Buying the SoundPEATS wireless earbuds was a necessity. Covid meant lots of Zoom sessions for work. A decent pair of earbuds of good sound quality and to keep ambience noise at bay. Though I was not looking for a SoundPEATS model, I got it by chance and it works well. In fact I had not heard of the brand prior to my online search. Hence the review as the benefits were better than expected and new brand was on the market.
Not headphones
Never fancied headphones as they tend to be bulky and over time uncomfortable. I bought two in the past as it was trendy and you get to play music loud without disturbing others but it did have limitations. I do enjoy music and rely on excellent speakers rather than headphones when I am alone. Laptops now too have good speakers. For teleconferencing slimline headphones tend to be cumbersome during long Zoom sessions.
With headphones ruled out it was time for earbuds. I have had other pairs of earbuds in the past but they were never easy to fit. I was also looking for something that is handsfree and wireless as I needed to work on my laptop at the same time. Wires tend to get in the way. One other great thing about wireless is the ability to walk away from your laptop and still be connected.
Change in form factor and battery life
I began by googling and browsing online. I realised how further developed they had become. Form factor and battery life were the more prominent changes besides sound quality. They also now come in cases or pods with built in batteries. So the earbuds had a battery and the pods too. The pods became the equivalent of power banks. You only connected the pods to the power socket for the main charge once in a while.
Online browsing however doesn’t tell you much about sound quality and fit. So on to product online reviews. As expected lot of expensive ones made the mark but they were meant for those looking for great sound quality for music. I was looking for something functional for Zoom sessions. And nothing more.
After the reviews I moved to the usual online stores. Amazon was top of mind as they seem to handle logistics and delivery well during Covid lockdown. I was keen to get one urgently. Subtle pressure came from colleagues who were sporting some good ones during online conferences and the difference showed.
What stood out?
A number of earbuds stood out in the Amazon lineup but the SoundPEATS wireless earbuds TrueFree 2 came to the fore. There were 2 interesting features that caught my eye. It was on offer at AUD 45 and the original price displayed with the current offer price showed a steep discount. Ok, I am cheap!
The second feature really intrigued me. It was this feature that drove my purchase. It had an elliptical shape at one end of each bud. My ear canal though looking normal could not hold earbuds firmly down. I knew that since the days when Apple ipod was a thing. So I wondered if this might work. I had previously used the over the ear clipped on earbuds for the gym to overcome the handicap. There had to be reason for the elliptical shape.
As I had Amazon Prime, it came the next day. As a side note, I cancelled Prime after a few months of online binger buying. To be honest, 2 days delay won’t be much.
Unboxing is a thing
Unboxing is a huge trend if you are still not in the loop. Type “unboxing” in YouTube and will understand why it is such as turn-on. Product manufacturers now spend a lot of time on packaging and not just for display purposes. See my comment about unpacking the Google Nest Mini.
First thing after unboxing was to place the earbuds in the ear canal. Bingo! I was right. The elliptical shape served a purpose. It was clever engineering. It was godsend for someone like me who for decades could not hold a earbud in place. Subsequently I tried it on the gym treadmill and it worked. They call it “customised fins” and very appropriate description when you look at it. Only saw this description after buying it.
Both the earbud and inbuilt speaker sounds were really good. The improvements in this space are impressive. It is near audiophile music quality and for that price it was bargain. It worked really well with Spotify on my iPhones .
The specs
Maybe its time to put down the specs for this product.
- Bluetooth 5.0, range 10m, waterproof from rain and sweat, interchangeable ear tips, monaural/binaural use, single/ twin mode.
- 4 hours earbuds playtime. Total of 20 hours of playtime with the pod’s single charge. Pods require 2hrs to recharge from the main socket while the earbuds need 1.5hrs to recharge using the pod powerbank.
- Power charge indicators on pods.
- Classified as sports earbuds in view of its “customised fins” which is accurate.
- USB C charge which is the latest standard.
- Near-instant and seamless auto-pairing
- On-ear controls – volume,. switching music tracks, receiving calls etc ( bit tough to control, you will need to train yourself)
Somethings to note
There are a couple of things I did note about this SoundPEATS wireless earbuds. It’s microphone was tad strong. If you have others close by and on the same zoom or teleconferencing session you will end up with the dreaded microphone loop. Adjusting your position will help cut it out. It is also not noise cancelling and at that price it will be a wonder if it was.
The hardest part however is using the on-ear controls. You need patience as you are working on limited real estate, made worse if you have fat fingers. You have to the learn the timings of each press to effect the changes. Best advice is not to touch any of it while on a Zoom session as you might get it wrong and cut yourself out. One easy thing I realised if it does not work after playing with on-ear controls or if the pairings fail is to put it back in the pod and take it out again. It seems to go back to default. Best to keep the manual handy.
A second pair of wireless earbuds
The SoundPEATS wireless earbuds impressed me so much that I decided to get another pair of earbuds but I was in no hurry. I came across a Belkin earbuds at a store and picked it up as it too was on offer. Unfortunately in terms of fit it was average and in other respects as well. It was using the dated USB micro port rather than USB C port. It was also difficult to pull out of the pod. The last issue surprised me as Belkin is a known brand for 3rd party accessories. It was however decent and did the job. I kept it in the office as a stand-by unit and left the SoundPEATS wireless earbuds at home for work and entertainment.
The final take
Overall the SoundPEATS wireless earbuds ticked the functional aspect for teleconferencing as well as having near audiophile quality sound with decent bass for music. Audio was clear and distortion free. The ear fit was excellent. Pairing was seamless and quick. And if you took the time to work out the instructions, you will be able to use the on-ear controls well.
I also did some comparison testing on microphone sound quality with my colleagues with the SoundPEATS earbuds. They rated the sound coming from my earbuds” microphone as clear with no distortions. In fact they rated it as the best among colleagues who were using earbud microphones and even among some using headphone, laptop microphones or standalone video cams.