[Spamateur]

I'm so confused by the latest E8 reports. I tried a pair 7 months ago and found it to be atrocious in sound quality, with a frequency response that was all over the map. Treble was tinny, mids were thin, weird subbass hump with a dip in the midbass... I was shocked at how bad it was for a company like B&O which I respected and no amount of playing with the Beoplay's app EQ seemed to help it. Now I'm reading they might have improved them? I loved the fit and ease of use so now I'm intrigued again.

 

[nc8000]

I'm so confused by the latest E8 reports. I tried a pair 7 months ago and found it to be atrocious in sound quality, with a frequency response that was all over the map. Treble was tinny, mids were thin, weird subbass hump with a dip in the midbass... I was shocked at how bad it was for a company like B&O which I respected and no amount of playing with the Beoplay's app EQ seemed to help it. Now I'm reading they might have improved them? I loved the fit and ease of use so now I'm intrigued again.

I’ve had mine since the day they launched and have heard nothing like what you describe and apart from the random left unit cut outs and them not being able to turn on if the case is flat have had no problems

 

[Spamateur]

I’ve had mine since the day they launched and have heard nothing like what you describe and apart from the random left unit cut outs and them not being able to turn on if the case is flat have had no problems

Yeah, it's weird how all over the place the experiences have been with the e8, but I do have to say they sounded very close to what was measured over at Rtings: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/b-o-play/beoplay-e8

Now I'm seriously wondering if B&O had a bad run of units or perhaps they improved the design or firmware in the past few months. I remember being quite let down, particularly when considering the price premium over the 65t I still have, which I think are "just ok" in terms of SQ.

 

[howdy]

Yeah, it's weird how all over the place the experiences have been with the e8, but I do have to say they sounded very close to what was measured over at Rtings: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/b-o-play/beoplay-e8

Now I'm seriously wondering if B&O had a bad run of units or perhaps they improved the design or firmware in the past few months. I remember being quite let down, particularly when considering the price premium over the 65t I still have, which I think are "just ok" in terms of SQ.

I've had my E8s for a few months now and really love the sound. I initially used the JVC spiral tips but just got the Spinfits and I now have a new favorite. They work great with the E8s and still fit in the case.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I really think the e8 issue is related to software as well as fit.

I say this because today when I was walking around the house I seemed to go slightly out of range, which cause the connection to cut a few times and when it returned, the e8 sounded really weird. Tin-can weird, oddly hollow. Putting them back in the case and popping them back out and into my ears seemed to straighten it out.

 

[kevinscottcaja]

Hello all, so I got both the Mavin Air-X and the Mifo O5 (Balanced armature version). The Mavin Air-X is priced around 129USD and I got the Mifo O5 at a very cheap price of HK$160 (20.50USD) due to coupon discounts I got for a local store here in Hong Kong, their original price is HK$599 (US$76.70) which is cheaper than Aliexpress.



My preferred sound signature is warm neutral or neutral with slight bass boost (I’m very sensitive to treble so warm sound signature is a plus for me). Think of the Earin M2 as an example to describe the sound signature I prefer on a TWS (I have the Earin M2 in my collection of TWS IEMs). There are also times I prefer warm and bassy sounding IEMS like the UMPro50 or the FAD E5000 which I both have in my collection of wired IEMs.

I’ve been using both the Air-X and O5 for a few weeks now and both connected on my iPhone X (with AAC codec – More on that later), below are my short impressions about them using all default eartips that came in the box:

Mavin Air-X:
Sound Signature – They are a V shaped sounding TWS with emphasis on treble. The soundstage is not that wide but at the same time not narrow. You still have a sense of stage and can distinguish the placement of instruments in the music but not that much compared on neckband Bluetooth IEMs or IEMs connected in Bluetooth receivers like BTR3 or ES100.

Bass – They are deep and linear; however, they are overpowered by the treble so some people may find the bass lacking on treble specific music (mostly electronic music). Sub bass is present and deep but not much elevated, bass is good and does not bleed in the mids, they are thumphy and when called upon, can hit hard.

Mids – The mids are a bit recessed and can be lacking at times, vocals can sound distant but not much. Using a pair of foam eartips or at least stuffing the silicone eartip with some Polyurethane foam can attenuate the treble a bit bringing the mids back up and can also boost the bass and sub bass by a good margin.

