Decent Enough Earbuds, I Guess

SoundPEATS TrueFree+ Wireless Earbuds

SoundPEATS TrueFree+

I'll be honest: I am not one of those people who spends his entire life tethered to his phone. In fact, I get maybe two calls a day, most of them spam; about the same for texts. So when I decided to get some wireless earbuds, I wasn't interested in forking over a pair of Benjamins just to have some nifty white things that Siri has kissed. No, I picked up a pair that cost a quarter of that: SoundPEATS TrueFree+ Wireless Earbuds. In case you're like me and don't care whether people know you have a "cool" smartphone, here's what I think of them.

I wanted some to wear while riding my spin bike in the basement and occasionally while walking. For the most part, they remain securely in my ears, but I would NOT recommend wearing them while running: you'd spend half your life looking for them after they fell out.

As far as sound quality is concerned, I'm not an audiophile but they seem to recreate the digital signal at least as well as any of the wired earbuds I have (SkullCandy, for instance). Since I rarely get or make phone calls, I can't address microphone quality. The MFB (multi-function button) seems to work, at least for pause-resume. Again, not something I use a lot.

What I do use is the case, which functions as a recharging station. After each use, they go back in the case for charging. I rarely use them for more than about ninety minutes at a time, so can't address the length of time a charge lasts. Ditto the length of time a charge of the carrying case lasts, although supposedly it holds a charge sufficient to recharge the earbuds nine times or so. YMMV...

Like so many imports from Asia (China, in this case), support is lacking. For instance, there's no information about orienting the buds in the ear; after some trial and error I decided that the sound is best and the buds are most secure when they're mounted with the indicator light at the bottom (see photo at right), essentially the opposite of the pretty white ones people pay so much for.

The instruction book is also a little hazy on when to recharge the case, telling you that, "When the charging case battery is running out, the last indicator would flash, please charge the case then." I don't know what the "last indicator" is, but it might refer to the left indicator light on the front of the case, Whatever the case, the only time I've ever seen either of those light up is when it's through charging. Unfortunately, the text on the website is exactly identical to the text in the little manual. 

Summary

PLUS: Decent enough sound, functions as promised, 

MINUS: Not suitable for running and jumping, substandard owner's manual

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: If you can't imagine paying $150-$200 for earbuds, these will certainly do the trick.

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