TWS true wireless earphones - $25 to $50
4.5 STARS - The KZ Carol is out to get the Moondrop Space Travel and QCY MeloBuds Pro - and yes, these are more audiophile earbuds on the cheap to consider.
KZ Carol specs and features:
Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC codec
No waterproof rating
5 - 7 hours playtime on a single charge (ANC on/off)
Charging case can charge earpieces fully 5 times
Has: ANC, Transparency, gaming mode
Doesn't have: multipoint connection, app support, wireless charging, spatial audio
Comes with 3 sets of ear tips, English manual
$30 - $40 - See price on Amazon US, your Amazon country or AliExpress
In and underneath this KZ Carol review, you will find comparisons of the KZ Carol vs QCY MeloBuds Pro, Moondrop Space Travel, and KZ Xtra.
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Design, comfort and battery life
The KZ Carol has a very distinctive look and feel compared to so many other wireless earbuds on the market, especially in the budget range.
It has the same round charging case with a see-through panel in the lid as the earlier released, more expensive KZ Xtra. It's not the most compact or comfortable to carry around in a jeans pocket.
When the earbuds are charging underneath the lid, you see the KZ logo lit up in the underbelly of the earbuds’ stems and in the case itself. A neat little touch…
… but you may want to turn the case upside down if you don't like LED lights to light up your room.
The earbuds are true lookers, with a semi-transparent black housing over visible chips and technological parts of the earbuds. The oval earpieces are also slightly transparent.
The KZ Carol is easy and comfortable to wear thanks to these oval earpieces, and provides a snug fit with the oval rubber ear tips.
As the rubbers used are a bit sturdier than average, you can feel the earbuds sitting in your ears a bit.
Battery life of the KZ Carol is on point, with around 5 hours playtime on a single charge with ANC on, and around 7 hours with ANC off.
The charging case is capable. It can recharge the earbuds 10 minutes to provide the earbuds 2 more hours with ANC off, and can fully recharge the earbuds five times before needing new power via USB-C itself.
Worth mentioning is the compact packaging size of the KZ Carol. It doesn't have any more materials and size than necessary. Lovely.
The KZ Carol is a great, original looking pair in the market of affordable wireless earbuds, and has usable battery life as well.
Controls, connectivity and app support
While it isn't advertised, the KZ Carol comes with dual-device multipoint connection.
You can connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time. It will switch between the devices when you have an incoming call or when you press pause on one device, and press play on the other.
The standard connectivity is mostly good, with a stable Bluetooth 5.3 connection over more than 10 meters away from your device.
However, the earbuds did cue a ‘Disconnected’ prompt and then re-connect themselves once during the extensive three weeks test time.
The KZ Carol doesn't have app support. Neither do the earbuds pause playback when you take one out.
The touch panels on top of the stems require a thoughtful tap to control. Tapping too quick or too soft won't activate anything. Sadly, successful controls make themselves clear with loud beeps.
The connected prompts and other voice feedback is loud as well.
The control scheme is comprehensive, but tricky:
Tap L or R to play/ pause
Double-tap R to skip a song
Double-tap L to return a song
Hold L to cycle between Transparency mode, ANC off and ANC on
Hold R to (de)activate the voice assistant
Triple-tap L or R to (de)activate gaming mode
This is tricky: quadruple-tap L or R to turn that earbud off. You will lose the dual-device connection afterwards - try to avoid this!
This is even more tricky: tap and then holding an earbud, also turns it off - and brings the same problem! Instead of pausing and cycling between the ANC modes, you can accidentally turn that earbud off.
You can't change volume straight from the earbuds.
The KZ Carol is a bit rough around the edges with its loud beeps and tricky possibility to turn individual earbuds off - and connection issues that come with it. Having multipoint connection for this price is still a pre, however.
Phone and video calls
Despite its 6-microphone setup, the KZ Carol is not recommended for phone calls and video conferences.
Your voice has plenty of volume, but it sounds full and dark, instead of clear and natural.
There are crackles on the line and there's a dark bloom around your voice.
Background noise like chatter and traffic passing by are audible, but your voice sounds louder than them.
Wind noise makes your voice dip and threatens the last bit of clarity in calls.
The KZ Carol has an outdated and below-average performance in phone calls.
Video and games playback
The KZ Carol has no problems playing videos on apps like YouTube or Netflix on both Android phones or iPhone.
The gaming mode works well. It synchronizes sounds effects in the demanding Call of Duty mobile with minor delay compared to the action on your screen, but it's quick enough to draw you into the action. It doesn't provide much precision where gunshots and explosions happen around you.
ANC quality of the KZ Carol
Like on the recently released KZ Xtra, the KZ Carol has Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) that's actually quite good for an audio quality-focused brand.
The ANC reduces the lowest and the highest parts of constant background sounds, like electronic humming or distant traffic noise. These are heavily softened and volume and can even disappear from your surroundings - even when you're not playing any music.
It's less successful in reducing sudden and middle sounds. As nearby conversations, laughter and a radio playing often fall into these categories, these aren't reduced as well.
On my set, one of the earbuds sometimes has an audible white noise effect to counter the ANC. Once during the test period, it also felt that the ANC on one earbud was stronger than on the other one.
Compared to its direct competitors, the KZ Carol filters higher sounds better but middle sounds worse than the Moondrop Space Travel. The QCY MeloBuds Pro has stronger ANC.
The Transparency mode isn't of much use. returns the higher sounds the ANC blocks, but not much else. It doesn't put through enough traffic noise when you're playing music.
