4.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Hands Free Alexa is so awesome that I can overlook the downsides
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2021
Color: BlackStyle: Wired Charging CaseConfiguration: Echo Buds
This is a long-winded review for an imperfect product with a single killer feature. Instead of breaking this down by pros and cons, I'm going to go by product features as many have both pros and cons. ** The Single Killer Feature ** Hands...
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This is a long-winded review for an imperfect product with a single killer feature.
Instead of breaking this down by pros and cons, I'm going to go by product features as many have both pros and cons.
** The Single Killer Feature **
Hands free Alexa is nothing short of incredible, an absolute game changer. Many other earbuds can integrate with Alexa (and other assistants), but to activate you need to tap the earbuds. Being able to just talk to Alexa anywhere and everywhere is magical.
I've been an Apple iPhone user since the introduction of the iPhone and I love their hardware and iOS in general. However, Siri is just plain awful. It is slow, clumsy, often doesn't hear what you are saying and is so bad that I had given up on voice assistants completely. With these Echo Buds, I have now entered the world of Alexa and couldn't be more pleased. It is everything that Siri isn't -- quick, good solid responses, rarely misinterprets what I say, even understands whispers with incredible accuracy.
As for Alexa and the Echo Buds, this is so much more than just saying "Alexa, what's the weather?". I mainly use it to control playback of Audible books and it is truly wonderful. I can say "Alexa play titleX on Audible" and it will do so. I can say "Alexa pause" and "Alexa resume" at any time and it reacts quickly. I can say, "Alexa go back" which defaults to 30 seconds, or "Alexa go back 5 minutes" if I've let my mind wander and missed a chunk of the story.
The only negative of Audible and Alexa is that it streams it and won't play from the downloaded copy in my Audible iOS app. As long as I have a good cell signal, this isn't really an issue. One thing I did notice is that you have to be a little careful if you switch from using an Alexa device and the Audible app for playback. More than once I had a Whispersync failure and it lost my place. I found that force-quitting the Audible app after an Alexa session resolved this issue (in other words, listen to Audible on Alexa, force-quit Audible app, then launch Audible app and when you play a title it will auto-update to the current position).
I also love being able to access the Amazon Music library. I do have Prime, but not the Premium subscription to Music. It is still a lot of music and I'm happy with what I can find to listen to.
And live radio stations such as NPR work great. The first time you say, "Alexa play NPR" it will ask what station you want, so you can get your local / preferred station. Afterwards, just saying "Alexa play NPR" auto-selects that station.
There is an annoyance with the way Alexa works with third-party, non-Alexa-integrated apps. For example, if I launch a random radio, music, whatever app, it will play fine, and if I say, "Alexa pause" it will pause, but if I then say "Alexa play" it will start playing the default music app assigned to Alexa. In this case, the only way to pause/play is to tap on the earbuds.
** Alexa app & privacy **
I've seen numerous reviews complaining that location access and/or contacts are required to use the earbuds. In my experience, this is NOT the case. I did not allow location access or contacts access (iOS Alexa app) and had zero problems with setting up and using the Echo Buds.
** The fit of the earbuds **
I find that the earbuds fit quite well and the built-in audio test always gives me good to excellent rating on fit. I am using the default medium (blue) ear tips and the small wings. I find I need the wings to give a more secure fit when I am out hiking. I have also found that to get a solid fit, there is a specific technique I need to use to get the earbud tip securely in my ear canal before twisting it into position. I can't describe this in words, but if you don't get this right, the fit will be sloppy.
** Touch Controls **
Two observations: 1) They don't work consistently well for me. I will tap once and often register no tap at all or it will register as a double-tap. This is annoying. 2) The only tap gesture you can customize is the long-press. I don't know why you can't customize all the tap gestures. Perhaps in a software update...
** Battery life **
This is a very mixed bag. Overall, I find that I usually get closer to 4 hours of battery life instead of the stated 5 hours. This may be due to volume (I have it about 2/3 of max volume and the Amazon battery testing was done at 50% volume). It also may be that I keep the passthrough mode enabled and am usually in a fairly noisy environment (hiking outdoors, wind noise, etc). I think, but am not 100% sure, that more noise means more processing is required and this eats into battery life.
That being said, popping them into the case for 15 minutes quickly recharges them enough for another hour of two of use.
The case only holds two full charges, which isn't a lot, so I always charge the case after an extended session of use.
