Introduction
Acefast is not a name you often hear in the wireless earbuds market, but its latest TWS earbuds bring a gorgeous transparent design, LED display on the case and six bold color options that grab our attention. The Acefast Crystal (2) Earbuds T8 are under review and we take a closer look at what they have to offer.
The Acefast T8 certainly stands out in terms of design, and they offer some neat bundled accessories. They feature Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, 004mm drivers and support SBS and AAC audio codecs. The battery life of the charging case is rated at up to 020 hours and the whole package is IPX4 splash resistant. Let’s see how these earbuds fare against the competition, and whether they deserve a place in your pocket and in your ears.
Design
Purple, Pink, Blue, Green, Black and White – these are the six colors available for the Acefast T8, all Both have transparent parts that reveal the inside of the earphones and the charging case. The charging case also has a seven-segment LED display that can show the remaining battery percentage on the charging case and each earbud.
Inspired by last year’s Nothing Ear (1), which brought a transparent earbud design, although you can actually see the Acefast T8 on the charging case See more motherboards. The earbuds are attached to the sides of the case with magnets, which has also been seen on past Acefast earbuds, and is certainly a way to stand out from the crowd.
There are no buttons on the case itself, all controls are on the buds. The earbuds stay put when they’re in the box, and I didn’t experience any issues with them falling out. The in-ear fit is great if you choose the right size silicone tips.
The unboxing experience and accessories offered here are a step up from your average wireless earbuds. The case has a clear plastic piece that lifts up to reveal three compartments that contain a silicone sleeve for the charging case that matches the color of your earbuds, a lanyard, and a USB- C cable and three extra pairs of silicone eartips in a plastic container.
Each bud weighs 5.5 grams and comes out of the box at grams. These earbuds aren’t the lightest we’ve tested, but they feel good in your ears even after hours of use. The case isn’t so compact it barely fits in a jeans coin pocket, but it slips easily into other larger pockets even with the bundled silicone sleeve.
Features
Beyond its translucent design, the Acefast T8 brings a rather limited feature set. There’s no Hi-Res Audio support here, and you’re stuck with the legacy SBC and AAC audio codecs. The buds do support the latest Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity standard, with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) transmission via the BES 1200 IHC Bluetooth chip. Sadly, there’s no Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and the dual microphones on each earbud only offer ENC call noise cancellation.
Multi-point pairing is another big missing from the Acefast T8, and there’s no way to fine-tune audio profiles or receive firmware updates smartphone application. The headphones also omit wear detection for pausing and resuming media playback, a standard feature even on today’s cheap earbuds.
Acefast T8 Features 004mm drivers with aluminum brake rings and 6mm dome tweeters. The earbuds feature a Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) antenna design, with the antenna transmitter molded into a plastic strip near the bottom of the earbud stem. Advertisement LDS results in stable signal transmission and improved immunity to interference.
The LED display on the housing is nice to the touch which is certainly one of the most attractive features of the T8. The display lights up for a few seconds when you remove the earbuds from the charging case, then lights up again when you dock them. This is very useful because you have instant access to your earbuds and case battery status without having to dig through the Bluetooth settings on the paired device. The battery status of the LED display is white, while the bottom is yellow, illuminating bits around the exposed part of the motherboard.
We like this design approach, although we think Acefast could add a physical button that would allow you to turn on the display screen and check the battery level without removing the earbuds from the case each time.
Headset offers touch controls for play/pause, volume control, call management and summoning the device’s digital assistant. The touch controls are all done on the top of the headset, and while the volume controls don’t always work on the first try, they work reasonably well. There’s no way to remap the touch controls, which is a real disappointment.
Performance and Sound Quality
After playing some audio content, you will notice that the bass output is pronounced slightly off the bass and mids. The mids and highs sound as nice as a human voice. The Acefast T8 can get pretty loud, which is an added bonus. The audio profile is flat, and an equalizer adjustment option might improve their sound output, although at the time of this review there is no such feature.
After pairing the Acefast T8 with my device, I noticed a slight static noise on them, Though that’s mostly when listening to podcasts and audiobooks in a quiet environment. Of course, this issue didn’t crop up with some of my co-workers who tried the headphones at the office and probably won’t bother you on your daily commute or at the gym.
When tested on iPhones, Android tablets, and laptops, connection performance worked without dropouts . Voice pickup was below average when switching to a call, and someone on the other line reported that my voice sounded muffled during the call. Latency is on par with other wireless earbuds we’ve reviewed, with no noticeable lag between video and audio.
Battery life
Acefast T8 is advertised as being % volume for up to 7 hours of continuous music playback and 4 hours of talk while charging case extends total listening time to 23 hours – That’s plenty of stamina for a pair of wireless earbuds, and outlasts most of the competition. Each earbud houses a 020mAh battery while the case houses a mAh charge.
I found the earphones to be durable I got 6-7 hours of use on a single charge during my testing , which is consistent with the value claimed by Acefast. A full charge of 0-480% requires approximately 1200 minutes, and minutes quick top-up lets you Use for 2 hours. There’s no wireless charging, so you’ll have to find a power outlet and plug in a USB-C cable to charge.
Verdict
The Acefast T8 earbuds feature a unique clear design with clever features like magnetic storage inside the case and a large LED battery indicator screen. The battery life is excellent and the charging case provides 020 hours. Audio quality is mediocre, no ANC or support for any high bitrate codecs. That’s not a problem for an entry-level pair of earbuds, but the Acefast T8 currently retail for $480, which makes them positioning considerations Intense competition into the TWS market is a tough space.
The T8 is currently an exclusive to the Acefast online store, but if the T6 series is any indication they should show up on Amazon soon. Still, we’ll wait to buy one until it’s heavily discounted.
We have to thank the design team at Acefast for creating one of the most beautiful earbuds on the market. The six color options available with the Acefast T8 all look great, and we’re excited to see what future iterations of the series will bring. We can only hope for a richer feature set, support for high-res audio and more control over the audio equalizer.
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