Hi I’m Gidon from technologyman.com. The TrueCapsule true wireless earbuds from
SoundPeats have touch controls, IPX5 water resistance and support Bluetooth 5.0. They
have the same stem based design as the Anker Liberty Airs I reviewed recently, and Apple’s
AirPods for that matter. Rather than the in-ear design of the SoundPeats TrueFree+’s I also
took a look at a few weeks ago, or the Galaxy Buds.
I was quite impressed with the TrueFree+’s so was keen to see how SoundPeats latest earbuds
fared at a similar budget price of around £35 or $40.
Getting started Inside the compact packaging you get the earbuds
themselves inside their charging case. Black is the only option. You also get a micro-USB
charging cable, and some small and large ear tips to accompany the already fitted medium
tips. There’s also an instruction manual which
does cover basic functionality. The oval charging case with the earbuds weighs
47g, and is a little more compact than the TrueFree+s at 81mm by 38mm by 28mm. The case
has the new SoundPeats logo on its lid and is just about slim enough to slide into the
pocket of your jeans. It has a smooth matte finish and the build quality is good. There’s
a magnetic closure that’s a little fiddly to open. I also found the earbuds a little
tricky to remove. You’ll need to peel off the stickers protecting
the charging pins. I like the design and build quality of the
earbuds. Their matte finish and overall look makes them seem more expensive than they are.
They weigh 5.3g each and their overall length is 43mm with a 7mm thick stem which has SOUNDPEATS
down the outside and a microphone on the bottom of each earbud.
The earbuds charge in the case, where they are stored flat and held securely by magnets.
It can be a bit of a puzzle placing them back in the case - I slightly prefer how the Liberty
Airs and AirPods are stored vertically. The TrueCapsules hold 4 hours of charge and the
650mAh charging case provides another 20 hours of usage. The earbuds take around one and
a half hours to charge from empty. When you remove the earbuds from the charging
case or you drop them back in, the four white leds on the front of the case indicate its
remaining battery life - a nice feature that the SoundPeats TrueFree+’s case doesn’t
have. The earbuds’ status LED lights red whilst
they are charging and then turns off when fully charged. You have to open the case to
see if they are still charging. When you plug the case into charge via its micro-USB port,
the status LEDs flash to indicate charging progress. Charging of the case from empty
takes around two and a half hours at around 0.35 Amps. There’s still no USB-C port on
these budget earbuds and no wireless charging. Pairing
The status LEDs on both earbuds flash white quickly whilst they pair to each other. Then
the right earbud flashes red and white indicating pairing mode. Connect to SOUNDPEATS TrueCapsule
in your device’s Bluetooth settings. Voice prompts confirm power, pairing and connection
status. You’re connecting to the right earbud, so
you can use the right earbud on its own if you like. But unlike the SoundPeats TrueFree+
you can’t connect to the left earbud individually. This does at least make pairing less complex.
If you return the earbuds to the case, they’ll automatically pair with last connected device
within a few seconds when you take them out the case again. You can only pair to one device
at a time. To pair with another device the process a little long complicated. You‘ll
need to manually power them off by holding the right touch control for a lengthy 8 seconds
- this will also turn off the left earbud. Then press and hold the right earbud touch
control for 6 seconds until it enters pairing mode and connect the new device. You’ll
need to manually switch on the left earbud by pressing and holding its touch control
for just over a second. If you have any issues with the earbuds pairing
with each other, you can factory reset the earbuds. Return both earbuds to the case and
wait a second for the red charging lights to come on. Remove any pairings records for
any previously connected devices and then press and hold both the left and right touch
controls of the earbuds still in the case for 10 seconds until both their LEDs flash
white twice. Fit and controls
The already fitted medium ear tips should fit most ears, but it’s easy to change over
to the included smaller or larger size for a good fit. I found the most secure fit was
achieved by a push and twist backwards on both earbuds so the stem comes forward.
