Beyerdynamic’s first entry into the true wireless earbuds space is remarkable, especially for bass lovers
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
T3 Verdict
Reasons to buy+Massive bass and pleasant sound signature+Feature-filled+Very long battery lifeReasons to avoid-Call quality is just ok-Premium price-Chunky-looking design
Reasons to buy+Massive bass and pleasant sound signature+Feature-filled+Very long battery life
Massive bass and pleasant sound signature
Feature-filled
Very long battery life
Reasons to avoid-Call quality is just ok-Premium price-Chunky-looking design
Call quality is just ok
Premium price
Chunky-looking design
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Regardless of what benchmark you pick, these are pretty great earbuds that can hold their own on most accounts. They’re not perfect, as we’ll see below, but they do most things right. They offer plenty of features, including the ones you expect, as well as a few surprises. And, they do indeed sound very good – though it’s not what I was expecting when I first put them in my ears.
(Image credit: Future)
The buttons themselves are very responsive to touch. Just read the manual before you start pressing as the list of presses and holds to perform functions is fairly extensive – for example, pressing and holding on the right earbud raises the volume while doing the same on the left lowers it.
The earbuds do seem to create a fairly tight seal, once you’ve picked the right size tips, which works as well for passive noise cancellation as it does for working out. Using these during some workouts like jogging, I had no issues with them staying in place. Also, with their IPX4 rating, there’s no issue with sweat affecting them.
The charging case is a taller variety that sits upright. It has a Y on the lid and the brand across the front in gray, while the case itself is a matte black that matches the earbuds. There’s an LED on the front that lights up when the lid is opened or the case is charging. And, there’s a USB-C port on the back for charging. You can also power up via wireless charging.
(Image credit: Future)
In fact, the Beyerdynamic seems to have the sub-bass response you would expect with a subwoofer. When listening to At The Drive-In’s “Rascuache,” there’s a lot of low-end information that would be lost with most other headphones, let alone earbuds.
An interesting side effect of the bass response is that most music recorded for vinyl – such as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “I Need You” – has somewhat anemic bass compared to more modern productions. But these headphones lift that bass and smack you in the face with it… in a good way. Just imagine how hard these hit then when you listen to something like J. Cole’s “pride.is.the.devil.”
The downside of that massive bass, though, is that the earbuds don’t have quite the punch that more mid-focused earbuds would have. That’s not to say that the mids aren’t there. You can hear vocals clearly. Guitars are fully represented. And, even the high end is detailed, though I wouldn’t use the word crisp to describe these earbuds. The sound signature is on the warmer side.
Of course, you can EQ the sound to a degree to adjust more to taste. Specifically, there’s the MIY app, in beta during my test, which not only lets you select from a number of equalizer presets – though there’s no customizable settings – but also lets you take a listening test to fine-tune the audio frequency to the way your ears receive aural information.
Like most true wireless earbuds – except for maybe the bargain-basement models – these come with active noise cancellation and transparency modes. A double tap quickly switches back and forth between the two while the app lets you toggle between or turn them off. For some reason, the app is not always responsive, something that will hopefully be fixed in a firmware update, but toggling physically works quickly and seamlessly.
As far as the quality of either mode, they’re not going to blow anyone away who’s used ANC or transparency modes, though they work as intended. Active Noise Cancellation drastically reduces ambient noise but doesn’t get rid of it entirely.
For example, I tested ANC when I could clearly hear someone mowing their lawn outside my window. With it on, I could barely hear the mower, though I could still tell it was there. Transparency mode lets you hear the outside world fairly well. When on, it seems very slightly muffled, but that’s due to the warmer sound profile of these earbuds.
Notably, call quality is a little bit of a letdown. It’s not bad – in fact, it’s probably on par with plenty of other earbuds I’ve tried or tested. But, the speaker’s voice is slightly muffled in comparison to just speaking directly into the phone. That said, it seemed to do an OK job rejecting background noise. On the plus side, I had no issues hearing the other side of the call.
(Image credit: Future)
The battery life on these earbuds will free you from needing that carrying case too often. Instead of the typical 4-6 hour battery life for a single charge, these earbuds will give you 11 hours. That’s incredibly impressive. In fact, after four hours of use, the earbuds read as having 65% battery left – though that was with active noise cancellation and Low Latency Mode turned off.
Of course, not everything is perfect. That call functionality is decent but not as good as some other earbuds that cost less. And, the price will make people question whether they’re that much better than multiple solid options available at or below £200 / $200.
On the whole, the sound signature is a pleasure to listen to, if it is on the warm side. So, depending on your preferred genre, you might love these for hip hop, EDM and even classic rock or want to either EQ or look for something else for something like modern rock.
TheBang & Olufsen Beoplay E8might seem like a strange suggestion here. It’s even more expensive, has a shorter though still solid battery life and doesn’t come with active noise cancellation. But, those earbuds have a similarly warm and high-quality sound signature, just with less bass.
If you’re hoping for something with most of the same functionality but a more reasonable price, theBeats Fit Prosound almost as good, come with active noise cancellation as well as transparency mode, and even integrate more seamlessly withiOSdevices since they’re technically anAppleproduct.
$199ViewAudio bundle$199ViewNo price informationCheck Amazon
$199View
$199View
$199View
$199
$199
Audio bundle$199View
Audio bundle
Audio bundle
Audio bundle
Audio bundle
Audio bundle
$199View
$199View
$199
$199
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price information
No price information
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