One important note is that Amazon shows the battery life of both the left and right earbuds. You'll notice that one bud will drain MUCH quicker than the other. This has to do with which bud is the primary vs secondary. The primary actually communicates with the phone's Bluetooth and then processes and sends a signal over to the secondary. I often find that the primary bud is 15% more drained than the secondary. You can control which bud is primary vs secondary by which one you put in first, but this can be tricky sometimes. I've done some testing and can reliably get the left or right bud to be the primary (and thus drain faster).
** The case **
I think the case is really nice. It is small and slim enough to fit into the coin pocket in my pants without bulging too much. One little annoyance is that the lid flips closed too easily, but that is a minor thing. Even with the small wings installed, I have absolutely no problem with getting a solid charge connection every time.
I have experienced a glitch in how the charging seems to work. If I open the case when one bud is fully charged but the other is not, it seems to stop charging even when I close the case again. However, if I just put the buds in the case and leave it alone for a while, both buds are always charged to 100%.
** Sound quality **
I think it is quite good! Sure, there are much better sounding buds, for a lot more money. These have decent bass, midrange and treble and sound good with music as well as spoken word (Audible books, podcasts).
** Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Passthrough Mode **
I think the ANC is just "okay", nothing great. It does work to limit some noise, but I can still hear most everything, just at a lower volume. Part of this is due to the nature of an earbud not having a complete seal into the ear canal, but part of it is probably less processing power than some of the major players in this market.
I use the Passthrough mode often. I do a lot of hiking in a desert environment and need to be aware of animals, particularly rattlesnakes. The Passthrough seems to accentuate treble sounds, which is perfect to hear a rattler. I have it set at level 4, and there is a little hiss, but nothing I find overly annoying.
I do wish there was a way to quickly disable all noise processing (i.e., turn it off) without having to open the Alexa app on my phone. For example, a 3-way toggle with long-press would work -- ANC, Passthrough, Off.
** Conclusion **
There really are quite a few things to nitpick on these earbuds. They are far from perfect and some cheaper buds (half the price of even less) have overall better functionality. HOWEVER, as I mentioned at the beginning of this feature, Hands Free Alexa is a KILLER feature and, for me, so awesome that I am easily willing to overlook all the negatives. I do hope that Amazon keeps improving these and that the 3rd generation fixes a lot of the issues. Perhaps a software update in the meantime will help with some things.
Instead of breaking this down by pros and cons, I'm going to go by product features as many have both pros and cons.
** The Single Killer Feature **
Hands free Alexa is nothing short of incredible, an absolute game changer. Many other earbuds can integrate with Alexa (and other assistants), but to activate you need to tap the earbuds. Being able to just talk to Alexa anywhere and everywhere is magical.
I've been an Apple iPhone user since the introduction of the iPhone and I love their hardware and iOS in general. However, Siri is just plain awful. It is slow, clumsy, often doesn't hear what you are saying and is so bad that I had given up on voice assistants completely. With these Echo Buds, I have now entered the world of Alexa and couldn't be more pleased. It is everything that Siri isn't -- quick, good solid responses, rarely misinterprets what I say, even understands whispers with incredible accuracy.
As for Alexa and the Echo Buds, this is so much more than just saying "Alexa, what's the weather?". I mainly use it to control playback of Audible books and it is truly wonderful. I can say "Alexa play titleX on Audible" and it will do so. I can say "Alexa pause" and "Alexa resume" at any time and it reacts quickly. I can say, "Alexa go back" which defaults to 30 seconds, or "Alexa go back 5 minutes" if I've let my mind wander and missed a chunk of the story.
The only negative of Audible and Alexa is that it streams it and won't play from the downloaded copy in my Audible iOS app. As long as I have a good cell signal, this isn't really an issue. One thing I did notice is that you have to be a little careful if you switch from using an Alexa device and the Audible app for playback. More than once I had a Whispersync failure and it lost my place. I found that force-quitting the Audible app after an Alexa session resolved this issue (in other words, listen to Audible on Alexa, force-quit Audible app, then launch Audible app and when you play a title it will auto-update to the current position).
I also love being able to access the Amazon Music library. I do have Prime, but not the Premium subscription to Music. It is still a lot of music and I'm happy with what I can find to listen to.
