Morph Infiniconnect
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Model: Morph Infiniconnect
Price: MSRP Approx $150
Website: Morph Audio
Review Reference: RC084
Manufacturer Specification:
1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x Rubberised Charge Case Protector
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x QR Code Quick Guide
3 x Pair Eartips
YouTube Review:
Introduction
Welcome to the @regancipher review of the Morph Infiniconnect, a Kickstarter/Indiegogo project which claimed to resolve the problem of flakey multipoint connectivity, offering the ability to switch between multiple Bluetooth devices at the touch of a button, using the svelte, advertised charge case and its LED screen to toggle quickly and efficiently to your chosen device.
The Indiegogo/Kickstarter project advertised 'The Most Advanced Bluetooth 5.2 Earbuds Ever', bringing a whopping 24-hour battery life, adaptive ANC, Active Noise Cancellation, aptX-Voice for super-clear calls, customisable touch controls, wireless charging and spatial audio, as well as custom-IEM-style in-ear moulds based on hundreds of samples. The campaign proved popular, with over £365k raised by over 4k buyers across their 18-month journey. Yep, that's right - 18 months!
Morph started the journey with a fantastic-looking, almost-futuristic, credit card-sized case, matt black carbon finished earmolds with a unique shape driven by real-world data, comparing hundreds of popular models and refining to perfection. The list of features read like a shopping list of every premium bud on the market! (Link to Kickstarter)
As we know, these Indiegogo projects are a little like 'what you could have won' at times, with the end result looking very different to the proposal, and unfortunately, that's exactly what happened here with the Inficonnect. Unfortunately, COVID arrived, and no doubt the project became curtailed - a lot of the changes seem to be 'budget-driven' - I suspect, even despite the impressive level of funding - the original brief just simply became impossible to deliver.
The custom moulds are replaced by the shell of the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, the depth of which is bulked out further by the addition of a rounded faceplate, the slim, credit card-sized prototype charge case with a clean monochrome display replaced by a mammoth box with a Gameboy Colour-esque screen, the list of audio enhancements has vanished, and the customisable controls are in the wind too. Not only that, but the concept is slightly outdated - the project to end the misery of multipoint woes - a problem for sure when the concept was launched in early 2021 - is no longer a big issue in the commercial TWS world, with anything from the budget QCY T18 through to the lion's share of Soundcore's recent releases, Huawei FreeBuds Pro, Oppo Enco X2, etc. all supporting simultaneous connectivity of two devices, and 2022 releases from the likes of FIIL offering the ability to switch quickly between two devices without impacting upon battery life. This has left the optimum use case for the Morph somewhat limited - sure you can switch between multiple devices quickly, but who needs to switch between more than two devices on a regular basis?! Not many!
Regardless of the disappointment of the finished item not meeting the design brief in any way, this review will try to put that to one side and focus on the merits of the Inficonnect without the baggage of the experience!
Unboxing
Unboxing the Infiniconnect is more akin to unboxing a budget timepiece, with the massive fold-back outer container housing the giant charge case, small plastic bag with 5 different sized eartips, a QR code which takes you to the user manual, and USB A to C charge cable.
The QR code is actually pretty useful, because at some point should you need to update the firmware, it is a rather complicated process that definitely benefits from a step-by-step walkthrough. Essentially, the case becomes a wireless access point (which you toggle in the bottom section of the menu) and then connect to using a browser (Sending a payload over http - what could possibly go wrong?!
)
Despite the extravagant outer experience, there is little there to really assess once you're inside the box. The tips are bog standard - they are shaped identical to those supplied with the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, as you would expect given the shell is also identical to said ANC flagship of 2020, as well as a number of other products including the Cleer Ally equivalent. The USB charge cable is as you would expect - the same as every other USB charge cable. The rubber surround for the charge case takes the dimensions to stratospheric proportions - whilst it is a nice addition, realistically you aren't going to be carrying this case around with you too much, it's simply too big. By the same token, you may want to take it into the office with you, in which case it provides welcome protection should the case get chucked in your bag, because it's unlikely it is going to fit in your pocket!
Case
The Infiniconnect charge case was really the USP of the prototype, and one of the main reasons for my contribution towards it. The idea is that rather than pushing touch control button configurations to switch between devices or using multipoint to connect to two devices, you can collect a number of common devices you normally use, and seamlessly switch between them using the interface on the case. This looked like a great idea in principle, however, as mentioned in the preamble, the sleek, credit card-sized case proposed has been dispensed with in favour of a large, 'go pro'-style enclosure, which feels like a normal charge case with an elongated bottom half and a screen built-in, and has really put a dampener on the release, not least because portability has plummeted, amongst a multitude of other reasons.
The size of the case, almost 7cm square and a depth of 4.5cm at its largest, is just one reason for being put off the product. The weight of a whopping 103g is almost double any other TWS case I've tested so far, including the original Huawei Freebuds Pro. The lack of portability really does restrict the use-cases for the Infiniconnect, because generally our preference is to use TWS on the go, something simply not possible with this case.
The build quality of the case is also rather suspect. The hinge moves around a fair bit - indeed, I suspected mine was broken, so I had to get the mini screwdrivers out and readjust it to ensure the hinge didn't break off. Because the bottom of the case is so heavy, were you to pick it up by the hinge too often, I'm pretty sure that would be game over. The case is a little cheap looking too - there is little imagination to the design, it's just a charcoal grey plastic case with a charge port and on/off button on the back, and the buds slot in the cockpit with the nozzles facing down with an etched L and R denoting which bud needs to be placed where.
