Hello OzBargainers, today I’ve decided to do a review on one of the OzBargain favorite true wireless earphones: the Taotronics TT-BH052. Also in the mix is the latest true wireless earphone from Gearbest’s inhouse brand Alfawise, the V6. Let’s see how they stack up!
DISCLAIMER: The TT-BH052 was purchased out of pocket in March from Amazon AU, while the Alfawise V6 was sent to me by Gearbest for free in exchange for an honest review.
CASE: First, let’s start with the Taotronics charging case. It’s a plastic rectangular box with a transparent lid and a matte underside, with magnets for the earphones. Honestly, it feels a tad cheap and it creaks a bit, plus the lid feels like it’s liable to break soon (it hasn’t yet). Charges with micro-USB, and also functions as a 3350maH powerbank for your phone. This is fun and all, but I always carry my trusty Xiaomi powerbank anyhow. What’s nice though is that you will seldom have to charge the case because it holds so much juice. I charge mine maybe once a week or once every two weeks, but I use the earphones a lot.
For the Alfawise, the case is a lot nicer. It’s a more streamlined and sturdy design, with rubberized material on the base, magnetic holders for the earbuds, concentric metal accents on the side (which look a bit tacky), and a transparent lid again. Also charges by micro-USB and is a 2600maH powerbank, so a bit less than the Taotronics. What I dislike though is that the earphones are pointing away from you when in the case, so it can be a fiddle to get them out of the case and in the ear, unlike the Taotronics which point towards you in the case.
EARPHONES DESIGN AND FIT: For the Taotronics, the earphones look nice, with a black plastic construction and a white ring for the touch sensor. IPX7 water resistant. The fit was good and comfortable, and they don’t stick out too much and won’t fall out. Isolation is fine for me. The LEDs on the earphones flash every 5s unobtrusively, but not while music is playing.
For the Alfawise, the earphones are similarly made of a black plastic, with also a shiny concentric circled area where the physical button is. Also IPX7 rated for water resistance. They look good and won’t stick out of the ear. These do go DEEP in the ear though, so isolation is very good. These are comfortable, but I prefer the fit of the Taotronics. Also, these obnoxiously flash blue every 5s ALL the time, which is annoying at night.
CONTROLS: The Taotronics have a capacitive touch sensor on each earbud, so you have your play/pause, skip/reverse track, volume up/down controls, which is good. Also, by holding and releasing, you trigger a voice assistant, which has happened far too often by accident for my liking. The touch controls are a tad sensitive on these, which can be a double-edged sword. Its very convenient, but accidental presses can and will happen if you aren’t careful. The trick I’ve found to reduce this is to always pincer grip the earphones either side of the touch region when handling them, both in the case and the ear.
Regarding the Alfawise, they have a physical button on each earbud. It’s very clicky, and has all the same functionality as Taotronics. You trade accidental presses for shoving the earphone into your ear when you press the button, which may be worth it for some. What I dislike is that whenever you press the button, it emits a beep depending on the volume level of the earbud. And every time you connect it back to your phone, it resets to max volume, so you may get a loud beep randomly if you aren’t paying attention.
CONNECTIVITY: Both of these earphones come with Bluetooth 5.0, auto-connect when taken out of the case, and turn off when placed in the case. Both models also work in stereo and mono, so you can use one at a time and have them last as long as you need. Note for the mono mode: you will need to pair the ‘slave’ earbud separately to the ‘master’ earbud in your phone. Then, when you put them both in the case and take the ‘slave’ out, it will autopair normally. Both models have a range of ~10m and can experience some dropouts between the left and right earbuds themselves every now and then.
For the Taotronics, the inter-ear dropouts are far more than I would like honestly, happening several times an hour. The issue is that when they disconnect, the voice prompt speaks for a long period of time saying ‘Disconnected. Left channel, right channel, second device connected’, so a one second dropout turns to an almost 5 second waiting time before you get back to your music. Not sure if this is an issue with my unit or they are all like that. Either way, a bit disappointing.
For the Alfawise, connectivity was a lot better, and when they did (rarely) drop out, they quietly and promptly reconnected, for a smoother listening experience.
SOUND QUALITY: The Taotronics out of the box lack some bass and sound a bit thin, so I had to EQ them – boosting the low end and the high end for the sound I like. After that, I was happy with the sound quality.
The Alfawise out of the box were a bit muddy for my taste, with bass coming out the wazoo. I needed to also EQ them, this time cutting some of the low end and boosting the high end, for an acceptable sound. I still prefer the sound of the Taotronics though, but that might be because I’ve used the Taotronics for 2 months now every day, and the Alfawise for about a week. If you like bass though, these may sound better to you.
BATTERY LIFE: Taotronics last about 3h on a single charge, and Alfawise lasts about 5h. Honestly, 3h has been enough for me, as I use these on the train ride or on walks, and they charge in between uses. If you need extended listening sessions, the Alfawise may be a better fit.
CONCLUSION: Both the TT-BH052 by Taotronics and the Alfawise V6 are decent true wireless earbuds, but each have their own niggling complaints. While the connectivity of the Taotronics is pretty disappointing and annoying, they do everything else decently, but the Alfawise are not a bad pair overall also. I prefer the Taotronics personally, but honestly, I’d just pick whichever you can find cheaper. Remember that you can always message the reps (xev for Taotronics, and Sunny for Gearbest) to get a good deal or find when the next deal is on.
Thanks for reading (if you actually read that wall of text lol).
TT-BH052: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07MZS11VY
Alfawise V6: https://www.gearbest.com/headsets/pp_009792831429.html?wid=1…
How did you get to do the review for gearbest?