TWS true wireless earphones - under $50
THREE STARS - With around 7,5 hours of battery life, wireless charging, and noise-canceling functionality, the OneOdio A100 seams to be a steal for its price. There are some annoying quirks, however.
OneOdio A100 specs:
Bluetooth 5.0
IPX5 waterproof (rain and sweat proof)
5 - 7,5 hours listening on a full charge (ANC on/ off)
Charging case can charge earpieces fully 5 times
Comes with 3 sizes ear tips, 3 sizes sport-wings and USB-C cable
$40 on AliExpress - check price!
Below this OneOdio A100 review, you will find comparisons of OneOdio A100 vs Tozo NC9/ SoundLiberty 94, Edifier TWS NB2, Tribit FlyBuds NC and Mpow X3.
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Design, comfort and battery life
Let's not beat around the bush. OneOdio clearly copied the design of the Sony WF-1000XM2 wireless earbuds.
Like the Sony, the OneOdio A100 has an enormous charging case. It measures 75 mm length, 50mm height, and 29 mm depth, making it larger than most ANC wireless earbuds. Its specs are decent, happily. It can recharge the earbuds five times fully, it gets its own power via a USB-C port in the back, and there are four LED-lights on the front to indicate the battery status of the case. Better yet, it also supports wireless charging.
The earbuds are big as well. They 'share' the L-shape design of the WF-1000, meaning the rubber ear-tip and the rubber sport-wing go into your ears. Beyond that point, the OneOdio becomes much bigger, and the entire thing sticks out of your ears. Comfort is quite good, however. The earbuds are still relatively light, and as they come with three sizes of sport-wings that appear behind your ear, you'll get a fit that's tight enough as well. Sadly, the earbuds pick up a lot of wind noise, with ANC on or off.
The battery life of the OneOdio is impressive. While testing, the earbuds reached up to 7,5 hours battery life switching between ANC on and off, when playing music on low to moderate volume, and when taking a few calls in between.
Unfortunately, the OneOdio A100 is a feast of blinking lights. The earbuds show bright white LED-lights every few seconds when you play music on them, and show blue lights when you pause them. That is, with ANC on. Turn ANC off and pause the earbuds, and they become absolutely hysterical. The A100 then fires white lights insanely fast, as if it's broken. There's no way you will use these comfortably in the dark, or next to a partner in your bedroom.
Connectivity and controls
The OneOdio A100 has straightforward, minimal controls. With a single tap on the round part of the earbuds, you pause or resume music playback. Tap twice, and you switch between ANC on and a normal mode, which is oddly called 'APT' here.
Last, you can touch the panel three times to activate the voice assistant on your phone. There are no volume controls on the earbuds, and it's also impossible to skip or return a track on the earpieces.
The connectivity on the OneOdio A100 is solid. The Bluetooth signal keeps stable up to ten meters away from your phone, and it's possible to switch between mono and stereo mode. That means you can listen to one earpiece while charging the other, pick the charged bud up, and resume listening in stereo without problems. The OneOdio doesn't automatically pause when you take an earbud out.
Calling and watching movies
Calling with the OneOdio A100 isn't the best experience. Sounds around you - like people talking, traffic passing by or background noises - are blocked decently and don't enter your conversation soon. If you're in a quieter area, the person you're walking with can question if you're still on the line.
While that seems great, your voice is recessed too. It sounds so soft and distant that people need to concentrate on your voice at all times, or people have difficulty hearing you at all.
When you're watching videos with the OneOdio A100, you'll notice that the sound doesn't synchronize with what you see on screen. There's a heavy delay in the audio in the YouTube app on iPhone and Android, but not on other video services. Also expect a severe delay in sound effects when playing games.
Also read: The best $100 wireless earbuds with ANC
OneOdio A100 ANC quality
The ANC active noise cancelling on the OneOdio A100 has two settings. You activate the noise cancelling by tapping the touch panel twice, and with another two taps, you start a mode called 'APT'.
First off, the ANC. Active noise cancelling on wireless earphones doesn't reach the same level of the best full-sized headphones yet, and the OneOdio A100 is no exception. Here, the noise-canceling only reduces voices and traffic sounds that are already in the background. It can reduce the volume of distant voices, some trees moving in the wind, or road traffic in the background too.
The ANC on the OneOdio fails to block nearby sounds, however. The clattering on a keyboard, people talking around you, shutting doors, or even more constant sounds like electronic humming - nearby sounds are hardly reduced. Having the ANC on also lets in a large amount of wind noise. Even when you're walking indoors, you can hear the wind flowing in and around the earbuds.
Sadly, the APT mode doesn't save the OneOdio A100. Its what other earphones call their Ambient Mode: a mode to pass through brighter sounds from your surroundings, so you can eavesdrop in a conversation and hear traffic loudly. It works naturally, but the effect isn't as strong as on competitors.
