In August of 2018, I had gained some interest to start going to the gym. Not knowing any workouts or even how to use some of the equipment properly, my brother said that we’d go together and that was a strong incentive for me to go.
All of these months later, the thought-to-be short-lived experience is now something that I quite enjoy weekly.
In December of 2018, I moved into a new apartment complex with a windy road that snakes through all of the different buildings. Despite the cold Wisconsin winters, I still find it relaxing to go out on some weekends for a short walk.
Seeing that I spend my weekdays at work inside, a little outside time during the weekend is refreshing, even if sometimes it’s cold out.
Speaking of which, when I’m at work sitting at my desk, I enjoy the subtle tunes from Pandora that not only help me focus on what I am doing but sometimes a special song comes on that just really pumps up the beat.
Then it dawned on me. I enjoy working with music playing (I even write these reviews with music playing), but when it comes to my walks and even the gym, I don’t have my tunes.
The reason is because at work I have large Bluetooth headphones and they don’t make great walking or gym buddies. What I want is something that can go with me all while not being cumbersome.
Cue the Tribit X1 wireless earbuds. These are the Apple Airpods without the ugly look and universal compatibility.
Without a single wire, the X1 earbuds are a true wireless experience with pods that sit right in your ear canal. With complexities such as pairing one with another and built-in batteries in the actual earbud, let’s discover what the X1’s are really like.
Welcome to my review of the Tribit X1 Wireless Earbuds.
Design
When you open up the X1’s product box, the only wire you’ll find is the micro USB charging cable wire. Much like Apple’s famous Airpods, the X1s are a true wire-free device that charge using electrical contact pins inside their included carrying case.
Starting with the case, the tiny pocket-sized case houses the left and right X1 earbuds while both keeping them protected and charged. Made of plastic, the matte-black body of the charging case is sturdy and has some weight to it from the internal batteries.
The heavier weight of the case is rather satisfying as while in a pocket it doesn’t jiggle or bounce out.
On the top of the case, there is a slightly translucent plastic cap that comes down over the two earbuds. The translucent plastic allows you to see the glowing earbuds which indicate to you whether or not they are being charged.
A gripe I have with the cap is that the hinge is rather flimsy and tends to open up easily and could cause the earbuds to fall out of the case. Personally, I would have preferred it if the cap snapped closed or used a magnet to keep shut rather than just resting closed.
The earbuds, however, are held in place using magnets, and they really snap themselves into their respective holes. Even if the lid was open, a fair amount of upwards force is required to eject them from the case.
While placed in the case, the earbuds make contact with four gold charging pins. The pins are peg-shaped rather than a retention arm which adds significant durability. Even after years of use, I couldn’t see these charging pins being damaged by normal usage.
The earbuds must be charged using the included case. When the case is low on power, there is a micro USB charging slot on the rear followed by a white status LED that indicates a full case battery.
Moving on to the earbuds themselves, the bulb-shaped X1s are quite interesting to use.
Their rounded bodies make for easy handling while also providing excellent comfort when placed into the ear.
Seeing that these earbuds rely on the friction of your ear canal, their rounded off bodies snug themselves well without any noticeable pressure points.
On both earbuds, you will find a microphone for stereo pickup as well as a multipurpose button. This button can be used for answering calls, pausing music, skipping songs, and related actions.
Preinstalled on the X1s are the medium-sized silicone ear tips, and Tribit includes a small and large size in the accessories box, which strangely has Chinese characters written on it.
Functionality
Using the latest and greatest Bluetooth 5.0 technology, the X1s are a universal Bluetooth friendly device that can be paired with a PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, and any other music producing device that supports Bluetooth.
While not aptX Bluetooth, the 5.0 standard allows the X1 to work up to 30 feet away from the device with a clear line of sight.
I connected them to my Samsung Galaxy S8+ smartphone and used Pandora Plus for the source of music which provides higher bitrate audio for better sound quality.
Pairing the X1s is rather easy. When both units are ejected from the case, they attempt to pair with one another and then audibly say when they are paired with each other. Then, you pair one of them with your device.
The pairing process is as simple as it is for any Bluetooth device. Find it in the pairing menu, set it and forget it. Every time they are ejected from the case, they will be paired with your device.
Seeing that the X1s are meant to be usable in all environments, I put them to the test in the gym, walking, and sit-down usage at work.
Starting at the gym, I popped the sweat-proof X1s into my ears and began my hour-long workout. To my surprise, the X1s sit firmly in your ears and even with excessive shaking of my head (and looking funny while doing so in the gym) the earbuds refused to fly out of my ear canals.
Lifting both heavy free weights and working out on the equipment, the X1s were comfortable throughout it all and never popped out. Furthermore, I quite enjoyed using the pushable buttons on the earbuds that allowed me to pause and skip songs.
The pause feature to me was the most useful as when my brother had something to say, I could quickly pause the song rather than taking out one earbud. You could also choose to just have one ear bud in at a time.
The gym I go to often has a fair amount of people while music is playing above. With the X1s inserted, the noise cancelation was superb to the point where I couldn’t hear much around me. They do much better than any other earbuds I’ve used for noise cancelation.
Both my walking and working experiences with the X1s were above average with them being comfortable and enjoyable. I will say that while at work, the larger bodies sticking out of your ears may catch someone’s attention, but I find them to look a lot better than Airpods.
The 6mm drivers inside the X1s are powerful little speakers that produces clear lows, mids, and highs throughout my rock and roll, pop, and easy listening music. Furthermore, the bass produced from such a small driver is above average.
Following their superb noise cancelation, the big sound from such little devices is certainly a great thing at this lower price point.
At nearly five stars on Amazon, I have to agree with the 100 additional reviewers in that these X1s sound great and crisp and I can’t fault them in any way here. Especially while at work, they make the music sound better than my wired earbuds and make the music sound like it’s inside my head.
Lastly, for battery usage, the X1s themselves hold up to three hours of continuous playback while the case holds an additional 45 hours of recharging power. Since receiving the X1s over a month ago, I have yet to recharge the case itself as the X1s go as long as I do and continue to power on, especially since they are always topped up with battery power when put into the case, something other Bluetooth devices don’t do.
My Final Thoughts
Priced at $49.99, the Tribit X1 wireless earbuds are a steal and worth every penny. Their truly wireless design makes for a great experience and one that I prefer for working out, walking, and general usage.
Similar to Apple’s Airpods, the X1s charge in their case and the case doubles as an excellent way to carry them from place to place. With multiple days’ worth of battery power stored in the case, the X1s are always topped up with power and are ready to go when you are.
Sound from the X1s is excellent with every type of music genre I tried being above average and enjoyable to listen to.
Over my entire review period with the Tribit X1s, I never found something that disappointed me and would recommend them to anyone looking for a great cost-effective wireless earbud setup.
Buy it now:
© 2019 Justin Vendette