On the rear you have a button to switch the unit on, and a USB-C socket to charge it. On the side there's a clip to hook it onto your keyring (don't try this at home kids!). On screen side, you have a very small LED just above the 5.6cm display. This denotes charge status - it will glow blue briefly, before turning solid red whilst on charge. There's no traffic light-style method of denoting charge, you have to use the case GUI to discover that. It's possible to charge with Qi wireless charging pads, but that will extend the time taken, and having already waited over 3 hours on each of the occasions I've charged it previously with USB and still not made it to 100%, I recommend using the traditional cable method if you can.
Now the screen. Switching the unit on holding the button on the back, you are greeted by a second or two blast of the Morph logo on the screen, before the home screen is revealed. Along the side bar you have some pretty self-explanatory icons: 'home', 'bluetooth', 'music note' and 'settings wheel'. The screen is touch screen, so you are expected to try and make your finger small enough to touch the correct icon - not easy for those with big fingers, and even more difficult with the case on. Whilst the screen was advertised as OLED, it clearly isn't, and the viewing angle on the screen isn't great at all.
The home screen gives you a percentage battery wheel for each of the two earbuds which works in increments of 1%, which is impressively specific, although it won't tell you what percentage it is when the buds are in the case, as you would expect given the absence of any two-way comms between the board and the buds. (more on this later)
In the next menu you'll find a list of any paired devices, and it's here that you're able to toggle through devices to switch connection. I found reliability to be pretty patchy - connection wasn't always possible, and sometimes the case would tell me the connection had failed even if it was connected. It's touch screen, so you have the task of making your finger small enough to tap the device you want to switch to. To add another device, press the '+' and begin the pairing process on your device (with the buds removed from the case - more on that later). Switching devices takes between 3-6s, so it isn't seamless, and you may miss a call if that's the reason you're switching.
The music note section allows you to control volume and toggle a few basic parameters. If you have nothing playing, the volume bar defaults to zero. Below, you have a transparency toggle (which automatically switches off ANC just below it). You can also toggle mic and ANC here. The music note is a bit of a strange choice - there's no EQ, no gaming mode, no spatial audio, etc. Toggling the mic off is quite handy - kinda like the old mute button on the Jabras.
Below that, the settings wheel allows you to toggle 'power saving time', i.e. the amount of time in seconds before the screen goes off, up to 60s. You also have the ability to switch on the wireless access point option we mentioned in the beginning in order to upgrade the firmware.
Since I had some issues with the hinge assembly, I decided to take the case apart, and kinda wish I hadn't! Essentially, all Morph have done here is use an off-the-shelf ESP32-WROOM-32D development board with a USB interface and touchscreen kit. No digital comms, no custom board....everything is off the shelf, hence the huge size - all Morph have done is find a case that will house the buds and morph it into one that can contain the components, implementing a fraction of the functions available to the Qualcomm chipset in the earbuds because they haven't gone any further. This botched-together set of components meets the design brief - just - but the delivery is a bunch of loose wires, some of which are glued in place, and a ton of pointless, unused space, as well as a disappointing lack of regard for what they promised.
Really, it is a lot of fuss over nothing. In reality, switching between devices can throw up errors quite often, and there's no toggle for the advertised gaming mode and spatial audio, probably because they haven't included them. Morph do sell a slightly smaller case with no screen, but even this is not especially small, and kinda defeats the purpose of the buds in the first place!
Ergonomics
As mentioned several times previously, the Infinconnect shell bears an uncanny likeness to that of the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, Cleer Ally Plus, Zen 233621, and to a marginally lesser degree, the Philips T8506 and FiiO FW5, the latter of which even contains the same Bluetooth chipset.
It is not uncommon for 'shells' to be reused across TWS manufacturers and product sets - we've seen it many times from various profile vendors, and I suspect given the delays and missed opportunities for Morph the decision to switch molds was a cost exercise designed to recoup a bit of capital. By taking a shell which is proven to house the Qualcomm chip without any issues, Morph could adjust the board design to suit and ensure the project remains within budgetary constraints - at least this is my rationalisation for the replacement of the custom molds, which looked pretty good in the product design brief. That said, this design isn't without its issues.
The bud itself is quite large, with the upside-down teardrop measuring around 22mm diameter. The depth of 17mm extending to almost 27mm with the nozzle is the bigger issue though. This is one of the largest and bulkiest TWS designs I've tested, almost comparable to KZ's SA08 - a 5 driver bud, and even the Soundcore Liberty Air3 Pro, albeit without the curvature.
With the stock tips, even with no movement, they perch precariously on the edge of your ears looking as though a heavy gust of wind could take them clean out. The above pic shows them with the improved-fitting Azla Xelastec SednaEarfit Crystal tips - even then, you wouldn't say they are snug fitting by any means.
It didn't take too long to discover I would benefit from rolling the tips, and switching to Azla Crystal saved the day. The grippy texture of the Azla offering shorted the distance from the nozzle to my ear canal and placed less burden on the tip themselves. This makes for a far more stable fit, although looking at the buds face-on, there is still a sizeable gap around the top - they certainly don't rest against your concha, and those with narrow ear canals may even suffer with discomfort from this somewhat lazy and restrictive design, but they do stay in your ears at least.
