The TOZO Golden X1 earbuds offer impressive sound quality, accompanied by an acceptable ANC feature and Bluetooth Multipoint capability for dual-device connectivity.
In a market flooded with TWS earbuds, standing out requires something special and unique. TOZO attempted this with their Golden X1 Earbuds, departing from their usual budget-friendly offerings to integrate advanced features like ANC and Bluetooth Multipoint Connection.
We recently got our hands on the TOZO Golden X1 TWS Earbuds. On paper, the specs are excellent. But how do they fare in real life? Let's dive into our review of the TOZO Golden X1, where we'll discuss sound quality, touch controls, ANC, Companion App, battery life, and more after using and testing the earbuds. Read on to discover our thoughts and impressions.
Here's a quick overview of the unboxing experience with the TOZO Golden X1 Earbuds. The packaging and overall material quality are impressive, featuring a sleek black box with gold text. Upon opening the box, you'll find a folder containing the user manual and quick start guide. We recommend going through these documents as they detail important specifications and touch controls for the earbuds.
Beneath the documentation, you'll find the earbuds neatly arranged in a custom cutout, alongside the charging case. Both the case and earbuds follow the stylish Gold on Black theme, adding to the overall premium feel of the unboxing experience.
In another compartment, you'll find an additional 5 pairs of ear tips, adding up to a total of 6 pairs including the ones already attached to the earbuds. Below the ear tips box, there's another compartment containing the charging cable. The cable provided is a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable. This neatly organized packaging ensures that everything you need is conveniently laid out and easy to access.
Taking the earbuds out of the package and holding them in hands for the first time, they do not feel heavy even though they look quite big. Instead of a traditional round design, TOZO made the Golden X1 slightly oval. On the outer side of the earbuds, we have two gold contacts for charging. Both the earbuds have clear “L” and “R” markings on it.
Coming to the case, it is an oval pill-shaped box with “TOZO”branding on top and some specifications on the bottom. Just below the lid opening, there is a multi-color LED strip. This will indicate the status of charge of the case and battery left.
Opening the case, we immediately notice a display between the slots for the earbuds. It is an OLED display that shows the charge percentage of the case as well as the charge levels of both the earbuds. Inside the lid cover, there are some markings: Knowles, LDAC, and Hi-Res Audio Wireless.
As the lid acts as a switch to turn on or off the earbuds, it is important that it closes even with the slightest push, thanks to the magnet on the lid. Some may like it while others may find it annoying.
The back of the case has a USB-C Port for charging. An important feature of the TOZO Golden X1 is the case supports wireless charging. You can’t see anything but if you place the case on a wireless charging pad, it will charge.
Pairing the TOZO Golden X1 to any Bluetooth device such as a smartphone or laptop is very simple. Place both theearbuds in the case and close the lid. This will turn off the earbuds. Next, open the lid of the case. This will turn on the earbuds and put them in pairing mode.
Just turn on the Bluetooth and look for “TOZO Golden X1” on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. If everything goes well, the pairing will be successful. We paired the barbuds with several devices and the pairing process was seamless.
Once paired, you can take the earbuds out of the case and use them. Make sure to use the right-sized ear tips as it becomes important for ANC.
We started playing some standard mp3 music on different smartphones and laptops. The audio quality of the TOZO Golden X1 is very good. If you are a bass-lover, then you will be slightly disappointed as the lows are okay and not punchy.
But the strong point of these earbuds are vocals and instruments. The reproduction of both mids and highs exceeded our expectations and you can clearly listen and differentiate all the elements.
We feel that playing standard mp3 files isn’t the best way to experience the TOZO Golden X1 Earbuds. As it supports LDAC and High-Res Audio, you have to play high bit rate and lossless audio to properly enjoy music. We did exactly that and the listening experience is really good. You can clearly experience the difference between playing an mp3 and a flac audio.
Additionally, we installed the “Alternative A2DP Driver” for Windows and boy did it perform better.This is definitely an advanced option and many users who buy TWS earbuds won’t install any drivers but we thought of mentioning it in this review as we were really impressed with the audio quality.
Next, we played some mobile games with the TOZO Golden X1. There is a small delay in transmission and if you put your mind to it, you can clearly notice the delay. This clearly says that the TOZO Golden X1 aren’t gamer centric earbuds but rather for listening to music or watching movies.
As the TOZO Golden X1 has Bluetooth 5.3, it supports Bluetooth Multipoint Connection. What this means is you can pair and connect two devices, say a smartphone and a laptop as the same time. We really liked this feature. If you are on a Skype or Teams call on your laptop and you got a phone call, the earbuds automatically switch to the phone. Once you disconnect the call, it will switch back to the laptop.
Another advanced feature that the TOZO Golden X1 pack is ANC. The performance is okay but considering the price tag, we are slightly disappointed. If this is your first ANC experience, then you might like it but if you tried premium ANC from Sony, Bose or even Apple, then definitely you can tell the difference.However, we are impressed with TOZO as this is their first ANC products. Even though there is room for improvement, we feel they are heading in the right direction.
You can disable the ANC Mode by single taping on the left earbud. This will activate the Transparency Mode, where you can hear the external audio through the earbuds. If you triple tap the left earbud, it will disable both ANC and Transparency Mode and set to Normal Mode.
Speaking of tapping things, both the earbuds of the TOZO Golden X1 support touch controls and have dedicated functions associated for single tap, double tap, triple tap, long press, etc. You can get a clear idea by looking at the user manual.
An important point about using ANC is its effect on battery life. With ANC on, we were getting anywhere between 4-1/2 to 5 hours of playback. Without ANC, you can extend this to roughly 6-1/2 hours. As you have to place the buds in the case to turn them off, they keep topping up every time youput them in the case. That said, you can charge may 2-1/2 to 3 times with the case.
Comingto charging, as we said before, the case of the TOZO Golden X1 supports wireless charging. If you already own a wireless charging pad to charge your smartphone, you can use it to charge the earbuds as well.
Note that it will take a little more time to fully charge the case when using wireless charging. If you want to quickly top it up, then USB-C is the way to go. If you want to use the TOZO Golden X1 while working out or in drizzling rain, then you can comfortably use it as it has IPX6 Waterproof protection.
Apart from a great sounding hardware, TOZO also released a companion app to make additional customizations. The app is simply known as “TOZO” and it is available for both Android and iOS devices. Once you install the app, it immediately detects the earbuds (if already paired and connected).
The first thing we did was make the app create an earprint, which will customize the audio as per your ear and hearing capabilities. For this, you have to pick the right size ear tips.
Next, we have tab for Noise Cancellation. You can choose between 5 preset patterns: Noise Cancellation (ANC), Transparency Mode, Reduce Wind Noise, Leisure Mode, and Normal Mode. Additionally, you can set a custom pattern as well.Then we have the equalizer settings. You can choose between several presets.
If you click the cog wheel, you can access couple of important settings. One is the touch controls, where you can customize the touch patterns of both earbuds. The next setting is firmware update. TOZO Golden X1 supports OTA update and if they release a new firmware, you can update it through the app.
