is ideal for dance music where it can be uncomfortable on high-hats. Rock is pretty awful -avoid!



The third option allows you to customise controls. With four releases now covered by the app, it's a good thing that it works well and isn't too much of a headache like the QCY and 1More apps.

Summary

Despite the reported heavy bass issues, I don't hear it. The sound quality is very good, whether you're using Windows, IOS, Android, it doesn't matter...still great results. I suspect this is down to the way they fit in your ears - the oval drivers are great for some ears, but can cause reverb and over emphasis of low frequencies in others. This emphasizes the importance of a good fitting set of tips.

I had hoped these would become my 'unicorn' single solitary set of headphones. Not quite. The microphone clarity just isn't quite good enough to replace over-ears and a boom mic, and not as good as stem-based for home office use.

Subsequent releases from Tronsmart haven't quite had the wow factor that the Apollo Bold had, but they are an intriguing company that have great support, and as we have seen through head-fi, a desire to connect with their customer base and improve. Use of the new QCC5124 chip is testament to their relationship with Qualcomm, which I expect to be reflective of their progress going forward, as nobody else has used the chip yet bar the other OEM's and Nuarl.

Price Weighted Score: 90%
Raw Score: 87%
2022 Score: 80%

Tronsmart Review Inventory:

Tronsmart Studio
Tronsmart Apollo Air
Tronsmart Battle
Tronsmart Onyx Apex
Tronsmart Apollo Q10
Tronsmart Onyx Free
Tronsmart Apollo Bold

About Tronsmart:

Tronsmart are now fully established as a mid to premium range earbud vendor, with their focus almost solely on audio products - mostly speakers and headphones. Founder Eric Cheng, a self-confessed geek, founded the company with his first paycheck (where was he working?!), building a lab to disassemble audio products with the aim to recreate them in his own vision at a cost-efficient price point.

After bringing in ear-chewing trophy-winning footballer Luis Suarez as an ambassador, the company have gone from strength to strength, building a close relationship with Qualcomm, and bringing two of their chips to market first with the Apollo Bold, and then the Apollo Air, which uses the Qualcomm QCC3046.

For speakers, the range is now almost as extensive as their earbuds, ranging from 7, 10 and 15w mini speakers through to the 60w Force Pro and Mega Pro.

Tronsmart remain one of my favourite mid-tier vendors, outrunning their budget competitors by releasing flagship products alongside the run-of-the-mill releases, and demonstrating transparency and commitment to quality and innovation with every release.