At the moment, the midrange earbud market is in an innovative slump. There isn’t a lot of new features being released with the latest products, and it’s led to a market where interesting improvements or additions are hard to come by.
In a market as crowded as this, midrange earbuds that don’t introduce anything new won’t stand out. Simply box ticking expected features, like good active noise cancellation (ANC), decent audio quality, a comfortable fit and a good battery won’t push the product to the top of the pile.
This is where Tozo’s Golden X1 earbuds sit. They’re midrange earbuds that tick most of these boxes, however their 4-hour battery life is poor, instantly putting them behind other competitors.
Their strongest aspect is the price. At $190 there’s a lot on offer here. But with brand loyalty becoming more and more prevalent, especially when products boast features unique to their ecosystem – like Apple’s AirPods and Google’s Pixel Buds Pro – the Tozo Golden X1’s do very little to differentiate themselves from other midrange earbuds.
The Tozo Golden X1 earbuds are good midrange earbuds, but they don’t do anything unique, and they have a worse battery than most of their competitors.
Pros
- Affordable
- Comfortable design
- Fully customisable touch controls
Cons
- Poor battery
- Lacks bass capabilities
ANC
The ANC here is good but not great. It does a good job of blocking out most sounds but struggles with the more extreme sides of the frequency range.
The low rumbles of cars or public transport sometimes seep through, and higher frequencies, like the tapping of a keyboard, often come through as well.
The Golden X1 has several different noise applications. Transparency mode allows you to hear outside noises picked up by the earbuds’ microphones, normal mode, leisure mode for quiet areas, you can reduce wind noise and you can customise the strength of the noise cancellation. These are nice options however the earbuds were definitely at their best with ANC turned on, I never used them in normal mode.
Battery
The battery life here is poor. The earbuds last 4 hours with ANC on and 6 hours with it off. Compare that to Sony’s WF-1000XM4’s which last 8-hours with ANC on and 12 hours with it off and you start to see areas where the premium earbuds are significantly ahead.
Even similarly priced earbuds like Jabra’s Elite 5s have better battery life, boasting 9 hours with ANC on, and Technic’s AZ40 earbuds boast 8-hours of battery life off a single charge. It shows that not only are the Tozo golden X1’s behind the best-of-the-best earbuds, they’re also well behind similarly priced competitors when it comes to battery life.
The case contains an extra 30 hours worth of battery with a two hour charging time.
Verdict
Tozo’s Golden X1 earbuds are run-of-the-mill midrange earbuds. They’re capable of delivering adequate sound quality while providing good active noise cancellation and they’re comfortable to wear.
But there isn’t much here that’s going to make you want them over other similarly priced competitors. In fact other midrange earbuds can do everything the Golden X1’s can and have better battery life.
If you’re looking for midrange earbuds the Tozo Golden X1 will do a good job, but there are better options out there.