Treble – They are present and can be over powering at times. EDM can easily be fatiguing on people like me who are sensitive to treble. There are also times that music sound very sibilant like sounding from a low bitrate music, making the treble sound more unatural (more on this later). One solution I found to attenuate the treble on comfortable levels is by placing Polyurethane foam in the silicone nozzle. Using a foam eartips can also help with the trebled but I prefer on using silicone eartips as they are very comfortable to my ears.



Battery life – They lasted me around 6 to 7 hours connected on my iPhone X and at 60% volume. They are great considering a lot of TWS does not even last more than 5 hours. Charging them in the case is quick. Only took around 40 to 45 minutes from dead to fully charged.

Connection – They use Bluetooth 5.0 and are have a very stable connection between the buds and my phone. I don’t get any dropouts during my commute. These TWS uses Bluetooth connection for both buds, they don’t have this NFMI (Near-field magnetic induction communication) to communicate with the master and slave like the ones on Earin, Jabra, B&O, Sennheiser and etc. I will consider this as an advantage as the implementation of NFMI are different meaning that the slave earbud actually plays the sound as SBC while the master is AAC (or aptX if supported), this is why some TWS may sound imbalanced (Jabra Elite 65T had this problem in past) when the connection is poor or susceptible to electromagnetic interference. Another advantage of Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection is you can share the other earbud with someone, even when they are a few meters away. Pairing processes is as simple as opening the case and pressing the pairing button at the left side of the charging case, you’ll see AirX_L in your Bluetooth list, then connect to it. Once paired, all you have to do is to take out the buds and place them in your ears, and they’ll connect automatically in less than 2 seconds.

The earbuds use the new QCC3026 chipset; Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection in between the earbuds are actually better that the old CSR chipset, and even better than NFMI at most times. According to Qualcomm, when paired on a device running a Snapdragon 845, both buds will be connected on the phone, but since I’m running an iPhone, the Air-X paired the traditional way, where the left side is the master and the right side is the slave, however this will depend on which side you take out of the charging case first. When already paired, taking out the right side will make it the master and the left side as the slave.

Mic and call quality – The mics of the Air-X are okay, especially if you are in a silent room, or an office with aircon noise, taking them out the streets the other party in a call will not hear you. 65T mics are better at handling outside noise.

Build quality – They are made of plastic, the one I got is Piano black. The earbuds themselves feel cheap and are also made of plastic. The charging case does squeak a bit when you squeeze the case but not that much.

Mifo O5:
Sound Signature – They are warm sounding TWS. They remind me of the Earin M2 in the sound signature and in fact they sound almost the same although the Mifo O5 has much clearer treble and wider soundstage, bass is clear and sub bass is present and thumphy, mids are lush, treble is smooth and clear and not fatiguing. Soundstage is better than the Air-X, they are not that wide compared to neckband IEMs but they are definitely better.

Bass – The bass and sub bass are very clear, they are not dynamic driver level of bass, but they are fun to listen to, there are times however that it can be lacking, especially when I use them in the subway. The Air-X has much more bass and sub bass but not by a large margin.

Mids – The mids are lush and clear, as expected on balanced armature drivers, they produce mids very clear and natural, the instrument separation is spot on and you can easily find the instruments in the music. Vocals sound natural for both male and female.

Treble – The treble is smooth and clear without overpowering. Cymbals and hi-hats sound natural. People who are used to treble boosted IEMs may find them lacking.

Battery life – They claimed about 7 hours of battery life and I got 6 to 7 hours battery life at 60% volume connected to my iPhone X. They also charge fast too, similar to the Air-X. The charging case however does not provide any battery level indicator, so you won’t be able to know the battery level of the charging case. The case does provide a 100-hour total charge on the earbuds so all I have to do is just charge the case every three to four days.

Connection – The O5 uses Bluetooth 5.0 as well, they are very stable and does not dropout during my commute. The O5 also uses Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection, the pairing process is as simple as taking out the right side earbud and selecting “mifo_O5” in your Bluetooth list, once paired, it will remember the last connected device and all you have to do is take out the buds and place them to your ears, they will connect automatically in less than two seconds. One disadvantage is you cannot use the right side as the slave, if you try to connect the left side to your phone, the right side will not connect. The chipset information of the O5 are unknown. Using Bluetooth explorer while the buds are connected to the Mac shows “Unknown Manufacturer”.

