Over the past few years, 1MORE has established itself as a popular audio brand in the market. And just a couple of weeks ago we made a video talking about one of their most popular earbuds, the Comfobuds Mini.
We saw that their PistonBuds Pro Noise Canceling Earbuds went on sale recently. I’m sure some of you have been wondering whether this new pair of earbuds is a good buy in its price segment. And that’s what we’ll try to answer in this review.
1More PistonBuds Pro Box
Let’s start with its packaging. The box is small and square and the front gives you a good indication of what the earbuds will look like. The back of the box is covered in text, with detailed information about the earbuds in English and Chinese. Things like the weight of the single earbuds and the battery capacity are all given to you accurately. But we’ll talk more about that later.
Once you open the box, we can see the charging case with earbuds inside. The small box below contains ear tips in three sizes, along with a charging cable. At the bottom is the manual. And this sums up all the accessories in the box.
1More PistonBuds Pro Design
The design of the PistonBuds Pro is different from most of the earbuds we have tested before. The cylindrical design is not common among its rivals. And the case is smaller and lighter than I expected, and in fact, it’s a little smaller compared to most other charging cases in the market.
It’s an excellent size to comfortably slip into your pocket. Also, I would advise you to get the black version, as white earbuds can easily get dirty over a period of time.
The earbud case is made of plastic with a matte finish for the surface, which is less likely to get scratched. But the top of the lid is a glossy material, and this is the only area that is easier to collect fingerprints. The lid hinge is magnetic, which makes it easy to open and close it. As usual, the build quality of 1MORE earbuds is great, and the lid has no problem of loosening.
Another great detail is the location of the charging port. We’ve seen too many cases that put the charging port at the bottom and users have to put it down for charging. But for charging the PistonBuds Pro, you can place the case upright. Although it doesn’t interfere with the use of core functions, we have to add that it’s a thoughtful design element.
Once you pick up the earbuds, you would notice that they are very light. The 4.5g weight of each earbud is a bit lighter than most ANC earbuds. So there’s nothing to worry about their wearing comfort. And once they are in. they don’t fall out easily, as they have a firm fit. The earbuds support touch gestures. You can long press to switch between noise canceling modes, such as double-tap to play or pause, or you can customize the gestures on the phone app.
The 1More Pistonbuds Pro supports IPX5-waterproof rating, meaning sweat won’t damage the earbuds when you’re exercising. Although I have to say that the design of the earbuds themselves isn’t that amazing for me, the flat touch area was a surprising element during my experience. Because I can easily feel with my fingers and find the exact touch area.
1More PistonBuds Pro Sound Performance
1MORE claims that the earbuds can cancel up to 38dB of noise, which is almost the same strength as other mainstream earbuds have. I didn’t find any real difference between its ANC performance vs other powerful ANC earbuds. Also, considering its compact design, I’m satisfied with its noise-cancelling.
Wind-noise control has always been a problem with ANC earbuds. Many earbuds cannot eliminate the annoying wind noise when cycling or during windy conditions. 1MORE is one of the few brands aware of this issue and has particularly designed a WNR Mode for its earbuds. This is a feature that is well known to Xiaomi’s Air 2 Pro users, as it is also made by 1MORE. The actual effect is good, though it still cannot perfectly remove loud wind noise.
Now let’s talk about its sound quality. It comes with a 10mm full-range dynamic driver and aero-titanium diaphragm. And as a professional audio-equipment manufacturer, 1MORE has been working with Luca Bignardi, the 4-time Grammy award-winning sound engineer. So sound quality isn’t something you need to worry about. Even though it only has AAC and SBC audio decoding, it still can reproduce powerful bass, relatively sharp vocals and rich details providing excellent clarity across frequency ranges. You can also go to the 1MORE Music App to adjust the Equalizer, with 12 different music styles to choose from.
Speaking of 1MORE Music App, if you are going to wear it for gaming, remember to turn on the low-latency mode. Perhaps because the PistonBuds Pro supports Bluetooth 5.2, this mode did bring really low latency. At least I could play PUBG mobile without an uncomfortable latency.
The Soothing-Sounds effect is also quite thoughtful. With it, you can listen to white noise to help you sleep.
1More PistonBuds Pro Battery
The PistonBuds Pro doesn’t have the longest battery life. But considering the earbuds and case are relatively small, it’s still acceptable for daily use. And at the same time, it supports pretty fast charging, which allows users to get 1-hour usage in just 5-minute charging.
The PistonBuds Pro actually does what it’s supposed to do as a pair of mid-range earbuds. It has decent built quality, excellent noise canceling, and sound quality. And it offers a low-latency mode that can handle most games.
If you are looking for third-party noise-canceling earbuds, instead of picking some unknown brand copycat, you can get the 1MORE PistonBuds Pro. With these earbuds, you at least know that you’ll get good built quality and reliable support and service.
