Big fans of Edifier here, we’ve tried many of their products, with all budgets catered for and today, we’re definitely talking low-end budget. The X3 are a new pair of wireless earbuds from the brand and they are available to purchase for just £32.99 here the UK, even cheaper elsewhere in the world. Too cheap? Are they worth buying? Let’s find out.
Features
- Touch controls
- 6hr battery life plus additional 18hr via charging case
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Microphone & Voice Assistant
- IP55 dust and water proof
The X3 are absolutely tiny, both in bud size and carry case, in fact, it’s the smallest case I’ve seen to date. It comes in at just 4.5Wx4Hx2Dcm and it’s incredibly lightweight. Very minimal features on the case, just one small indicator light, a micro USB port to the rear for charging and a magnetic lid that opens from the top. There is also a magnetic connection between the case and the earbuds, ensuring a secure fit to enable charging.
The earphones come in either a black or white finish. Branding is minimal, with a logo on the top of the case and then each earbud has an ‘X’ on it. That X area is also the touch sensitive part of the bud, used to control your content. Overall, a sleek, very compact pair of earbuds. In the box you get the earbuds, the charging case, USB cable, different size rubber buds and some instructions.
Set up was very easy, just take them out the case, they will turn on and go into pairing mode, then connect to them via your smart device. As for controls, you can play/pause, change track, take calls and activate your voice assistant. It’s a matter of pressing either bud, single, double clicks or holds. For example, play/pause is a single click on either left or right bud, next track is double click on either and previous track is triple click either bud. There is no volume control and all gestures are detailed in the instructions.
Overall, the controls work fairly well, although they do require some pressure to activate. If you touch them gently, the command wont register. Once you touch, it takes just a second for the command to be done. Although no volume control, the rest of the controls are more than enough to keep you going and I like that the commands are the same on both buds, not one command for left, a different for right.
As for audio performance, I was pleasantly surprised, all things considered. These are budget earphones, so my expectations were low but they sound very good for the price. It’s quite a flat sound profile and they do lack on the bass front but for everyday use, a commute, listening to some music or a video, more than good enough.
There is no active noise cancellation but as always, earbuds do offer a good level of pass cancellation and these are no exception. Sitting here writing this, I can hear my kids calling for me to ‘come play’. It’s OK, I’m going to finish this off, tag my wife out and go play.
Comfort is good, I didn’t need to change the size of the rubber bud, the default medium was fine for me. They are lightweight and once you get them in the right position, you may forget they’re there. They are secure and they stayed in place for me while walking and riding my bike.
One thing I couldn’t find is battery life and how you monitor it. Older earbuds included a number of indicator lights, show battery level for the case, or even voice prompts stating battery level. The X3 have neither. It’s not a problem but will likely catch you off guard one day and you wont be able to use them.
To summarise, the X3 are an affordable, entry level earbud that’s very compact, comfortable and offers a solid sound performance, for the price of course.
