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There are a ton of truly wireless earphones (TWS) available in the market at this point. The thing is, those that are good, are usually quite expensive. There are quite a few affordable models, but you’d be surprised how many of those are simply not worth it. Well, that’s not the case with the HONOR Choice, which managed to surprise me. I’ve used quite a few TWS earbuds thus far, and lower price tags usually bring out major complaints. Well, that’s not the case here.
The HONOR Choice earbuds are not perfect, far from it. They are, however, a lot more affordable than a ton of other, more premium choices. These earbuds are priced at around €35, while most really good TWS earbuds cost €100 and more. That’s quite a cost difference to consider, so… you should be able to cut some slack considering the price difference. In any case, let’s talk about the HONOR Choice, and see what makes them worthy.
Solid & compact build = a win in my book
The design of the HONOR Choice earbuds is… well, it’s good. Most earbuds at this price range either feel squeaky and hollow, or come in extremely bulky cases. Well, the HONOR Choice earbuds don’t have either of those problems. The earbuds themselves and the case are made out of plastic. That plastic feels really good, though. The build quality is good on both accounts, and even the case cap is well-built. It doesn’t feel flimsy or anything of the sort.
Furthermore, the case is actually quite small. The smaller the case, the easier it is to carry the earphones around, and this is more than small enough. To make things even better, the stem on the earbuds themselves is not too long either. The earbuds undeniably resemble the Apple AirPods Pro, which is not a bad thing at all. Those earbuds offer a much-improved design over the AirPods 1 and 2.
The earbuds look really nice in the ears, and they do come with three different silicone tips. Those tips are different in terms of size, so you just need to hit the one that fits in your ears. Those silicone tips also help with noise isolation, on top of everything, and are more comfortable than plastic. These earbuds do need a physical connection to charge inside the case, and I’ve had no issues with that during my review period. The magnets are more than strong enough, and are a joy to use.
The case itself is also magnetized, and everything feels really well-made. There is an LED indicator on both the inside and the outside of the case. The one on the outside will let you know the battery status of the case, while the one on the inside will keep you notified about the battery status of the earphones themselves. The case is glossy, but that didn’t bother me all too much, especially at this price tag.
The audio output is really good, especially considering the price
Sounds quality is basically the most important part of every pair of earphones. So, is it any good here? Well, yes, it is. It’s not the best we’ve heard, not even by a long shot, but once again, keep the price in mind. This is the best sound output that I’ve heard of a single pair of TWS earphones in this price range. Nothing that comes with even remotely similar price tag managed to perform as well.
The HONOR Choice earbuds provide a balanced sound output. The mids and highs are really well-balanced, while the lows are particularly good. The bass is not too heavy, but it’s there, and it’s noticeable. The bass on the HONOR Magic Earbuds earphones was too heavy, on the other hand, to the point it was a bit distracting. Well, you’ll be glad to know that’s not the case here. The main point is, it does not overpower mids and highs, and that’s always a positive.
The sound can also get pretty loud if you want it too, you can crank it up to be too loud, of course. The thing is, it doesn’t lose its sharpness if you tune it up a bit, and that’s not something budget earphones usually deliver. These earphones even come with AAC support, so you can enjoy high-bitrate music even more than regular SBC codec earphones. The HONOR Choice earphones do not offer ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), but that’s not something you’d get at this price point. Good thing is that these earphones do offer those silicone tips / seals, and that does help with noise isolation to a degree.
It’s worth noting that I also did not have issues with connectivity whatsoever. Once I initially paired these earphones, I’ve used them for almost two weeks. Not a single disconnect occurred. The earbuds are equipped with Bluetooth 5.0, and by the way, the latency is not an issue either. The earbuds are quite comfortable to wear, as I didn’t have any issues wearing them for longer periods of time.
Call quality may surprise you
So, what about call quality, is it okay? Well, first and foremost, let me say that it’s better on the HONOR Magic Earbuds, but those earbuds cost almost three times as much. That being said, it’s not better by much. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the HONOR Choice earbuds handled calls. I’ve spent several hours talking by using these earbuds, and even though they’re not the best to use in areas with a lot of noise, I did not get any complaints. When I was on the other end, I was able to hear my friend talk through them just fine, no issues.
The fact that HONOR included solid microphones here sure helps. You’ll notice two microphones on each earbud, which are powered by Digital Signal Processing technology. That surely helps with noise cancellation, as it was good, though not great as on some other earphones I’ve used. All in all, call quality was admirable at this price tag, and not something you should worry about.
Touch controls are not perfect, but are better than on previous models
The HONOR Choice earbuds do come with touch controls. In fact, each of the two earbuds has such controls on them. HONOR is offering four different touch control options here. If you tap twice on each earbud, for example, you’ll be able to play or pause audio playback. If you tap and hold on either of them (for 2 seconds), you’ll be able to reject an incoming call. Tapping and holding the right earbud and right earbud (separate actions), also have their own gestures for returning to the previous track, and skipping to the next one, respectively.
Now, in terms of usage… well, these touch controls work okay, but not great. This is an improvement over the Huawei FreeBuds 3, for example, as these earbuds have a touch sensor that is in a different spot. It’s easier to hit, and thus it reacts better. We still do not know if the sensor itself is different, though. HONOR did a smart thing by not assigning a single tap to anything. That way, you won’t accidentally trigger something when you put your finger on an earbud.
Battery life is not bad or great… but it’s good.
So, as far as battery life goes, HONOR promises “24 hours of combined audio playback”. The company notes that you can use these earbuds for 6 hours of music playback / streaming, and 4 hours of call time… before you need to put them in their charging box. Those are good numbers, right? But are they accurate? Well, in my experience, not entirely. I was getting numbers closer to 5 hours of music / podcast playback. Truth be said, I did usually have a couple of short calls during that time, so… the earbuds would probably be able to do better without those.
Now, in terms of the charging case. HONOR says that it holds three full charges for the earbuds. That information is accurate, in my experience. I was able to fully recharge them three times before the case itself needed to be charged. All in all, I’m quite happy with the battery life here. I’ve used TWS earphones with better battery life, but also a lot of them with worse battery life. These are good numbers and I don’t think that many people will have complaints. Do note that wireless charging is not included, but that’s not something to complain about at this price tag.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find better TWS earphones at this price
So, up until now, you’ve probably noticed that I had a good experience with these earbuds. Truth be said, they managed to do better than a number of more expensive earbuds. I’d take these over the HONOR Magic Earbuds any day, for example. They may not have the exact same call quality, but I appreciate a more balanced bass output, and the smaller charging case. The earbuds themselves also look much better in the ear, and so on. If you’re wondering if these earbuds are worth the asking price, I’d say yes, definitely. In fact, these earbuds would be my choice at that price tag, or anything close to it.