REVIEW – Many times, I’ve reviewed a new pair of earphones or headphones and thought to myself, “Yet one more earphone/headphone to review.” This time I’m reviewing an earphone called 1MORE, so it’s more than appropriate to say that now. The 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling Headphones (1MORE calls them earbuds, I call them earphones) are a decent pair of earphones that try to separate themselves from the “me-too” earphones that populate the crowded under $100 earphone market. Do they succeed?
What is it?
The 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling headphones are an affordable pair of earphones that come with features usually found in more expensive versions. They come in two colors—black or white. They come equipped with stems leaving room for extra microphones and increased battery life.
Bluetooth is 5.2 guaranteeing an extended listening range with improved signal stability.
The speaker inside the Aero Earbud is a large 10mm dynamic driver—much like a small version of a headphone speaker. Dynamic speakers are known for their ability to produce low bass and the Aero’s are no exception.
Built-in features include a companion app, active noise canceling (ANC), transparency mode, a large dynamic speaker driver, smart loudness, and spatial audio.
The 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling headphones magnetically fit into a small, round case that fits easily into a pocket. The case supports both USB-C and wireless charging. The earbuds have a 5-hour battery life with ANC on or 7 hours with ANC off. The case is able to recharge the buds 4 times (20 hours charging) before needing charging itself.
Specs
- Weight: 4.9g
- Case Weight: 45.2 g
- Battery Capacity: 40 mAh
- Case battery capacity: 450 mAh
- Charging Time: 1 hour
- Case charging time: 2 hours
- Playtime (ANC Off): 7 hours
- Case fully charged playback: 28 hours
- Playtime (ANC On): 5 hours
- Bluetooth Range: 10m
- Bluetooth Version: 5.2
Design and features
It’s easy to live with the 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling headphones daily. They magnetically snap into the case for a perfect fit. Once in the case, they instantly begin charging. I pulsing blue light at the tip of each earbud indicates charging is happening.
With wireless earphones, comfort is almost as paramount as audio quality—more so if you plan on wearing them for hours. The Aero Earbuds are extremely comfortable for short or long listening sessions. I’m not convinced they are good for heavy exercise like jogging, but during normal activities, they always felt secure in my ears. Once seated, I never had to worry about them.
If you do choose to exercise with them, the 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling headphones have an IPX5 water rating, which protects them from sweat and wearing through rain storms. Just don’t dunk them.
When Apple introduced the original AirPods, everyone mocked the stems. Now, they are universally accepted and no one notices. The pointy stems on the Aero are no exception—the stems are part of the design. I like stems because it’s easier to play/pause music or activate ANC by just tapping or long-pressing. Going wireless has spoiled me.
1MORE incorporates what they call QuietMax technology for their active noise canceling. They claim it cancels up to 42 decibels (dB) of background noise in a wide frequency range—40-4000 hertz (Hz). This means that 1MORE’s ANC can block more noise from more sources. I don’t have the equipment to test this, but I do own the Apple AirPods Pro earphones. The Aero Earbuds do a good job of canceling noise. Apple just does it a bit better—as they should for over double the cost.
The cool thing about 1MORE’s ANC is its 4 settings: Strong, Mild, WNR (wind noise resistance), and adaptive. Mild ANC affects the audio the least—especially when playing music. The strong setting bumps the bass which helps in really noisy environments, WNR bumps the bass even more but muddies the sound a bit. Adaptive is kind of a middle ground. I prefer Adaptive over the other choices, but I also like Strong when I want a good bass kick.
Note: ANC (and other) settings are found in the 1MORE Music app (iOS and Android).
Along with ANC, there is Transparent Mode. Transparent utilizes the Aero earbud’s six mics to accentuate outside noises making the listener more aware of their surroundings. This is especially useful on a busy street where safety is paramount or if you need to speak to someone and leave the earbuds inserted as you talk. It works quite well, but it does appear rude to carry on a conversation while wearing earphones.
Spatial Audio enhances directional audio during movies. 1MORE uses head-tracking which fixes a point in front of the listener. As the head is turned, the audio remains in place giving a much more feeling of 3D space. While it’s not 5.1 surround, it’s still darned cool. Only after it’s turned off do you realize how impressive Spatial Audio really is.
While not as dramatic with music listening, Spacial Audio widens the soundstage making music more “airy” sounding. It’s more than the effect of two speakers only in front of you. Stereo imaging is spread out more left and right. It’s a setting I leave on at all times.
The 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling headphones have something called Smart Loudness, technology that compensates for frequencies that may be lost depending on the volume of the music. For instance, bass—which can be hard to hear at lower volume—might be increased if needed. There’s nothing to do manually, so I just turned it on and left it there.
There are a lot of equalizer settings available inside the 1MORE Music app. The bad news is I don’t like any of them, except Studio—which is flat (no EQ). The good news is that 1MORE allows you to customize your own EQ—which I did. I was able to make my music sound like I wanted it to. This is a big improvement over Apple’s own EQ natively built into their Apple Music app. You can also make a few EQ settings and name and save them.
The earbuds have settings for double and triple tapping to perform set functions. I set double tapping for Play/pause. I wish I could tap once for this function, but single tapping is not available. I set triple tapping to skip or repeat tracks. Again, these can be set for other functions.
So how do they sound? As I said, I’m not a fan of the EQ presets. Take that with a grain of salt because you may love the EQ choices. With my personal EQ setting, my music sounds … fun. I like just enough bass to sound accurate without being overpowering or muddy. I’m also big on mid-frequencies—the vocal range. I’m less of a fan of higher frequencies. Maybe I have a bit of tinnitus, but “normal” highs sound sibilant to me—too much hiss. I usually leave EQ off, but the ability to customize my preferences makes all the difference.
“Blue Monday” by New Order is one of those songs that you either love or will make you crazy. It has a drawn-out incessant drum pattern I gravitate towards. The Aero Earbuds allow enough punch to drive the song forward without becoming tiring. I only wish New Order made an even longer version than they did.
One of my all-time favorite albums is Harry Nilsson’s “A little Touch of Schmillsson in the Night”. It’s a collection of standards recorded in the early 70s—long before other artists made recording standards popular. Nilsson’s voice combined with (Frank Sinatra) producer Gordon Jenkin’s arrangements creates an atmosphere that transcends time. The Aero Earbuds help make this album sound so smooth and beautiful, I could easily fall asleep listening to it—in a good way!
I haven’t mentioned call quality using the 1MORE Aero True Wireless Active Noise Cancelling headphones. It gets the job done. I usually don’t use wireless earphones for phone calls. Weird, I know but I can’t hear my voice well while talking and that bugs me. I usually take any earphones out and just use the phone’s speaker.
What I like
- Audio quality
- Comfort
- Price
- EQ customization
What I’d change
- Preset EQ
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of decent—and some excellent wireless earphones to choose from—usually at a price. Almost too many. If you need to stick to a budget, choices dwindle to just a few. 1MORE has done a good job with the Aero Earbuds by including desired features while making them sound really good and offering them at an excellent price. Don’t ignore the personal EQ settings, though. That will make them sound even better.
Price: $89.99
Where to buy: 1MORE and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by 1MORE.