They’re very comfortable in my ears, and I barely notice them, partly thanks to their
light weight. They don’t feel like they’re going to fall out and even fared well on a
run. I still wouldn’t say I had 100 percent confidence in them staying put, but they were
more secure than the Anker Liberty Airs in my ears and similar to the SoundPeats TrueFree+’s.
I’d still be more confident using them for sports if they provided some optional fins.
I don’t mind physical buttons, but the touch controls on these earbuds work well and do
avoid the slight discomfort of pushing the earbud further into your ear every time you
adjust the controls. Double tapping the right earbud pauses and
plays your media or answers an incoming phone call. Tapping and holding the left and right
earbuds for just over a second plays the previous and next tracks respectively. Double tapping
the left earbud activates your voice assistant. Unlike the Liberty Airs, the earbuds do provide
audible feedback that you’ve successfully activated your command.. A small vibration
would be even better, especially when listening volumes are high.
I was able to use the touch controls with gloves with moderate success.
But there’s no volume controls which I’ve not yet found on any budget TWS earbuds. So
you’ll have to use your devices controls or you could use your voice assistant for
handsfree adjustments. There’s also no in-ear detection, so you’ll
need to pause your audio manually. Audio quality, battery life & performance
I was very impressed with the sound quality of these budget earphones. If I’d paid twice
what they cost I'd still have been pleased with how they sounded. They are quite bassy,
but for most of the music I listened to, so long as the volume wasn’t too loud, the
bass didn’t drown out the mids and treble, which still came through with decent clarity.
Of course they aren’t perfect, when the music gets very busy or there’s a lot of
bass, and you push the volume over 70% the bass does distort a little and everything
can sound a little jumbled. But for the price of these earphones they sound really good.
There’s no app to control EQ settings, but your smartphone or tablet may let you configure
audio settings. If you’re using the Music app on iOS you can adjust EQ settings. I did
find turning Bass Reducer did help on some tracks.
Spoken audio like podcasts and YouTube videos have a pleasant full bodied sound.
Even with Bluetooth 5.0 and like most TWS earbuds I’ve tried, there was some audio
delay watching YouTube videos on iOS. Netflix managed to keep this to a barely noticeable
level. You can use the TrueCapsules for phone calls
and they have binaural audio with sound coming from both the left and right earbuds. Call
quality on both ends of the call was ok. It was roughly on par with using my phone microphone
and speakers but because of the earbuds passive noise reduction it’s a strange experience
holding a phone conversation with both earbuds inserted
Bluetooth range was very similar to the SoundPeats TrueFree+ and the Liberty Airs, all supporting
the Bluetooth 5.0 standard. I had no dropouts in the next room around 10 metres away. They
also worked fine with an Apple Watch which I used for a few runs.
There’s no active noise reduction, but sound isolation is good, especially with the correct
fitting ear tips. There’s almost too much passive noise reduction for running, where
you lose a sense of your surroundings. You could also just use one earbud if this bothers
you. I did get almost 4 hours use out of them as
advertised, which is a bit on the low side compared to other TWS earbuds, but most of
the time you’ll have the case with you so you can give them a quick top up if need be.
They have an IPX5 water resistance rating which at least makes them sweatproof, so they’re
a good companion for the gym or running. But I would definitely check the fit in your ears
before taking them out for a long run. Conclusions
It’s difficult to find any major faults with the SoundPeats TrueCapsules, especially
at their budget price. I like their design and build quality is good.
The touch controls work well, they are comfortable and they have a pretty secure fit in my ears
at least, and most importantly they sound good.
If I was going to be picky, battery life is a little on the low side at only 4 hours,
and they can sound a bit jumbled with some tracks, especially at higher volumes.
But if you want some true wireless earbuds with the AirPods, stem based design and good
sound quality at a fraction of the price of the bigger brands I would definitely give
them a try! If you’ve got some, I’d love to know what
you think of them? Let me know down below. And as always, if you have any questions,
please ask - I read every comment and will do my best to respond.
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