Introduction
It"s been a while since my last TWS buds review, the Huawei FreeBuds 4, which scored favourably. Those, like many, are in-ear buds, meaning they get the best sound performance when there is a nice seal created around the ear canal once you insert each bud into your ears.
Without this seal, bass can be lacking, treble can feel distant, and the soundstage can feel off. This is why it"s super important to find the right buds, or the right ear tip size for them, for your ears.
Here is where the Baseus Eli Sport 1 come in with a different approach. They use air conduction, which Baseus describes as:
"Open ear headphones are a unique new way to listen to music without plugging the ear canal. They come in two varieties: those using bone conduction technology and those using air conduction technology (more on the difference in a moment).
One of the biggest benefits of open ear headphones is that they allow you to remain aware of your surroundings. They are also suitable for people with sensitive ears or who don"t like putting things in their ear canals.
Another benefit of the open ear design is that it won"t heat up or put pressure on sensitive ears. For many people, these traits make open ear headphones far superior to traditional options."
This all sounds like the basics of your everyday standard large headphone, just in a TWS buds form factor. In practice they look like they do exactly what it says on the tin, at first glance.
Specifications
| Model code | PM20A |
| Colours | Stellar White, Aurora Green (this review), Cosmic Black |
| Speaker size | 16.2mm driver (20Hz-20KHz) |
| Technology | TWS Open-ear design |
| Construction | Plastic + Titanium memory wire ear hooks |
| Battery | 600mAh (charging case), 65mAh (buds), 7.5 hours per bud, 30 hours of use including charging case, quick charge feature: 10 minute charge = 2 hours listening |
| Charge time | 1 hour |
| Latency | 0.06ms when paired to a Bluetooth 5.3 device |
| Transmission | Bluetooth 5.3 using LC3 encoding |
| Range | 10m |
| App support | Baseus Smart Connect app (iOS/Android) |
| Features | IPX4, USB-C, wind/noise cancellation |
| Price | £47.99 / $60 |
| Release date | March 2024 |
Design
I"ve owned and/or reviewed several TWS earbuds over the years, and the Eli Sport 1 have the most pleasing design I have seen. They also offer the most secure fit on my ears as well, which is impressive considering that they are a one-size fits all affair.
This is largely due to the open-ear design, since there is nothing to plug into your ear holes and create a seal with the right size tip.
The speaker grilles are metal, with the ear loops being made of bendy Titanium wire which can be flexed to the shape of the outside of your ear for the most secure fit. There are no sharp edges or lines, everything is smooth and rounded.
My only complaint would be that the touch sensitive area of each bud is not grooved or embossed in some way which would make using them by touch more convenient. There have been times I found myself touching the wrong area and an input not registering.
Each bud has a microphone for voice calls, and secondary grilles on top which I assume are for noise cancelation.
The charging case lid has a spring-loaded mechanism keeping the lid in place when closed, whilst the buds themselves sit securely in the case via strong magnets that won"t result in the buds falling out when from sudden jolts. Charging is done via pin contacts on each bud.
Cleaning both charging case and buds is very easy, no awkward crevices or deep holes to poke cotton buds into.
I found the LED indicators and charging light on the case to resemble a cute robotic face when charging, humanising technology in a way, not bad!
Speaking of LED indicators, the charge level indication on the case is quite poorly implemented. Baseus" documentation shows the following:
10-20% is denoted by a single red LED, whilst 20-100% is a white LED. How am I supposed to know when it"s at 50, 60%, or maybe even 80%? Truly a mystery....
Features
Included in the package is a security lanyard, the ends of the cord simply twist lock onto the ear tab of each bud and stop them from hitting the ground if one does happen to work loose. It is a bit of a squeeze getting the lanyard into the charging case with the buds in there too, but it can be done.
There are no fancier features that you"d typically find on more expensive TWS buds. I found that I can pair two devices to the Eli Sport 1 at the same time and had no trouble pairing them to my PC via a Bluetooth 5.3 USB dongle, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Sound quality from both connections was on-par, and I confirmed Bluetooth 5.3 was active through Windows Device Manager (look for LMP 12 listed in the firmware version area in the device properties as shown below):
No additional driver was needed under Windows 11, they just work once paired.
The Baseus Connect app does enable the use of some basic features like low latency, bass boost, and outputting a loud tone to a lost (but still connected) bud, however, I found that not only did the low latency mode seem to not do anything, but this setting did not remember what I set it to between reconnections either. It"s as if this setting is forgotten each time you disconnect from the phone.
Battery level indicators are also available here, including the case. I note the case because whilst Android and iOS both show the battery of the buds natively, they do not show the battery level of the case.
I found the EQ mode to be mostly useless. The sound quality seemed to be affected negatively no matter what preset or custom setting I used, and in the end decided the best result came from leaving it on default, then going into Samsung Adapt Sound, and tuning the output to the buds for my ears.
On Windows 11, no tuning was necessary. The Eli Sport 1 is detected as a headset, and adjusting the volume via the touch buttons will result in the Windows master volume going up or down accordingly, likewise changing music tracks or playing/pausing media. The Windows AVRCP Bluetooth protocol is working as expected.
Interestingly, I did discover that even though the Eli Sport 1 supports Bluetooth 5.3, Windows does not show any sampling rate above 16-bit. My usual selection for all output devices is 24-bit 48KHz, although this is bordering on nitpicking as the sonic differences are not going to be noticed on earphones anyway.
