Baseus Bowie M2s

regancipher

100+ Head-Fier
Feature-rich low-budget buds with strong ANC
Pros: Great ANC, Multipoint, In-ear Detection, Superb ergonomics, Nice case design, Decent sound, Quick Charge
Cons: Low maximum volume, Terrible app, Spatial sound is a gimmick
How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
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Model: Baseus Bowie M2S
Price: Approx £25.00
Website: AliExpress
Review Reference: RC102

Manufacturer Specification:
  • Brand: Baseus
  • Model: Bowie M2S
  • Driver: 10mm Dynamic Driver
  • Chipset: Bluetrum BT8952F
  • Mic: 4 mics with environmental noise reduction for calls
  • ANC: Yes - 48dB Hybrid ANC
  • Codecs: AAC, SBC
  • App Support: Yes
  • Multipoint: Yes
  • Customisable Controls: Yes*
  • Gaming Mode: Yes
  • Earbud Weight: 4.3g
  • Earbud Dimensions: Stem Length 29mm, Depth 21.5mm
  • Gross Case & Buds Weight: 38g
  • Case Dimensions: 61.4mm (width) x 27.5mm (height) x 48.9mm (depth)
  • Case Charge Capacity: 400mAh
  • Quick Charge: Yes - up to 2 hours from 10min juice
  • Wireless Charging: No
  • Charge Time: 60 minutes (buds), 90 minutes (buds and case)
  • Single Use Playtime: Up to 7 hours (ANC off), 5 hours (ANC on)
  • Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 30 hours (ANC off)
  • Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.3
  • Bluetooth Protocols: BLE/ HFP 1.7/ A2DP 1.3/ AVRCP 1.5
  • Water Resistance: Not stated
Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
3 x Pair Silicone Eartips
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x Stickers Set
1 x Quick Guide
1 x Warranty Card
1 x Compliance Manual

YouTube Review:

TBC

Introduction

Baseus are an oddity in the budget True Wireless Earbud market, in that their core business is, truth be told, chargers, cables and other electronic ancillaries. Established over a decade ago, the brand has expanded into the US market in particular, and adding audio into their portfolio has been a natural progression - even so, we've seen plenty of examples where this hasn't really taken off in a big way - TaoTronics, for example, without the protection of the Xiaomi ecosystem. So I wasn't altogether surprised when my initial experiences of Baseus were quite bad when it came to audio - I didn't even bother to review the original M2 because the ANC was so weak and the audio delivery so poor, despite the relatively lofty price tag.

Undeterred, Baseus have continued to explore the market, and the M2s seems to be their most compelling release yet. Priced very competitively (sub $30) and with a feature set that is highly compelling and belies their low price tag, I was keen to put them to the test. And whilst they aren't without their drawbacks, it does at least look like a major step in the right direction.

Unboxing - 8/10

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Unboxing with Baseus is something they just do really well, as you would expect given their experience as a global manufacturer. On the front of the hefty cardboard enclosure you've got an accurate image of the earbuds, mentions of a few of their features and, rather annoyingly, a logo in the top right hand corner for 'Baseus Audio Tech Pack' that is modelled on the Hi-Res Certified Audio logo. This really isn't cool Baseus - there's absolutely no need to try and sneakily fool customers in this way. On the back, there are technical parameters in 13 different languages.

Inside the fold-out box you're getting the earbuds, case, cable and spare tips, as well as a small envelope containing some stickers, a warranty card and a user manual in 16 different languages. The eartips are similar to those on the Earfun Air Pro 3, with a cover protecting the driver area.

Case - 8.5/10

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The charge case for the M2s is really quite cool. Sure, it is a blatant rip off of the Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro case, but I like this design a lot - it works really well. It is very compact at 6cm wide, 5cm tall and with a depth of just over 2.5cm, and weighing just 38g fully loaded, it is highly portable. It's construction is plastic throughout - the lid is semi transparent and the rest of the chassis is matte. Despite this, it is reasonably well-built and with two weeks in the pocket there aren't any major scuff marks. Yet!

There's an MFB button on the bottom alongside a USB-C socket, and just above you have a single case LED. The LED blinks for around 1-2 minutes every time you open and shut the lid, to tell you the buds inside are charging. It also blinks red when you plug it in, turning solid white when charge is complete. If you touch the MFB when the case is not plugged in, you'll get either a red glow (case battery is below 20%) or white (above 20%). Not especially useful, but certainly better than no LED at all. Hold the button for 5s and it will reset the buds back to factory setting and the LED will flash red a few times.