Sadly, because ANC and APT are the only options, there's no possibility to turn the active noise cancellation off. Because of this, you will always hear an annoying lot of wind noise when you're walking, running, or cycling.
The OneOdio A100 is the cheapest pair of ANC earbuds tested on Scarbir TWS reviews so far, and while there are earbuds with weaker noise cancelling, it doesn't really add anything to the experience.
Sound quality of OneOdio A100: Enjoying lows
It seems the design isn't the only thing that OneOdio borrowed from Sony. The sound character of the A100 reminds of the WH-1000XM3 headphone: there's a strong emphasis on lower-tones, and music sounds a little dark.
The Sony headphone has many fans of its sound, and it's easy to see why in both the Sony... and on this cheap alternative. The OneOdio A100 puts the lower frequencies front and central. Darker electronic tones, male vocals, basslines, and drums take a prominent role in the music - with higher frequencies only overruling them when you turn the A100 loud.
It can go very loud by the way, on both iPhone and Android.
The bass on the A100 isn't the most detailed. You won't hear details like the pulling of strings anytime soon. The bass can pump, though, even to the point of being boomy, especially in dance songs requesting a lof of bass. In easier-going pieces, the mid-bass slam is friendlier, almost smooth.
As long as the lower-frequencies dominate the music, the OneOdio is a pleasant listen. There's a decent soundstage with details coming from your left and right, and a good representation of mid-tones.
However - turn the volume up near or beyond the halfway point on iPhone and Android, and things start to change. It's that moment the OneOdio unleashes the upper-mids and highs. Female and higher-pitched male vocals come in forward and clear, but as soon as brighter instruments like guitars, violins, cymbals (also) come into play - the sound can be all over the place on higher volumes. In more crowded musical parts, instruments have a hard time keeping their tonal accuracy, and the sound can become congested, with little space for detail anymore.
The OneOdio A100 isn't the most suitable wireless earphone for critical listening, but it sounds smooth and entertaining on lower volumes - making it a great companion for workdays.
OneOdio A100 comparisons
OneOdio A100 vs Tribit FlyBuds NC
The Tribit FlyBuds NC sounds more balanced than the OneOdio. The Tribit has less attention for the bass and lower frequencies than the OneOdio, but the Tribit mids sound cleaner, and its more backward vocals hold better on higher volumes, even though they sound a little more metallic. The OneOdio has a fuller and more comforting sound on lower volumes, with more warmth from the lower tones. The OneOdio has better battery life, but the Tribit is the better all-round TWS for its better call quality, video playback, and more usable active noise cancelling.
OneOdio A100 vs Mpow X3
The Mpow X3 is another highly affordable TWS with active noise cancelling, and like the OneOdio, the Mpow's implementation isn't very successful. It too only reduces some sounds, instead of taking away actual noise from your surroundings. The Mpow X3 sounds brighter than the OneOdio, with heavy elevated upper-mids and highs. It has a tighter bass too. The A100 has more emphasis on lower-mids and sounds warmer, more relaxing for background listening. The OneOdio has better battery life; the Mpow better call quality.
OneOdio A100 vs SoundLiberty 94/ Tozo NC9
The 20Decebel ANC (also available as TaoTronics SoundLiberty 94 and Tozo NC9), can be bought for less than $50 now and then, and are a better package than the OneOdio. Not only because the trio offers better passive noise isolation and ultimately filters out more sounds from your surroundings, but also because you can turn its ANC off - meaning you can listen to these without wind sounds interfering with your music. On lower to medium volume, however, music sounds better on the OneOdio A100, with more forward mid-tones and more details in the lower-mids. On the highest volume, the Tozo-trio holds its dynamics better.
OneOdio A100 vs Edifier TWS NB2
Head to head, the OneOdio A100 has moments wherein it sounds fuller, warmer, and with more impactful bass than the $90 Edifier TWS NB2. Other times, especially on higher volumes, it doesn't. At all. Consistency is an important factor in musical playback. Whereas the OneOdio can sometimes sound nicer, the Edifier holds up better in more crowded and higher-pitched songs and higher volumes. The Edifier has more presence and reveals more details from the mid-tones, and vocals sound clearer. Other aspects of the (albeit more expensive) Edifier TWS NB2 are better too: noise-canceling strength for sounds nearby, battery life, video playback, call quality, and even a great working Gaming Mode.
Verdict
The OneOdio A100 may be one of the cheapest active noise cancelling wireless earbuds to date, but it doesn't do noise cancelling, calls or video playback very well. What remains is 7,5 hours of battery life and pleasant background listening.
THree stars - worth considering
Buy OneOdio A100 ANC/ check price:
I bought the OneOdio A100 myself. My reviews are 100% independent and non-commercial. I test and review all audio products equally honest - read about it here.
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