XFree One Wireless Earphones
Tribit AudioÂ
$28 to 43 U.S.
XFree One Wireless Earphones is a Bluetooth headphone from Tribit Audio. It is an in-ear headphone and there is a cord from one earphone to the other. The charge port and the controls are on the cable. The unit comes in black. It includes Bluetooth 4.1, water resistance, microphone and an included carrying case.
Packaging for the XFree One was typical but it took a little longer then it should have to get the bottom of the box open due to the robust packaging. Contents include earphones, carrying case, instruction manual, three sets of different sized replacement eartips and a charging cable.
Setup of the earphones is simple. Hold down the middle play/pause button for a few seconds and a voice in the earpiece says it’s ready to connect. Then connect it to your device using the Bluetooth setup and you are ready to go. It’s not as easy as pairing the BeatsX or Apple’s AirPods due to their X1 chip, but its not difficult at all. Once connected, a voice in the earphone will say connected, and you should see it listed on your device as connected.
Your iOS device should show it as a device under the battery widget as well. Volume and playback controls are located on the cord closer to the right earphone. When not in use, the left and right earpieces can connect to each other with a magnet and can hang over your neck or you can put them in the included carrying case.
These are nice earphones, especially when you factor in the price. Starting with the design, the eartips are comfortable, the unit is light weight it feels solid, and the magnetic feature is wonderful. There is only one design issue that I can see, which is the charging port. The port is micro USB and is covered by a rubber stopper. This rubber stopper is sometimes difficult to open up. I had to use my teeth occasionally to get it open! However, the port cover seems to hold up after picking at at.
The black zipper case is also nicely designed. It has a netting inside to add the included charger. It takes about two hours to fully charge and I was able to get about six hours of playback between charges. These earphones are water resistant meaning that they can survive splashes and small dips in water. I did splash some water on them to make sure and everything still worked. This is a nice feature for running or using in the rain, but you can’t go swimming with them.
For the most important test, how they sound, they sound really good for a earphone in this price category. I own a pair of BeatsX and Apple’s AirPods and these Tribit earbuds sound almost as good as the BeatsX. The AirPod sound is superior to the BeatsX and the XFree One, but the price difference is enormous. The control functions work well and are easy to use. Be aware that for some reason, the voice prompts coming from the earphones when turning off/on, pairing, and more don’t sound good, but the music and podcasts sound great. It would be nice if the earphones used the X1 Chip, but that would understandably increase the cost.
MyMac Review Rating is 9 out of 10. For the price, you can’t do better for a pair of good sounding and long lasting earphones. If the charging port connector was a little easier to open and close it would rate a perfect score.
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