Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds Headset Review: An Inexpensive Model

Many equipment manufacturers create so-called “ecosystems,” which include their own products and services and devices of subsidiary brands and even third-party manufacturers. The Honor brand followed this path, relatively recently announcing the Honor Choice platform, which unites products from different manufacturers recommended for use with this company’s devices.

Among the first such gadgets was the True Wireless Stereo Earbuds. But with the names, everything is pretty complicated. They can be purchased officially and with a warranty called Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds – that’s what we’ll call them.

Be that as it may, all this is one device with several interesting features: a low price and good autonomy for its class.

Specifications: Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds

What’s inside the package of Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds?

The headset is delivered in a box made of thick cardboard of the corporate blue color, on which a photo of the device and its brief characteristics are applied.

The set includes the headphones themselves, a case for charging and carrying them, a USB – USB-C cable 25 cm long, two pairs of interchangeable ear pads (one is installed by default).

Design and Construction of Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds

The cases of the headphones and the charging case are made of white glossy plastic. There are no other colors on sale.

The assembly of the headphone case is good. The seam between the halves is noticeable, but only upon close examination. The design is minimalistic – no unnecessary inscriptions, logos, and other things. The LED on the outside flashes when the headphones are on standby, which is a little frustrating. Fortunately, when music is playing, the blinking stops.

“Sticks” are rather short. The sound guide is inclined. At first glance, the headphones may seem massive, but this impression is deceiving – they are very comfortable in use, which we will discuss separately.

When viewed from above, it is clearly visible that the inner part of the case has an ergonomic shape, which provides a better fit to the surface of the ear bowl.

There are clearly visible marks of the right and left earphones on the inside of the case’s elongated part.

On the outside, as already mentioned, there are LED indicators. There are holes next to them. Behind them, apparently, hides one of the two microphones installed in each earpiece for voice communication. There is a possibility that they are also used as compensation, but this is a controversial point – the peculiarities of the bass sound, which we will talk about below, suggest that excessive pressure is not released at all.

At the end of the elongated part, we see contacts for charging, plus another hole for a microphone.

The earpads are, of course, removable. The sound guide outlet is covered with a fine mesh, which can be easily cleaned if necessary.

The ear cushions are of a fairly average quality but quite usable. The set includes three pairs of different sizes; one is installed on the headphones initially.

The case with rounded edges can be carried quite comfortably in your pocket. The flat bottom and top edges allow you to put it upright if you wish.

Spring-loaded charging contacts are visible inside the magnetic headphone slots. The mount is quite reliable. Even if you specifically shake the case, nothing rattles. It is quite easy to take out the headphones – grab the upper protruding part with your fingers. True, even with slightly damp hands, this can be not easy to do.

The case is made of glossy plastic, which is slightly unstable to fingerprints. Fortunately, they are almost invisible against a white background.

There is a charging indicator on the front panel: it glows blue if the charge level is normal. If low – red.

A lid hinge is visible on the back. The build quality is good – no backlash, squeaks, or other problems.

The lid opens with a little effort, closes with a rather loud but pleasant click. Nothing is exciting on the side surfaces – you need to note the rounded edges of the case.

At the bottom of the case, there is a USB Type C connector for charging, on both sides of which there are conformity marks and brief information about the device.

Connection

To activate the connection, you do not need to take the headphones out of the case – you need to open the lid. For some time, they look for “familiar” devices, after which they activate pairing mode. Then everything is simple – we find Wireless Earbuds in the corresponding menu of the gadget and connect.

The multipoint Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds do not support, which was checked by attempting to connect it in parallel to a smartphone and a PC running Windows 10. Simultaneously, a list of supported codecs and their modes was traditionally obtained using the Bluetooth Tweaker utility. Everything here is standard for an inexpensive headset – a basic SBC, plus a slightly more “advanced” AAC.

The manufacturer places particular emphasis on reduced signal latency in the device description – no more than 130 ms, which allows you to comfortably play video games. There were no “out of syncs” when watching the video, and neither in most games. Minor problems appeared only in one very dynamic first-person shooter, and even then only temporarily. The stability of the connection with the source is average. In general, everything is perfect, but in places with an increased level of interference that we have known for a long time, the headset periodically “stutters,” as well as the overwhelming majority of other tested devices.

Control

As mentioned above, although the headphones have Honor Choice status, they are a product of a third-party manufacturer. Accordingly, they are not supported by the proprietary AI Life application. Management is carried out using tapes on the outside of the case. In the instructions, it is conventionally called touch. But most likely, touches are recorded using microphones located in the same place.

Accordingly, all the features of this type of control are fully present – you will have to get used to how sharply and with what effort you need to press, what pause to make between double taps … The control scheme is quite standard: there is the possibility of switching tracks, calling a voice assistant answering calls. Unfortunately, you cannot change the volume.

