1More-5

Everything’s awful right now, and if you’re anything like me, then you know that the best way to block chatter of impending doom is to shove some plastic into your ears and crank up Nirvana’s Heart-shaped box single. We’re living in an age where headsets have reached futuristic levels of design and quality, able to not only provide a wireless broadcast of the same ten songs that you’ve been listening to since high school, but sound dang good at the same time.

There’s no shortage of manufacturers who have their own take on what a great headset can be, with earbuds haven taken off particularly well. Enter 1MORE, whose latest range hasn’t been detained by overzealous US Customs agents acting on behalf of the almighty Apple government. The brand has made a name for itself lately, with a product range that offers plenty of Bang and Olufsen for your buck.

1More-3[3]

You won’t break the bank with 1MORE, and at the very least, you’re going to get something decent in the exchange. Here’s one of the latest offerings from the company: The 1MORE Colorbuds. They’re available in a range of colours, they look adorable and they also remind me of Batman’s nipples from his 1995 cinematic caper.

If you throw down cash for these, here’s what you’ll get in the box:The titular Colorbuds, the charging case, a USB-C cable for a juice-up, three pairs of spare eartips when your gross earwax gunks up the included set, and a whole bunch of paper that I’ve promptly ignored.  The 32 gram charging box they come with isn’t entirely to my liking. Sure, it’s light and you can easily fit it into your pocket, but it has a somewhat bulbous design that flares out on the sides and isn’t the most ergonomic storage to keep in a pocket all day.

On the plus side, there’s a neat rubber strip on the bottom so that you can rest it upwards and pop the hood easily when you want to use the Colorbuds. As for the main event kit, they’re pretty light! At 4.1 grams per bud, the weight when inserted into your ear is almost non-existent, and it’s amazing that something so small can do so much. They’re comfortably designed as well, easily fitting into your ear shape thingies with their rounded shape, that sits flush inside your biological audio input crevices.

It’s worth noting that these are in-ear earbuds though, so tastes may vary. Personally, I’m not a fan of jamming rubber into my ear canals, but I’m likely in the minority here. In terms of input, the Colorbuds feature touch controls, which work really nicely in tandem with the 1MORE music app. The configuration out of the box only allows for two commands that can be used out of a possible four via double and triple tap commands. From the sparse menu, you have to choose which two you want the most: Volume control, play/pause, track forward/reverse, and voice assistant.

One thing that the Colorbuds do very well though, is establish a strong signal from phone to ear. Using Bluetooth 5, you’re able to get some decent range on these things: At gym I was able to go grab some weights or a refill of water from across the free weights section without losing a beat, while at home I’ve been able to mill about in different rooms while leaving my phone tethered into a charging port in the next room.

1More-2

Battery life has also been absolutely solid, with a full charge easily supplying 5-6 hours of playtime. Quick-charge options are also available, but with a fully charged case in hand, you’re looking at around 20-22 hours in total. For the price that 1MORE is charging, that’s not too shabby at all. There’s a neat auto-pause feature when the colorbuds detect that they’ve been removed from your ears, while I can confirm that IPX5 weather-resistance rating isn’t for show.

After an especially sweaty session at gym, they were still working like a charm despite being drenched in my exercise fluids that had pooled into my ears. GO CARDIO!

So how do they sound?

1more-1

For what you’re paying, you’re getting in return the usual 1MORE experience in terms of audio: Powerful drivers, well-tuned audio and a professional ear for sound that has resulted in music having a more well-rounded output. While I wouldn’t say that the Colorbuds sound out of this world phenomenal, I would say that they sound pretty good.

Audio is crisp and clear, with that clarity augmented by a low end of audio that can help you feel the music easily enough. Which would explain why I’m absolutely aching as I write this, after listening to Eminem’s Till I Collapse while I was on the Elliptical trainer. What you’ve got here in terms of output is the workhorse device: Good at anything you throw at it from your Spotify library, but not exactly outstanding in any one category particularly. Still, there’s a certain charm to knowing that your device’s prime quality is reliability above all else.

1more-4

I even managed to do a few calls with the Colorbuds (Yeah people phoned me weird right?). And for a situation where I was sitting outside with the birds chirping around me while I shot hateful glares at the nearby Hadeedas, the Colorbuds performed decently once again. Call quality was great and the line of communication was a two-way street of clarity. In more crowded environment they might not be up to the task, but the results were positive nonetheless.

The 1MORE Colourbuds can be purchased for R1849 currently. If you use the code 1MORExCH2020, you can also score yourself a sweet 10% discount on any current 1MORE product from the site until the end of October.

Last Updated: September 21, 2020

1MORE Colorbuds
Great sound, a comfy design, and surprisingly powerful Bluetooth range give 1MORE’s latest set of wireless earbuds plenty of punching power, provided that you can overlook a few of the budget compromises that the Colorbuds pack into the overall package.
8.0

4 Comments

  1. OddSockZA

    September 21, 2020 at 13:26

    What’s the code?

    Reply

  2. Xenobio

    October 5, 2020 at 01:14

    Thanks for the code, they are cheaper with the code than on Takealot.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Twelve Minutes Review – Stuck in a Mystery Time Loop

We’ve all experienced deja vu a few times in our lives, but what happens when you ha…