Page 4 - Conclusion
The TOZO Open Buds are part of a new trend of Bluetooth earphones, offering a true wireless experience while keeping you aware of your surroundings. To accomplish this, the drivers sit on top of your ears rather than in it. To hold in place, the Open Buds use bidirectional ear hooks and a swinging body, which stay on your ears comfortably over long periods of time. The touch controls on the outside are functional, while the IPX6 water resistance is great to see. Wireless functions are decent with excellent range. It does deliver a good 7.5h of runtime, even if it falls short of the 12h claimed by the manufacturer. The mobile application is functional, although I would have liked to see custom EQ settings. Unfortunately, the place in need of upgrades is the sound quality. On one hand, the open design meant we had a decent soundstage and imaging experience. The microphone quality was acceptable with its environmental noise cancellation microphones capable of removing external wind noise. On the other hand, there were undesirable characteristics in every frequency region. Putting it together, the frequency ranges were imbalanced and the TOZO Open Buds struggled with details and layering. There was also an audible static noise while in use. Outside of audio quality, the large carrying case is bulky and not pocket-friendly. There were some missing features I would have wanted, including wireless charging, automatic play and pause, and more codecs supported like LDAP or aptX. At the time of the review, the TOZO Open Buds can be found for $70, with coupons available to further reduce the price. While I hope to see more earphones of this design from TOZO and others, I think it is back to the drawing board for the Open Buds, as there are just a few too many areas in need of refinement.
TOZO provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Networks Review Focus Summary:
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks, but should be considered before purchasing.
6/10 means A product with its advantages, but drawbacks should not be ignored before purchasing.
-- Final APH Networks Numeric Rating is 6.2/10
Please note that the APH Networks Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other publications.
The TOZO Open Buds true wireless Bluetooth earphones may offer an open-back design, but its implementation leaves many open areas for improvement.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
