UserUpdate gives a soft recommendation for the Xiaomi True Wireless Earbuds Basic (also known as the Mi AirDots Basic in some markets, and goes by the model number TWSEJ04LS). They are cheap, decent true wireless sound earbud headphones that accomplish the bare minimum required to be recommendable. It works just fine, it's quick and easy to charge, it has decent battery life for both the case and headset, and you can listen to stuff with it.
The first impression though could've been better. Would be nice if they had even a little charge juice from the factory. Considering Apple's Airpods are shipped fully charged, Xiaomi should pull this off too.
The sound quality is only Decent. Right out of the box, the headphones had the right ear stronger and punchier than the left. The right seem tuned for bassy music with a very full sound, whereas the left seems tuned for speech and calls.
Despite being apparently tuned differently, it is still advised that new buyers completely charge both earbuds for the best quality experience. It was noticed that, when one bud has more charge than the other, the buds begin to perform even worse, due to one ear vastly outperforming the other earbud which has less juice.
With the Xiaomi True Wireless Earbuds Basic sound quality is never consistent. Battery charge levels seem to be a noticeable variable in determining audio quality.
Build quality is also subpar here, not the body of the headphones themselves but rather the wirings. After on month of experience with these earbuds the inconsistent buggy behavior has gotten worse. Currently the earbuds seem to have randomly decided to switch Left channel and Right channel, getting them mixed up and playing out of the wrong ears. I know have to wear the right side bud in my left ear as it now the left channel and vice versa for the left side bud.
Long story short this headphone comes with significant compromises that make it imperfect with these noticeable, pitfalls but they are still very, very comfortable wireless headphones with great, stellar sound isolation that blocks out virtually all outside noises.
About the Charging Case
Also the documentation and user manual provided here is not user-friendly. It reminds me of the user manuals included in really cheap AliExpress products. The descriptions are not clear at all, and not accurate either, perhaps due to translation issues. For example in the charging portion of the booklet they describe a solid red light indicates charging, solid white light indicates charged and it will shine white but then this white light will only shine for 1 minute before switching itself off, therefore suggesting that a plugged in case with no light also mean charged, but then there is no description for what a blinking red light means - and my charging case currently has a blinking red light. You gotta hate confusing manuals that don’t describe all the possible scenarios.
The reality discovered is that if charging case has a blinking red light this indicates that it is charging, and if the light remains solid red on the case this means it is fully charged. The LED has only one color and that's red. This would've been super simple if the manual described this, but what the manual describes is utter nonsense.
The Fit
Despite cheap plasticky body these are amazing to wear, they are comfortable and come with different sized ear tips so you can really make them fit your own ear canals. They never fall out and feel super secure. This style of head phone blocks out all outside sound due to great isolation. This one of the highlights of these earbuds.
The Range
When paired to Huawei Mate 10 Lite, iPhone 7 Plus, or iPhone 8 test devices there were no problems at all, one can easily walk across a house from their phone and be 3 rooms away and the music and podcast will continue to play just fine. But when using older devices with older Bluetooth protocols it was noticed that the connection is far less stable.
Verdict: Meh Sound Quality
Practically, the only downside is that the audio quality could be much, much better, and far more consistent. The quality as it is now is 'meh.' It's uneven, one side is punchier, and the channels got mixed up. The biggest strike against this pair of earbuds is that the power output from each ear is always noticeably uneven. It sounds okay for most of the time but can sound horrendous if they are on a low charge.
The are usable, especially for voice audio like talking heads or podcasts. However, performance makes gaming slightly annoying as the lack of well tuned consistent stereo output affects sound quality by creating a slightly off-center audio output. This cases spatial disorientation, as sounds are harder to locate in space when there is a lack of balance stereo output. They are not great for any critical listening, especially if you are listening to heavy thumps in action movies, videos games, or bass pumping dance music. It is not to say that you can't enjoy your favorite songs on the fly, but it is to say that if you truly require an accurate sound without the artefacts cheap Bluetooth earbuds produce, please skip these get wired headphones. Despite these really bad review comments and issues, these headphones are still serviceable. I still use them and I haven't returned them, because honestly they will work. The perform good enough.
These earbuds perform with the sound quality you would expect out of a cheap wired headphone which costs less than 5 Euros. So basically these are just cheap low-budget headphones worth no more than 5 Euros and the other 15 Euros is paying for the wireless functionality and charging case. In my estimation this is perfectly fair and worth the price.
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