The SoundPEATS H1 is one of the complete TWS headphones that you can find right now. For around 83 USD, they offer a headphone sound quality that triples them in price. In addition, they have the good build quality, an impressive 10-hour battery life, good hands-free, and very low latency.
| PROS | CONS |
| Good passive noise cancellation | Bluetooth range isn’t great |
| Very low latency | No ANC or ambient mode |
| Excellent battery life |
General
| SoundPEATS H1 Hybrid Earbuds | |
| $ | CHECK PRICE |
| Brand | SoundPEATS |
| Released | November 6, 2020 |
| Type | True wireless |
| Colors | Dark Grey, Navy, Light Beige, Lilac |
| OS | Android, iOS, Windows, Mac OS |
| Weight | 13g (both buds) |
| Dimension | 93 x 104.5 x 42mm |
| Connectivity | Wireless |
| Technologies | BLE, HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP |
Design
| Type | In-Ear |
| Wireless | Yes |
| Noise Cancelling | No |
| Frequency range | 33ft (10m) |
| Microphone | Dual Mic per earbuds CVC Noise Cancellation |
The SoundPEATS H1 are headphones that were born thanks to a Kickstarter campaign about a year ago. And although they have been slow to arrive, the wait has been worth it.
The SoundPEATS H1 has a similar design to the already legendary SoundPEATS TruEngine SE and the SoundPEATS TruEngine 3 SE. Of course, the materials and the build quality have improved. In addition, now the headphones are finished in black and metallic gray, giving them a more elegant appearance and more beautiful, at least from my point of view.
Another important point regarding the visual aspect is that the headphones have a bright white LED that stays on when we have the headphones on, but we are not reproducing anything. When we start to play something, the LEDs turn off, and the headphones are more discreet.
Of course, the headphones themselves are still pretty big and bulky. In addition, they are very thick headphones, so you have to put them well in the ear so that they do not protrude too much. Still, they don’t maintain a pretty good weight either. Each earphone weighs 6 grams, and the box with the two earphones weighs 54 grams.
On the inside of the headphones, we still have a transparent part where we can see the two drivers, and on the outside, we have a touch surface with which we can control:
- Volume up:Â tap the right earbud once
- Volume down:Â tap left earbud once
- Pause or resume: double tap any headset
- Skip to the next song:Â press and hold the right earbud
- Return to the previous song:Â press and hold the left earbud
- Call the mobile assistant:Â press the right earbud 3 times
- Game mode:Â press the left earphone 3 times
As we can see, we can control everything with the buttons, and, most importantly, the touchpad responds well to keystrokes. Of course, it is relatively unintentionally raising or lowering the volume while putting on the headphones.
Features
| Microphone | Yes |
| Music Controls | Yes |
| App | No |
| Audio codecs | aptX Adaptive, SBC, AAC |
| Microphone | Integrated |
| Waterproof | IPX5 |
Battery
| Battery Type | Earbuds: 60 mAh Charging Case: 500 mAh |
| Battery Life | 10h + 30h in case |
| Charge Time | 1.5h |
| Charging Port | USB-C |
| Qi Wireless Charging | Yes |
Each headset has an internal 40 mAh battery that, combined with the efficiency of the Qualcomm QCC3040 chip, allows us to obtain just over 9 hours of autonomy at medium volume, a pass for a dual-driver TWS headset. In addition, a quick 15-minute recharge will allow you to enjoy more than 2 hours of listening without problems.
The box has an internal 500 mAh battery with which we can fully charge the headphones about 3.5 times, so the total autonomy of the headphones is around 40 hours.
On the back of the box, we have a USB-C charging port along with a led that indicates the charging status. The led comes in handy because the box is also compatible with Qi wireless charging, and the led allows us to see if we have placed the box correctly comfortably.
The case could be a bit more compact, but it’s not bad for the battery capacity it has. Of course, it is not entirely comfortable to carry in some pants pockets.
Connectivity
| Bluetooth | Yes 5.2 v |
| Connection | Wireless |
| Playback Control | Yes |
The H1s use Bluetooth 5.2 in conjunction with the Qualcomm QCC3040 chip. Thanks to that, the connectivity is excellent in close distances. Of course, the maximum range is somewhat shorter than other headphones.Â
They work in dual host mode, and we can seamlessly switch between listening to one earphone while charging the other to listening to both earphones again.
The headphones are compatible with Codecs SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX Adaptive. They have a lower than average latency in normal mode, and the image and sound are completely synchronized on YouTube or Netflix. However, the H1 also has a gaming mode with reduced lag and with which the sound and image are completely synchronized even in games.
Audio Quality
Each headset has two drivers:
- One 8.6mm diameter dynamic driver
- A Balanced Armature driver from Knowles
The dynamic driver takes care of the low sounds and the BA of the higher frequencies. And the result is awe-inspiring…
The sound quality of these H1s, we must fit the headphones well in the ears. For this, we have 3 pairs of normal silicone pads and a pair of Comply foam rubber pads. Try that the headphones fit well, that they make a good seal in your ear. Once properly worn, you will notice that they block as much noise as some TWS headphones with ANC active noise cancellation. And now we just have to enjoy.
Perhaps the bass is the least impressive part. They don’t go too low, and that feeling of a deep dark rumbling subwoofer may be missing. However, the bass-mids have a good body and punch, especially if we put on the headphones correctly.
The mids are strong but warm. But what is most surprising is the wide sound scene that allows differentiating the origin of the sounds in the songs recorded at higher quality. The voices are impressive, real, and detailed. And the instruments sound direct and never get congested with the different frequencies.
The highs are impressive too. Detailed, clean, crystal clear, but warm. At no time do they produce exaggerated wheezing or harsh tones. They are delicious.
In general, the H1s have a Hi-Fi sound profile, although with less precision in some tones. What they do achieve is a balanced, crystalline, and smooth sound.Â
From my point of view, they compete in sound quality with other TWS headphones that double or triple in prices, such as the Jabra Elite 85T or the Samsung Galaxy Buds +.
The headphones feature an array of 4 microphones, one on the top for ambient noise and one for the voice on the bottom, pointing towards the mouth. Also, it uses cVc 8.0 noise cancellation technology for calls. The result is perfect for a headset with this shape and is very close to the hands-free quality of the best earbud headphones.
Conclusion
The SoundPEATS H1 is one of the complete headphones. They have spectacular sound quality for their price, the autonomy is impressive, and everything else works as it should: the buttons, the hands-free, water resistance, etc.
Honestly, the only drawback they have is that being large, they do not fit well in all ears, so there will be people who will not be comfortable.
For everything else, it is incredible that TWS headphones at this price have such good sound quality and autonomy of almost 10 hours. It seems that SoundPEATS is pushing the machine and reaching the next level in the TWS world.
