Tozo NC9: Affordable and Durable Wireless Earbuds

The quest to search for a pair of nice earbuds started out as a birthday gift for my boyfriend (now fiancée). His requirement were simple:

• Wireless
• Noise cancelling
• Good battery life

The search ended with me gifting him Sony WF-1000XM4. I mean I found his gift, but the story didn't really end there.

You see, I was also on my own little side quest to look for a 'cheap thrill'. Fulfill the same requirement with a budget of under 50€. The reason was because the earphones I was using at the time - TaoTronics Wireless Headphones is reaching its end of life, a replacement is needed direly. Funny at the time of writing this, the listing no longer exists in Amazon UK.

Since I consider myself as an avid runner, my added requirements were waterproof and it should comfortably stay in ears when running. My running distance is usually 5km or 10km run. Something that doesn't really need to be charged frequently would be very convenient. If I lose it outdoor, it shouldn't cost a fortune to replace it.

My search ended up with Tozo NC9 Wireless Earbuds. I remember seeing the reviews on this product and feeling a sense of disbelief because they are overwhelmingly positive. I decided to give it a go, since the price was £49.99 which is about 58.36 €, a little bit over my initial budget, but it's ok.

Both earbuds were dispatched and we received them on the same day. Needless to say, we were both quite happy with our purchases. To both our surprises, Tozo NC9 can be placed on a wireless charging pad for charging was a little surprising feature, as Sony WF-1000XM4 wasn't able to do so...😅

My fiancée had some issues other with Sony WF-1000XM4 , as he occasionally could hear buzzing sounds from the earbuds. Even after disconnecting and reconnecting it didn't work out. Apparently Googling for "Sony wf-1000xm4 buzzing", you'd get plenty of results with no solution. We could have been unlucky and got a faulty product. Instead of getting a replacement, we decided to returned it and got a refund.

2+ years later...

So fast forward after using Tozo for 2 years. The picture below is my slightly beat up Tozo NC9. It is still working despite going through a full wash cycle in the washing machine and possibly stepped on by someone or run through under a bicycle. Yea, unbelievable. I'll explain the remaining story in 4 parts: battery life & ANC, durability, waterproof-ness and the downside.

Battery life & ANC

Honestly, I never really measured the battery life, it needs to be charged for about every few days to once a week. My usage is about an hour per day for the duration I spend in the gym during weekdays, in total it's about 5 hours++ with active noise cancelling(ANC) on for the entirety.

The ANC is decent, it can cut out most of the background noises. If the music is on a higher volume, then most of the background noise would be drown out. So, I consider that decent for its price point.

Durability

One time, I dropped the earbuds on the way to the gym. I thought to place an order to try out new sets of earbuds since the chances of finding them would be slim. But somehow, my fiancé manage to find it on the way back home after his workout (we walk to the gym). If you take a closer look at the picture, you can definitely see there's some cracks on the right earbud.

We had no idea what had stumbled over it in the span of the few hours. Some force must have been applied to the right side of the earbuds which caused those cracks. Regardless of whatever went over it - it survived!

Waterproof-ness

On Amazon, the description mentioned IPX6 waterproof. As mentioned, the initial reason for buying this is to have earbuds that can withstand a little bit of rain or sweat during outdoor runs. Leaving it in the washing machine during my laundry wasn't my intention to test out how waterproof it is.

I didn't even realize my earbuds were missing until I had to hang my clothes. The earbuds was within the case and it went through the entire wash and dry cycle. I thought it would be a goner. Since the cracks are there, the water might had already damaged the inner circuit. For a while, the right earbud doesn't appear to be charging properly. Lo and behold, after a few weeks, it seem to work perfectly fine again. What a beast.

Downside

The only downside is the probably microphone. Although I didn't use enough to justify how bad it is, it's still tolerable. I rarely use it to take a call.

Summary

All taken into consideration especially the price, these earbuds are definitely value for money. If the main usage is just to listen to music, they are definitely worth it.