On the inside, you've got two battery connectors and an in-ear detection sensor, which works, but annoyingly, doesn't resume playing when you put the bud back in.
The buds weigh just shy of 6g - heavier than the Apollo Bold - and this doesn't help with their stability.
Really, you're looking for comfort, stability, and a design that supports the key features, such as Active Noise Cancellation. The Morph Infiniconnect doesn't really meet the required standards for any of these areas - ear fatigue within a few hours is very real, and the lack of depth combined with the oval nozzle makes for a shallow fit, which certainly doesn't augment the ANC.
The buds claim IPX5 sweat resistance, so no showering in them.
Audio
Given the issues with the product so far, my expectations weren't great when it comes to audio quality. In reality, the Infiniconnect actually sound reasonable - not commensurate with the £150 price tag, but certainly not a disaster.
The buds combine the Qualcomm QCC5141 chipset and a 'claimed' single Knowles Balanced Armature driver - akin to putting a lawnmower engine in a decent runaround. The result is OK, but certainly not £150-OK.
Despite the driver selection, the trebles are tamed compared to other BA buds I've tested. They're not completely neutral, and there is a reasonable texture to claps, stabs and hats. The splashiness to synths and sibilant vocals you hear on poorly-tuned higher frequencies is absent, but they could certainly be much crispier.
Lower frequencies with ANC on lack any depth, sounding thin and lifeless. Switch ANC on and you're engulfed by a thick, bloated lower frequency tuning that adds darkness to the sound, but also eradicates detail. Tracks like RIP Groove by Double 99 lack the rumbling subbass that was meant to the production with ANC off, but switch it on and you'll hear the warp synonymous with 90's speed garage.
With ANC off, the lower mids are recessed, the mids are lifted, and the upper midrange is elevated to give vocals a little room to breath and to create the impression of a more open airy soundstage. Separation in the lower midrange is satisfactory in most instances - with baritone vocals like Rag'n'Bone Man, whose vocal comes through quite clear around a variety of similar-frequency sounds, although the overall representation is not always clean when the range becomes over-congested, and borders on distortion with ANC on. This is where they differ from the likes of the SL3P & Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS, two buds I've tested again recently, which constrain the upper midrange much more, leaving the vocal seemingly struggling for air. Guitars and drums come through nicely on rock/pop tracks like Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz, and whilst they lack the metallic timbre you get on very low end buds, it's still a rather cold tone and timbre, and the imaging you get on some of the better dual-driver, high resolution buds I've tested this year is sadly lacking.
Vocals are mostly positioned at the centre but extend a little further than many in-ear buds, and there's a nice breadth to the soundstage with a signature that favours air over warmth. Soundstage breadth is average width with shallow depth- with ANC off, instruments are pretty well separated, but they can lack a little emotion and sound. With non-complex orchestral arrangements this can leave tracks sometimes sounding a bit cold, but by the same token long listening is possible, since tracks rarely sound fatiguing. With ANC on, the sound is darker, and the soundstage constrained.
I had a little play on Wavelet to see if adjustments could improve the sound closer to my preferred sound signature, and fortunately they responded well with no distortion, however hard I pushed the bass. By lifting the EQ a shade around 75-300Hz, more at 600Hz, and then a little again sat 5KHz-10KHz, reducing a bit at 20KHz, this left the sound much closer to my preference and improved the signature immeasurably. So for Android owners, all is not lost.
ANC
Active Noise Cancellation is also not a lost cause, although it certainly isn't a standout feature. The product brief boasted 'Adaptive ANC that adjusts in real time to changes in how the earbuds fit in your ears', but unlike most products on the market using this technology, you don't have the option to switch through different modes, you just have to trust that the adaptive ANC they claim to support is doing it's job, which is kinda tricky given they've lied about practically everything else, and there's no obvious change in noise cancellation if, for example, you suddenly get a noisy environment.
Naturally, the better the fit, the better the noise cancellation. Push the buds further in and you'll notice the buds are decent at removing low rumbling sounds, but higher frequencies such as keyboard taps and splashes come through quite clearly, without even really being nullified.
Transparency mode is better - there's not so much of the 'lisp' you get with some vendors, and it's good enough to discern voices clearly.
Call Quality
Call Quality is also pretty good. Outdoors, in particular, the buds are certainly above average at nullifying ambient sound and projecting your voice so it comes through not only quite clearly, but quite naturally too. It's actually not too far behind the Sony Linkbuds and probably comparable to the Huawei Freebuds Pro and OnePlus Buds Pro amongst the better performers for outdoor calls.
Indoors your voice lacks some of the tone and weight that buds which are weaker at noise reduction possess - it is seemingly a spectrum vendors have to balance when implementing noise reduction, so it's not going to give you podcast quality calls even in silence, but it is certainly good enough for Teams calls and voice calls here and there, and considering the form factor, it's one of the standout features.
Controls and Other Features
Controls are pretty awful in all honesty. Despite claiming that swipe controls would adjust the volume, this did not make it to the final product. You've also got no volume control - it's essentially play and pause and switching ANC on and off - double tap made a noise, but didn't do anything for me.
