Dudios T8 TWS Headphones

How I review: (See Previous Reviews)

Model: Dudios T8
Price: £9.99 (currently £25.99 with additional 60% discount code)
Review Reference: RC029

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Dudios
• Model: T8
• Driver Size: 6mm
• Frequency Range: 2-20KHz
• Codecs: AAC / SBC
• Earbud Weight: 3.9 g
• Case Weight: 44 g
• Gross Weight: 52 g
• Earbud Dimensions: 39mm long stem
• Case Dimensions: 60 x 60 x 35 mm
• Earbuds Charging Time: 90 Mins
• Case Charging Time: 90 Mins
• Input: 5V 1A
• Music Playtime: 5.5 Hours
• Earbuds and Case Fully Charged Music Playtime: 35 Hours
• Bluetooth Range: 10 m
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0
• Bluetooth Protocols: HFP / A2DP / AVRCP
• Water Resistance: IPX7

Includes:

1 x Pair wireless headphones
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual, warranty card

Real Life Experience

A name like Dudios switches you off straight away, so when I saw these stem-based, bulky looking earbuds on offer at £9.99, I bought them for a laugh as much as anything. Reminiscent of the Whizzer TP1, only a lot less fancy, the Dudios buds have been around for a while - long enough that there were already reviews on head-fi, which is a rarity when I acquire new buds.

Dudios as a brand is part of the Shenzhen Ginto Technology company, an umbrella for Soundpeats, and the Dudios T8 use the Airoha Luda AB1526P chipset, the same chip used by SoundPeats in the True Shift, Edifier in their TWS2, Lenovo in their S1, Anker in their Zolo Liberty+ and MPOW in their T6.

The Unboxing - 6.5/10



Neat and tidy little package from Dudios, albeit somewhat MPow-like - i.e. very basic and flimsy.



The product comes with a warranty card and the usual mediocre quality spare tips and USB-C charge cable.

The Case - 6/10



The T8 have a puck-style USB-C charge case which measures 6 x 6 x 3.5cm. The lip at the front, visible above, is used to flip the case open, but don't try one-handed operation - it's not deep enough to allow that unfortunately, which can be annoying if you need to put the buds away whilst carrying your phone out-and-about.



The case is larger than that of most modern TWS today, and eclipses other similar-style cases, such as the KZ SA08 and Tronsmart Apollo Bold, by being substantially heavier, and taller. Placing the buds back in the case is trouble-free, with adequate magnets and a substantial hinge.



At 52g, whilst it isn't going to help you lose weight on the daily commute, it isn't the most portable case around. That has it's pros and cons, but nevertheless in my jacket pocked it didn't feel too onerous.

With no charge indicator lights on the front, you have to consult the rear, where the USB-C charge socket is located as well. This can be a bit annoying if you like to see at a glance how much charge you have.

The Ergonomics - 6/10, Build Quality - 7/10



The T8 have an odd look about them, with their long stems, bulbous surround and narrow insert. They certainly don't win any prizes for aesthetics. The battery connectors, shown covered with tape above, make direct contact with the skin, which for allergy sufferers makes them a no go.



The design almost encourages the stems to stick outwards, away from your mouth, which doesn't help the mic, especially in outdoor environments. That said, the flat exterior surface makes for perfect touch control usage, which is happily easily initiated and well-thought-out.



The stem is visibly longer than some of the more recent silicone in-ear releases such as the QCY T10 and Boya BY-AP4, and the design, more similar to the Boltune BT-BH024, can be fatiguing over long periods, although it does provide very good passive noise isolation.

Despite their size, the mostly-plastic build ensures they are reasonably lightweight - weighing in at roughly the same as the 1More Comfobuds, and happily they are IPX7, providing solid water resistance.

