My Early Observations on the BlitzWolf BW-FYE1 True Wireless Earbuds vs Apple Airpods

My new earbuds arrived today and although I've not had enough time to test out the playtime it is rated for about 3 hours continuous playtime versus my Airpod's 5 hours. I only use one earbud at a time so 6 hours is more than I need (others listening to stereo music may have a concern about the 3 hours). Price was $40 via Banggood (shipping from China to South Africa was 9 calendar days) vs about $200 for the Airpods.

They fit snugly and I notice if I shake my head they don't come loose whilst the Airpods would work slightly loose if I'm walking or moving my jaw a lot. The Airpods come in one press-in size (Steve knows best!) whilst the BlitzWorld's come with a number of different size rubber pads that can be fitted (looks like they also include quite a few spare ones).

Soundwise my hearing is no longer so sharp and I listen to audio podcasts so it sounds fine but I should still do a proper stereo test with music.

For controls, the Airpods have a super convenient double-tap to do play/pause but that's all it does with Android, whilst these earbuds have a small press button which you have to get used to pressing gently. But the button does do Play/Pause with a single press, a double press gives you Siri or Google Assistant, and a longer press seems to jump forward about 15 secs of playtime. With both earbuds, and listening to music, a long press on the right one will skip forward to the next song whilst the left one will skip backwards (with my podcast player it is skipping fast forward and back to the seconds I had preset in the player). Answering a phone call is a quick press whilst it is ringing (or double press to reject the call) and a single press to hang up.

While the Airpods case has to be opened and only shows a single status light for green or amber (one full charge left) these earbuds have four green LED status which indicates the percentage charge for the case. It also, therefore, gives an indication of how far its charging process is, and you can see the LED status of each earbud through the closed case (blue meaning charged and red meaning it is still charging - each shows separately). On the phone side Android did not show the Airpod battery status at all by default (I know Mac and iOS do this fine) and I made use of a 3rd party app to archive this which it did though a popup on the screen and not in the notification menu. With these earbuds, I'm seeing the charge percentage clearly in the notification menu as well as the Bluetooth settings screen.

But here is the slight caveat, when both earbuds are in the ear (stereo) it seems the left earbud syncs to the right one and only shows the right earbud's battery level. I'm also reading that it may be that the left one syncs to the right earbud and this is why I don't see the battery level of both (only shows right side), and could mean that stereo sound is not streaming over two Bluetooth channels to both earbuds simultaneously... Pairing though is absolutely seamless and quick, whilst the Airpods often needed to be selected in the Bluetooth menu (with Android). In summary, pairing is perfect, but battery level in stereo mode is not showing the earbuds independently and this daisy-chained connection in stereo could be less than ideal for music (Would anyone notice any lag if signals travel at the speed of light?). Bluetooth 5 is also faster and smooth without any stuttering. Again for me using them in mono mode I see the battery level of whichever one I'm using so I have no issues at all.

So in conclusion apart from a bit less battery capacity and the daisy-chaining for connectivity my use case is suited fine for these earbuds at 25% of the cost of Airpods and I won't be experiencing any downsides. There are a number of true wireless earbuds at around $200 (such as the Sony too) that will definitely give very good sound and better battery life, but when I consider my use case and the fact that batteries don't last very long, this price point seems to work for me.

I'll do a follow up in a month or so after some real-world use and try some music out too to see if I detect any issues with the daisy-chaining.

See photos at http://photos.gadgeteer.co.za/index.php?/category/blitzworld

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