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There is no lip on the hinge, instead it tilts backwards, and this clamshell design is really nice for flipping open and resting on the desk in front of you, with the buds facing you like a capsule. The hinge has some nice weight and friction to it, and there are no sharp edges. The magnets are just the right strength to pull in the buds when you get close, and aren't too strong that you would struggle to release them.

Whilst there's no wireless charging, you do get quick charge here with 2 hours playtime from 10 minutes juice.

Ergonomics - 9.5/10

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Bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Huawei FreeBuds Pro, thankfully the M2s improve on their ergonomics with a very comfortable, stable stem-based earbud design with a small oval nozzle and short stems. The outer edges are shiny, the inner sides are matte, and they are grippy enough that removing and replacing them in your ears is very straightforward.

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On the inside you've got an in-ear detection sensor, which needs to be switched on in the app. And you will probably need to, because the default controls don't really allow play/pause - double tapping each earbud facilitates skipping through tracks, long pressing either bud triggers ANC mode to be changed, and tap three times and you'll get voice assistant. In ear detection is a little inconsistent - it triggers regardless of whether you take out one or both, and doesn't always remember to re-play after re-insertion.

There's no volume control, and whilst you can remap the buttons in the app, it's quite limited - there's no ability to add volume control in, for example, and single tap does nothing and can't be programmed to do anything. You also can't turn gesture settings off. So a real mixed bag, but the touch sensors (located at the top of the stem) are at least reasonably responsive.

There's no IPX rating so use outside at your own risk, but I took them out during the summer rain here in the UK without any issues. They are also quite grippy in your ears so a light jog with them shouldn't pose any problems either. The battery connectors are in the base, and don't make direct contact with your skin - useful if you have metal allergies.

Audio & Sound Signature - 8/10 (for the price), 6.5/10 (raw score)

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Sound on the M2S is very similar to the QCY HT07, with slightly less emphasis on the midbass, a little more recess in the mid-mids and a bit more presence in the upper midrange. It is a vocal-centric tuning, particularly favouring female vocals, with some texture to the lower frequencies. The recessed mid regions can leave tracks sounding a little thin, and like the HT07, the no-nonsense approach to the trebles means you aren't going to get a great deal of detail or texture to percussive elements, strings and synths. It's a straightforward signature sound that optimises the hardware limitations of a single 10mm dynamic driver.

Some tweaks to the EQ can definitely help here. In the app, you've got 12 different presets - and they aren't bad. Mega Bass keeps the v-shape and bumps up the subbass, but not ridiculously so. Jazz lifts the midrange and midbass a little, etc. The only unusable one is 'Original' - steer clear of that!

Unfortunately, you can't then take a preset and customise it like you can with the Creative app for example, but there is a custom EQ and it is based on 'Original' - a completely flat 8 band equaliser up to 10k. I found it quite painful to get a balanced sound here. It's probably easier to use Wavelet and adjust from the Baseus Classic. Whilst the upper midrange extension is good for vocals, because of the ridiculously low maximum volume, when you're maxed out eventually this can get a little tiring, so notching that a little is a good place to start. Add a little to the midbass, play around with the trebles a touch and you've got a reasonably palatable sound isn't going to set the world alight, but is completely acceptable at the price point.

We are spoilt at the sub $30 price category with the unparalleled QCY HT05, but if you can handle the low maximum volume, the M2s aren't chasms behind, especially if comfort is a priority.

There is also the BISA 'Baseus Immersive Sound Acoustics' technology - sadly it isn't as interesting as it sounds. You've got two modes in the app - Music Mode and Cinema Mode. The former opens the sound out a little, thins it a bit more and takes a bit of the edge/definition from kick drums and instruments. Cinema mode increases the effect even more. There's no real 'spatial' effect in play here - there's certainly no head tracking or anything like that. I found it quite similar to that used by Oppo in their Air3 - a bit of a gimmick that doesn't really offer the user anything other than a few wasted minutes testing it out.

ANC - 8/10

ANC on the M2s was a real surprise. Baseus really knocked it out of the park here for a budget bud - usually I don't pay too much attention to dB ratings, but the 48dB noise reduction Baseus talk about in their marketing material doesn't seem like too much of a stretch from reality, even over prolonged testing. Sure, it isn't Bose or Apple level, but it's worth remembering these are sub $30 earbuds - it's a long way from what we were subjected to a couple of years ago to say the least.

Switch ANC on by holding the left bud and you'll get an inverted 'warp' sound, and immediately you'll notice your environment close in - outdoors the fresh air sounds around you are eradicated altogether, engine noises turn to a 'woosh', and whilst the use of power tools and alarms aren't negated altogether with music off, their onus is notched enough for it to be comfortable.

