BlitzWolf BW-FYE8 Review - Inexpensive TWS in-ear headphones with aptX

Design, workmanship and delivery

As always, the design is a matter of taste. Nevertheless, I will go into some features at this point. Distinctive features of the BlitzWolf BW-FYE8 are the vertically arranged dual drivers, its many curves and the striking piano lacquer look. The shaft protruding visibly from the ear brings back memories of the tried and tested design of the Apple AirPods.

The housings of the earphones are for the most part made from one piece. As a result, there are hardly any gaps in which dirt could collect. But the earphones are also largely protected against water jets (IPX5). The weight of the individual earphones is a mere 5 grams.

The BW-FYE8 is delivered with an oval charging case. Above the BlitzWolf lettering there are four LED indicators that show the charging status of the earphones (25% per LED). The earphones are pulled magnetically into the charging device and stay there reliably. The same applies to the lid, which also closes magnetically. The charging case and earbuds weigh 71 grams.

The quality of workmanship of the earphones and the charging case is good. The scope of delivery includes the BW-FYE8 earphones, silicone ear tips in sizes S, M and L, the charging case, a MicroUSB charging cable and a multilingual user manual. Any conventional smartphone charger can be used for charging.

comfort

Good in-ear headphones should be as inconspicuous as possible and still sit securely in the ear. This applies largely to the BlitzWolf BW-FYE8. The sound tube of the in-ear head is angled so that only the silicone tips touch the ear. Even after a longer period of wear, there is no uncomfortable pressure in the pinna.

The interchangeable earmolds allow very good adaptation to the wearer. If you want to use the in-ear for sport, you should consider replacing the supplied silicone pads with memory foam attachments.

OPERATION

If you open the lid of the charging case, both earphones try to connect to the previously connected playback device. If no connection has been established, the system automatically switches to pairing mode.

The pairing mode can be recognized on both in-ears by a red-blue flashing LED. In contrast to many other TWS in-ears, in which one earphone is connected to the playback device as a "master" and the second earphone only connects to the "master" as a "slave", each of the two BW-FYE8 earphones acts as its own Bluetooth device. Accordingly, each earphone must be connected to the playback device separately.

A big advantage of this rather unusual implementation is that you don't necessarily have to use both earphones. If you want to leave one ear free, the second earphone can simply remain in the charging case. There is no impact on sound quality or latency to the playback device. More about this under the item Sound Quality.

sound quality

There are two 6mm dynamic drivers in each of the earphones. The frequency range is specified as 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The impedance is 16 ohms, the nominal power 3mW and the sensitivity 97 dB.

Depths, mid and highs

The BlitzWolf BW-FYE8 are classic in-ear headphones with "bathtub characteristics". The sound is characterized by a strongly emphasized bass and raised highs. The mids, on the other hand, are easily neglected, which is why vocals audibly move into the background. Mainstream music listeners who prefer an extremely dynamic sound particularly like this sound.

Lovers of electronic music are guaranteed to get their money's worth. With precisely fitting ear tips, very good insulation from outside noise is achieved, so that the bass can be felt to its best advantage. Those who prefer to enjoy their music in a neutral and unadulterated way should definitely keep their hands off the BW-FYE8!

Bluetooth

The built-in audio processor is a Qualcomm QCCC3020. This is often used in inexpensive TWS headphones. The main features of the chip are Bluetooth 5.0, CVC noise reduction and support for the aptX audio codec.

In connection with an aptX compatible playback device, the high-resolution audio codec is selected by default. Compared to AAC, aptX offers a higher bit rate (352 vs. 250 kbps) and lower latency. There are hardly any differences in sound between the codecs. The lower latency, however, has a positive effect on the image-sound synchronicity if the BW-FYE8 is used to watch a film.

Operation and headset

Multifunction key

Each of the two earphones has a so-called “multifunction key”. A small part of the earphone head is also a touch control panel that reacts to different touch patterns. It is possible to control music playback, incoming calls and the voice assistant.

The touch controls proved to be unreliable in the test. Finding the point of contact right away is already difficult. If you hit the point, the input recognition reacts with a long delay, so that the various contact patterns are difficult to implement.

Microphone

The BlitzWolf BW-FYE8 is equipped with a dual microphone. Telephone calls can be made understandably about it. The CVC noise reduction also works, but weakens in city traffic with a lot of background noise. A strong noise reduction is noticeable in a dull and slightly blurred voice quality.

Battery

According to BlitzWolf, a fully charged battery is enough for 5 hours of music playback. Surprisingly, the battery life turned out to be significantly longer in the test. The BW-FYE13 only had to be returned to the charging case after 8 hours of music playback. The charging case is equipped with a 500 mAh battery. This means that the earphones can be fully charged four times.

There is no quick-charging function, as it is available with many high-priced brand models. It takes almost 2 hours to fully charge the earphones and the charging case.