The case is obviously the big feature, and whilst we've discussed the size, shape and menu options, it should be said that it lacks some genuinely basic features. 'Hall Switch' mode - the ability to connect to and pair with the buds seated in the case cockpit - is not supported. This leaves you with the bonkers situation that, if you open the case and decide you want to use a different device from the last one connected a few hours, days or minutes previously, you have to put the buds in your ears, connect to the last device, wait a seeming eternity for the buds to connect to the case, then switch. And it isn't always reliable enough to connect first time, so the execution here is again found wanting.
Battery life on the buds isn't great either, but on the case it is catastrophic. Morph claim 25 hours from the buds (I got an average of around 6 hours with ANC on) and an extra 25 hours from the case. That might be true if the case kept battery long enough to prove it - using the screen seemingly knocks around 10 minutes of battery life off per ten minutes of use. Again, crazy that the focal point of the release is so flawed, but since we analysed the construction of the product, it shouldn't altogether be surprising.
Summary
There are two things to consider here - whether the buds meet the design brief, and whether they offer any value for money on their own back. As we have already established, the product falls way short of what it proposed, in an almost-comical way, to the point this will unquestionably be finding its way to the subreddit for kickstarter disasters very soon.
The product itself has some good points - sound is OK, call quality is OK and ANC isn't terrible. However, the case is clunky, the ergonomics are awkward and the switching feature is sub-par in its process and execution.
At $150, the Morph Infiniconnect is a huge disappointment, but for buyers not tainted by the moving of the goalposts, it is also an absolute non-starter. The idea, good in principle, solves a problem that few experience now, and with the proliferation of multipoint in cheaper, better options (such as the Soundcore Space A40), save your money and thank me later!
Price Weighted Score: 60%
Raw Score: 61%
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Model: Morph Infiniconnect
Price: MSRP Approx $150
Website: Morph Audio
Review Reference: RC084
Manufacturer Specification:
- Brand: Morph
- Model: Infiniconnect
- Driver: Dual-Driver Dynamic / Knowles Balanced Armature
- Chipset: Qualcomm QCC5141
- Mic: 2, cVc 8.0. Advertised Aptx-Voice
- ANC: No
- Codecs: AptX-Adaptive, AptX, AAC, SBC
- App Support: No
- Volume Control: No
- Gaming Mode: Advertised, but not found
- Case Dimensions: 66mm (width) x 67mm (height) x 45mm (depth)
- Case Weight: 103.5g
- Earbud Dimensions: 17mm / 23mm (depth + nozzle), 22mm (plate diameter)
- Earbud Weight: 5.86g
- Quick Charge: No
- Wireless Charging: Yes
- Single Use Playtime: Up to 20 hours
- Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 50 hours
- Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.2
- Bluetooth Protocols: HFP 1.7/ A2DP 1.3/ AVRCP 1.5 / LE
- Water Resistance: IPX5
1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x Rubberised Charge Case Protector
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x QR Code Quick Guide
3 x Pair Eartips
YouTube Review:
Introduction
Welcome to the @regancipher review of the Morph Infiniconnect, a Kickstarter/Indiegogo project which claimed to resolve the problem of flakey multipoint connectivity, offering the ability to switch between multiple Bluetooth devices at the touch of a button, using the svelte, advertised charge case and its LED screen to toggle quickly and efficiently to your chosen device.
The Indiegogo/Kickstarter project advertised 'The Most Advanced Bluetooth 5.2 Earbuds Ever', bringing a whopping 24-hour battery life, adaptive ANC, Active Noise Cancellation, aptX-Voice for super-clear calls, customisable touch controls, wireless charging and spatial audio, as well as custom-IEM-style in-ear moulds based on hundreds of samples. The campaign proved popular, with over £365k raised by over 4k buyers across their 18-month journey. Yep, that's right - 18 months!
Morph started the journey with a fantastic-looking, almost-futuristic, credit card-sized case, matt black carbon finished earmolds with a unique shape driven by real-world data, comparing hundreds of popular models and refining to perfection. The list of features read like a shopping list of every premium bud on the market! (Link to Kickstarter)
As we know, these Indiegogo projects are a little like 'what you could have won' at times, with the end result looking very different to the proposal, and unfortunately, that's exactly what happened here with the Inficonnect. Unfortunately, COVID arrived, and no doubt the project became curtailed - a lot of the changes seem to be 'budget-driven' - I suspect, even despite the impressive level of funding - the original brief just simply became impossible to deliver.
The custom moulds are replaced by the shell of the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, the depth of which is bulked out further by the addition of a rounded faceplate, the slim, credit card-sized prototype charge case with a clean monochrome display replaced by a mammoth box with a Gameboy Colour-esque screen, the list of audio enhancements has vanished, and the customisable controls are in the wind too. Not only that, but the concept is slightly outdated - the project to end the misery of multipoint woes - a problem for sure when the concept was launched in early 2021 - is no longer a big issue in the commercial TWS world, with anything from the budget QCY T18 through to the lion's share of Soundcore's recent releases, Huawei FreeBuds Pro, Oppo Enco X2, etc. all supporting simultaneous connectivity of two devices, and 2022 releases from the likes of FIIL offering the ability to switch quickly between two devices without impacting upon battery life. This has left the optimum use case for the Morph somewhat limited - sure you can switch between multiple devices quickly, but who needs to switch between more than two devices on a regular basis?! Not many!
