Bang for Buck - These Are the Ones To Beat!
If you're hunting a budget set of Bluetooth earbuds, the TOZO T12s are absolutely the best deal on the market! I'm not quite a true "audiophile", but I'm a music producer and own many a set of headphones and earbuds and plenty of speakers from the big names in high-quality audio including Klipsch, JBL, Audio Technica, Bose, Ultrasone, and others I'm probably forgetting. I'm not going to tell you these are some kind of magic bullet that outperforms any of those in terms of audio quality, but for the price? Wow, do they get a lot closer than you'd expect. The highs aren't tinny, the mids are present and clear, and the bass response is surprisingly solid, but not boomy either. Nothing groundbreaking, but for listening to Spotify at work? These will do everything you need and then some. I bought these expecting them to be a sort of in-betweener pair just so I could survive while I hunted for a fancier set, but I've quickly found that they check every box on my list and then some. As far as durability goes, I'm very impressed. I've held off on reviewing these because I wanted to see how they held up to the abuse I typically subject earbuds to, and so far they're doing exceptionally well. I primarily use these at work in an outdoor environment, and as a result, these earbuds see more abuse than most - I've dropped them onto concrete, stuck them in a back pocket to get smushed getting in and out of cars, been caught in the rain and left them out of their case overnight and even a few weekends over the few months I've had them and they just don't care, they still look brand-new and work perfectly, while others I've owned haven't managed to last even this long in the same environment. The case, by comparison, feels a little less durable, and so far has some scuffs and scratches from living most of its life in a work-vest pocket filled with various other tools. The top of the clamshell case has always felt slightly flimsy but has held up fine so far under hard use. I find that the charging logic of these headphones is also pretty intelligent. Coming off a set of much pricier JBL Bluetooth earbuds, these hold a charge far longer than they did even when brand new. I regularly listen for 4 hour stretches and only charge them during breaks and after my shift, and have yet to actually drain these earbuds whereas my JBLs would regularly die mid-shift. It seems as though the earbuds themselves have better internal batteries than what's in the case - I'm only able to get about two to three charges out of the case before it's dangerously low, but that's preferable to me than the opposite, where the case lasts forever but the earbuds are constantly needing recharged like the JBLs. I believe this has resulted a slightly heavier pair of earbuds than the norm, which may cause some people issues with fatigue or them falling out of your ears easier than others, but I find their weight to be a non-issue. I also like that the charging pins in the case are prominent, spring loaded, and easy to clean, which was another major failure point on the JBLs, and most of why I gave up trying to limp them along. Another factor that's easily overlooked with Bluetooth earbuds is simplicity. I just want them to work. I don't want to fiddle with an app, or set up any extra voice control features, or deal with firmware updates. I want them to pair automatically and start playing when I hit the button with no add-on garbage standing between me and my music. These do exactly that, zero extra complication. Of course, that means that there's no extra features like active noise canceling or EQs to adjust either, but I see it as a worthwhile price to pay for simplicity - you can EQ to your heart's desire in most audio players and I find that so far as noise canceling goes, the included tips are adequate for even (very) loud environments. Checking the battery level is easy enough on my phone while the earbuds are in use, and the LCD readout in the case works great to check its battery level as well rather than relying on inconsistent notifications to tell you the case battery level like my old JBLs. I generally don't use these earbuds for calls, but I have been called with these earbuds still paired a few times and the experience has been perfectly acceptable. The default setting in my phone with these earbuds paired uses the phone's mic versus the earbuds', but that works well given that the quality of these earbuds' mic isn't exactly top-notch. It is certainly functional, but don't plan on using these to record studio-ready vocals (not that you or I did in the first place.) I find this to be the area of these earbuds that perform most in-line with a $30 set of Bluetooth earbuds (i.e cheap.) Given that it's all going to get bounced off a few dozen cell towers and end up sounding like a tin-can-and-wire outfit regardless, nobody's going to lose any sleep over the T12s' built-in mic. If after all that and you're still on the fence, I say just go for it with these TOZO T12s. The value of these earbuds versus those costing literally double the price can't be understated - these will do the job and leave you impressed. Should I somehow manage to kill this set, I fully plan to buy another and I'll still feel like I got my money's worth. Read more
