Honor Choice is a sub-brand of Honor that focuses on IoT devices. Though the TWS buds that I am going to review today is made by a company called Moecen, it is called Honor Earbuds X1. So, in a way this can be seen as a collaborative launch. With design similarities to the much expensive Apple Air pods Pro and presence of noise cancellation feature, let us see how good it actually is for the budget pricing it offers.
Honor Earbuds X1 Full Review
| Honor Earbuds X1 | Specifications |
| Sound Driver | 7mm dynamic, 16 Ohm |
| Weight | 47.1g (whole package) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 with 10m range |
| Battery | 55mAh (each earbud), 500mAh (Power case) |
| Charging Time | 1.5 hours (Buds), 2 hours (Power case) |
| Case to Buds | 3 times (24 hours total) |
| Music Playback | 6 hours (50% volume) |
| Talk Time | 5.5 hours |
| Standby Time | 150 hours |
| Audio Codec | SBC, AAC |
| Control | Touch |
| Port | Type-C |
| Water resistant | IP54 rating |
| Features | Low latency ~130ms Dual-mic noise cancellation (Calls) Instant connection with paired devices |
| Color | White |
| Assistant Prompt | Yes |
Price in Nepal: NPR. 5,499
Unboxing : Honor Earbuds X1
The small and sturdy blue cardboard box comes with a charging case that contains the earbuds inside, an instruction manual, two sets of while silicone ear tips, and a USB charging cable.
Build and Design
Both the earbuds themselves and its charging case are noticeably similar to the Apple Air pods Pro. On closer inspection, the Honor ones are completely white and glossy plastic with a shorter stem and flat exterior. Each bud’s stem a magnetic contact to get charged inside the magnetic dock of the charging case. The build quality of the tips isn’t that premium but the buds themselves are made up of some strong materials. The buds perfectly fit into my ear without falling out even during running but they kept coming off from my brother’s ear. The fit depends on the anatomy of your ear, I guess. Changing the silicone tip only helped a little. The buds have IPX5 certification meaning I had no problem using them during sweaty exercises and light drizzle but they are not made for swimming or shower.
The sturdy and compact case has a single LED on the front and a Type-C port on the bottom. The clicky sound of the magnetic lid is kind of addictive. It has the same glossy white finish seen on the earbuds and thus is prone to smudges and scratches. The build quality didn’t degrade during my month-long usage but I can’t say for sure for after a year or more.
The buds weigh around 4.3 grams each whereas the total package weighs 38.5 grams which is pretty lightweight to carry around. It easily fits into your pocket as well.
Connectivity, Latency and Controls
The buds connect using the latest Bluetooth 5.0 and there was no connection breakage during my usage even through two walls which was good to see. After the first manual pair, the earbuds pair within a second of taking out of the case. Unfortunately, there is no audio prompt message or LED indicator on the buds to notify of the connection. If any of the buds don’t connect, pair or sync properly, just hold the touch-sensitive area of each bud for about 15 seconds to reset the buds.
I did an audio delay test on YouTube and there was a very minor delay which isn’t even noticeable unless you slow down the video and nitpick at it. The story is different for online gaming. I tried PUBG mobile and I found a delay of around 300ms which isn’t good for serious gamers but won’t hamper any casual usage. The gaming delay was more on Android and lesser on iOS. It may be due to the use of AAC and the SBC codec.
Both buds have a touch-sensitive area that perform the same functions.
- Double-tap any bud to play/pause music or answer/reject a call.
- Long press the left/right earbud to go to the previous/next track respectively.
- Triple-tap to summon the default voice assistant
Sadly, there is no voice-prompt or volume controls in these buds.
Sound and Microphone
Now to the main part. Sound quality from the 7mm dynamic audio driver is obviously mediocre when compared to the flagship driver of the Airpods Pro. The absence of a high-quality aptX-HD Bluetooth codec is a bummer but for the price, the sound quality is pretty good here. It can be closely compared with Accurate AT-01 and Redmi Earbuds S that we have previously reviewed.
(The sub-bass presence of the instruments is there which tends to overshadow the vocals in some songs. The highs are good but the lows and mids are kinda okay. Overall, the sound quality is more suited for rap, hip pop, and modern songs that have better audio separation. The stereo imaging of the sound is quite good for its price as well which benefits gaming. Even with a 7mm driver, the buds are very loud and I don’t think you will need to go above 80% volume in any kind of song. I tried maxing it out and there was a very minor distortion.)
There is a microphone in each bud so you can use only one bud at a time as well. When using both, the dual-mic noise cancellation works great during calls and nicely suppresses the surrounding interference. Sadly, the noise cancellation isn’t present during music playback but the noise isolation from the perfect fit of the buds does somewhat of a decent job in preventing background noise. It did it better than the Accurate or Redmi TWS buds.
Battery
Each bud has 55mAh of battery that lasted me between 5 to 6 hours on 50% volume. What’s more, is that a fully charged case lets me charge the buds three more times adding to a total battery backup of nearly 24 hours which is quite impressive. The buds fully charge from 0 to 100 within an hour of putting in the case. No there is no fast-charging functionality. An empty charging case takes around 1 and a half hours to get fully charged via the USB-C port.
Conclusion
With great sound quality, long battery life, USB-C charging port, comfortable fit, and IPX5 rating for sweaty workouts and especially that exceptional noise-cancellation during calls, these buds are hard to ignore. I must admit that they are slightly expensive when compared to the pricing on Chinese websites but the price hike is a given considering the current COVID situation.
Let me know if you are considering buying this or have you been using it and would like to ask us a question. Feel free to comment down below and we will soon get back to you.