Regardless of the disappointment of the finished item not meeting the design brief in any way, this review will try to put that to one side and focus on the merits of the Inficonnect without the baggage of the experience!
Unboxing
Unboxing the Infiniconnect is more akin to unboxing a budget timepiece, with the massive fold-back outer container housing the giant charge case, small plastic bag with 5 different sized eartips, a QR code which takes you to the user manual, and USB A to C charge cable.
The QR code is actually pretty useful, because at some point should you need to update the firmware, it is a rather complicated process that definitely benefits from a step-by-step walkthrough. Essentially, the case becomes a wireless access point (which you toggle in the bottom section of the menu) and then connect to using a browser (Sending a payload over http - what could possibly go wrong?!
)Despite the extravagant outer experience, there is little there to really assess once you're inside the box. The tips are bog standard - they are shaped identical to those supplied with the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, as you would expect given the shell is also identical to said ANC flagship of 2020, as well as a number of other products including the Cleer Ally equivalent. The USB charge cable is as you would expect - the same as every other USB charge cable. The rubber surround for the charge case takes the dimensions to stratospheric proportions - whilst it is a nice addition, realistically you aren't going to be carrying this case around with you too much, it's simply too big. By the same token, you may want to take it into the office with you, in which case it provides welcome protection should the case get chucked in your bag, because it's unlikely it is going to fit in your pocket!
Case
The Infiniconnect charge case was really the USP of the prototype, and one of the main reasons for my contribution towards it. The idea is that rather than pushing touch control button configurations to switch between devices or using multipoint to connect to two devices, you can collect a number of common devices you normally use, and seamlessly switch between them using the interface on the case. This looked like a great idea in principle, however, as mentioned in the preamble, the sleek, credit card-sized case proposed has been dispensed with in favour of a large, 'go pro'-style enclosure, which feels like a normal charge case with an elongated bottom half and a screen built-in, and has really put a dampener on the release, not least because portability has plummeted, amongst a multitude of other reasons.
The size of the case, almost 7cm square and a depth of 4.5cm at its largest, is just one reason for being put off the product. The weight of a whopping 103g is almost double any other TWS case I've tested so far, including the original Huawei Freebuds Pro. The lack of portability really does restrict the use-cases for the Infiniconnect, because generally our preference is to use TWS on the go, something simply not possible with this case.
The build quality of the case is also rather suspect. The hinge moves around a fair bit - indeed, I suspected mine was broken, so I had to get the mini screwdrivers out and readjust it to ensure the hinge didn't break off. Because the bottom of the case is so heavy, were you to pick it up by the hinge too often, I'm pretty sure that would be game over. The case is a little cheap looking too - there is little imagination to the design, it's just a charcoal grey plastic case with a charge port and on/off button on the back, and the buds slot in the cockpit with the nozzles facing down with an etched L and R denoting which bud needs to be placed where.
On the rear you have a button to switch the unit on, and a USB-C socket to charge it. On the side there's a clip to hook it onto your keyring (don't try this at home kids!). On screen side, you have a very small LED just above the 5.6cm display. This denotes charge status - it will glow blue briefly, before turning solid red whilst on charge. There's no traffic light-style method of denoting charge, you have to use the case GUI to discover that. It's possible to charge with Qi wireless charging pads, but that will extend the time taken, and having already waited over 3 hours on each of the occasions I've charged it previously with USB and still not made it to 100%, I recommend using the traditional cable method if you can.
Now the screen. Switching the unit on holding the button on the back, you are greeted by a second or two blast of the Morph logo on the screen, before the home screen is revealed. Along the side bar you have some pretty self-explanatory icons: 'home', 'bluetooth', 'music note' and 'settings wheel'. The screen is touch screen, so you are expected to try and make your finger small enough to touch the correct icon - not easy for those with big fingers, and even more difficult with the case on. Whilst the screen was advertised as OLED, it clearly isn't, and the viewing angle on the screen isn't great at all.
The home screen gives you a percentage battery wheel for each of the two earbuds which works in increments of 1%, which is impressively specific, although it won't tell you what percentage it is when the buds are in the case, as you would expect given the absence of any two-way comms between the board and the buds. (more on this later)
In the next menu you'll find a list of any paired devices, and it's here that you're able to toggle through devices to switch connection. I found reliability to be pretty patchy - connection wasn't always possible, and sometimes the case would tell me the connection had failed even if it was connected. It's touch screen, so you have the task of making your finger small enough to tap the device you want to switch to. To add another device, press the '+' and begin the pairing process on your device (with the buds removed from the case - more on that later). Switching devices takes between 3-6s, so it isn't seamless, and you may miss a call if that's the reason you're switching.
The music note section allows you to control volume and toggle a few basic parameters. If you have nothing playing, the volume bar defaults to zero. Below, you have a transparency toggle (which automatically switches off ANC just below it). You can also toggle mic and ANC here. The music note is a bit of a strange choice - there's no EQ, no gaming mode, no spatial audio, etc. Toggling the mic off is quite handy - kinda like the old mute button on the Jabras.
Below that, the settings wheel allows you to toggle 'power saving time', i.e. the amount of time in seconds before the screen goes off, up to 60s. You also have the ability to switch on the wireless access point option we mentioned in the beginning in order to upgrade the firmware.
