Tozo Golden X1 review
Introduction
Tozo Golden X1 are the latest wireless earbuds we did a thorough test on. With an impeccable track record on Amazon and a $150/€150/£150 price tag, these earbuds promise Hi-Res audio with LDAC support, active noise cancelation and up to 30 hours of total battery life with their charging case.
Do these buds live up to their lofty claims and are they good enough to compete with the rest of the wireless earbuds in the $150 range? These are our findings.
Design
Tozo Golden X1 bring a standard in-ear design with silicone tips and a short stem. They are made from plastic and feature a matte texture with gold elements for the Tozo logo, charging pins and the speaker grille. Each bud weighs just over 5 grams while the charging case comes in at 43 grams. The black color and matte finish on the case and buds is easily smudged up and requires the occasional wipe to look pristine.
The pill-shaped charging case opens up to reveal an LED status bar with battery indicators for the case and each earbud as well as a pairing button. There’s a second color LED indicator for the case battery at the opening of the lid and a USB-C port at the back for charging. The case lid mechanism is firm enough though it got a tad looser after a week"s use. There’s no worries it will open on its own as it’s held in place with strong magnets.
The retail packaging is a step up from most competitors with a well-crafted box that opens up from the side with a magnetic flap. The insides house the buds, their case, a USB-C cable as well as a total of six silicone tips in sizes ranging from XS to XXL which should be good enough for just about any ear shape and size.
We found the Tozo Golden X1’s lightweight and ergonomic design quite comfortable even with prolonged usage. The large array of ear tips helped us with the right fit and we’re happy to report the buds stayed in place even during active gym sessions and the occasional jog.
Features
Tozo is betting big on features with the Golden X1 and you’ll find all the essential hallmarks for a premium pair of wireless earbuds here. Golden X1 features hybrid drivers setup with 12mm carbon nanotube diaphragm dynamic drivers and balanced armature drivers by Knowles. This sort of setup is not something you’d expect from a pair of buds in this price range from an up and coming brand and it’s certainly a key selling point here.
The buds cover a wide 12Hz to 44.1KHz frequency range which is an impressive feat that even most of the flagship earbuds from established audio brands fail to offer. Pairing happens over Bluetooth 5.3 and you get support for the AAC, SBC and LDAC codecs. The audio equalizer can be tweaked inside the Tozo companion app available for Android and iOS devices.
We really enjoyed the neat layout of the Tozo companion app. The menus were well organized and you can reach the ANC, EQ and touch control settings with a few taps. Tozo also provides an ear test dubbed “Earprint” which sends out a series of low, mid and high-frequency sounds to your ears to determine your individual hearing curve. At the end of the hearing test, you get a detailed hearing curve which shows where the Tozo app has applied an AI algorithm compensation for the sound ranges where you hearing is not as sharp.
Tozo app features
Tozo’s Acoustic Labs added a total of 16 EQ presets including varying bass and treble modes as well as music genre specific ones to suit your listening preference. On top of the EQ modes, you’re also free to tweak the EQ to your own personal liking and save your own preset.
Golden X1 also come with active noise cancelation (ANC) which is advertised to drown out up to 42dB of noise around you. On top of the EQ customization, you also get 6 noise reduction modes with varying noise cancelation strength ranging from transparency mode to wind noise reduction and even a custom pattern mode that lets you crank how much noise you want to reduce. The buds also feature an environmental call noise cancelation feature.
Tozo went with good old touch controls located on the Golden X1 which you can re-map inside the companion app. There’s even volume control which utilizes long presses on the left and right sides of the buds. It’s important to note that the volume adjustment feature only works on smartphones and not on laptops and other devices like TVs.
Last but not least, these earbuds bring an IPX6 splashproof rating and wireless charging for the case.
Performance and Sound quality
Thanks to their hybrid drivers setup, Golden X1 offer a balanced bass response coming from the dynamic driver unit and the precise clarity in the high end coming from the armature drivers.
The default soundstage on the Tozo Golden X1 is above average for all genres of music and general media consumption. There’s enough bass in the low range without overpowering the rest of the soundstage. The midrange features clearly defined vocals and faithfully reproduced instruments while the highs come in with deep texture alongside a consistent frequency response to them. This translates to an enjoyable listening experience out of the box and one that feels substantially more pleasing than competing buds in the price range.
The added LDAC support offers even richer sound on supported devices with an improved stereo effect. Once enabled you get to hear finer nuances and details that you may not otherwise hear and it certainly brings an elevated listening experience. The main drawback is that the high bitrate codec is taxing on the battery. We also noticed that the volume in LDAC mode is way lower compared to when listening on the SBC and AAC codecs so you’ll have to adjust accordingly.
The adjustable EQ settings inside the Tozo app add another dimension of sound tweaking that can iron out any small issues like the slightly underexposed midbass frequencies. You can save your preset for future listening which is always useful and should be standard on all wireless buds.
Tozo Golden X1 offer good ANC provided you have the right ear tips on the buds. Once you enable ANC you immediately notice lower-frequency sounds disappear and these buds even do a great job of drowning out unwanted noise in busier environments.
The touch controls worked well in our testing with occasional misses on double tap gestures as our only complaint. We were surprised to find that the Golden X1 lack wear-detection sensors for automatically playing and pausing media which is now a common feature even on entry-level earbuds
Connection strength proved reliable though we should mention that the Golden X1 only supports an effective Bluetooth range of 10m which is below most recent offerings from competitors. In our testing, the earbuds lost connection when passing between two rooms which was not the case with other headphones we’ve tested recently. The multi-point pairing feature worked well though you can expect some initial latency when switching between a laptop and a phone for example.
Golden X1 worked well enough during calls managing to pick up my voice well in quieter environments but had a tougher time outdoors with winds and heavy car traffic. The latter two aspects are well-known weak points for most earbuds.
Battery life
Tozo Golden X1 are supposed to last up to 8 hours on a single charge with SBS and AAC codecs with ANC off based on Tozo’s claims and the charging case should extend the total playback time to 32 hours.
In our testing, we managed 7 hours of usage on a single charge with ANC off and up to four complete recharges with the charging case. Using ANC and streaming over LDAC brought the buds’ endurance down to 4 hours. A full charge of the buds and their case via USB-C takes 2 hours.
Verdict
Tozo Golden X1 bring a premium sound quality experience at a price that undercuts most of the established brands in the wireless earbud market. The hybrid driver approach results in rich and detailed sound with a soundstage that feels way larger than what you’d expect from buds of this size.
The added LDAC supports elevates the listening experience on compatible devices and music streaming platforms while the EQ presets and customization options are a nice touch to get the optimal sound for your specific liking.
Battery endurance is more than adequate and the Tozo companion app is neatly laid out and simple to use. The only cons we have are the lackluster Bluetooth range, average call quality and the absence of wear-detection sensors. That being said, we can easily recommend the Tozo Golden X1 to anyone looking for a new pair of wireless earbuds in the $150/€150 price range.
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