If you are looking for a true wireless stereo experience at a budget price, Ashish Narsale says you can try the pTron Bassbuds Urban.
The Indian mobile accessories manufacturer pTron has just launched its True Wireless Stereo (TWS) Bassbuds series ear buds, the pTron Bassbuds Urban.
These ear buds cost Rs 1,499, a lower price when compared to other premium TWS ear buds.
Let's find out if they are worth your money.
Build and Design
These pair of ear buds comes in a rectangular casing.
The casing also acts as a charging base, which is embedded with a 400mAh battery.
The case is made of plastic, but looks premium with a leather texture on top of the hatch.
To complement the design, there is a non-removable leather loop to hold the case or to ring it in your keychain.
It's good to have a battery indicator, which is on the right side of the casing and it prominently lights up in green.
I got a Black review pair, but you also have options of Brown and Rose Gold.
The buds do not come with any IP rating for protection against sweat/water or dust.
The buds rest magnetically attached inside the casing and the magnet is quite strong as they do not fall off even when shaken upside down.
Fit
These are in-ear buds that have detachable silicon tips.
The default-attached ear tips are double flange or layered silicon tips designed to isolate the background noise but sadly they were a loose fit for my ear.
The extra pair of tips that came along with the review piece was just basic single-layered silicon tips.
I tried on the extra tips that fitted the best.
The bass produced was punchier -- a complete transformation, I must say.
Handy tip: Always try on the extra silicon tips provided to experience the sound of your liking.
The buds are quite lightweight and ergonomically designed that fit perfectly in the ear, creating passive noise cancellation to avoid ambient sounds.
Control
The buds have touch sensitive controls for playback, volume, calling and voice assistant like Siri and Google.
The touch is quite responsive, but one has to get used to the touch interval commands, like three taps on left or right buds to play previous or next song respectively.
If you miss a tap or there is a delay in the third tap you might end up pausing the song.
The same goes while controlling volume which can be accessed with a single tap on right or left to increases or decrease the volume respectively.
By the way, volume control is one most desired feature for wireless buds where you don't have to reach for the device (phone) to control it.
A long press tap on either of the buds allows you to switch the bud on or off.
Sound
If you are looking for bass-heavy earbuds, then the pTron Bassbuds Urban are for you.
When I listened to Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack, the bass had good punch.
To test the depth (the distance of spacing between the instruments played in the orchestra) and transparency (the clarity and crispness in the music), I listened to a live orchestra version of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly theme song, the Axel F -- Beverly Hills Cop (1984) soundtrack by Harold Faltermeyer and the live Eagles version of Hotel California.
The output had good transparency.
The instruments and vocals were well separated, creating a 3D virtual depth in the music.
I wish it had a little wider depth.
The earbuds are loud enough. I had always kept the volume at 40 or 50 per cent even in a reasonably noisy environment.
Range and Connectivity
The range of the buds is well over 10 metres without any drop in connectivity.
The good thing is that they use Bluetooth 5.0; and there is a negligible latency or delay in the audio-video synchronisation while watching videos.
I won't advise you to use these while gaming as there was a visible delay between sound and the action while playing Shadow Fight 3.
Call quality
The call quality is fair; I could hear the person calling clearly, but my voice to the receiver was low on a regular call in a closed environment and outdoors it performed surprisingly well.
Battery
The casing takes approximately 2 hours to charge its 400 mAh inbuilt battery from 0 to 100 per cent.
In the case, the buds also take approximately 2 hours to charge; a fully-charged case will allow you to charge them twice: first full charge and and second up to 80 per cent charge max.
The earbuds once charged can last up to 5 hours of continuous use, depending on the volume you choose (in my testing I had kept the volume at 40 per cent).
I wish they had included a fast charging feature.
You can charge it using the micro-USB B port. The pTron Bassbuds Urban don't bundle a charger, but you can use any available microUSB mobile charger.
Verdict
If you are looking for a TWS at the given budget price that has features like touch controls and high bass then you can certainly try the pTron Bassbuds Urban.