UPDATE: After hours of analysing RF data, the chipset being used by the O5 is the Realtek RTL8763B, it seems to be a direct competitor with Qualcomm's QCC3026 as it boast long battery life and very efficient power consumption. The only downside is lack of Aptx support which obviously is a Qualcomm specific and chipset dependant feature.

The voice prompts too are one of the disadvantages as its only available in Chinese and have no way to change to English. Unless of course Mifo releases an app to control, configure and update the earbuds but I doubt that will happen.

Mic and call quality – The shape of the O5 has similarities with the 65T where the mic sticks out a little bit. The sensitivity is actually a lot better than the Air-X, however when also used outside the streets, the other party can hardly make the words I’m speaking.

Build quality – The charging case is made of aluminum. It built like a tank and does not flex or squeak when I squeeze it, the buds themselves are made of plastic but are coated in this matte rubbery texture, the outer face is then coated with a silver matte reflective coating, all in all they feel premium despite the very cheap original price of HK$599 (US$76.70)

Codec quality of both the O5 and Air-X:
So, I was curious if the two TWS earbuds are actually using AAC on my iPhone, so I connected my phone to my Mac and opened up console. I also wanted to check the realtime bitrate when I place my phone in my right pocket of my pants. Both of them do support AAC. The O5 has a max bitrate of 221kbps while the Air-X has a max bitrate of 256kbps. I was expecting the Mifo O5 to perform the worse but to my surprise, the Air-X actually performed the worse. The Air-X while having a maximum bitrate of 256kbps AAC, it actually dropped around 192kbps AAC and jumping around 244kbps AAC, this is when the phone in my right pocket and the buds in both of my ears with the right side as the master and left side as the slave. This probably explains why some music sounded sibilant and unatural

The O5 on the other hand has a maximum bitrate of 221kbps AAC and amazingly, it maintained the 221kbps bitrate with the phone in my right pocket, and the right earbud the master, and the left earbud the slave.

Mifo O5 realtime bitrate

Mifo O5 max bitrate


Mavin Air-X realtime bitrate


Mavin Air-X max bitrate (also shows a bunch of errors)


Conclusion
All in all, I like the Mifo O5 and would recommend it than the Air-X, not only it is cheap, it’s actually a good pair of TWS. Good signal connection quality and easy pairing, great sound, very good build quality, decent battery life and a choice of driver between a balanced armature and a dynamic driver for people who love their bass and sound of a dynamic driver. I still think the Mavin Air-X is great TWS only flawed by bad implementation of the QCC3026, its a kickstarter project and I will assume they've rushed things to meet the demands of their backers.

 

[chinmie]

Hello all, so I got both the Mavin Air-X and the Mifo O5 (Balanced armature version). The Mavin Air-X is priced around 129USD and I got the Mifo O5 at a very cheap price of HK$160 (20.50USD) due to coupon discounts I got for a local store here in Hong Kong, their original price is HK$599 (US$76.70) which is cheaper than Aliexpress.



My preferred sound signature is warm neutral or neutral with slight bass boost (I’m very sensitive to treble so warm sound signature is a plus for me). Think of the Earin M2 as an example to describe the sound signature I prefer on a TWS (I have the Earin M2 in my collection of TWS IEMs). There are also times I prefer warm and bassy sounding IEMS like the UMPro50 or the FAD E5000 which I both have in my collection of wired IEMs.

I’ve been using both the Air-X and O5 for a few weeks now and both connected on my iPhone X (with AAC codec – More on that later), below are my short impressions about them using all default eartips that came in the box:

Mavin Air-X:
Sound Signature – They are a V shaped sounding TWS with emphasis on treble. The soundstage is not that wide but at the same time not narrow. You still have a sense of stage and can distinguish the placement of instruments in the music but not that much compared on neckband Bluetooth IEMs or IEMs connected in Bluetooth receivers like BTR3 or ES100.

Bass – They are deep and linear; however, they are overpowered by the treble so some people may find the bass lacking on treble specific music (mostly electronic music). Sub bass is present and deep but not much elevated, bass is good and does not bleed in the mids, they are thumphy and when called upon, can hit hard.

