Phiaton Bolt BT 700 Wireless Earbuds Review: A Vestigial Speaker Drags Down A Solid Design

Phiaton Bolt BT 700 Wireless Earbuds Review: a Vestigial Speaker Drags Down a Solid Design

Here's What We Like

• Excellent wireless performance
• Buttons are better than most
• Good audio and call quality

And What We Do Not

• The speaker audio quality is awful
• Charging case is very large and annoying in your pocket
• Audio transparency is iffy at the best

The marketplace for “truly” wireless earbuds (with two separate buds and a charging case) is widening. Phiaton, a supplier of mid-range audio gear, is hoping to face out with a competitive $140 price and unique features with its “Bolt” BT 700 design.

That unique point may be a Bluetooth speaker integrated into the case, so you'll blast music at full volume when you’re able to share it. Which feature is, well, just about a complete bust? Elsewhere the planning of the BT 700 is solid, and having to lug around a small ancillary speaker together with your case may be a sacrifice permanently earbud audio quality, decent battery life, and excellent wireless performance. Phiaton whiffs hard on the Bolt’s most marketable feature, but considering how comfortable and reliable these buds are, they could still be worthwhile for a few users.

No Strings On Me

At first glance the BT 700 looks more or less just like the remainder of the truly wireless crowd: two buds, a charging case, automatic pairing once you pull the buds out the case, shave and a haircut, two pence. And as amazing as that idea was just a brief time ago, now it’s somewhat old hat.

But Phiaton has nailed the essentials of a wireless earbud design here, a powerful feat on its first model. The buds stay connected through thick and thin, or to be more precise, through three walls and about fifty feet of my house. They’re also able to enter almost any condition you’d actually wear them: through hours of walking in windy weather and riding my bike at a maximum of about 20 miles per hour, the earbuds stayed connected with my phone (and with each other) the whole time. They get full marks for wireless stability, which are some things that isn’t always a given with this category.

The buds themselves were surprisingly comfortable, a minimum of to my fairly average-sized male ears. I used the pre-installed silicone tips (there are three other options for bigger and smaller within the box) and therefore the stability “wing” that’s permanently affixed to the plastic body of every bud, I couldn’t get them to shake out of my ears even with some had bobbing that might win me nods of approval from an 80s hair band. Very occasionally the steadiness wings would begin of my ear, but it had been easy enough to urge them back in and cozy again.

The buds probably won’t stick around for twelve rounds of a match or a dip within the pool, but they’re good to travel for just about the other exercise you'll throw at them. Speaking of exercise: Phiaton rates them at IPX4 “sweat resistant,” so they’ll be ready to withstand an important workout or a spring shower, but that’s about it. I didn’t notice any obvious problems from my (pretty sweaty) workout sessions.

In terms of longevity, I found the buds lasting for a touch quite four hours with my mixture of music and podcasts at moderate volume. That’s not great compared to the offerings from Apple and Samsung, though it’s far better than the cheapo designs quickly filling up this category. The case will offer you three charges for a maximum of 16 hours and alter of music far away from your charger (a micro USB charger, more’s the pity). I found that 20 minutes of charging within the case was enough to last me for the last hour of my workouts, which is par for the course.

Hooray For Real Buttons!

Controlling the buds while they’re in your ears uses a mixture of conventional silicone-covered buttons and touch-sensitive plastic. Each bud has volume up and down on the highest and a multi-use button on the side. These control a spread of functions, with those connected to the traditional buttons (track forward/back, manual power on or off for either bud) being much easier than the touch-sensitive buttons. You’ll got to tap and/or hold those touch buttons for play/pause, accepting or ending calls, or checking the battery via a voice message.

The touch-sensitive buttons take a touch of getting used to: it’s tricky finding the right spot and therefore the right cadence for the double-tap command. I do know these things is all the craze and makes the planning look smooth, but there’s nothing you'll do with this that couldn’t are accomplished with a 3rd conventional button on the surface of the plastic case. Additionally, it means you'll only control play/pause on the proper bud and “audio transparency” on the left.

What’s audio transparency? It’s when the integrated microphones on the buds (typically only used for calling) let during a little bit of outside audio so you'll remember of your surroundings. I used to be excited to undertake this, as riding a motorcycle with conventional headphones is dangerous if there’s anyone else around (and practically suicide in traffic). Unfortunately, this was a touch of a waste: even a light-weight breeze will fill your ears with static, therefore the feature is about useless when riding or jogging. And using it while out and close to be more conscious of those around you isn’t much help either, since normal human speech gets the wah-wah effect of Charlie Brown’s teacher, and was almost completely inaudible to me even when my music was paused. Skip this feature and choose bone conduction headphones if you would like to remember of your surroundings.

The audio and call quality help structure for a few awkward controls and transparency features. While no earbuds are getting to deliver thumping bass, the BT 700 has solid performance through the mid and high ranges and enough volume to place you in your own little world. With a typical frequency range of 20 Hz-20,000 Hz, I used to be ready to detect subtle bits in my music that weren’t audible using cheaper wireless headphones. Call quality was rock-solid also, with no problems hearing on my end and therefore the other party unable to inform I used to be using wireless earbuds outside. The external noise cancellation seems especially good since I couldn’t hear the groundskeepers working with lawnmowers in my local park.

A Speaker Nobody Asked For

The Bolt’s charging case carries an integrated Bluetooth speaker, though I even have no idea why. i think that somebody on the planning team was told to return up with a point that no competitor had thought of, and this was the simplest they might do: a small , one-inch driver which will either share your music with others or allow you to listen when your buds are charging.

But the speaker is, during a very literal sense, a waste of space. It makes the charging case massive as compared to the AirPods and Galaxy Buds, quite four inches long and an in. around—about the dimensions of a prescription bottle. With thick plastic and sharp corners, it’s also uncomfortable in your pocket, meaning you’re less likely to hold it with you, especially during a workout. That sabotages the essential concept of a transportable charging case.

And for what? A speaker that’s barely any louder than the only speaker in my Galaxy Note 8 phone. Which may be forgivable if the speaker was top quality or there was one on both ends for stereo playback. But no dice on both points. At the very best volume—which you’ll want to use—you can hear huge amounts of distortion during the audio range.

In checking out a singular point, Phiaton has undermined the essential form and performance of wireless earbuds. It’s a glaring problem on an otherwise excellent design: I can’t see anyone using this speaker over the one in their phone, albeit the phone speaker isn’t particularly loud or clear.

Conclusion

The Bolt BT 700 frustrates me tons. The earbuds themselves are great, albeit the touch buttons are finicky and therefore the audio transparency feature doesn’t work well. Good audio and fantastic wireless performance are real crowd-pleasers. But the large carrying case and nearly useless Bluetooth speaker drag the experience down.

Pricing is competitive at $140—a good bit less than Apple, tied with Samsung, and an inexpensive bump over much worse budget models. But I can’t help but wonder if Phiaton could have gotten the worth under the $100 mark, and made the charging case much smaller and more pocket-friendly by omitting the regrettable speaker altogether. I’d encourage them to try to so on subsequent generation.

As is, it’s hard to ascertain anyone picking this design over the Galaxy Buds at an equivalent price. If you’re trying to find a reliable wireless connection over all else, and you rarely use your earbuds for quite four hours at a time, the BT 700 could be for you. Ditto if you constantly use a bag or purse, and therefore the chunky carrying case won’t bother you ought to you would like a recharge.