Next on the day’s list of items we have test driven, we have yet another pair of in-ear headphones, this time from a brand we haven’t had any experience with just yet. WRZ and their S8 wireless in-ear earbuds. Similarly priced to the ones Mike just finished talking about in the last article, these offer a colorful selection and a low price point, great for product end-caps and other spontaneous buy locations within a store.
The design of these headphones feature a line of colors to choose from, six in total. They cover white, black, green/grey, blue, purple/pink and red. The one we have tested out is the green/grey option. Their build focuses on plastic and silicone, and the entire color lineup seems to lean towards neon-like shades/colors.
They feature an in-line controller with three buttons and a flap that leads to a microUSB port (for charging). The buttons contain your typical choice of options, with the outside buttons being your volume and track control, and the middle button an all-in-one for play/pause, answer/hang-up, digital assistant trigger and so forth. It also has a small hole with a tiny microphone hidden inside so that you can use these for talking on the phone.
Overall durability of the headphones feel a bit average (not bad, not amazing, but just normal), and the silicone tips have a rubber band-like smell to them (just something we noticed). As for those tips, they do come with your typical three pairs (small, medium and large), as well as two hook inserts, one with hooks and one with the bulge but no extended hook.
Performance
These headphones feature the latest Bluetooth 5.0 spec and promise some strong features, including up to 10 hours worth of battery life on a single charge, and IPX65 waterproofing (per their site). We didn’t see any of the benefits of BT 5.0 during our tests, but they did seem to last quite awhile before we found ourselves having to plug them in for a charge.
As for the IPX65 rating, this is what their website gives them, however they have them listed on Amazon as IPX6, which is a step down from 65. The instructions they come with, don’t even mention waterproofing at all on the page where they have the specifications listed out. So we were a bit floored by this one when it came to how we were going to test is against water. To be fair, we give it some basic splash tests and rolled them around in various way on wet surfaces. We did not make any attempts to submerge these as we believe the mentions of waterproof ratings are more than likely an afterthought and thrown in as a way to help sell them based on their own post-launch testing of them. In the end, we never noticed any damage caused by the water we did expose them to.
Distance is about average, getting about 25-30 ft distance from a connected device. Instructions list up to 33 ft, so this seems to fit the average distance performance of most earbuds on the market.
Range (sound) is average to below average. At first we were disappointed by this, but then we remembered their price. Since they are priced at below $25, they are considered to be entry-level and not looking to really compete against any of the larger brands. This being said, they still fell a bit short for their current recommended price tag of $22.98.
In order to get our best results, we had to stick with the largest eartip size to seal in whatever “bass” we could find. You basically had a focus on highs and mid-lows (just a tad), with a lot of missing frequencies everywhere else. The lows were not deep by any means (when they were noticeable at all). These are definitely basic entry-level. They feel like a sub $20 pair of headphones, maybe closer to sub $15. Great for working out at the gym where you might normally be afraid of causing damage to your buds, but not rocking out to your favorite tunes for the purposes of really enjoying them.
You will get your best performance out of them listening to acoustic sessions and tracks with a heavy emphasis on vocals. They also sound much better when paired with a better track source, like FLAC and other lossless options. However, when you start playing with these formats, you typically want to be using far better headphones anyway. So this doesn’t make much of a difference.
They come with a semi-hardshell case to store the earbuds and their accessories in, including the small charging cable they come with. Everything but the instructions fit in the case, but no one really reads the instructions (mostly) anyway. The case is a nice touch that will guarantee strong protection for the buds while you travel.
Our Conclusion
These buds are ok. Definitely entry-level and the basic of this category. Their sound isn’t going to wow you by any means, but they will at least provide you with tunes. They work well for taking calls and the case they come with does a great job at protecting them while traveling. Battery life is decent and you get basic splash protection from water and other elements. It’s important however, to highlight that our final score is heavily based on the normal pricing of these headphones ($22.98). Although they are entry-level and thus not expected to perform against larger big brands, we have seen other models within this price range that beat these out quickly. Because of this, we felt these were more worth around $15 or less, and this had a lot to say about our final scoring.
| Buy from Amazon | |
Our Rating | Average Price* $22.98 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
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Specifications:
- Bluetooth chip: BK 3266
- Bluetooth version: V5.0
- Charging way: USB
- Sensitivity: 91±3dB
- Impedance: 16?
- Harmonic distortion: ?5%
- Frequency Response: 20-20kHz
- Battery Capacity: 110mAh
- Operation Range: 33 feet/10m
- Play Time: 10 hours
- Standby Time: 220 hours
- Charging Time : 1.5 hours
- Cable Length: 55±3 cm
- Waterproof: IP65 (or, IP6 maybe)
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