Mids – The mids are a bit recessed and can be lacking at times, vocals can sound distant but not much. Using a pair of foam eartips or at least stuffing the silicone eartip with some Polyurethane foam can attenuate the treble a bit bringing the mids back up and can also boost the bass and sub bass by a good margin.

Treble – They are present and can be over powering at times. EDM can easily be fatiguing on people like me who are sensitive to treble. There are also times that music sound very sibilant like sounding from a low bitrate music, making the treble sound more unatural (more on this later). One solution I found to attenuate the treble on comfortable levels is by placing Polyurethane foam in the silicone nozzle. Using a foam eartips can also help with the trebled but I prefer on using silicone eartips as they are very comfortable to my ears.



Battery life – They lasted me around 6 to 7 hours connected on my iPhone X and at 60% volume. They are great considering a lot of TWS does not even last more than 5 hours. Charging them in the case is quick. Only took around 40 to 45 minutes from dead to fully charged.

Connection – They use Bluetooth 5.0 and are have a very stable connection between the buds and my phone. I don’t get any dropouts during my commute. These TWS uses Bluetooth connection for both buds, they don’t have this NFMI (Near-field magnetic induction communication) to communicate with the master and slave like the ones on Earin, Jabra, B&O, Sennheiser and etc. I will consider this as an advantage as the implementation of NFMI are different meaning that the slave earbud actually plays the sound as SBC while the master is AAC (or aptX if supported), this is why some TWS may sound imbalanced (Jabra Elite 65T had this problem in past) when the connection is poor or susceptible to electromagnetic interference. Another advantage of Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection is you can share the other earbud with someone, even when they are a few meters away. Pairing processes is as simple as opening the case and pressing the pairing button at the left side of the charging case, you’ll see AirX_L in your Bluetooth list, then connect to it. Once paired, all you have to do is to take out the buds and place them in your ears, and they’ll connect automatically in less than 2 seconds.

The earbuds use the new QCC3026 chipset; Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection in between the earbuds are actually better that the old CSR chipset, and even better than NFMI at most times. According to Qualcomm, when paired on a device running a Snapdragon 845, both buds will be connected on the phone, but since I’m running an iPhone, the Air-X paired the traditional way, where the left side is the master and the right side is the slave, however this will depend on which side you take out of the charging case first. When already paired, taking out the right side will make it the master and the left side as the slave.

Mic and call quality – The mics of the Air-X are okay, especially if you are in a silent room, or an office with aircon noise, taking them out the streets the other party in a call will not hear you. 65T mics are better at handling outside noise.

Build quality – They are made of plastic, the one I got is Piano black. The earbuds themselves feel cheap and are also made of plastic. The charging case does squeak a bit when you squeeze the case but not that much.

Mifo O5:
Sound Signature – They are warm sounding TWS. They remind me of the Earin M2 in the sound signature and in fact they sound almost the same although the Mifo O5 has much clearer treble and wider soundstage, bass is clear and sub bass is present and thumphy, mids are lush, treble is smooth and clear and not fatiguing. Soundstage is better than the Air-X, they are not that wide compared to neckband IEMs but they are definitely better.

Bass – The bass and sub bass are very clear, they are not dynamic driver level of bass, but they are fun to listen to, there are times however that it can be lacking, especially when I use them in the subway. The Air-X has much more bass and sub bass but not by a large margin.

Mids – The mids are lush and clear, as expected on balanced armature drivers, they produce mids very clear and natural, the instrument separation is spot on and you can easily find the instruments in the music. Vocals sound natural for both male and female.

Treble – The treble is smooth and clear without overpowering. Cymbals and hi-hats sound natural. People who are used to treble boosted IEMs may find them lacking.

Battery life – They claimed about 7 hours of battery life and I got 6 to 7 hours battery life at 60% volume connected to my iPhone X. They also charge fast too, similar to the Air-X. The charging case however does not provide any battery level indicator, so you won’t be able to know the battery level of the charging case. The case does provide a 100-hour total charge on the earbuds so all I have to do is just charge the case every three to four days.

