Mobvoi Earbuds ANC Review

[STRATEGO-LV]

First of all, full disclosure, this pair was provided by Mobvoi for FREE.

Let's start with TLDR; Overall it's a competent product, in details, it's competing with galaxy buds +, the sound stage is small, imaging is directionally accurate, tuning is a bass emphasized V shape, but overall it's fun-sounding, ANC is competing with Galaxy Buds 2, but it's no match for Sony XM4's, battery life is decent around 4-5 hours from single charge around 20ish hours from the case, the provided tips are 0 shaped and they are pretty much what you'd expect from mainstream TWS connectivity is mostly seamless the same way AirPods just work

In detail review:

First of all, I kinda have an issue with the naming, it's obviously a TWS IEM, and yet they call them earbuds, maybe to kinda compete with Apple, etc branding of these TWS products, but eh, overall it doesn't impact the quality of the product in any shape or form.

At this budget I used to recommend the original Galaxy Buds, now I've got an alternative, when I first tried them out, I was positively shocked, tbh didn't expect them to be better than QCY T5 and yet here we are, it's more of a budget competitor to the big mainstream high weights, the Galaxy buds line, probably would say the closest competition is to Buds 2 especially in features, although the tunning definitely isn't for everyone, it has a mid-bass emphasis that's combined with V shape tuning, the sub-bass is rolled off compared to the mid-bass and well the mids in some songs can feel recessed, although, usually it doesn't feel that way. To the details, it's got comparable details to similarly priced wired IEM's although it clearly isn't competing with something like NF Audio NA2 or Ety ER2SE/XR, although it's definitely on the same level as AirPods and Galaxy Buds+, while the imaging is directionally very precise, I do feel like the sound stage is an area where they could improve a lot, everything sounds either in your head, few meters away or far away, at no point, but when listening to music it's mostly not an issue, especially given that my main recommendation for them would be on the go or sports, although, I've been enjoying them at home.

ANC, well this is a part that they advertise as one of the big features, and well, while I'm personally not a fan of ANC in general, these "Earbuds" actually get it right, it's not making my ears bleed in the long run and it's actually decreasing outside noises and well even the passthrough mode works quite well, but as I said above, its no match to the magic Sony is doing, well at least not yet, they could probably improve it with software updates as the hardware base from the looks of it is very solid. ENC/ mic noise cancellation, well when I'm talking people on the other end can always hear me pretty cleanly, although, I got to say when recording a video with these earbuds on it does record some of my breathing, so the setup is very sensitive if you're in quiet enough environment.

On the software side of things, the connection is seamless, just like on Airpods, install the Mobvoi Smart-Life, open it, add the device, and voila, they are working. There were a few instances where reconnecting to the phone was weird, but honestly, it's not an issue, if it ever happens, just put them back in the case and take them out, from what I've seen, I'd more likely write this off on Xiaomi having connectivity issues rather than the buds themselves and well it's happened like 2 times in like a week of active testing where I put them in the case and take them out quite a lot, so I'd say even if it's an issue from Mobvoi's side, it will most likely never be an issue for users. You can have Left, Right, or Both playing music, etc with no issues and it's basically a seamless operation, you do what you need to do and it will just work. The voice assistant and quick commands pretty much just work, not much to say about them either. My main issue with the Touch Controls might be the lack of customizability and well hopefully that's something that they fix in the future with software updates.

Build Quality, the buds are light, and they definitely feel cheaper than Galaxy Buds or Airpods, but other than that the build is really solid and apart from the lid of the case scratching the first few times I opened it(manufacturing tolerance) there's nothing bad I can say about them. The ear tips come in 3 sizes and well they are pretty similar to what you get on Airpods PRO. The buds themselves are larger than Airpods PRO, but they are comparable to Airpods, personally, the only situation where I have discomfort with them is if I try to sleep with them, but obviously, your mileage will vary.

Battery life, 4-5 hours without ANC and around 4 hours with ANC are pretty realistic, although gotta say that for me the right earbud discharged quicker than the left one 2 times and it can be a bit annoying, full charge time is around 60-90 minutes, with the case they provide up to 20ish hours of play-time in my experience, with ANC off, if you're into it then take a few hours off, still should realistically be easily enough for over 2 8 hour work-days if you charge them over the launch break. The case charges with USB Type C, for all the Type C enthusiasts out there.

Feel free to ask questions, will try to answer them as honestly as I can, but I think I've covered most of what I wanted and what Mobvoi has suggested that they'd like I cover in addition to that, although, again, it's a FREE product for me and I'm trying to be as honest about it as I can be.

Here's the product page for people interested in pictures and prices (press buy now to see the price for your region): https://www.mobvoi.com/pages/mobvoiearbudsanc