Wireless headphones can cost quite a bit of cash. Indeed, if you go with the top-end Apple Airpods then you’ll easily be forking out three-figure sums for your music. These, though, are £29.99 and, in all fairness, I wasn’t expecting a great deal from them.
TaoTronics, however, seem to have a lot of experience in making… err… pretty much everything. Humidifiers, fans, air purifiers, heaters, lamps, routers and… yes, headphones too. Tech-wise, they know what they’re doing.
These headphones, or earbuds, call them what you will, do lack any noise cancellation but – after the relatively simple pairing process – I was immediately impressed with the sound quality, the bass and the volume that these produced. TaoTronics tell me that these have “Protein Membrane Drivers” which deliver better sound accuracy and superior stereo sound across the entire frequency range. I’ll admit, I agree with that.
Pairing is just a matter of flipping the lid on the top, but there’s a really simple instruction leaflet inside should you need any help. Once they’re in your ears, you tap the right bud to increase the volume, the left to decrease and – by holding the relevant ear – you ca skip forward or backward through tracks. These will also let you use your selected assistant – Siri, Google, Alexa etc. You can answer calls with these too.
The case, which is small and well-designed, has a built-in battery. Charge it up via the supplied USB-C cable and it’ll help boost-charge your earbuds when you’re out and about. The earbuds, depending on your volume setting, should last around 5 hours – which is really very good indeed and should see you listening to your tunes on your commute to and from work without fuss. Of course, you can then pop them into the case – which will protect and store them safely. When you do that, you’ll extend the playtime up to 30 hours total.
The earbuds themselves are very light and sit in your ears very well. There’s no adjustable fitting here though, so I wouldn’t necessarily go running with them on but you can walk without problems. They’re ergonomic and don’t feel awkward or uncomfortable at all. Due to this, they block out a lot of background noise naturally.
There’s a healthy dollop of bass and, although the sound can be a tiny bit “hollow”, it’s well-rounded and in no way disappointing. The buds are IPX8 rated too, so don’t worry about walking through a rain shower.
Sure, there’s no noise cancellation and the music doesn’t auto-stop when you take the buds out, but for the money these are incredibly decent, loud, lightweight and well-designed headphones which produce a solid sound output.
Ah – I should also mention that these can do single-ear mode if you’re at work and want to keep one ear open for your colleagues.
Overall though, for the price of these, I’m very impressed.
Head to the TaoTronics website for more info or to the Amazon UK site to buy them for a mere £29.99 as I type (oh, and there’s a £3 voucher by the looks of it too).
Also, if you do want that noise cancellation, the Taotronics SoundLiberty 94 ANC TWS earbuds might be of interest. They’re only £59.99 and – as I type – there’s £5 off.