Audio Quality - 8/10 (for the price paid), 6.5/10 (raw score)

The audio on the Dudios is laid back, with the trebles rolled off early and the bass softened. The mids are not especially elevated either, with the sound profile fairly balanced, albeit slightly scooped. Combined with a narrow soundstage, this will no doubt put off those used to a V-shaped, punchy and bright TWS, which is what you usually get around this price range, but for me they were pleasant enough without getting you off the sofa and dancing around the living room.

If you test the buds with complex tracks you notice that detail starts to erode. This is merely technology moving on - back when these were released, the T8 were intent on diverting from the screeching highs that were emblematic of most TWS with a Chinese label on.

Call Quality - Indoors - 7/10, Outdoors - 5.5/10

Call quality is fair. For the money - certainly not to be sniffed at. There is an evident over-compression when the scene gets complex - with the washing machine on they glitched in and out a bit, but in a stable indoor environment with minimal ambient noise your voice is clear, albeit a tad robotic.

Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7/10

Connectivity is rather weak, glitching out quite quickly - around 8m LOS. This is to be expected given the rate that technology changes at. Lack of quick charge is annoying, but was commonplace when released. The touch controls are excellent - very responsive, and you can control the volume - a single tap on the left to reduce and right to increase.

Battery Life - 6.5/10

5 hours from a single charge. Case adds an additional 5-6 charges. Perfectly adequate for this form factor, and justifies the larger case. No QI, and no quick charge - charge time is 90 minutes.

Final Comments

The Dudios T8 first hit the market over a year ago now, and they are starting to show their age. They also suffered with some odd glitches - they show as a keyboard as well as headphones on Windows, so lets hope they don't include a built-in keylogger!! They would also periodically power-down for no apparent reason, despite battery being over 90%. That said, at £9.99, I can't really complain. I'll be moving them on at some point, but it was an interesting experiment that taught me one thing - TWS have come a long way in a short space of time.

Price Weighted Score: 80%
Raw Score: 62%

Hello and good day to all of your beautiful weirdos! Been away for a long while, so a big thank you to Dudios to being one of the first company’s to start sending out review samples again. So anyways, the T8 is one of Dudios’ newest offerings to their entry level wireless earphone coming in at under $30. Seeing as I’ve reviewed a pretty nice amount of their products I’m rather excited to hear what their newest offering brings. So, without further adieu, allow me to share my thoughts on this budget friendly true wireless earphone.





The Opening Experience




Construction



Starting from the charging case, the build quality is admittedly pretty nice. Though it’s entirely made of plastic, it has a kind of rubbery feel to it which is great for holding onto. Additionally, the case is a rounded shape which, on a personal note, I didn’t care for. My reasoning for this is that, for me personally, it was often difficult to open the case to get to the earphones. On the front of the case, you’ve only a small lip to catch to open it so oftentimes my fingers or thumb would just slip right off of it for a couple tries. I feel if they were to utilize two, offset, lips this problem would completely go away. But, I digress. The case itself, as stated earlier, is a charging case that utilizes the Type C inputs (which I am immensely appreciative of and hope all company’s follow suit) that have an absolutely ridiculous amount of life and charging capabilities. Though I cannot give an exact number as to its life, during my time with this unit, I’ve put approximately 20 hours on the earbuds and I have yet to need to charge the case.
Moving onto the actual earphones themselves, the Dudios T8 true wireless earphones share the physical resemblance of the apple earpods in the sense they have the receiver and microphone on the elongated dongle that hangs from the bud. Similar to that of the charging case, the material is entirely plastic however it does not share the rubbery feel. The horn is that of the most common size I see on the vast majority of earphones/iems so finding aftermarket tips, if you so desire, will be very simple and easy. As for charging, simply place it back into its fitted spots in its case.

