Hands-on: Edifier W295BT

A while back I bought a Meizu EP51 Bluetooth earphone, and a few days ago it broke.

It broke out of nowhere. I got home from a run and the right earbud just kept hissing noise, the thing stopped responding, then it got hot, then it was dead.

I’m guessing some part of the waterproofing wasn’t done right. But I bought the mainland China version, so I figured I’d take it to the local Meizu place for repair. Their attitude was actually fine, it’s just that you have to wait in line.

The guy who received me said I absolutely had to have an invoice, otherwise no repair. I said I bought it on Taobao, and the after-sales guy said if it’s from Taobao I’d have to ship it back to Meizu’s after-sales myself.

I checked the product S/N and it was indeed genuine, so I contacted Meizu after-sales to get an address to send it back. The person there also asked me for an invoice. I asked, if there’s no invoice, can’t you go by the manufacturing date? No, they said. Even if you send it over on your own we’ll still need to ask you for an invoice. I said I bought it on Taobao, and they said Taobao isn’t one of their official channels, so they’re not responsible for after-sales.

Fine. Time to switch products.

For low-priced audio gear, my impression of Edifier is the best, so I bought the Edifier W295BT stereo sports Bluetooth earphones, in titanium black-red.

Out of the box, the packaging is a notch above Meizu’s:

After two days of use, I’m deeply convinced this product is Edifier’s conscience at work!!!

1. It’s comfortable to wear. I know a lot of people don’t like in-ear sports models, but I do, mainly for the isolation—when I’m running I don’t want to hear other people panting on the track.
2. Because it’s in-ear, combined with that stiff metal wire, it almost never falls out.
3. Being in-ear there’s a slight stethoscope effect, but once you’re running with the panting it’s nothing. Also, this thing is more convenient to operate than the Meizu.
4. Sound quality compared to Meizu leans a bit lower in the frequency range, but only “a bit”—overall it’s still pretty orthodox. Most importantly, I actually feel the transmission bitrate is higher than Meizu’s.
5. Last is transmission quality. The Meizu sometimes cut in and out; the Edifier doesn’t!

If there’s a shortcoming, it’s probably no magnetic attachment, but whatever, who cares about that.