Since I had some issues with the hinge assembly, I decided to take the case apart, and kinda wish I hadn't! Essentially, all Morph have done here is use an off-the-shelf ESP32-WROOM-32D development board with a USB interface and touchscreen kit. No digital comms, no custom board....everything is off the shelf, hence the huge size - all Morph have done is find a case that will house the buds and morph it into one that can contain the components, implementing a fraction of the functions available to the Qualcomm chipset in the earbuds because they haven't gone any further. This botched-together set of components meets the design brief - just - but the delivery is a bunch of loose wires, some of which are glued in place, and a ton of pointless, unused space, as well as a disappointing lack of regard for what they promised.
Really, it is a lot of fuss over nothing. In reality, switching between devices can throw up errors quite often, and there's no toggle for the advertised gaming mode and spatial audio, probably because they haven't included them. Morph do sell a slightly smaller case with no screen, but even this is not especially small, and kinda defeats the purpose of the buds in the first place!
Ergonomics
As mentioned several times previously, the Infinconnect shell bears an uncanny likeness to that of the Tronsmart Apollo Bold, Cleer Ally Plus, Zen 233621, and to a marginally lesser degree, the Philips T8506 and FiiO FW5, the latter of which even contains the same Bluetooth chipset.
It is not uncommon for 'shells' to be reused across TWS manufacturers and product sets - we've seen it many times from various profile vendors, and I suspect given the delays and missed opportunities for Morph the decision to switch molds was a cost exercise designed to recoup a bit of capital. By taking a shell which is proven to house the Qualcomm chip without any issues, Morph could adjust the board design to suit and ensure the project remains within budgetary constraints - at least this is my rationalisation for the replacement of the custom molds, which looked pretty good in the product design brief. That said, this design isn't without its issues.
The bud itself is quite large, with the upside-down teardrop measuring around 22mm diameter. The depth of 17mm extending to almost 27mm with the nozzle is the bigger issue though. This is one of the largest and bulkiest TWS designs I've tested, almost comparable to KZ's SA08 - a 5 driver bud, and even the Soundcore Liberty Air3 Pro, albeit without the curvature.
With the stock tips, even with no movement, they perch precariously on the edge of your ears looking as though a heavy gust of wind could take them clean out. The above pic shows them with the improved-fitting Azla Xelastec SednaEarfit Crystal tips - even then, you wouldn't say they are snug fitting by any means.
It didn't take too long to discover I would benefit from rolling the tips, and switching to Azla Crystal saved the day. The grippy texture of the Azla offering shorted the distance from the nozzle to my ear canal and placed less burden on the tip themselves. This makes for a far more stable fit, although looking at the buds face-on, there is still a sizeable gap around the top - they certainly don't rest against your concha, and those with narrow ear canals may even suffer with discomfort from this somewhat lazy and restrictive design, but they do stay in your ears at least.
On the inside, you've got two battery connectors and an in-ear detection sensor, which works, but annoyingly, doesn't resume playing when you put the bud back in.
The buds weigh just shy of 6g - heavier than the Apollo Bold - and this doesn't help with their stability.
Really, you're looking for comfort, stability, and a design that supports the key features, such as Active Noise Cancellation. The Morph Infiniconnect doesn't really meet the required standards for any of these areas - ear fatigue within a few hours is very real, and the lack of depth combined with the oval nozzle makes for a shallow fit, which certainly doesn't augment the ANC.
The buds claim IPX5 sweat resistance, so no showering in them.
Audio
Given the issues with the product so far, my expectations weren't great when it comes to audio quality. In reality, the Infiniconnect actually sound reasonable - not commensurate with the £150 price tag, but certainly not a disaster.
The buds combine the Qualcomm QCC5141 chipset and a 'claimed' single Knowles Balanced Armature driver - akin to putting a lawnmower engine in a decent runaround. The result is OK, but certainly not £150-OK.
Despite the driver selection, the trebles are tamed compared to other BA buds I've tested. They're not completely neutral, and there is a reasonable texture to claps, stabs and hats. The splashiness to synths and sibilant vocals you hear on poorly-tuned higher frequencies is absent, but they could certainly be much crispier.
Lower frequencies with ANC on lack any depth, sounding thin and lifeless. Switch ANC on and you're engulfed by a thick, bloated lower frequency tuning that adds darkness to the sound, but also eradicates detail. Tracks like RIP Groove by Double 99 lack the rumbling subbass that was meant to the production with ANC off, but switch it on and you'll hear the warp synonymous with 90's speed garage.
With ANC off, the lower mids are recessed, the mids are lifted, and the upper midrange is elevated to give vocals a little room to breath and to create the impression of a more open airy soundstage. Separation in the lower midrange is satisfactory in most instances - with baritone vocals like Rag'n'Bone Man, whose vocal comes through quite clear around a variety of similar-frequency sounds, although the overall representation is not always clean when the range becomes over-congested, and borders on distortion with ANC on. This is where they differ from the likes of the SL3P & Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS, two buds I've tested again recently, which constrain the upper midrange much more, leaving the vocal seemingly struggling for air. Guitars and drums come through nicely on rock/pop tracks like Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz, and whilst they lack the metallic timbre you get on very low end buds, it's still a rather cold tone and timbre, and the imaging you get on some of the better dual-driver, high resolution buds I've tested this year is sadly lacking.