Comfort



Believe it or not, this is the first earphone that I’ve ever tried that has this type of elongated frame so I wasn’t sure how it would really feel, but, after a little over a week I can confidently say that these boogers are pretty darned comfortable, so long as you’re not laying on your side. The earlier motion about them being comfortable goes completely out the window when you lay on your side with these things. Continuing onwards, the entire weight, which is very miniscule, is supported by your tragus and ear canal but because it’s so light you don’t feel any pressure at all. The supplied tips are the regular run of the mill silicone tips which do provide relatively respectful isolation from the outside world and though I personally use and recommend Comply memory foam, as mentioned in the construction section, you can easily find and use your tips of choice to maximize your personal preferences. With that being said, though your mileage may vary, these didn’t have any problems with staying in my ears at all either, including a light workout.

Features



Other than the default ability to be utilized either in solo (only using a single earphone to listen to) or dual mode the Dudios T8 also has another, surprising considering its price point, feature that I’d like to share. The Dudios T8 is touch control and in a very interesting way too. Both Left and Right earphones control the play/pause & answer/hangup by double tapping either side and, at least with Android phones, activating the “OK Google” feature by triple tapping. The Left side controls the volume down by sliding your finger either up OR down on the face plate and a 2 second hold will make your music go to the previous track. The reverse is true for the right side; the right side controls volume up by sliding your finger either up OR down across the face plate and a 2 second hold will take your music forward to the next track.
Before I discuss a negative I have with this I also want to touch on that these earphones go into auto-pairing mode once they’re removed from their case and will auto connect to the most recent device it connected to if applicable. Now, the negative I have with the Dudios T8 is that, on a fair amount of occasions, while listening to music etc… the earphones will just up and randomly turn themselves off. The first couple times it did this, I thought the battery was just dead but I hadn’t been listening to them for more than a couple hours so I checked the battery indicator on my phone and sure enough they were still far from even low. Granted, this was easily and quickly fixed by simply putting them back in the case and taking them back out but the issue was still present.

Sound



So, we’re finally at what’s arguably the most important part, the sound quality. So, overall the sound is definitely tuned to be more V shaped but even as such, as is expected with a product at this price point, there’s not a very notable bass hit nor treble extension. These earphones are definitely one I would recommend for casual listening when you’re commuting to/from work, not while driving of course, or something to just pop in your ears and listen to while on your break.

Treble

So I mentioned that the Dudios T8 didn’t really have that great of treble extension but that doesn’t mean that listening to high toned music isn’t enjoyable. If you’ve read any of my other reviews or keep up with me you’ll understand how I’ve grown a taste for listening to the Koto after watching the anime and as such I listen to a fair bit of music with it. Listening to the T8, the Kono Oto Tomare sample playlist is still very much enjoyable and brings a smile to me each time. Also, despite the lower price point, the subtle nuances that I know are present in the background of the track can still be heard with these, so that’s actually a pretty solid point for the T8.

Mids

Now, I mentioned that the T8 is tuned to be more V shaped and as such the mids, which are my personal favorite area of a track, are going to be more subdued than the more “fun” areas to listen to. This sentiment is very true in the T8. While listening to George Ezra’s “Budapest” or Adele’s “Love in the Dark,” amongst many others, though I can still appreciate the artists vocal competency’s the T8 just, at least to me, doesn’t replicate the magic that their songs otherwise can.

Bass

Similarly to the previous sections, the bass, though of course present and a focal point in the tuning, still isn’t gonna make anyone whistle in impress. I will say however that of the three main areas of music the bass is definitely the most exciting thing to listen to with the T8. Checking out tracks such as Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s “Repeat After Me” I truthfully got pretty excited and ready to get to work. With respect to the roughly $30 price, I honestly can’t knock much on the bass of the T8.


Conclusion



My overall thoughts on the Dudios T8 is that they’re absolutely designed and catered to the casual, non audiophile/enthusiast, listener. The features, at least in my personal opinion, were the main areas that Dudios Focused on when they were designing the T8. And that’s fine; for the features are actually pretty cool and, again to me, set it apart from any other $30ish dollar true wireless earphone/iem that comes to mind. So if you’re just wanting an inexpensive pair of true wireless earphones to carry around and listen to while you’re at work on lunch or the like or would like a really cool gift for someone that I do believe they’ll appreciate, then I really recommend you check out the Dudios T8.





