Pros:
- Great battery life
- Decent sound for the price
Cons:
- Poor quality eartips
- Hard to press buttons for the Pro
- Large eartips don't fit inside the case
Introduction:
Anomoibuds is a new company from China that sells wireless stuff, specifically true wireless IEMs and headphones. Right now they seem to be focused on the ultra budget section of the market, with all their products priced at 25 USD and below. The Anomoibuds Predator Pro and Max currently retails for 18 and 24 USD respectively, and were provided to me for free by Anomoibuds in exchange for this review.
I'm writing their reviews in a single post because they are almost identical. There are only some minor differences which I will talk about in detail
Specifications:
Waterproof rating: IPX5
Impedance: 32 ohms
Driver unit: 6 mm dynamic
SOC: Qualcomm 3020
Bluetooth version: 5.0
Codecs: aptX (additional aptX TWS+ for the Pro), AAC, SBC
Earphone battery capacity: 50 mAh, 2 hour charging time
Charging case battery capacity: 1000 mAh, 3 hour charging time
Play time: 7 - 8 hours, up to 80 hours with the case
Source:
Poco X3, Redmi Note 7 Pro
Test tracks:
Africano - Earth Wind and Fire
Dark Necessities - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Gurenge - Lisa
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
Monsters - All Time Low
Ours - Taylor Swift
Stay - Mayday Parade
Snuff - Slipknot
Yesterday Once More - Carpenters
So Slow - Freestyle
Aurora Sunrise - Franco
Attention - Pentatonix
Blue Bird - Ikimono-gakari
You're Still The One - Shania Twain
Anyone Who Knows What Love Is(Will Understand) - Irma Thomas
Salamin - Slapshock
AOV - Slipknot
Hey Jude - The Beatles
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
...and a lot more.
Unboxing and Accessories:
The Predator Pro and Max come in a fairly small white sliding box. Once opened you will find the charging case nested on foams, instruction manual, and there is another box that contains the accessories, which is just the bare minimum short charging cable, 2 pairs of silicone tips with the 3rd pair already attached to the earpieces, and a pair of foam tips. The Pro comes with flat style tips, while the Max comes with the common dome shaped tips.
Once you take the earphones out, you will have to peel a small sticker placed on the charging contacts to protect the batteries.
Build:
The charging case is made of plastic, it is oval shaped, with the very common flip top hinge design. At the front, there are four indicator lights for the battery level. With the lights, I like to point out that it doesn't turn off until the earphones are fully charged. So if you used them until the battery is drained, the indicator lights would be on for 2 hours. Which, I think, is a considerable waste in battery.
Another thing I like to point out is that the space for the eartips is not big enough. I personally used large Final Type E tips with both of them because the stock tips is of poor quality, and it cannot fit properly inside. The earphones won't charge with the tips attached so I had to remove them while charging.
At the back, there is the USB type C port for wired charging, although wireless charging is also supported. Below it is a tiny hole which at first I thought is the charging indicator for the case but there's no light coming out of it. The actual indicators were the lights at the front, so I don't have any idea what that hole is for.
The earphones are also made of plastic. The Max has touch controls, while the Pro has circular buttons for controls with a translucent ring around it for the lights. The buttons need to be pushed hard for it to be pressed, and it's uncomfortable if you try to press them while wearing it.
Now let's get to the sound.
Lows:
The lows have an impactful rumble. Subbass is placed forward, with an average reach and a slow decay. The subbass audibly lingers in the background for quite some time, and moderately bleeds into the other frequencies. Midbass, on the other hand, has an average presence and gives way to the subbass.
Overall, the lows of the Predator Pro and Max got the spotlight. It is definitely tuned to satisfy most bassheads out there with its full bodied presence, despite the driver being small at 6 mm.
Mids:
The mids have a forward presentation. It has a slightly unnatural thickness, it also sound slightly nasal and veiled most of the times, and clarity is evidently affected as well. Male vocals sound ok but female vocals lose a lot in terms of vitality and articulation.
Overall, the mids are the least enjoyable part of the sound for these true wireless IEMs. If we consider the price, the lows and the highs sound ok, but the mids could use a lot of improvements.
Highs:
The highs are neutrally placed. The clarity is moderately reduced due to the lows, but still it has a good level of sparkle. It has good texture and reach, and instruments like the lead guitar and cymbals stay fairly audible even when there is a lot happening in the background.
Overall, the highs are able to somehow catch up with the lows. It does not get drowned out easily unlike some other true wireless gears that I tried.
Soundstage and Imaging:
The soundstage is on the narrow side, with the depth expanding more than the width. Imaging, layering and instrument separation are all below average, as expected due to the strong subbass slam.
Yes, both of them sound exactly the same.
Conclusion:
For their price, the value you're gonna get from the Predator Pro and Max is, I would consider, justified. These are not made for critical listening anyway. Anomoibuds did some things correctly though by equipping them with the Qualcomm 3020 chip, 8 hours of battery life, with a total of 80 hours with the case, which is huge. That battery life is hard to find in this price range. But still, there are some things that can be improved without affecting the price tag that much.
Tags:
True Wireless Stereo