Vocals are mostly positioned at the centre but extend a little further than many in-ear buds, and there's a nice breadth to the soundstage with a signature that favours air over warmth. Soundstage breadth is average width with shallow depth- with ANC off, instruments are pretty well separated, but they can lack a little emotion and sound. With non-complex orchestral arrangements this can leave tracks sometimes sounding a bit cold, but by the same token long listening is possible, since tracks rarely sound fatiguing. With ANC on, the sound is darker, and the soundstage constrained.
I had a little play on Wavelet to see if adjustments could improve the sound closer to my preferred sound signature, and fortunately they responded well with no distortion, however hard I pushed the bass. By lifting the EQ a shade around 75-300Hz, more at 600Hz, and then a little again sat 5KHz-10KHz, reducing a bit at 20KHz, this left the sound much closer to my preference and improved the signature immeasurably. So for Android owners, all is not lost.
ANC
Active Noise Cancellation is also not a lost cause, although it certainly isn't a standout feature. The product brief boasted 'Adaptive ANC that adjusts in real time to changes in how the earbuds fit in your ears', but unlike most products on the market using this technology, you don't have the option to switch through different modes, you just have to trust that the adaptive ANC they claim to support is doing it's job, which is kinda tricky given they've lied about practically everything else, and there's no obvious change in noise cancellation if, for example, you suddenly get a noisy environment.
Naturally, the better the fit, the better the noise cancellation. Push the buds further in and you'll notice the buds are decent at removing low rumbling sounds, but higher frequencies such as keyboard taps and splashes come through quite clearly, without even really being nullified.
Transparency mode is better - there's not so much of the 'lisp' you get with some vendors, and it's good enough to discern voices clearly.
Call Quality
Call Quality is also pretty good. Outdoors, in particular, the buds are certainly above average at nullifying ambient sound and projecting your voice so it comes through not only quite clearly, but quite naturally too. It's actually not too far behind the Sony Linkbuds and probably comparable to the Huawei Freebuds Pro and OnePlus Buds Pro amongst the better performers for outdoor calls.
Indoors your voice lacks some of the tone and weight that buds which are weaker at noise reduction possess - it is seemingly a spectrum vendors have to balance when implementing noise reduction, so it's not going to give you podcast quality calls even in silence, but it is certainly good enough for Teams calls and voice calls here and there, and considering the form factor, it's one of the standout features.
Controls and Other Features
Controls are pretty awful in all honesty. Despite claiming that swipe controls would adjust the volume, this did not make it to the final product. You've also got no volume control - it's essentially play and pause and switching ANC on and off - double tap made a noise, but didn't do anything for me.
The case is obviously the big feature, and whilst we've discussed the size, shape and menu options, it should be said that it lacks some genuinely basic features. 'Hall Switch' mode - the ability to connect to and pair with the buds seated in the case cockpit - is not supported. This leaves you with the bonkers situation that, if you open the case and decide you want to use a different device from the last one connected a few hours, days or minutes previously, you have to put the buds in your ears, connect to the last device, wait a seeming eternity for the buds to connect to the case, then switch. And it isn't always reliable enough to connect first time, so the execution here is again found wanting.
Battery life on the buds isn't great either, but on the case it is catastrophic. Morph claim 25 hours from the buds (I got an average of around 6 hours with ANC on) and an extra 25 hours from the case. That might be true if the case kept battery long enough to prove it - using the screen seemingly knocks around 10 minutes of battery life off per ten minutes of use. Again, crazy that the focal point of the release is so flawed, but since we analysed the construction of the product, it shouldn't altogether be surprising.
Summary
There are two things to consider here - whether the buds meet the design brief, and whether they offer any value for money on their own back. As we have already established, the product falls way short of what it proposed, in an almost-comical way, to the point this will unquestionably be finding its way to the subreddit for kickstarter disasters very soon.
The product itself has some good points - sound is OK, call quality is OK and ANC isn't terrible. However, the case is clunky, the ergonomics are awkward and the switching feature is sub-par in its process and execution.
At $150, the Morph Infiniconnect is a huge disappointment, but for buyers not tainted by the moving of the goalposts, it is also an absolute non-starter. The idea, good in principle, solves a problem that few experience now, and with the proliferation of multipoint in cheaper, better options (such as the Soundcore Space A40), save your money and thank me later!
Price Weighted Score: 60%
Raw Score: 61%
General Information
I used to like crowdfunding, it felt like I was getting the latest technology and coolest ideas that the big companies just weren't willing to risk. Alas, with the speed that the TWS market moves, the endless shells available to slap your name on and more recently the great chipset shortage it seems crowdfunding is losing it's charm.
I like to focus on the positives, so let's focus on the positives
Morph is attempting to change the way we use tws, instead of navigating our overly sanitized fingers to different device bluetooth settings to swap connections they have packaged their most recent buds into a smart case which has a screen you can use to change device, control volume, anc, ambient and some other things.
Box - Unboxing was pleasant with a watch box kind of feel. You get a series of different eartips and they even packaged the extra sport wings that I paid for all those months ago. Manual is accessed via a qr code which is neither here-nor-there and there are some stickers for customization.
Comfort Fit - The original pitch was that Morph was going to use their thousands of little data points for the ultimate fit. The original design looked curved and smooth with all the divots and hills that you would need for that perfect fit. Well the times change and if you don't change with them it they don't wait for you.
