Mixcder T1 review

Looking for a pair of good-looking wireless earbuds for less than £30/$30? US/Chinese company Mixcder could put an end to your search with its T1 offering. We spend some time with them to find out whether the performance bucks or justifies the price.

Price & Availability

Mixcder offers two different distributions dependant on where you live. US customers can order directly from Mixcder for $29.99 and have them delivered from US-based warehouses within 3-7 business days.

For the rest of the world, you still order from Mixcder for $29.99 but they will be shipped from China, with delivery times between 7-25 business days.

Alternatively, you can buy them from Amazon UK for £29.99 or on eBay for £25.99.

Design & Build Quality

The T1s come in an attractive charging case bearing the company name on the lid. Opening the hinged top reveals the buds nestling inside two chambers and held firmly in place via magnets. Prying them free is easy, which is something we’ve not always found with rival products.

The design of the earbuds is the classic in-ear format, with the rounded rectangular bodies featuring stems that stick out from one end and house the speakers. What’s a little unusual is the angle and length of the stems, as they mean that the buds sit upright while in the ear rather than sideways.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but we did find that the (admittedly very light) weight of the buds in that position made them slightly less comfortable than say the Redmi AirDots.

One thing we do prefer over the AirDots is the small, clickable buttons in the centre of either bud. These allow quick access to playback and call controls, while being sensitive enough not to need much pressure while pressing them. There are also microphones in both buds plus LEDs that let you know when the units are charging, in pairing mode, or needing to be connected to each other.

The plastic construction of both the case and buds looks smart and certainly wouldn’t have people thinking that these were budget models. Mixcder also offers them in two different colours: black (which are the ones we have) and a shiny red that will definitely catch the eye. We could find no information about waterproofing for the T1s, so it’s best to assume that they don’t have any.

Sound Quality & Features

Pairing the T1s is simple. Taking them out of the charging case puts them automatically in pairing mode and all you need to do is find them in the Bluetooth section of a smartphone, tablet or PC and tap connect. 

Once paired, the T1s reconnect automatically when they detect the other device nearby. Should you wish to only use one of the earbuds, say when you’re driving, then take it out of the charging case (leaving the other behind) and you’re good to go. Mixcder opts for Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity and the T1s prove reliable when we walk to the other end of a large room and sometimes even into the adjoining one.

Audio quality is, for the most part, very good. There’s a decent frequency response and the stereo sound fills your ears with rich tones and enough bass for most tastes. Some of the upper mids do seem lacking at times, and the edges of the treble frequencies can be harsher than on other models, but for the majority of listeners these will be earbuds that deliver enjoyable music and vocal content.

It wasn’t all plain sailing in our tests though, as the right bud seemed to develop connection issues, causing drop-out on a number of occasions and slight static or digital distortion to flicker in the audio from time to time. By removing it from the connection and just using the left bud we found no more reoccurrences of the problem, suggesting that the right one was indeed faulty. Obviously, if you buy a pair and this happens then Mixcder would replace them with new ones, but we thought it worth mentioning in this review. 

Thanks to the buttons on each bud you can control playback and calls without reaching for your smartphone. Click once to accept incoming calls or click and hold to reject, plus double clicking while on a call mutes your microphones so you can talk to someone without your caller hearing. Playback and pausing of audio require a single click and if you want to skip forward a track it’s twice on the right or twice on the left to skip backwards. Finally, a long press launches your smartphone’s digital assistant.

The built-in microphones have CVC 8.0 call noise reduction to keep the quality of audio clear and free from as much background din as possible. Calling friends does get a positive response for said quality, but many also reported that the volume was lower than normal. 

One area where the T1s shine is battery life. Listening to a combination of music and watching Netflix on our phone, the units survived for an impressive five hours or so, which is longer than the four hours we’ve gotten from similar devices. The only blot on this landscape is that the percentage shown on our phones for the remaining charge time dropped from 40 percent to zero in twenty minutes.

So, the T1s will last an impressive amount of time but we’d suggest that you keep track of how long you’ve been using them rather than relying on your smartphone, tablet or PC to give an accurate account. Popping them back in the charging case gets them back up to 70 percent in 45 minutes, meaning you won’t have to wait too long if you completely drain them.

The case can charge the buds three times.

Verdict 

The Mixcder T1s have an attractive design, easy to use controls and deliver decent audio for a very tempting price.

We’re not entirely sure about the upright orientation of the buds when in the ear, and both the call quality and intermittent drop-outs with our particular units dulled their charm somewhat, but if you’re looking for a good pair of Bluetooth earbuds that won’t set you back too much cash, they’re certainly worth a look.