Triple Driver Bluetooth In-Ear Headphones - Product Reviews

These well-designed headphones look great, but do all of the features match the price?

Easy pairing, consistent Connectivity, and long Range and Battery Life make usage seamless. Easy Controls and a gentle Learning Curve make getting started simple.

Imperfect Sound Quality, with a tinny sound, distorts music to a varying degree. Lower Call Quality and Noise Cancellation prevent them from being a regular replacement for phone calls.

If you are a regular jogger or runner and can get these headphones on a great sale, these headphones should be a consideration.

The Value of the 1MORE headphones is highly dependent on the price you pay for them. At the suggested price of $200, these headphones are not a great value, as the Sound Quality simply does not justify the price. However, we do see retailers (including Amazon), with prices around half of the MSRP. At that price (anything under $120), these headphones are worth a try, especially if you are a jogger or runner.

The Design of these headphones is strong, but not perfect. Based on a running headset made popular by a large manufacturer a few years ago, the 1MORE makes a lot of improvements to the concept. The neckband is slim and sleek, with a soft and easily bendable material used throughout. The main buttons are not on the top, as are others in this style, but on the inside of the left end piece. This puts the play/pause and volume controls right where your thumb will rest naturally, making it easier to use while working out. The length of the cords on the earbuds themselves is long enough to easily reach your ears without being so long that they are uncomfortable when hanging out of your ears. Also, the charging port has a cover, which prevents sweat from getting into it and either shorting the headphones or corroding the charging port.

Not everything about these headphones is a win, however. The power button, which is the only one not under the thumb, is located on the top of the band, rather than the bottom. It makes it harder to press the button, and even more difficult to hold it long enough to power it on. The place where the cord for the earbuds meets the neckband comes out in a straight line, which makes it an even distance when pulled up or down, but it isn't the best design. Instead, if the cord came out about 30 degrees sloped downward, it would put less stress on the cord when the earbuds aren't being worn.

The Sound Quality of the 1MORE headphones is fairly average for consumer headphones, though not necessarily for this price range. While listening to music, the vocals are clear for most performers, though do distort a little with a singer with a higher voice. The equalizer seems to be tuned with a bias for treble, creating distortion in already higher-pitched tones, including a tinny effect over a lot of the standard audible range. Overall, the distortion is not so great that it would ruin the listening experience entirely. However, it is enough that it could be a distraction from the experience, especially on genres like classical, which feature more tones in a higher range.

We tested the headphones with a variety of devices, including an iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and Microsoft Surfacebook. All of the devices paired on their first try and retained their connections until asked to disconnect. When powering the headphones on they connected to their active device quickly.

The Range on the 1MORE headphones is decent but is not the best we have seen. I tested the range using a paired Apple iPhone X.

Practical

In my three bedroom apartment, with the iPhone in the center, I am able to use the headphones in all rooms without any reception issues encountered. This includes areas of the apartment that previous headphones have encountered issues, cutting in and out occasionally. This means that I could do housework, walking around the apartment, and not need to carry my phone with me, while keeping the music going.

Line of Sight

Bringing the iPhone outside, the headphones were able to remain connected stably for a distance of 84 feet. The headphones support Bluetooth 4.2, which means that their maximum range is around 200 feet. These headphones did not reach half of that range in direct line of sight. While the maximum range is missed, 84 feet is a very long distance, and more than an average consumer will likely ever need.

The Battery Life of the 1MORE headphones is not as high as some of the other headphones we have tested but lasts longer than advertised.

Formal Test (HTC 8x)

Running our formal test on the 1MORE headphones, we averaged 8 hours and 20 minutes of play time, recorded across three tests. All of the tests ran within 3 minutes of one another, meaning that 8 hours and 20 minutes is a consistent result. In addition, the advertised runtime is only 7 hours, meaning that the actual runtime is almost 20% higher than the advertised life.

Practical Test

This style of headphone was originally made popular for working out and, in particular, running. An average running time for a marathon runner is between 4.5 and 5.5 hours, depending on various factors. For any of these runners, the battery will well outlast a full marathon, and for the faster runners, could last for almost 2 full marathons. With that in mind, there is little to no concern over the battery life of these headphones in their intended usage.

The Call Quality of the 1MORE headphones is below average. In fact, the quality of audio during a phone call is even lower than the Sound Quality during music playback. Voices are muffled and sound far away. Even with the volume turned up to maximum, it can still be difficult to hear the other person. Like with music playback, the equalizer seems tuned to over-emphasize treble, which makes the audio sound tinny. As for the other party, they seem to be able to hear decently, though not great. The microphone seems better than the standard speakerphone on the iPhone X but not as good as the speakerphone on the HP Elite x3.

There are very few controls available on the 1MORE headphones. There is a power button, volume rocker, and multifunction button that serves as play/pause, Bluetooth command and call answer/hangup. This makes the Learning Curve very gentle. However, it would be nice to have an easy way to determine the battery life without having an iOS device, or while not being near enough to the device to verify.

The Noise Cancellation capabilities of the 1MORE are average. When tested on a phone call, the other party was unable to hear standard noises, such as the sound of typing on a keyboard or a ceiling fan. However, the microphone did not eliminate louder sounds, even as simple as a sliding glass door, or an outside door being closed. In a generally quiet scenario, the other party would have no problem hearing, but if you are in a loud area, including running or jogging on a sidewalk, there might be too much background noise to have an effective conversation.

The headphones are really easy to learn to use. There are only 3 buttons: power, a volume rocker, and a multifunction button. The last button can play and pause music, answer or hang up a call, or trigger your assistant of choice (Cortana, Siri, or Google Assistant). For anyone who has used Bluetooth headphones before, these commands will be fairly routine. Even if you're new to Bluetooth, however, there simply aren't enough commands to trip you up.

Thanks in large part to the Size & Weight, wearing the 1MORE headphones is very comfortable. In addition, the length of the cord on the earbuds means that there is no real pull on your ears from the neckband. In addition, the headphones come with a huge collection of earbud caps. While most earbuds come with only 3 sizes of the same style of earbud caps, these headphones come with 9 caps with varying styles, sizes and materials. Most people will be able to find an earbud cap that will work for them.

Overall, the Build Quality is very high. There are no sharp edges, no injection molding defects, and almost no cheap materials used. In fact, then only part of the headphones that gave any real concern is the cord between the earbuds and the neckband. On both sides, there are small nicks in the shielding and crimps in the cabling. As the thin cable is the most common point of failure for earbuds, using a cheap material here seems like an important oversight.

During testing, we experienced no unexpected behavior. Pairings were successful on the first try, every time, on all devices. Once paired, the headphones were able to use all of their functionality, regardless of the platform. The only exception to this is when paired with a Surfacebook, pressing the multifunction button does not invoke Cortana. This is not an uncommon failure for Bluetooth headphones but is a disappointment for those of us who use headphones with a laptop or tablet.

The 1MORE headphones are surprisingly lightweight, especially considering capabilities. Cable junctions, a long Battery Life, and more would usually make the headphones heavier. These do not suffer that same fate, partially because of the lightweight material used in the construction of the majority of the neckband. The headphones are also surprisingly small. The neckband is very thin. making it easy to carry. The cables for the earbuds are flexible, as is the neckband, making it possible to coil around your hand and then put into your pocket for times when you cannot keep them around your neck.

We experienced full compatibility on iOS, with all features working with no additional hardware or software needed. On Android, Windows 10, and Windows Mobile, we experienced all of the features except for the battery feedback capability, meaning we were unable to determine battery remaining. On Windows 10, we also could not invoke Cortana.