What we got was a much more generic design which to be honest is probably the right move from a utilitarian perspective. I've heard people liken them to the Tronsmart Apollo which I personally have no experience with.
That being said the standard design is fine. It is comfortable, they are lightweight and while sticking out of your ears a bit they don't feel like they will fall out from regular movement. With the provided eartips I felt I was going to need to use the added sport hooks for workouts, but since changing from the stock buds to Azla Sedna Crystals they are held in securely.
Sonic Performance - There are two parts to this. I can see why some people might feel like it is a bit of a cop-out to suggest changing eartips and to then rate the performance of sound using them. I think it's psychotic that companies don't consider this during tuning and testing.
With stock tips you get a deep insertion, however, I don't know if it related to the silicon tip extending far beyond the earbud speaker but the sound is muddied and bass weak. You will see this reflected in many peoples comments on their crowdfunding page. I was originally going to rate them as one of my lowest buds in terms of SQ, put them in a draw and forget about them.
HOWEVER with shorter eartips that give the speaker more access to your ear holes you will find yourself having another experience altogether. You don't necessarily need to spend money on the Azla's, My Oppo Enco X tips gave me just as good as an experience, but the shorter the better it seems.
Bass drives deep and hits hard with shorter tips. It's full rounded and maybe one of the bassier buds I have. I have tuned my Earfun Free Pro 2's to Oluvs latest Reference setting and the bass on the Morph now hits harder than the Earfun (overall SQ not better than EFFP2).
Mids are nicely positioned more-or-less forward which is where I like them. Vocals sound a bit mechanical and don't have that emotional depth to them, for electronic music this isn't a problem.
The treble doesn't sparkle and shine and crackle and pop. But it's also not harsh and overwhelming. Maybe it's the music I listen to but treble is my least concerning part of music, if it doesn't hurt me, and I can hear high hats, I'm generally happy.
Sound doesn't wrap around your head and is clearly coming from the earbuds. I'm still not blown away by the SQ, but I rate it as very decent and am using them quite a lot for different reasons.
I would say these are really good for electronic music, and could be tuned with eq to be great for vocal music but for now aren't quite there.
Features - Alright, a smart case, there must be features upon features right? All sorts of equalizers, bud reset options and the size of that case! Surely a biiiiig battery to go with it right?
.
..
...
Right?
Nah.
The case screen will stay on for up to 3 minutes (Changeable down to lower numbers) and then go into standby mode. Once in standby mode you need to push the power button on the back to slowly wake the beast up. This requires reconnecting the buds to the case. Perhaps an ok compromise if the battery didn't drain while in standby mode, it requires turning the case all the way off to avoid this, which isn't too different from standby mode.
To connect to another device you need to go to the device screen and select the device you want to connect too. If in standby mode (Which you will be) this cant be done fast enough to catch that incoming call if you want to connect to your phone before picking up.
Call quality is very good once on a call, and the auto switch to transparency mode is a nice touch. these probably have the best transparency mode of any tws I have. However there is a slight hiss for both transparency and ANC which is always on by default when removing buds from the case.
Buds will always connect to the last device they were connected to before being put away.
Ok what about the other features? Well that's kinda it. No equalizer option, no earbud setting options, no real 'settings' at all to customize the buds to your liking and store the saves there. I don't think the battery life (Which isn't amazing) or the features of the case warrant it's size and there are some missed opportunities here but also some future update opportunities (YAY).
I will mention that the LCD screen is in colour which is only relevant because the original design was black and white. My hope would be that the colour screen update wasn't one of the factors for the change in case design from the original as it really isn't worth it, is hardly on and also black and white is retro and consumers would have been cool with that.
So where does this leave us? I'll Put aside any qualms there may be by the changes in design since original conception. Things change and chip shortages happen.
What I do find however is that the functionality of the case isn't smooth enough to make it more convenient than having a 2nd pair of tws for phone calls or more useful than a single pair of tws with multi point connectivity that works.
The project is a really cool concept and it has been a real dog fight getting any tech crowdfunded successfully over the last few years. So absolutely no ill-will towards Morph.
My use case for these, is as a pair of tws that I will have connected to my work phone for phone calls. I will occasionally use the case to switch over to another phone and If I connected my TWS to my TV then yes, these would be incredibly useful.
My use case might just be limited and I'm not using these to their full potential. If the device switching was a little more instantaneous then I'd say it's a complete success, the 5-7 seconds of switching time + the time it takes to wake the case up reduce this charm somewhat.
Overall I still say well done to Morph.
These aren't a "No don't purchase", their will be plenty of reasons to get them and at an office or if you connect to more than 2 devices at a time these could be really useful. i don't use Voip or Ucaas services and work from home. So 2 phones is all I use at once. one for music and one for calls. With all the tws I have I can easily have one ready to pair as a call comes in and just swap them over.
However for work related reasons I find myself using these along with my Oppo Enco X about 50/50.
regancipher
I'm about to review these as well, bit of a disappointment compared to the concept!
SynaestheticA
If they just perfected the part of this that mattered it would have all been ok.
Looking forward to your more professional analysis.
Looking forward to your more professional analysis.
I didn't have the heart to rate them lower than 3.5 at first (The review game is tough business), but after reading your review I've dropped them down to 3 which they only maintain due to being the first to bring the concept to life. Using them less and less now.