Tribit not only showed us the XFree Tune Wireless over the ear headset at CES 2018 but they also let us test out the Tribit XSport Fly Wireless headphones. Today, that’s what we’ll be reviewing. Let’s see how the Tribit XSport Fly compares to its competition by offering a lightweight design, up to 8 hours of music playback, water and dust resistant coating, and rich bass with nice mids and clear highs.
Specs
- Driver Size: 6mm
- Technology: BT 4.1, A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP
- Frequency Response: 20Hz -20KHz
- Battery Life: Up to 8 hours
- Charging Time: 2 hours
- Charging Input: DC 5V/0.5A
- Battery: Li-Polymer (50mAh x 2)
- Operating Range: Up to 10m / 33 Feet
- Weight: 13g
- IPX7 Element Proofing
What’s in the box
- Tribit XSport Fly Wireless Headphones
- Carrying case
- Micro USB cable
- Foam ear tips
- Manual
Design
The XSport Fly has somewhat of a similar design to most sport-like headphones out there. A cable to go around your neck leading to the control panel to the main part of the headphones, the earpiece. The headset cable is using a rubber-ish material that offers some nano-coating to keep the entire headset safe from water, dust, and sweat.
Starting off by leading to the right-hand side of the headset, you’ll get the control station that will let you power on the device, change the volume higher or lower, and an LED indicator telling you the headset is powered on (white flashing light), waiting to pair (white/amber flash), or powering off (amber flash). It’s a pretty standard set up with the volume down (-) at the bottom of the panel, play/pause/power/redial button in the middle, the volume up (+) button above that, and the LED light at the top of all the buttons. You will also see the micro USB charging port that is covered by a rubber seal so elements don’t get into the electronics.
Going up from the control panel is the right ear tip. The wiring wraps over your ear (explained in the Ease of Use section) and leads to the small casing that holds the 6mm driver and foam ear tips. Tribit’s logo is on the outside of the earpiece while the backside shows an “R” (or “L”) letting you know it’s the right or left earpiece. The left ear tip also holds the same design aspect as the right side.
Ease of Use
Pairing the headset is a simple set up. All you need to do is make sure the headset is powered off and hold the power button (center button) for about 5 seconds or until you get a white and amber colored flashing light. Once paired with the device of your choosing, the headset will announce that it’s been paired. Controls are just as simple too but can get a bit confusing. What I mean by that is the volume up button will repeat the song while the volume down button will skip to the next song when holding them down for about two seconds. To me, it seems a bit backward compared to other headsets that have the volume up skipping songs and volume down repeating songs. It did take a bit of getting used to, but some people who have some OCD issues like me when it comes to silly stuff like this may end up getting frustrated at first.
As for putting the headset on, it’s not difficult either. Just toss the headset behind your head and lead the earpieces to your ears. They will wrap around your ear from the top while the ear tip will nicely place in your ear without you having to push it in too much.
Sound
This is one of two parts of the review where people are going to really make their decision. With the way audio manufacturers are going, they want as much bass as they can put in their products. Tribit fits that part but doesn’t offer as much bass because of how small the 6mm drivers are. Granted, the headset isn’t as big as over the ear ones or other in-ear headphones, but the XSport Fly’s do push out some pretty good sound. You can hear the bass but it won’t be hitting those lows that you may expect. Of course, don’t let that be your final decision because what the XSport Fly lacks, they make up in another area such as mids and highs. You’re able to hear every instrument being used from a crash cymbal to the different notes on a guitar or bass to the lead vocals voice. I’d take how the mids and highs sound over ear pounding bass any day, but there’s still enough bass in this headset to get you by. And that’s coming from someone who loved the Tribit XFree Tune and other headsets which are great in bass but have mids and highs balanced out.
Battery Life
Tribit has two (2) 50mAh Li-Ion batteries placed in the XSport Fly headset giving you up to 8 hours of playback time. It’s definitely not the 24-hour battery life like the XFree Tune’s have, but 8 hours is still plenty of time for you to jam to your favorite music or watch videos from your device. After charging up the headset, I was able to get around an accumulation of 7 hours playback time over a few days. 7 hours is still a great for the battery life especially if you won’t be using them for 8 hours straight during the day. If you’re going to be working out or just using them every so often, you shouldn’t have any issue actually getting 8 hours.
Price
We’re always looking for the best bang for the buck when it comes to headphones, whether they’re wired or wireless. There are expectations that people look for in headphones too such as how well the headset will hold while out running on a treadmill/outside, or going through an extensive workout, how good the sound is, quality of the materials, etc. Tribit hits the nail on the head by offering all that and a price tag of $79.99USD. Currently, at the time of writing up this review, the XSport Fly is 50% off bringing the price down to $39.99USD. Even without the discount, $80USD is a fair and affordable price for this headset.
Wrap Up
If you’re on the prowl for a new set of workout headphones or just need something to get by for the time being, but you still want something that sounds good and has a good build quality and a really good price tag (with discount), then the Tribit XSport Fly wireless headset is the choice for you. As I’ve mentioned before, the only bad thing I didn’t like was the music controls seemed backward, other than that, the headset was great.
*We were sent a demo unit of the Tribit XSport Fly Wireless Headset for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on May 15, 2018.