Exploitation

The fit for the headphones is secure, but at the same time, quite comfortable. However, users who dislike in-ear solutions note that they dislike the heroine of today’s review more than others because of the “pressure effect” that occurs with prolonged wear. Perhaps it is connected again with the absence of compensation holes, but this is just an assumption.

There is protection against splashes of water – accordingly, you can play sports with headphones without fear. They hold up well, remain in place even during jumping rope or twisting on an incline bench. True, by the end of the workout, the case’s glossy plastic is inevitably slightly moistened, after which it begins to slip out of the auricle. But this does not happen very quickly, and in the end, it does not become a big problem.

The declared operating time of the headset is up to 6 hours when listening to music. But this is, of course, at an average volume level. In everyday use, it is usually slightly higher – in the region of 60-70 percent. Accordingly, the real operating time is about 4.5 hours. The battery of the case with a small margin is enough for 4 full charges of the earphone. Accordingly, in total, we have about 18 hours of autonomy, which is very good. For an average volume, the manufacturer claims a total of 24 hours of autonomy.

As mentioned above, Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds have four microphones – two in each earbud. There is also a noise cancellation system for conversations, which copes well with the background sounds of large crowds of people and even the highway’s hum – we tried to talk in various conditions, almost always we managed to do it without any problems. The headset did not do an excellent job only with voice transmission in strong winds, but this rarely works for devices even with a much higher price.

Sound and frequency response measurements

The headset sounds good overall but peculiar. First of all, attention is drawn to a very boomy and disproportionately accentuated “deep bass,” which somewhat interferes with the lower middle’s perception, and indeed the entire mid-frequency range as a whole. Simultaneously, vocals and solo instruments are quite perceived, but they noticeably lose in detail. For many genres – from hip-hop to dance music, such a sound can even be perceived as a kind of “chip,” in this headset, it is interesting to listen to something “rocking” during a workout a walk.

The high-frequency range is surprisingly well developed, sounds quite organic, and does not even get too lost against the bass’s background. Of course, there is no question of any “atmospheric” or “airiness” – after all, budget wireless headsets are not at all about that. In general, bass heads will surely like it, and for everyday listening, it is also quite suitable. Traditionally, we will illustrate the story about the sound using the frequency response graph.

We draw our readers’ attention that the frequency response graphs are presented solely as an illustration to demonstrate the main features of the sound of the tested headphones. It is not necessary to conclude them about the quality of this or that model. Each listener’s experience depends on many factors, from the hearing organs’ structure to the ear pads used.

The frequency response graph above is shown against the background of the IDF (IEM diffuse-field compensation) curve provided by the manufacturer of the stand used. Its task is to help compensate for resonance phenomena in the simulated auditory canal and the features of the equipment used, creating a “sound profile” that most accurately illustrates how the listener perceives the headphones’ sound. It can be seen as a device-specific analog of the so-called “Harman curve” created by the Harman International team led by Dr. Sean Olive. Let’s compensate the resulting frequency response graph by the IDF curve.

The emphasis on the sub-bass is seen especially clearly, and the middle, which has receded into the background – in general, the graph is quite consistent with the listening experience. Only the dip in the upper-frequency range does not actually seem as noticeable as the graph might suggest. Although, of course, the Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds will definitely not allow you to count every hit of the hi-hat, like some models with reinforcing emitters. Well, for the sake of interest, let’s compare the graphs of two models: the heroine of today’s test and the product itself, Honor- Magic Earbuds.

Obviously, Honor Magic Earbuds sound more interesting – there are no unnecessary accents on the bass, the graph is closer to the “classic” V-shaped. They generally surprised us with a fairly smooth and good sound for their form factor. But Magic Earbuds cost almost three times more, so everything is fairly fair and predictable.

Conclusion: Should you buy Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo?

In addition to its long name, the Honor Choice True Wireless Stereo Earbuds headset has several exciting features. It is inexpensive ($33.60 in the official amazon store of the brand and at its partners), works correctly, is made in a restrained design – it will look quite good with casual clothes and a business suit. Of course, there are no “frills” in modern codecs or active noise reduction. But many do not need them. But the autonomy, which is important for most users, is quite adequate for its price range. Again, the build quality is good, and there is moisture protection. You can also read: Best Wireless Earbuds under $100

The sound is peculiar, but what is a minus for one listener, for another – a pleasant feature. There are many fans of the emphasized “deep bass” in the world. They will like the headset. Well, and for the opportunity to get everything you need for a low price, you can also praise it, although you should not forget that any budget headphones are always compromises and nuances that will have to be put up with. The only question is how easy it will be to do it. In this case, the price-quality ratio is quite adequate.