Indoors they are also reasonably good, and if you select 'Indoor' mode in the app you'll notice fans and other similar such noises are handled better than the default 'Custom' setting. In terms of settings for ANC, you've got 'Commuting', 'Indoor', 'Outdoor' and 'Custom', and the latter has a dial with 10 strength settings on, although this doesn't seem to really work. For a well-rounded ANC I favour Custom on Level 10.

Conversations aren't eradicated altogether, but similar to the QCY HT07, when you're using them with music, they do a decent job for the money. Switch to 'Transparency' mode, and this does feel like a bit of an afterthought - it's pretty good with no sound playing, but with music on low volume you still can't really hear what people are saying. It is certainly more on the natural side than many other buds, but in terms of effectiveness it falls at little way short.

Call Quality - Indoors - 6.5/10, Outdoors - 7/10

Like many other earbuds around this price, the M2s do better on outdoor calls than indoor calls. The AI noise reduction is a little too aggressive, and takes the edge off your own voice to the point that in a busy coffee shop, I started to become a little incoherent over time. It isn't terrible by any means, but if you're subjected to prolonged periods of environmental sound, you will eventually find yourself looking for a quiet corner.

Outdoors, it handles the conditions much better. Wind can knock your voice out, as you would expect, and your voice is again softened albeit with slightly less strength, but an outdoor call on the daily commute is easily do-able.

Other Features - 7/10

Connection and latency are very good. They're using the Bluetrum BT8952F Bluetooth 5.3 ready chip, and I noticed no major dropouts and good connection strength for 10-15m. I easily got lip synchronisation on videos, and performance on causal gaming was not too shabby either- you need to switch ear detection on to be given the option of gaming mode, one of the many oddities of the app, but when you do it does marginally improve performance in that respect.

They also, very handily, have multipoint connectivity, although it is probably more a pain than a benefit, because there's no control over it with the buttons or via the app. You can't switch it off, there's no device list, etc. I'd suddenly get a sound effect blast through the earbud when half way down the road because it had decided to disconnect from the laptop I'd forgotten to connect it to. It would then connect to the laptop every time unless you factory default it, so a little mixed in terms of benefits.

The app in general is a bit of a nightmare. It needs a lot of permissions to be used without it breaking, and once you do allow all of this, you aren't exactly greeted with a user-friendly skin, with buttons hidden in menus which suddenly appear (like low-latency mode). You do at least have a comprehensive, although somewhat flawed EQ mode, the ability to (at least some degree) customise controls, some (very questionable) ANC customisation and the ability to toggle the fairly useless Spatial Acoustics section. You also have the ability to update firmware, although I haven't seen this given as an option yet, and if you login and register, you can activate the 'find my earbuds' option in the middle, provided you're prepared to give your location details to Baseus (I think I'll pass!). It's a frustrating experience that Baseus really need to polish a lot, otherwise the reviews on AliExpress will be even more scathing than they have been about it so far.

Battery Life - 6/10

In theory, 7 hours battery life is very good, but switch ANC, wear detection and other settings on, use multipoint and make and take a few calls, and in reality this is closer to 4-5 hours, especially as you'll probably find yourself at maxed out volume most of the time. Thankfully, you've got the quick charge feature to give it a top up when required, but if you are looking for a battery monster, you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Summary

This is probably Baseus' most convincing earbud yet - a fantastic design that wears better than pretty much any earbud I've tested over the last 12 months, with a lovely case and some nice features that are useful, but can sometimes be hinderance due to weak implementation.

The sound is as you would expect for the price, perhaps slightly better and certainly Baseus' best sound to date, and calls are also OK provided you're in a quiet environment. ANC is the standout feature here, performing very strongly for the money, but the app is a bit of headache - definitely room for improvement here, Baseus.

In terms of sub $30 offerings, it falls some way short of the QCY HT05, and is a similar value proposition to the HT07, albeit with the useful addition of (a slightly ropey) multipoint. It lacks the polish of the Realme Buds Air 3S, but does give you ANC. It is some way ahead of products closer to home, like the SoundPEATS Life Classic, and gives you more features than Soundcore's budget offering such as the P2i.

Baseus have a little way to go to really make headway in the budget earbud market, but with this rocketing up as one of AliExpress' best sellers of 2023, you can't imagine it will be too long before these creases are ironed out and we see stability alongside the array of features.

Price Weighted Score: 83%
Raw Score: 77%
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