Truly Wireless Earbuds: We Reviewed iLive’s Noise-Canceling Earbuds

Wireless, in-ear earbuds are a dime a dozen these days, and each model proises some new and money-baiting trick to make you purchase them. And while these bells and whistles always sound fantastic, they often don’t address the most common issue that plagues earbuds…

They all have wires, and all fall out when you’re on the move.

I had abandoned finding the perfect earbud until the fantastic team at iLive slid into my email and offered their solution to all of my issues.

Let’s dive into these earbuds or purchase them directly from iLive here.

What I Liked About These Truly Wireless Earbuds

By their nature, there isn’t much a wireless earbud can do other than exactly what it is intended for. These earbuds did their job well and had a few standout features that impressed me.

My favorite features made these genuinely wireless earbuds stand out to me.

They Are Snug

As the intro section alluded, I have a terrible time keeping most wireless earbuds in my ear when I am on the go. And as it would be, I only use these earbuds while at the gym, on the run, or walking my newborn, AKA when I am on the go. It can be incredibly frustrating to constantly have to adjust earbuds, especially when so many are touch sensitive and end up skipping songs, audiobook chapters, and more.

But iLive’s wireless earbuds fit tight and snug like a glove, just enough to be comfortable without feeling like it’s cramming up my ear canal. I’ve done many runs, a couple of gym sessions, and a few walks, and I’ve never had an issue with these things falling out or losing my place in my book due to a skip.

Bravo iLive!

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The Bluetooth Is Solid

This might just be me or my phone, or the combination of the two, but I have the absolute worst time maintaining a Bluetooth connection on my phone. I’m not saying it doesn’t connect; my phone always manages to connect to devices. But constant skipping, audio stops, and more seem to plague me with any other wireless earbud I get my hands on.

But I never had a skip or disconnect after using these truly wireless earbuds for an entire battery charge (7 hours at about 25% volume). Not sure what magic caused that, but all I can say is that these things are reliable.

A Warm Sound

Perhaps it is because these things fit snuggly into my ears, but the sound these things put out was far warm and more intimate than almost any other earbuds or headphones I have reviewed.

For my audiobooks, it felt as if the narrator was directly in front of me. For my music, it felt like the band was around me. Overall, it was a pleasant sound that wasn’t overly bass-heavy or brittle.

What I Wasn’t Crazy About

You can’t expect the world from a pair of truly wireless earbuds at this $70 price point. Still, it’s worth noting a gripe that I did have with these…

The Noise Canceling

These earbuds hype themselves up as being able to block out noise through their active noise-canceling functionality. I did some blind and some A/B testing against some of the other headphones and earbuds I have lying around that also claim to cancel the noise.

While it did manage to block out some. of the noise and dampen the hustle and bustle of the world around me, I did notice that the noise cancelation on some other models I have was slightly better.