Connection – The O5 uses Bluetooth 5.0 as well, they are very stable and does not dropout during my commute. The O5 also uses Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection, the pairing process is as simple as taking out the right side earbud and selecting “mifo_O5” in your Bluetooth list, once paired, it will remember the last connected device and all you have to do is take out the buds and place them to your ears, they will connect automatically in less than two seconds. One disadvantage is you cannot use the right side as the slave, if you try to connect the left side to your phone, the right side will not connect. The chipset information of the O5 are unknown. Using Bluetooth explorer while the buds are connected to the Mac shows “Unknown Manufacturer”. The voice prompts too are one of the disadvantages as its only available in Chinese and have no way to change to English. Unless of course Mifo releases an app to control, configure and update the earbuds but I doubt that will happen.

Mic and call quality – The shape of the O5 has similarities with the 65T where the mic sticks out a little bit. The sensitivity is actually a lot better than the Air-X, however when also used outside the streets, the other party can hardly make the words I’m speaking.

Build quality – The charging case is made of aluminum. It built like a tank and does not flex or squeak when I squeeze it, the buds themselves are made of plastic but are coated in this matte rubbery texture, the outer face is then coated with a silver matte reflective coating, all in all they feel premium despite the very cheap original price of HK$599 (US$76.70)

Codec quality of both the O5 and Air-X:
So, I was curious if the two TWS earbuds are actually using AAC on my iPhone, so I connected my phone to my Mac and opened up console. I also wanted to check the realtime bitrate when I place my phone in my right pocket of my pants. Both of them do support AAC. The O5 has a max bitrate of 221kbps while the Air-X has a max bitrate of 256kbps. I was expecting the Mifo O5 to perform the worse but to my surprise, the Air-X actually performed the worse. The Air-X while having a maximum bitrate of 256kbps AAC, it actually dropped around 192kbps AAC and jumping around 244kbps AAC, this is when the phone in my right pocket and the buds in both of my ears with the right side as the master and left side as the slave. This probably explains why some music sounded sibilant and unatural

The O5 on the other hand has a maximum bitrate of 221kbps AAC and amazingly, it maintained the 221kbps bitrate with the phone in my right pocket, and the right earbud the master, and the left earbud the slave.

Mifo O5 realtime bitrate

Mifo O5 max bitrate


Mavin Air-X realtime bitrate


Mavin Air-X max bitrate (also shows a bunch of errors)


Conclusion
All in all, I like the Mifo O5 and would recommend it than the Air-X, not only it is cheap, it’s actually a good pair of TWS. Good signal connection quality and easy pairing, great sound, very good build quality, decent battery life and a choice of driver between a balanced armature and a dynamic driver for people who love their bass and sound of a dynamic driver. I still think the Mavin Air-X is great TWS only flawed by bad implementation of the QCC3026, its a kickstarter project and I will assume they've rushed things to meet the demands of their backers.

thank you because I'm also eyeing for the Mifo o5. how is the bass in comparison to the M2? also can it be switch on and off without using the case and pair to the phone? (something that the M2 can't do) because if it can do that i think it can potentially last a day of use even without carrying the case. also does the little buttons hard to push? and does it have ambient mode?

 

[mikp]

Hello all, so I got both the Mavin Air-X and the Mifo O5 (Balanced armature version). The Mavin Air-X is priced around 129USD and I got the Mifo O5 at a very cheap price of HK$160 (20.50USD) due to coupon discounts I got for a local store here in Hong Kong, their original price is HK$599 (US$76.70) which is cheaper than Aliexpress.



My preferred sound signature is warm neutral or neutral with slight bass boost (I’m very sensitive to treble so warm sound signature is a plus for me). Think of the Earin M2 as an example to describe the sound signature I prefer on a TWS (I have the Earin M2 in my collection of TWS IEMs). There are also times I prefer warm and bassy sounding IEMS like the UMPro50 or the FAD E5000 which I both have in my collection of wired IEMs.

I’ve been using both the Air-X and O5 for a few weeks now and both connected on my iPhone X (with AAC codec – More on that later), below are my short impressions about them using all default eartips that came in the box:

Mavin Air-X:
Sound Signature – They are a V shaped sounding TWS with emphasis on treble. The soundstage is not that wide but at the same time not narrow. You still have a sense of stage and can distinguish the placement of instruments in the music but not that much compared on neckband Bluetooth IEMs or IEMs connected in Bluetooth receivers like BTR3 or ES100.

