Whizzer E3 TWS
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Model: Whizzer E3
Price: $25
Vendor Website: Whizzer
Review Reference: RC013
Manufacturer Specification:
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%
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
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%