Also, make sure to check out my unboxing and review videos. They’re pretty awesome AND you getta put a face to the Army-Firedawg name. If this review helped you out at all please hit that thumbs up button for it really helps me out a lot. Till next time my friends, stay safe.

The box is a simple yet effective one, it protects your earphones efficiently.
The design is in the similar shape as apple but with its own differences. I found them to fit perfectly with the default tips and aftermarket foam tips are so easy to find if you have very small or large ears anyway. The T8 ships with 3 size tips and the USB type C cable. They seem very sturdy even for a all plastic build and the clamshell case is soft to the touch and easy to carry. There are very simple to use touch controls and anyone should be up and running them in just a minute or two.
I was expecting heavy Bass and a typical V-shaped signature but like the Freedots DUDIOS has evolved into a not fatiguing signature that is more toward balanced and enjoyable for longer use.

Bass: is tight punchy with a mild elevation in the Sub-Bass
Mids: are clean and forward but not too much.
Highs: are crisp with out over extending or harshness.
soundstage is average for this class of earphones.

Conclusion:
The T8 is another step upward for DUDIOS always improving and refining there products. Its a very good TWS with touch controls, a great signature and comfort making it enjoyable for hours at a time and great for walks and the gym.

Introduction
Carrie from Dudios kindly sent me the T8 Wireless Earbuds for review. These are comparatively inexpensive Bluetooth 5.0 TWS headphones with touch controls. There is very little to set it apart from the multitudes of other TWS headphones which are currently available on Amazon - let’s see if there’s something special about these.



Case
The case is made of plastic (no surprises there) and appears to be somewhat more rugged feeling than the lightweight case supplied with the Tronsmart Bold’s for example. The outside of the case has a soft touch which gives it a slightly more premium feel than the typical shiny cases that’s found on many others. The case charges using USB C and features one LED to display the various charge states. Both the sockets for the headphones and the case lid feature magnets and, whilst not being the strongest I’ve come across, basically do the job. One nice touch is the slight ‘bump’ at the front of the lid which helps when opening the case up. Dudios claims that the battery life on the earbuds themselves is rated at 5.5 hours and the case offers up to 35 additional charge hours.
Earbuds
The T8’s have a definite Airpod Pro look to them. Unfortunately they don’t offer the same active noise cancellation that you would find with the Airpods - but at this price it would almost certainly sound appalling. As it is, the earbuds feature touch-controls and, rather surprisingly considering their price point, they offer remote volume controls. I found the touch controls to work really well - easily as good as the Sony WF1000XM3’s. Unfortunately this type of touch sensitive control also kinda stops you being able to wear them in bed.



Although they're made of plastic, they don't feel particularly cheap. I haven't really had the chance to test out the battery life as I rarely get the chance to listen for that long. Signal appears to be pretty good and they do go loud. They're lightweight which definitely helps maintain a good fit and, most importantly, they sound good,
Sound Quality
The Dudios T8's sound surprisingly neutral. I expected them to be overly bassy (as this often seems to be the case with many of the inexpensive TWS headphones out there. The T8's have a somewhat mellow character - offering a nice non-fatiguing listening experience. I couldn't detect any significant noise floor and the headphones connected quite quickly to my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 8). All in all, a not-bad pair of headphones.



One thing that really did surprise me when I started looking at the settings on my phone was that the T8's are SBC only - no APtX - no AAC. I have to admit that I found this really surprising when you take into account the pretty good sound quality they're capable of.
Conclusion
I like these. They're a capable, inoffensive sounding pair of well designed headphones. They are definitely an improvement on my last pair of 30 quid headphones and for their price I'm quite happy to recommend them.

Pros:
Surprisingly good sound quality.
Appear to be well made
Case seems to be sturdy
Good wireless range
Remote Volume Controls

Cons:
No high-res codec support
Magnets could be a little stronger.