Bass – They are deep and linear; however, they are overpowered by the treble so some people may find the bass lacking on treble specific music (mostly electronic music). Sub bass is present and deep but not much elevated, bass is good and does not bleed in the mids, they are thumphy and when called upon, can hit hard.

Mids – The mids are a bit recessed and can be lacking at times, vocals can sound distant but not much. Using a pair of foam eartips or at least stuffing the silicone eartip with some Polyurethane foam can attenuate the treble a bit bringing the mids back up and can also boost the bass and sub bass by a good margin.

Treble – They are present and can be over powering at times. EDM can easily be fatiguing on people like me who are sensitive to treble. There are also times that music sound very sibilant like sounding from a low bitrate music, making the treble sound more unatural (more on this later). One solution I found to attenuate the treble on comfortable levels is by placing Polyurethane foam in the silicone nozzle. Using a foam eartips can also help with the trebled but I prefer on using silicone eartips as they are very comfortable to my ears.



Battery life – They lasted me around 6 to 7 hours connected on my iPhone X and at 60% volume. They are great considering a lot of TWS does not even last more than 5 hours. Charging them in the case is quick. Only took around 40 to 45 minutes from dead to fully charged.

Connection – They use Bluetooth 5.0 and are have a very stable connection between the buds and my phone. I don’t get any dropouts during my commute. These TWS uses Bluetooth connection for both buds, they don’t have this NFMI (Near-field magnetic induction communication) to communicate with the master and slave like the ones on Earin, Jabra, B&O, Sennheiser and etc. I will consider this as an advantage as the implementation of NFMI are different meaning that the slave earbud actually plays the sound as SBC while the master is AAC (or aptX if supported), this is why some TWS may sound imbalanced (Jabra Elite 65T had this problem in past) when the connection is poor or susceptible to electromagnetic interference. Another advantage of Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection is you can share the other earbud with someone, even when they are a few meters away. Pairing processes is as simple as opening the case and pressing the pairing button at the left side of the charging case, you’ll see AirX_L in your Bluetooth list, then connect to it. Once paired, all you have to do is to take out the buds and place them in your ears, and they’ll connect automatically in less than 2 seconds.

The earbuds use the new QCC3026 chipset; Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection in between the earbuds are actually better that the old CSR chipset, and even better than NFMI at most times. According to Qualcomm, when paired on a device running a Snapdragon 845, both buds will be connected on the phone, but since I’m running an iPhone, the Air-X paired the traditional way, where the left side is the master and the right side is the slave, however this will depend on which side you take out of the charging case first. When already paired, taking out the right side will make it the master and the left side as the slave.

Mic and call quality – The mics of the Air-X are okay, especially if you are in a silent room, or an office with aircon noise, taking them out the streets the other party in a call will not hear you. 65T mics are better at handling outside noise.

Build quality – They are made of plastic, the one I got is Piano black. The earbuds themselves feel cheap and are also made of plastic. The charging case does squeak a bit when you squeeze the case but not that much.

Mifo O5:
Sound Signature – They are warm sounding TWS. They remind me of the Earin M2 in the sound signature and in fact they sound almost the same although the Mifo O5 has much clearer treble and wider soundstage, bass is clear and sub bass is present and thumphy, mids are lush, treble is smooth and clear and not fatiguing. Soundstage is better than the Air-X, they are not that wide compared to neckband IEMs but they are definitely better.

Bass – The bass and sub bass are very clear, they are not dynamic driver level of bass, but they are fun to listen to, there are times however that it can be lacking, especially when I use them in the subway. The Air-X has much more bass and sub bass but not by a large margin.

Mids – The mids are lush and clear, as expected on balanced armature drivers, they produce mids very clear and natural, the instrument separation is spot on and you can easily find the instruments in the music. Vocals sound natural for both male and female.

Treble – The treble is smooth and clear without overpowering. Cymbals and hi-hats sound natural. People who are used to treble boosted IEMs may find them lacking.

Battery life – They claimed about 7 hours of battery life and I got 6 to 7 hours battery life at 60% volume connected to my iPhone X. They also charge fast too, similar to the Air-X. The charging case however does not provide any battery level indicator, so you won’t be able to know the battery level of the charging case. The case does provide a 100-hour total charge on the earbuds so all I have to do is just charge the case every three to four days.