Speaker sound quality
Whether I was listening to Spotify on the phone or playing games and watching YouTube on the PC, the sound from the ELi Sport 1 was very natural. It is clear the default EQ is geared toward the flat/neutral range. I found the low frequency enhancement on the app only made the bass boomy, which is not something I like, so this feature was left off.
I did however notice that when there is nothing playing, and regardless of the volume level, that there is a very low whine that can be heard from the right earphone speaker. It almost sounds like electrical interference. It"s not obvious and if I didn"t have as sensitive hearing, then I"d have not even noticed it.
I notice the noise more when the Eli Sport 1 is connected to my PC than when connected to the phone. As the codec used for the PC connection is LC3, on a Samsung phone the codec according to Android Developer Options is AAC-LC. Whether this has something to do with it I cannot say. Perhaps Baseus can explain this or fix it with a firmware update ready for official launch in March.
The great news is that latency is a non-issue on both phone and PC. The Baseus app has a low latency mode as mentioned earlier, but this seems to do nothing, and latency is low enough that it doesn"t really matter anyway from my testing. I could stream videos or play locally stored ones on the PC and have no problems at all.
As these are not sealed buds, there is some noise leakage, but unless you are listening at high volumes, then even in public transport it won"t be any louder than the bustling of what"s around you anyway. I found that on both phone and PC that I had to crank up the volume to at least 80% to get a full cinematic experience when watching media or playing games. At this volume level there is more sound leakage, but nowhere near as much as full-size open-air headphones.
Overall, these have an airy feel to anything I listen to. Movies especially sound excellent. Watching Masters of the Air on Apple TV, the propellor sounds and gunfire were sublime. Musical soundstage is also wide, and instruments positioned naturally. Sibilance wasn"t a problem either, although they are earphones, so some limitations are to be expected.
Microphone sound quality
Here"s something interesting, each bud has a mic, with additional holes for which I assume are for wind noise cancellation. I conducted a very simple test, use Samsung"s high quality audio recorder using my phone"s built-in mics, and then the Eli Sport 1.
The difference is night and day as you can hear from the samples below.
I also tested out regular phone calls and contacts on the other end said that my voice sounded muffled at times vs the 100% clarity when switching over to the phone"s built-in mic.
Charging
Charging is easy, and quick. A 10-minute charge in the case results in 2 hours of listening time. The charging case seems to take about an hour to charge from a 5v 1A Type-C input.
A short USB cable is included, and it does the job fine charging from anything with a USB port, but just be aware that most of these ports on monitors and other devices are generally 5v 500mA, so charging times may be longer doing it this way.
The rated 7.5 hours of listening time is stated at 50% volume level. I was often listening far above this level and could easily get several hours from a charge on each bud.
Placing the buds into the case and closing the lid will disconnect them from all connected devices. Reconnection time happens within 2 seconds when the lid is opened, so before you"ve even attached them to your ears, they are ready to go.
The case isn"t chunky either, will easily slip into a jeans or jacket pocket.
Comfort
Here is where it"s a mixed bag of feelings. I"ve been using the Eli Sport 1 for extended sessions such as editing photos whilst listening to music, writing these reviews, and watching movies or gaming.
I found that for my ears, comfort over extended sessions longer than 1 hour did result in some discomfort from the way the buds rest on the middle bridge of my ears. I must stress that my experience may not be the same as everyone else.
Every ear is different and the lottery of a one-size fits all is such that there will always be a few people that find comfort to be an issue over a long listening session. It"s a shame really as they sit secure and are comfortable for the first hour, but then I feel the pressing pressure against the ear bridge and need to adjust them regularly afterwards to provide some relief.
A soft silicone inner surface would almost certainly solve this issue I reckon.
Conclusion
The Baseus Eli Sport 1 deserve some credit for doing things different to the competition. Open-ear design certainly has its fans, and I am one of them. Whilst isolated in-ear buds may have options to pass-through ambient noise to the ears using the mics, it"s never quite as natural as, well, natural ambiance coming in, plus pass-through uses more battery power as it must keep the mics active when enabled.
It is a shame that there are a few niggles, such as the electrical whine I could hear from one side only. This was only evident when no audio was playing of course, so it doesn"t affect the listening enjoyment, but still, something worth mentioning for those who appreciate a clean noise-floor.
The comfort issue for long sessions might be the biggest deal breaker for some. I would say give these a try first, though. All ears are different, and it just so happens that mine are shaped as such that a session lasting longer than an hour results in uncomfortable pressure being applied to the bridge of my ear where the middle of the buds sit.
In terms of Bluetooth 5.3 performance, this has been excellent. I was able to play content on the PC upstairs, go downstairs and make a tea and only hear skips and stutters when I get to the far corner of the kitchen. This is approximately 20 metres from the PC behind 4 walls and one floor. Much better performance than I was expecting given that Baseus claim a 10-metre range.
At this price they are worth checking out, but just be warned that your voice comms experience won"t be the greatest due to the muffled sound the other end will hear. Maybe this too is something Baseus can fix with a firmware update that is applied via the app. We will have to wait and see.
They are priced competitively though, and they look good and come in three different colours.
The Eli Sport 1 launches officially in March 2024 and will be available through both Amazon and the Baseus website.