The KZ Carol can sometimes give you usable Active Noise Cancelling.
Sound quality review of KZ Carol
The KZ Carol positions itself as an audiophile choice of earbuds under 50 dollars, and actually delivers - with rich mids and clear vocals.
If these earbuds claim to be audiophile, let's treat them as such:
The KZ Carol resolves a decent amount of detail. In Michael Jackson's Stranger in Moscow, the rain in the beginning is clearly rain, and the drums clearly come from your left and right. The swooshes in the background don't go excessively from your left to right and vice versa, but the swooshes are audible.
Instruments have their own position and are separated well from each other. Music feels open.
In the same great test song, the KZ Carol shows its controls its highs well. The song is known is for its possible harshness, and while the claps are hard and bright, and Jackson's voice has a tiny bit of sibilance (sss-emphasis), both don't go out of bounds.
This is important, as the KZ Carol leans a bit towards the higher frequencies. Female and higher male vocals are upfront and next so some sibilance, you can pickup details like breath gasps as well in higher quality recordings.
Middle vocals and center-mid instruments like guitar and piano play are drawn to the treble too. They sound clearer than average, but aren't too bright.
There's enough lower-mid weight to give drums, darker electronic tones and instruments, and lower male vocals a good presence. They provide the music with a warm underlining too. Yet in In My Secret Life, Leonard Cohen's voice stays a little on the surface - not reaching these spine-tingling depths his voice can reach. This goes for more vocals - representation in the mids and highs is better than in the lows.
The bass too, underlines that the KZ Carol has a flatter than average presentation. The mid-bass is capable of solid and deep thumps, but doesn't push them in your face.
The sub-bass (darkest bass you can feel as much as hear), pushes out a textured, round and fairly deep rumble in James Blake's Limit to Your Love.
The bass segment acts on its own besides the lower mid-tones and has plenty of room to shine with a texture and depth - without overstaying its welcome.
As the KZ Carol doesn't have app support, this is the sound you get. There are no variations available. As you can read, that isn’t much of a problem.
With rich and open mids, clear vocals and a deep bass that doesn't force itself upon you, the KZ Carol sounds great for its budget price point.
—> These are the best sounding wireless earbuds from $25 to $100
KZ Carol comparisons
KZ Carol vs QCY MeloBuds Pro
The QCY MeloBuds Pro costs a bit more expensive than the KZ Carol, but it's a splendid alternative with great sound and stronger ANC.
QCY's noise cancelling may sometimes require you to cycle between the ANC modes to get the best effect, but it reduces more darker, more middle and more higher sounds than the KZ - QCY's ANC brings more rest to your head. The QCY also includes volume controls, a rain-proof waterproof rating and more natural and clearer calls.
The KZ Carol has a flatter and more neutral sound than the QCY. While the Carol isn't shy in the lower frequencies, the MeloBuds Pro has further boosted lower mid-tones and a deeper and more prominent bass; The Carol is clearer and pushes vocals and instruments more towards treble, making center-mids more natural and creating a more open sound. Both convince in their own way.
Around $45 on Amazon US, your Amazon country or AliExpress
KZ Carol vs Moondrop Space Travel
Now the million $35 dollar question: you've got a tight budget for great sounding wireless earbuds with ANC - do you go for the KZ Carol or Moondrop Space Travel?
The KZ Carol adds a multipoint connection which the Moondrop lacks, has 2 hours playtime per charge more and it has better video and gaming playback. The ANC performance is comparable; both don't silence, but soften your surroundings.
Out of the box, the Space Travel sounds a bit warmer than the Carol. The Moondrop has a stronger mid-bass and more boosted lower-mids, which often makes that the lower notes in middle or higher vocals come out a bit stronger and vocals feel more grounded. The KZ has a brighter sound, that gives vocals more clarity and pronounces center-mids better. The KZ also has a more spacious sound.
Thanks the Moondrop Link app, the Space Travel has two more great sound signatures. One that deepens the bass and a also Monitor signature that is a tad clearer and more neutral - approaching KZ's sound more. With this inclusion, the Space Travel may still be the best choice for budget audiophiles.
Around $30 on Amazon US, your Amazon country or AliExpress
KZ Carol vs KZ Xtra
The $35 KZ Carol comes out just three months after the $70 KZ Xtra, the brands previous great-sounding wireless earbuds. And there's a surprise…
So shortly after my praise of the KZ Xtra, I have to point out that the KZ Carol sounds livelier. The Carol sounds airier because of its stronger treble and further extended highs, while lower-mids and the mid-bass are thicker too. The Xtra has a more precise, more articulated and deeper bass. That said, the Xtra sounds more natural and flatter because of its earlier rolled-off highs.
Both also share some problems, like the chunky charging case and lack of volume controls. The Xtra has an hour longer battery per charge, it delivers clearer calls both inside and outdoors and its ANC is stronger - perhaps just because of the shape of the earbuds alone. However, the Carol pairs and connects quicker when you have to devices connected.
Around $70 on Amazon or AliExpress
Verdict: KZ Carol
The KZ Carol is a little rough around the edges with its outdated call clarity and the option to accidentally shut the earbuds off.
However, with its usable AC and stellar sound at a reasonable price, these are affordable audiophile-proof wireless earbuds to consider.
4.5 STARS - Great
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I received the KZ Carol from the manufacturer to test and review. This doesn't influence my judgment. My reviews are 100% independent and non-commercial - read about it here.
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