A few notes before we get into how well the 1More EVO earbuds with ANC (Automatic Noise Cancelling) perform – but first what’s in this EVO review.
Topics – in order:
An Overview of the EVO Earbuds – Background to the review
EVO Hardware: Comfort, Documentation and Use, Battery Life, Case, and Warranty, What is Included
Sound Quality of EVO True Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones
The Bottom Line and Price/Performance
As noted previously there are customization options to shape the sound using the 12 equalizer channels (plus custom), and Sound ID functions. While I will discuss the equalizer capabilities, my overall comments on the quality of the sound are using the default settings.
Note that ANC settings have an impact on what you hear. For example the Transparent mode lets in outside noises which will mostly be higher frequencies, therefore making the EVO earbuds seem brighter sounding, and noisy.
I don’t find the sound quality of the EVOs to be quite as good as my original wired 1More Triple Drivers, and while I found the wired to be a touch better than the Wireless Triple Driver (collar design), the EVO falls short of both. Perhaps it’s because, for openers, it is really a dual driver set, not triple – that is, one 10mm driver, and one armature.
Overall, I find that the bass is slightly on the boomy side of things, which often is referred to as having a warm sound, but that’s compared to other excellent headphones and earbuds. Both of the other pairs of 1Mores that I have, have slightly cleaner bass. But, that said, the bass isn’t bad, not at all – and I’m talking from an accuracy standpoint. A lot of folks like their music with a bit more bass than I would consider “right!” I mean compared to most $30 or so earbuds, this is something between a dramatic, and a massive upgrade in sound quality, depending on how bad the low cost buds are. Many earbuds are overly bright – even to the point of being tinny. Not these!
As I chose these primarily for their noise cancellation abilities (already assuming excellent sound), I run them with ANC on. I can’t tell you why, but I find that the adaptive ANC sounds best to me. It seems to let a bit more highs stand out, compared to the maximum ANC – or the Mid. I didn’t have much use for the Mid setting. As to the Wind setting, it works, but only so well. I was walking the beach this past weekend with these in only briefly. It was windy, the buds did get rid of some of the wind mic type noises in the passthrough modes, but not completely. Still a nice feature to have.
ANC Challenge: Flying with the EVOs
Wow! Flying is a pleasure! What a great experience compared to my two other pair of 1Mores. Having ANC noise reduction makes a huge difference when you are sitting in a window seat in coach. For that matter, pretty much every seat.
I certainly enjoy my music far more with the EVOs than with my other pairs, not just while flying, but also in airports, which are rarely quiet.
EVOs Are About The Music
For this review, I spent extensive time listening to a few favorite cuts, going back and forth primarily between the EVOs and my wireless Triple Driver set, but also my other 1Mores and a pair of Taotronics. The Taos are a few years old, but were not expensive at the time (about $50 – $60). You probably won’t hear me mention the Taos much, as they really aren’t competitive at all, for, in comparison, their sound quality is poor compared to the EVOs. In fairness the Tao folks make more expensive higher fidelity buds, but I only have these. I put the Taos in the same general class as the origin
For my hard core listening comparison session, I focused on four songs:
Hotel California – from the Eagles live 1994 Hell Freezes Over album
Love Runs Out – OneRepublic
Mother Russia – Renaissance
Diet Mountain Dew – Lana Del Rey
In all cases, I chose pieces with really strong vocals. For those not familiar with Renaissance they feature Annie Haslam, who serves up an incredible five octave performance.
Just a few comments. Hotel California live opening comes across as one would hope – jaw droppingly clear, with all the acoustic guitars and smooth vocals. When the drums kick in, there’s plenty of them. They are fairly tight, with a very slight “boom”. Overall, the entire track is very enjoyable, and most satisfying. It’s so much fun listening to this piece that it’s hard to remember I’m trying to “listen to” the EVOs, and “not the song.”
That said, my triple-drivers have less boom, and I know from experience that my wired pair, even a touch less. The end result is the EVOs produce a “room filling type of sound, with plenty of detail and clarity, just not the ultimate amount. Of course, one can equalize…
Mother Russia by Renaissance is a whole different trip. This is a massively orchestrated piece, with the whole music spectrum in play. As such, with lots of bass from drums, synthesizer, bass and more, will fill your ears the way a big loud movie does. Annie’s vocals don’t get lost, as they are, to say the least, really powerful, but I find some of the detail in her voice lost under the overall heavy lower midrange and bass.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re still talking about some really fine sounding music.
Love Runs Out is just a classic rocker song, but lacking the truly “full” sound of Renaissance’s prog rock, it sounds really great. That little extra lower mid range and bass, sounds just right on the EVOs while my other 1More headphones are tighter, but it’s the kind of song where I wish they provided a bit more “rock’n bass.” For my original Triple Drivers, for example, the new Smart Loudness feature found in the app, is something I might use. But, for the wired pair – no app.
Lana Del Rey’s Diet Mountain Dew (I picked this one because she’s got a great voice, and because I’ve been drinking diet mountain dew for decades.) The unique timbre of her voice comes through nicely. Once again, the EVOs have a bit more boom than ideal, but not enough to prevent me from thoroughly enjoying her voice.
Please remember – I’m listening with ANC On, in it’s Adaptive mode. All these comments are based on the default sound settings. Which in terms of the Equalizer – is Studio.
Obviously, the many equalizer functions can readjust the sound, to affect the modest lower range boom.
In all cases, vocalists sound right – that is, the way they are supposed to sound. Stevie Nicks sounds like Stevie Nicks, not Ann Wilson… Well, you probably know what I mean.
Considering that I find, overall that the EVOs have plenty of bass, I haven’t really messed with the Smart Loudness addition that came with the last App update.
EVO Quality On Phone Calls
With ANC on, I spoke with one of my friends who is pretty “anal” about headsets. He still swears by his old Plantronics. He’s tried a lot, and cursed most, for picking up too much outside noise for the listener, or sets that sound tinny. So, iPhone to iPhone, I asked him what he thought. I found the sound quality to be pretty good, a touch of tinny, but no surprise there.
What impressed my buddy, was when I went out onto my balcony, in the afternoon, with a busy 55mph highway about 400 feet away – plenty of noise. He thought the EVOs kept the road noise to a minimum, vs other sets (without ANC) where the road would roar, by comparison. It made using the buds for the phone call far better than just using the phone.
Sonically these are some really good sounding wireless buds, or if you prefer, headphones. They are perfect for my travel needs, walking the beach (wave noise almost completely vanishes). I use them on my back deck now too, because of the nearby road noise.
The Bottom Line and Price/Performance
The EVOs not only sound great, but are rather comfortable as well, even considering that they are heavier than most low cost wireless earbuds – but just a smidgeon heavier than Apple’s AirPod Pros.
ANC Works!
I can’t tell you how 1More’s ANC noise cancelling performance compares with some other brands, but it is significantly effective. On a plane, even if you have no music on the ANC produces a major reduction of airplane noise. Unlike my other earbuds, flight noise was reduced to being almost not there while listening to some good music. No longer was the background noise ever present and ever annoying. These certainly did the trick for me!
Although there are a dozen different equalizer settings, from Studio (theoretically the most accurate), to Acoustic, to Voice, to Hip-Hop, to EDM…), I used Studio – the default, for almost all of my listening. But, use what suits you best. Some recordings may just sound better with different equalization. The keep aspect is that these EVOs really do sound excellent compared to low cost headphones. If you’ve ever owned Apple’s original AirPods, the difference is really impressive.
