REVIEW SNAPSHOTS: BOULT AUDIO AIRBASS TRU5IVE PRO, SOUNDCORE LIFE NOTE TRUE WIRELESS EARBUDS

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We are back with ‘Review Snapshots’ where you get info about two or mo tere products for the price of one. If you haven’t come across one before on our website, snapshots are essentially compact reviews of multiple products from the same category in a single article.

Today, we have for you a couple of affordable true wireless (TWS) earbuds under Rs 3,000 from Boult Audio and Soundcore (Anker) that boast of some interesting features, generally seen on more expensive earphones. They both look to address the mediocre battery life issue that plagues several TWS earbuds, and claim to deliver high-quality audio beyond the price range. Let’s take a closer look at them and see if they can stand out from the crowd.

Boult Audio AirBass Tru5ive Pro Review

Boult Audio AirBass Tru5ive Pro are sporty-looking true wireless earbuds that are meant to be your gym or jog companions. Their exterior as well as the bundle scream of this intent. While you get three shades of earloops in the package, they may not appeal to those looking for a more sober or elegant design. If you are in for something funky, you will like them; the middle path being the grey loops. The earbuds feel a bit too plasticky for my taste, but the construction is pretty solid, and the IPX7 rating for water resistance is great to have. They should comfortably survive a drop in a puddle less than a metre deep.
They fit nicely in the ear using the correct size silicone ear-tip from the three pairs bundled in the package, and offer a good seal. The rubberised earloops do not cause any discomfort behind the ears, and make the grip more reassuring. Thanks to this, they stay put in the ear even during a workout or a sprint. One major problem is the placement of the multi-functional button, which is right at the centre, at the back of the buds. Every time you push it, you push the buds more into your ear, and it gets painful before long. To make matters worse, the buttons are tiny and quite stiff, and at times you need to triple press them to execute certain functions. Ouch!

The best way to minimise the pain is to hold the buds with your thumb and middle finger and press the button using the nail on your index finger. Make sure you don’t chew it off. The buds let you answer/end calls, play/pause tracks, jump to the previous/next tracks and increase or decrease the volume; so all the basic functions are covered. The Boult Audio AirBass Tru5ive Pro are Bluetooth 5.0 compliant and there was absolutely no issue pairing them with the phone, or with the wireless range that spans close to 10 metres with a clear line of sight, and up to 6 metres with a concrete wall in-between.
These earbuds support SBC and AAC codecs and have 9 mm graphene drivers. Support for aptX was wrongly-mentioned on its product page at launch, but that’s fixed now. The sound quality is decent for this segment, and if you are someone who prefers extra bass, you will like it. But there’s too much emphasis on boosting the low-end frequencies, making the sound a bit too bass-heavy for my liking. As a result, there’s a noticeable impact on the midrange response, and the mids feel overly recessed. Vocals are fairly sharp, but instruments often sound muddled. The highs are quite sharp and what we have here is a typical V-shaped sound signature.

The call quality isn’t all that impressive. Though it’s serviceable and you can hear the person on the line reasonably well, you tend to sound a bit too boomy to the other person. In addition, a lot of ambient noise can be heard too. The company claims a battery life of 8 hours for the buds on a full charge. They lasted for 7 hours in our test ― which is quite impressive ― after which one of the earbuds ran out of juice. In comparison, TWS buds in this budget generally give you around 3 to 4 hours of playback. The charging case can charge these buds twice more, thus giving you a total battery backup in excess of 20 hours, which is pretty good for the segment. One minor issue here being that the battery indicator drops from 30 percent to zero rather quickly.

Pros:

●Lightweight and comfortable to wear; they stay put during a jog/workout

●Above-average sound output for the segment

●IPX7 water-resistant

●Good battery life; over 20 hours with the charging case

●Multi-coloured earloops bundled in the package

Cons:

●Sound too bass-heavy; below par midrange response

●Button placement is far from ideal; ●pressing them can be a painful experience

Average call quality

Rating: 3.5/5