A few weeks back, I reviewed Xmate Mana. It was the first Xmate product I tested and it impressed me its value for money offering. Recently I started using another Xmate product Xmate Gusto true wireless earbuds. It is priced at Rs. 4200 but is available at less than Rs. 2500. So, it is the most affordable true wireless earbuds I used so far. I have been using Xmate Gusto for around 10 days and here is the review of Xmate Gusto based on my experience.
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Xmate Gusto
Xmate Gusto earbuds come with a low price tag. So, I wasn’t looking at many features but just for the good music experience. Let me first talk about design and build quality.
Gusto is earbuds with an in-ear type design. It has a plastic construction. At the top side of both earbuds, it has a place to add ear hooks. This place has a rubber cap. When you are not using ear hooks, plug the cap. Ear hooks are helpful for those who think buds are not offering a secure fit and do not want to lose buds. This Earhook place a bit spiked and has sharp corners. If you are not wearing earbuds properly, you will surely feel discomfort after 10-15 minutes of usage. So, make sure you are wearing it properly.
Default ear tips should be perfect for most of the people. Xmate also offers 4 extra pairs of ear tips. So, you will surely get a secure fit for yourself. Even after this, you don’t get a secure fit, you can use ear hooks.
At the outer side, it has a flat panel that has a touch surface to perform several actions. There’s also a notification LED. You can tap once to play or pause songs. When you receive a call, tap once to access the call or long tap to reject it. Tapping long on the right earbud will increase the volume while doing the same on the left earbud will decrease the volume. When buds are not playing music, long tap for 2 seconds to activate the voice assistant of the phone. All these actions work fine
Buds also come with an IPX5 rating to make it sweatproof. That makes it ideal to use while running or in the gym. I recommend the use of ear hooks while using earbuds while performing sports activities to avoid losing buds.
The charging case is made of plastic and feels weak. The top part is made of transparent plastic, so buds and Xmate logo remain visible. The case has three LED lights that show the charge level of the case. There’s also a button to check the charge level. So, you always know how much juice is left in the charging case. It has a 500mAh battery capacity.
Xmate Gusto is loud and it is also louder than any of the earbuds I have tested so far. I don’t recommend listening to music this much loud on earbuds. If I talk about music quality, it remains good until you cross the 65% volume level. In lower volume levels, it sounds quite good with a balanced sound. It also has fine bass that most people look for. At louder volume levels, muffled vocals and cracking music become uncomfortable. It simple words, quality also degrades in louder volume levels. It just sounds loud.
Unlike premium earbuds, this one doesn’t stop music even if you pull off buds from ears. You will have to manually stop music or buds will keep playing music. The company also boasts a single earbud usage. So, you can use any of the earbuds if you want. You just turn on a single bud to use.
It seals your canal properly and blocks noise around you when you are listening to music. So, you need to pause the music if you want to talk to someone or listen to external noise.
Xmate Gusto features Bluetooth 5, so the connection is fast. As soon as you take earbuds out of the charging case, it will instantly connect to the last pair phone of Bluetooth of the phone is on.
You can also use earbuds to take hands-free calling. The calling experience is fine. You will be audible on the other side, but noise cancellation doesn’t work well. So, another person will get the sound of noise around you along with your voice.
Buds offer more than 5 hours of music playback if you are listening to comfortable loudness. With the charging case, you can charge buds thrice and get additional 14-15 hours of battery backup. It takes around 1 hour to charge fully discharged buds in the charging case and the case takes around 3 hours in charging
Final Words
Earbuds are not about great music but about convenience. Even the premium earbuds can’t match the music of earphones of the same price. Same thing I can say about these Earbuds. Xmate Gusto does exactly what it claims. It offers a truly wireless experience without a high price tag. Battery life is also good. Music experience is fine that remains good until the volume is 65%.
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