These days, it is impossible to go to any public place without catching the glance of at least one person with a contraption protruding from their ears and jutting just outside their ears or going around their necks. Such is the ubiquity of the wireless earphone, which is completely justified given the sheer convenience it offers: pumping out music without the constraints of a cable. The Boltune Bluetooth Headphones is one such option in the budget price range.

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What’s in the Box

It comes with a small carry pouch, the usual 3 pairs of small, medium and large-sized earbuds and 3 similar pairs of ear-hooks and a rather small-sized micro-USB cable for charging. The case is compact but large enough to take the earphones along wherever you go.

Boltune earphones

Design and Build Quality

Right off the bat, the first thing that captured my attention was its IPX7 specs, so it’s quite convenient for those heavy, sweaty workouts or the occasional swim when you feel spoilt enough to demand music even in these environs.

While not uncommon, the other nice design choice is the back-to-back magnets on either side of the earpieces. Its convenience cannot be overstated, as it comes in handy if you want to carry it around your neck for a long time. Also, in its clasped form, it is much more conspicuous and does not get lost. I had no difficulty finding them even in my usually messy table with the same black color. 

Even though the device definitely is made of plastic, the buds feel strong enough for any number of waist level drops and the cable is strong enough to endure strong tugs. It is flat cabled, so even the smaller sized cable does not have any chance of getting entangled. 

The controls are quite comfortably placed near the right earbud. It has the uncomplicated 3 button configuration, two for volume controls and one for Play / Pause / Siri / Cortana what have you. The charging female micro-USB port is snugly enclosed within a rubber flap, making sure it adheres to its IPX7 specs. 

Comfort and Sound Quality

At this atrociously low price range, convenience often is the first criteria, but the Boltune wireless earphone offers a more than a decent listening experience. For me, the earbud fit was really good, which ensured more than expected passive noise isolation. I usually use the largest sized earbuds for any earphones, but for this one, even the default medium buds were perfect. They were also comfortable enough for me to put them continuously for 9-10 hours (battery life up in the next section!). The ear hooks are a different story though. Even though it uses a soft rubber, at times it felt really stiff in my ears. But overall it does an excellent job of keeping the device in place, even during vigorous cardio sessions. 

It uses Bluetooth 5.0 which ensures good quality and support for SBC Bluetooth profile, so audiophiles out there rejoice! You can use it with your Tidal account or your private AAC music collection. 

Connectivity

As mentioned earlier it uses Bluetooth 5.0 with support for HFP, A2DP, HSP, AVRCP and SBC Bluetooth profiles for differential audio quality. While the spec sheet mentioned a distance of 33 feet with no obstacles, I have found decent playback for around 15-20 feet with a couple of walls in between. Another feature is that you can simultaneously connect to multiple devices, so you can play music from any device it is connected to and it works like a charm! In its wired counterpart, you would have to manually switch the cabling to the right device which is really a hassle. There have been many occasions when I was listening to my laptop when a phone call interrupted me and I could just take the call through my earphones without doing anything. And once the call is over, it is business as usual with the music continuing from the laptop.

The pairing experience was also really good, whether with new devices or reconnecting to old ones. Over usage of around 2 months, I had pairing drop only once and that too with a significant distance (around 10 feet and a wall) in between.

Battery Life

Boltune promises a battery life of a whopping 16 hours, and in real-world tests, it lasted for 12-13 hours which really good for a device this small and cheap. And even on those occasions when you forgot to charge before a movie session, just five minutes is enough to charge it to last for two hours. I have personally found this to be a lifesaver on many occasions. In fact, the long battery life and decent music quality have made me pick these over my regular wired pair for the past 2 months. 

Microphone

The USP of the product is the low price, and solid music experience – microphone quality is not one of its strong suits. On a few occasions, I have heard a complaint from the other side of a call about echoes and repeated cutoffs which did not exist without the earphones. But for most short duration calls it was more than sufficient to get the work done.

Boltune

Bottom Line

If you want a piece of inexpensive audio equipment for your outdoor needs, Boltune Bluetooth Earphones has you covered. Personally, it made me forget about my wired set of earphones that I have used frequently over 2 years, just for the convenience and flexibility it provides without compromising much on the audio quality. With around 14 hours of continuous music playback, IPX7 specs, Bluetooth 5.0 and a sweet price tag of $27.99 you cannot go wrong with this purchase.

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Last update on 2024-03-04 / Links / Images from Amazon PAAPI

8.8
Score

Pros

  • Bang for buck
  • Long battery life
  • IPX7 spec (One meter water immersion up to 30 minutes)
  • Build quality
  • Multiple simultaneuos device connections
  • Sound quality

Cons

  • Microphone quality
  • Ear hook comfort level
Design and build quality
8.5
Sound Quality
8.5
Battery Life
9.5
Ease of use
9.5
Comfort
8

Final Verdict

Very good budget option for a Bluetooth earphone. Outstanding battery life, good sound quality and rugged enough for a falls and rough tugs. Along with Bluetooth 5.0 with an extremely simple, no-fuss connectivity with multiple devices makes this a very good purchase.