Connection – The O5 uses Bluetooth 5.0 as well, they are very stable and does not dropout during my commute. The O5 also uses Bluetooth to Bluetooth connection, the pairing process is as simple as taking out the right side earbud and selecting “mifo_O5” in your Bluetooth list, once paired, it will remember the last connected device and all you have to do is take out the buds and place them to your ears, they will connect automatically in less than two seconds. One disadvantage is you cannot use the right side as the slave, if you try to connect the left side to your phone, the right side will not connect. The chipset information of the O5 are unknown. Using Bluetooth explorer while the buds are connected to the Mac shows “Unknown Manufacturer”. The voice prompts too are one of the disadvantages as its only available in Chinese and have no way to change to English. Unless of course Mifo releases an app to control, configure and update the earbuds but I doubt that will happen.

Mic and call quality – The shape of the O5 has similarities with the 65T where the mic sticks out a little bit. The sensitivity is actually a lot better than the Air-X, however when also used outside the streets, the other party can hardly make the words I’m speaking.

Build quality – The charging case is made of aluminum. It built like a tank and does not flex or squeak when I squeeze it, the buds themselves are made of plastic but are coated in this matte rubbery texture, the outer face is then coated with a silver matte reflective coating, all in all they feel premium despite the very cheap original price of HK$599 (US$76.70)

Codec quality of both the O5 and Air-X:
So, I was curious if the two TWS earbuds are actually using AAC on my iPhone, so I connected my phone to my Mac and opened up console. I also wanted to check the realtime bitrate when I place my phone in my right pocket of my pants. Both of them do support AAC. The O5 has a max bitrate of 221kbps while the Air-X has a max bitrate of 256kbps. I was expecting the Mifo O5 to perform the worse but to my surprise, the Air-X actually performed the worse. The Air-X while having a maximum bitrate of 256kbps AAC, it actually dropped around 192kbps AAC and jumping around 244kbps AAC, this is when the phone in my right pocket and the buds in both of my ears with the right side as the master and left side as the slave. This probably explains why some music sounded sibilant and unatural

The O5 on the other hand has a maximum bitrate of 221kbps AAC and amazingly, it maintained the 221kbps bitrate with the phone in my right pocket, and the right earbud the master, and the left earbud the slave.

Mifo O5 realtime bitrate

Mifo O5 max bitrate


Mavin Air-X realtime bitrate


Mavin Air-X max bitrate (also shows a bunch of errors)


Conclusion
All in all, I like the Mifo O5 and would recommend it than the Air-X, not only it is cheap, it’s actually a good pair of TWS. Good signal connection quality and easy pairing, great sound, very good build quality, decent battery life and a choice of driver between a balanced armature and a dynamic driver for people who love their bass and sound of a dynamic driver. I still think the Mavin Air-X is great TWS only flawed by bad implementation of the QCC3026, its a kickstarter project and I will assume they've rushed things to meet the demands of their backers.

Good review, I also got the mavin out of curiosity of the chipset and apt-x. Really was waiting for the qualcomm 5 series with anc.
Im now trying them with foam tips, since the case has no problem with different tips. I think foam makes them sound better as you mentioned, but foam is fiddly with my ears.

Im enjoying the sound better on the mavin that the 65t, wider soundstage and punchier bass. Just sounds "cleaner".

The 65t is still my preferred ones when hiking etc, just easier to put on and fit. Plus the sound passhtrough is good and it has multipoint.

What im waiting for is some tws with all of 65t functions, but better sound and codecs.

 

[dweaver]

Well I got busy and didn't cancel my Sennheiser order and this morning I see they have now shipped so I guess I am going to be testing them at the least.

Will be able to compare them against my WF700N and will compare them against the AKG N200 as well.

Wearing the N200 as I type while sitting on the bus and they are an excellent sounding IEM so the MTW will have their work cut out for them. The N200 also have very good audio when talking to people on the phone so another area the MTW will have to great at. The N200 cable does pull slightly on my neck though so constantly needs to be adjusted which is annoying so this will be one area the MTW will definitely be better. Interestingly I have had the N200 die once already and have had battery warnings the next day before I got home from work. So its battery life is an optimistic 8 hrs so it will be interesting if I find the MTW more or less frustrating in this regard.

Wow may have them today! According to FedEx...