And live radio stations such as NPR work great. The first time you say, "Alexa play NPR" it will ask what station you want, so you can get your local / preferred station. Afterwards, just saying "Alexa play NPR" auto-selects that station.
There is an annoyance with the way Alexa works with third-party, non-Alexa-integrated apps. For example, if I launch a random radio, music, whatever app, it will play fine, and if I say, "Alexa pause" it will pause, but if I then say "Alexa play" it will start playing the default music app assigned to Alexa. In this case, the only way to pause/play is to tap on the earbuds.
** Alexa app & privacy **
I've seen numerous reviews complaining that location access and/or contacts are required to use the earbuds. In my experience, this is NOT the case. I did not allow location access or contacts access (iOS Alexa app) and had zero problems with setting up and using the Echo Buds.
** The fit of the earbuds **
I find that the earbuds fit quite well and the built-in audio test always gives me good to excellent rating on fit. I am using the default medium (blue) ear tips and the small wings. I find I need the wings to give a more secure fit when I am out hiking. I have also found that to get a solid fit, there is a specific technique I need to use to get the earbud tip securely in my ear canal before twisting it into position. I can't describe this in words, but if you don't get this right, the fit will be sloppy.
** Touch Controls **
Two observations: 1) They don't work consistently well for me. I will tap once and often register no tap at all or it will register as a double-tap. This is annoying. 2) The only tap gesture you can customize is the long-press. I don't know why you can't customize all the tap gestures. Perhaps in a software update...
** Battery life **
This is a very mixed bag. Overall, I find that I usually get closer to 4 hours of battery life instead of the stated 5 hours. This may be due to volume (I have it about 2/3 of max volume and the Amazon battery testing was done at 50% volume). It also may be that I keep the passthrough mode enabled and am usually in a fairly noisy environment (hiking outdoors, wind noise, etc). I think, but am not 100% sure, that more noise means more processing is required and this eats into battery life.
That being said, popping them into the case for 15 minutes quickly recharges them enough for another hour of two of use.
The case only holds two full charges, which isn't a lot, so I always charge the case after an extended session of use.
One important note is that Amazon shows the battery life of both the left and right earbuds. You'll notice that one bud will drain MUCH quicker than the other. This has to do with which bud is the primary vs secondary. The primary actually communicates with the phone's Bluetooth and then processes and sends a signal over to the secondary. I often find that the primary bud is 15% more drained than the secondary. You can control which bud is primary vs secondary by which one you put in first, but this can be tricky sometimes. I've done some testing and can reliably get the left or right bud to be the primary (and thus drain faster).
** The case **
I think the case is really nice. It is small and slim enough to fit into the coin pocket in my pants without bulging too much. One little annoyance is that the lid flips closed too easily, but that is a minor thing. Even with the small wings installed, I have absolutely no problem with getting a solid charge connection every time.
I have experienced a glitch in how the charging seems to work. If I open the case when one bud is fully charged but the other is not, it seems to stop charging even when I close the case again. However, if I just put the buds in the case and leave it alone for a while, both buds are always charged to 100%.
** Sound quality **
I think it is quite good! Sure, there are much better sounding buds, for a lot more money. These have decent bass, midrange and treble and sound good with music as well as spoken word (Audible books, podcasts).
** Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Passthrough Mode **
I think the ANC is just "okay", nothing great. It does work to limit some noise, but I can still hear most everything, just at a lower volume. Part of this is due to the nature of an earbud not having a complete seal into the ear canal, but part of it is probably less processing power than some of the major players in this market.
I use the Passthrough mode often. I do a lot of hiking in a desert environment and need to be aware of animals, particularly rattlesnakes. The Passthrough seems to accentuate treble sounds, which is perfect to hear a rattler. I have it set at level 4, and there is a little hiss, but nothing I find overly annoying.
I do wish there was a way to quickly disable all noise processing (i.e., turn it off) without having to open the Alexa app on my phone. For example, a 3-way toggle with long-press would work -- ANC, Passthrough, Off.
** Conclusion **
There really are quite a few things to nitpick on these earbuds. They are far from perfect and some cheaper buds (half the price of even less) have overall better functionality. HOWEVER, as I mentioned at the beginning of this feature, Hands Free Alexa is a KILLER feature and, for me, so awesome that I am easily willing to overlook all the negatives. I do hope that Amazon keeps improving these and that the 3rd generation fixes a lot of the issues. Perhaps a software update in the meantime will help with some things.
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