Let’s do this one more time, shall we?
There are two types of people in this world: those who have Airpods, and those who don’t.
I’m still in that latter category, but this time, you couldn’t tell it with a glance.
These are the i10s true wireless earbuds.
And for just 14 bucks, they’re basically Airpods with USB C.
Once we get them out of the Chinese shipping container, taking a look at the box, it’s
pretty clear where they got some, *ahem* inspiration.
The unboxing experience is pretty simple.
They come with the charging case containing the earbuds, a USB C charging cable, and some
paperwork . Let’s start with design.
These earbuds offer a unique design that’s completely unlike anything else on the market.
Just kidding, they’re total ripoffs of Airpods, featuring a nearly identical earbud design,
with some slight variation on the case, which I’ll get to later.
Compared to AirPods, they’re made of a much cheaper plastic and are noticeably lighter.
While this certainly makes them feel cheap, they may actually be more comfortable due
to their lightweight build.
The buds’ stems are ever so slightly thicker than regular AirPods, but without a side-by-side
comparison, most people probably wouldn’t notice.
They’re so close in dimensions to the originals that they actually do fit in a real Airpods
case, but there is a tiny gap when you try to close it.
The dead giveaway that these are fakes, however, is their case.
It has a similar dental-floss case design to Airpods, but with a few key differences.
For one, the hinge is noticeably worse than the Airpods’.
It’s floppy and less stable, and has less of a satisfying click.
It has a weird lip on the front to latch onto when opening, and it doesn’t quite close
perfectly, leaving a tiny gap when closed.
Unlike Airpods, there are 4 LED lights on the front of the case that function as battery
indicators.
These light up when you insert the buds to indicate their battery levels and when you
charge the case to indicate its battery level.
Speaking of charging the case, that can be done via built-in Qi wireless charging, just
like Airpods gen 2 (the clones actually beat Apple to this), and unlike Airpods, via an
industry-standard USB C port on the bottom.
That’s great news for us Android users, and it’s actually the key reason I picked
this particular clone model, as the other, better clones use the proprietary Apple Lightning
connector.
The actual fit and feel of these buds is quite good.
They sit well in my ears and don’t try to jam into your ear canals like many other wireless
earbuds.
If you like the fit or Airpods, you’ll like the fit of these.
If this all seems a little too good to be true, that’s because it is.
Here’s where the bad stuff starts to kick in.
When I tried pairing the buds to my phone for the first time, for one, they show up
as just “AirPods,” which I thought was pretty funny.
When I paired them though, I only got one bud connected, the other just refused to pair
to the first.
After multiple disconnects, putting them in the case and out of the case over and over
again, I eventually got them to both pair.
Once I could finally listen to them, there was good and bad news.
The good news is they actually sound surprisingly decent.
They’re significantly better sounding than wireless earbuds at double the price point,
like my SoundPeats TrueCapsule and Anker Soundbuds, both in the $30 range.
Compared to the i10s, those sound shill and hollow.
For only $14, these things sound really good.
I doubt they’re as good as real Airpods or any of the serious competition, but at
$14, just as a replacement for the earbuds that came with your phone, you probably won’t
be disappointed as far as sound quality goes.
Don’t worry, though; there’s still plenty to be disappointed about.
For one, the earbuds, or at least my pair anyway, have their stereo configuration swapped,
meaning sounds that should be on the left come out of the right earbud and vice versa.
The left earbud also seams noticeably louder than the right one, which further messes up
the stereo effect.
There is also some input latency, but luckily it isn’t that bad.
Watching videos with these earbuds really isn’t an issue.
So now I'm just gonna do a quick test of the call quality
on these earbuds
So this is what it sounds like coming right out of the phone call
Right out of the earbuds and directly into the phone call
Let me know if it sounds any good.
The phone call on the receiving end does come through in stereo
so that's pretty good
Are they as good as Airpods? I don't know; I don't have them to compare it to
So, let me know in the comments down below if it sounds any good
On the bright side, these buds do have touch
controls that work pretty well.
You can simply tap to play or pause your music.
Double-tap on the right bud to increase the volume and on the left bud to decrease it.
Holding down on either bud will activate your voice assistant.
Finally, triple tap to skip tracks...on the left earbud.
Yeah, they screwed this one up too.
A triple tap on the right bud goes to the previous song, whereas the left skips the
track.
On the list of complaints is battery life.
The AliExpress page I ordered from claims 2-3 hours of listening time with about 100
hours of standby time.
You’d be lucky if you got even that.
I’ve had these things die on me a few times, even if they’ve just been sitting in the
case, presumably fully charged, for a few days.
If you’ve got a short commute and charge daily, you’ll probably be okay, but if you’re
the type of person who likes to leave your earbuds in all day, you should look elsewhere.
So, where does that leave us?
Should you buy these things?
That depends.
For most people, probably not.
For a little more cash, you can get some way less janky truly wireless earbuds on Amazon.
They may not charge with USB C or have wireless charging or be quite as comfortable, but you’ll end up with a
much more reliable pair of buds.
If you’re willing to put up with the sacrifices, however, and patient enough to wait from a
shipment straight from China, you can get a good sounding, comfortable, wireless charging
pair of truly wireless earbuds with USB C for only 14 bucks.
Oh, and your friends will probably make fun of you
when they find out that you bought fake Airpods on AliExpress