Subjective Audio Analysis
Testing audio products by ear is a difficult task. There are subjective parts to testing by ear, which unfortunately cannot be eliminated. My taste or preference will bleed into the results. However, taking the time and putting the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 through its pace will hopefully eliminate, or at the very least, reduce as much of the subjectivity possible. There is extremely expensive equipment attempting to come to some sort of objective measurement, but it is still a challenge, since every person will pick up a pair of headphones and experience it slightly differently. With that in mind, I will do my best to provide an objective measurement through extensive tests and with a good understanding of my reference pair of headphones. I am testing the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 primarily as wireless headphones connecting via Bluetooth to my phone or laptop, as they are marketed as Bluetooth earbuds, so they will be tested as such.
As we have mentioned in my past audio reviews, there are really no true objective measurements for speaker sound quality. As the reviewer, however, I will put it through a series of subjective tests to try to come up with the most objective rating possible. Yes, it is quite a paradox haha. Tests were conducted primarily wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.3 with a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which has support for both AAC and aptX. After over 50 hours of break-in time -- well above the typically required period -- we put the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 to the tests. All tracks were uncompressed or high bitrate files.
Starting with the lower frequencies, the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 did not offer the strongest sounding bass. This was not surprising due to the nature of open earbuds. With that said, some bass boost in the middle to the upper bass range was noticeable when listening to bass-heavy genres. This helped give the bass some solid sound on the surface. Diving deeper though, the drum kicks and bass guitar riffs came off as hollow and muffled. The bass also starts to sound boomy when the volume is cranked all the way up.
When it comes to midrange, the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 was average in quality. There was a bit of a drop where one would expect to hear the vocals of a song within this range. Instruments like acoustic guitars and pianos sounded natural and clear. Vocals were ever so slightly recessed with these earbuds, missing their full range on songs with lots of energy. In summary, the midrange was strongest in the middle region, with the bottom and the upper regions lacking more so.
With the highest end of the frequency spectrum, the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 showed some more promise for the most part. This was especially true with instruments like trumpets and violins, where the S50 earbuds produced bright and energetic sounds until getting cut off at the peak ends. This was also true when listening to electric guitar solos, where the climaxes would not quite hit due to the limitations of the earbuds. Looking at the full frequency spectrum, the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 forms an interesting inverted W-shaped sound signature, which makes for an odd listening experience.
In terms of soundstaging, the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 provided advantages that closed design earbuds could not, that being better width and depth. When using these earbuds to listen to live performances, the tracks felt more open as if I were actually there due to my ears not covered by physical covering. The image created by these earbuds when listening to these live performances was clear and painted a full picture.
The 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 did a fairly good job with layering and frequency separation. The frequency separation was also acceptable, with every frequency level containing distinct detail. The sound coming from the vocalists, instruments, and any electronic sounds were all very clean, especially when all played in parallel. There was no noticeable electronic distortion at maximum volume, which is always a good quality for earbuds to have. There was noise leakage, although this should be expected due to these being open earbuds.
Above are two sample microphone recordings on the 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50. The first one was recorded indoors, and the second one was recorded outdoors on a chilly summer evening. These earphones performed well when it came to speaking, with my voice sounding very natural and clear. Some background noise was captured, but not enough to be distracting, which is a good attribute with this earbud set. These earphones will work just fine for phone calls and casual recordings both indoors and outdoors.
The 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50 proved to have a very capable battery life when put to the test. I was still at 60% battery life after 7 hours of straight usage at 50% volume. While a linear extrapolation is not always accurate in these situations, it is fair to assess that this would surpass the 11 hours of charge that 1MORE promised because of all the additional time I put on it afterwards, which is good to see. With the carrying case, you get an additional 27 hours of in three charges for a total of 38, making it so you will not have to worry about charging these earphones for long periods. The wireless range was also very strong. I received good audio quality for distances greater than 10m from the source without any noticeable drops. There was some slight latency when watching videos and playing games, but most users will likely not notice this.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