 

[silverfishla]

I’m going to wait a little before jumping into the TWS fray. I see on Ali that more and more ones are popping up. I think that the big name ones are just too expensive right now and that there’s room for the prices to come down. Waiting for a good name iem (Chinese brand) to release some sort of flagship version and start the ball rolling. I tried the Bose ones, and they sounded good, but I didn’t like the build quality so much. I’ll be watching this thread progress as the months pass, for sure. The freedom from wires is an underrated attribute to audio experience.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I'm curious if a product on Ali will become good, but I trust a tech items like TWE from ChiFi companies about as much as I'd trust them with a laptop or TV.

 

[Rickyearl]

Yeah, it's weird how all over the place the experiences have been with the e8, but I do have to say they sounded very close to what was measured over at Rtings: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/b-o-play/beoplay-e8

Now I'm seriously wondering if B&O had a bad run of units or perhaps they improved the design or firmware in the past few months. I remember being quite let down, particularly when considering the price premium over the 65t I still have, which I think are "just ok" in terms of SQ.

I clearly have had a very different experience from @SomeGuyDude and others here. Some of that possibly due to source, the App software, or even tips.

But not all of it - so at this point I am leaning toward thinking there's a lot of variation in the units since at least two of us have had wildly different experiences on two different sets. My first (late 2017) and second (bought about a month ago) are miles apart in SQ - the latter being much better. @hifi80sman had a similar experience. I don't think it's as simple as the early sets were wonkier either - some folks on here love their early ones. It's just kind of a crap shoot.

 

[nc8000]

I clearly have had a very different experience from @SomeGuyDude and others here. Some of that possibly due to source, the App software, or even tips.

But not all of it - so at this point I am leaning toward thinking there's a lot of variation in the units since at least two of us have had wildly different experiences on two different sets. My first (late 2017) and second (bought about a month ago) are miles apart in SQ - the latter being much better. @hifi80sman had a similar experience. I don't think it's as simple as the early sets were wonkier either - some folks on here love their early ones. It's just kind of a crap shoot.

Yes it’s wierd and not at all like B&O

 

[hifi80sman]

I clearly have had a very different experience from @SomeGuyDude and others here. Some of that possibly due to source, the App software, or even tips.

But not all of it - so at this point I am leaning toward thinking there's a lot of variation in the units since at least two of us have had wildly different experiences on two different sets. My first (late 2017) and second (bought about a month ago) are miles apart in SQ - the latter being much better. @hifi80sman had a similar experience. I don't think it's as simple as the early sets were wonkier either - some folks on here love their early ones. It's just kind of a crap shoot.

I've also purchased the B&O H8, H9 AND their successors, the H8i & H9i. I've had several pairs of the H8i & H9i, and ultimately returned for good (done with exchanging for another pair) due to various issues. The H8i, which does not have touch controls like the H8 and really cheap buttons, I think it was the left ear cup was far looser than the right, meaning it could be removed with little effort. Also, there were "bubbles" on some of the stickers with the SN, etc. While it was still usable and sounded good, the overall build quality and attention to detail was not what you'd expect at that price point, especially since it's clear costs were cut from the prior model.

As far as the H9i, some preferred the thicker ear pads of the H9, however, I thought the H9i ear pads were softer and more comfortable. That's however, where the fun ended for me. The sound was much different, which appeal to those that enjoy the higher frequency range. The larger issue, however, was the ANC drastically changed the sound, whereas the sound with the H9 was similar in both modes. The ANC implementation also experienced feedback when the seal was slightly broken and would emit high-pitched screeching sounds. This seems to vary from unit to unit in the severity and frequency of occurrence. Nevertheless, on all 3 units I tried (1 black, 2 natural), the effect was about the same. The touch controls were also less responsive than the H9. Overall, I found it to be a downgrade, not just as far as sound, but also in terms of overall build quality an attention to detail.

The E8 are solid, but there was a vast difference from the first unit I purchased compared to the current one. Based on what's reported in terms of their "business shift", part of that, it seems, is looking for ways to cut costs. It certainly feels like the H8i (cheap buttons vs. touch controls) and H9i were improved in some areas (stronger ANC) at the expense of others.

 

[korefuji]

put in a return for the senns - they are are good, but not great, and for £270 I want great. I can't justify spending that kinda cash on just good.