We have seen a flurry of top quality true wireless earphones hit the market over the last year, with the technology now available for users of all price points from luxury £200+ earphones down to the cheapest options under £10. All major earphone manufacturers have their own versions available from Bose to Sennheiser, but if you are looking for the latest tech such as Bluetooth 5 and AptX support, then there are also a number of lesser known Chinese brands that might fit the bill at more competitive prices.
Lucky for us, the fine folks at Banggood sent us a pair of the latest sub-£100 1More E1026BT TWS earphones to test out and see how they compare to some of the better known brands.
Look & feel
The 1More earphones have an understated design with a sleek black half-rubberised shell and optional rubber “O hooks” that work well with the 45 degree oblique earbud angle to keep the earphones securely and comfortably in place whether you are sitting on the train or out for a run. Thanks to the angle, the earbuds sit a little deeper than most competitors, which can feel a little strange at first but works to better insulate from outside noise and helps to provide good clear sounds with little distractions.
Setup
Setting up the 1More earphones is about as simple as it gets:
- Switch off Bluetooth on your smartphone
- Take the 1More earphones out of their battery case and wait a few seconds for them to connect to each other
- Switch the Bluetooth on your smartphone back on and selecting the “1More Stylish TWS-I” from the list of new Bluetooth devices
If you just want to listen to one earphone, then this is possible too – just only take one out of the battery case, and find either the 1More Stylish TWS-I L (left) or 1More Stylish TWS-I R (right) earphone to connect to on your list of Bluetooth new devices.
In use
I used the 1More earphones as my primary option for the last two weeks and have generally been very impressed. After a little trial and error finding the right size earbud and O hook to fit my ears, the earphones stayed securely in place no matter if I was in the office, in the gym, or wandering the streets – it’s great to see a company focus on fit and comfort like this.
On the technology front, 1More have gone all out and included both AptX and AAC support which means clearer sound with better definition. You will struggle to find a better sounding pair of earphones in the under £100 price bracket, with the mix clear and even sounding and good tight bass, so whether you are listening to the latest episode of a true crime podcast or your favourite album on Spotify the sound is excellent.
And the inclusion of Bluetooth 5.0 technology means that the earphones have better range and use less power than those still relying on BT 4.2, which translates into around seven hours of play time on a single charge. This puts the earphones in the top tier of battery life for true wireless earphones, and with the added bonus of three charges from the included battery case and some quick-charge tech that gets you three hours of use from just 15 minutes of charging most people will never run into power issues.
The earphones also include a microphone and some added DSP (digital signal processing) and environmental noise cancelling tech, so there is no deed to take your phone out of your pocket to receive calls. We found the microphone to be ok – voices were generally clear to the recipient, but in noisy environments the microphone picked up too much background noise and a conversation was not the easiest. These are definitely earphones for listening to music or podcasts, not really a replacement headset for calls.
Specifications
- Play time: 7h per charge
- Portable case: Holds +4 charges (24h total charge time)
- Quick charge technology offers 3h playback from 15 minute charge
- Bluetooth version: 5.0
- Range: 15m
- Qualcomm AptX support
- AAC support
- 7mm titanium composite dynamic driver
- MEMS microphone with DSP for clearer phone calls
- Earbud weight: 6.2g per earbud
- Earbud dimensions: 27 x 23 x 23 mm
- Battery case weight: 40.4g
- Battery case dimensions: 68 x 40 x 38 mm
- Sweat-resistant
Conclusion
The sound quality of the 1More Stylish True Wireless Earphones are excellent and arguably better than many competitors that are double the price. Add to that a comfy fit with good passive noise cancelling, AptX and BT5 support and you have a very attractive proposition even if the microphone could do with some tweaks.
Buy
Price at time of review: £82.27 from Banggood
Note: Importing products from China may mean you have to pay import duty, which could push the price up.
