1MORE EVO Review - Premium TWS in-ears with LDAC, ANC and more

Review: 1MORE EVO

Design, workmanship and delivery

Earbuds

True wireless in-ears are now available in a variety of forms. The “toothbrush head” type that Apple introduced with its AirPods and which many manufacturers like to copy has become particularly popular. Some other manufacturers rely on the “button-in-ear” type, which is also found in many 1MORE products. This was also the case with the ones we recently tested 1MORE Piston Buds Pro and now also the 1MORE EVO.

Stylish design meets high-quality workmanship.

With a size of 22 x 20 x 25 mm and a weight of 5,7 g, the ergonomically shaped in-ear housings are neither the smallest nor the lightest earbuds that we have come across so far. But they are definitely among the highest-quality processed. The outside, which is also the point of contact for touch controls, is made of glossy ceramic. The 1MORE logo is printed in the middle. The 1MORE EVO sets visual accents with a rose gold-colored border that surrounds the ceramic exterior.

The housing itself is made of plastic and consists of two parts. The connecting seam is visible, but worked out so neatly that you don't even feel it when you drive over it. There is protection against water according to protection class IPX4, so that the earbuds can also be used in the rain and during sweaty activities without hesitation.

charging Case

The charging case of the 1MORE EVO appears to be of the same high quality and clean workmanship. It is made of aluminum, measures 66 x 28 x 38 mm and weighs 46,9 g. It even fits in trouser pockets very well.

The charging case is flattened and rubberized at the bottom so that it is stable when the lid is open. The charging status of the case can be read via a status LED on the front. Green means fully charged, yellow stands for a half-charged battery and red means the battery is almost empty. The charging case is charged either wirelessly or via the USB-C socket on the back.

The matte 1MORE EVO charging case. Unfortunately also somewhat prone to fingerprints.

When opened, the earbuds appear in a fixed position. Inserting it the wrong way round is therefore not possible. The earbuds are held magnetically in their respective recesses so that they do not fly around randomly in the case and can be charged safely in any situation.

Finally, there is a reset button between the earbuds, which we can use to reset the 1MORE EVO. Unfortunately, unlike the earbuds, the charging case does not offer IPX water protection.

Processing and delivery

The scope of delivery is manageable. In addition to the charging case and the in-ears, there are also ear molds in sizes XS, S, M and L, a USB-C charging cable, a multilingual user manual and a 1MORE sticker.

The manageable scope of delivery of the 1MORE EVO.

In view of the price and the target group, it would have been desirable if 1MORE had included high-quality memory foam adapters instead of the cheapest silicone ear adapters.

comfort

As far as wearing comfort is concerned, the 1MORE EVO do well. Once you have found the right ear molds for you, the earbuds sit securely in your ear, which also has a positive effect on the sound and noise isolation. The comparatively large housings are easy to use thanks to their ergonomic shape and completely fill the auditory canal.

If the 1MORE EVO fit correctly, you hardly feel the weight of the in-ears and they are comfortable to wear. Even music sessions lasting several hours do not become a problem.

Comfort and sound are highly dependent on correctly inserting and wearing the in-ears!

The 1MORE EVO are not really suitable for sports activities. Depending on which sport you do, the earbuds can hold without much readjustment. However, during vigorous activities, it quickly becomes clear that the 1MORE EVO Earbuds are not designed for sports and that the hold quickly loosens. In-ears with a strap or ear wings are clearly the better choice for sports.

Hardware

The technical inner workings of the 1MORE EVO consist of a balanced armature driver, which is primarily responsible for the high-frequency sound spectrum, and a 10 mm dynamic "diamond-like-carbon" driver, which covers the low and medium frequencies.

The current Bluetooth 5.2 connection standard guarantees a stable and secure radio link. On the codec side, the common codecs SBC and AAC are initially supported.

Unlike iOS users, Android users also benefit from LDAC . But caution is also required here. Not every Android smartphone / tablet supports LDAC! Better to be on the safe side and check beforehand what your own android supports.

The LDAC codec (up to 990 kBit/s) achieves a bit rate three times higher than SBC (345 kBit/s) and transmits CD quality in lossless compression (48KHz, 16bit) and Hi-Res audio with lossy compression (up to 96KHz, 24bit ) for the best possible music enjoyment via Bluetooth.

sound quality

 First of all: The perception of sound differs from person to person. This is how the 1MORE EVO sound to me:

Sound signature and spatiality

The 1MORE EVO do without a lot of tinkering in the individual frequency ranges. As a result, the sound signature of the 1MORE EVO can be described as predominantly neutral and balanced, so that the music arrives at the listener exactly as the musician or producer had imagined. No matter which genre you prefer, it is a great pleasure to listen to the natural, particularly approachable sound, which at the same time conveys the feeling of an open stage.

Depths, mid and highs

In the bass range, the 1MORE EVO go to work very precisely. Arrogant humming is non-existent here. Instead, crisp, dry with a pleasant build-up of pressure is the order of the day. It continues harmoniously in the broad mids, in which instruments and voices come into their own with excellent detail reproduction.

The 1MORE EVO also stay on course in the treble range. Here the earbuds convince with a sensitive sharpness, which allows the finest nuances to unfold their effect. No matter which genre and which song was played via the 1MORE EVO in the test, the imaging performance is of excellent quality!

Active Noise Canceling (ANC)

The 1MORE EVO rely on the in-house "QuietMax" ANC technology, which we already have in the 1MORE Piston Buds Pro could impress. With a reduction of up to 42 dB, ambient noise in the low frequency range and occasionally in the high frequency range are effectively filtered. There is no typical feeling of pressure on the ears.

The intensity of the ANC can be set to “Strong”, “Weak”, “WNR” and “Adaptive” levels. The abbreviation WNR stands for Wind Noise Resistant mode, which particularly addresses annoying wind noise. In adaptive mode, the intensity of the ANC is automatically adjusted to the ambient noise. However, in a direct comparison with the "Strong" mode, no difference was noticeable.

Finally, there is another mode, a transparency mode, which allows ambient noise to pass through with minimal amplification. The use of the transparency mode is particularly recommended in road traffic, where a high degree of alertness is required. The modes can be changed either via gesture control (touch for 1,5 seconds) or via the app. An annoying side effect: As soon as we put the earbuds in the case, the ANC setting is reset.

The effects of the ANC on the sound are limited. If the ANC is switched on and no music is being played, a slight background noise is perceptible, but this disappears during active playback. When switching between ANC switched on and ANC switched off, a slight loss of transparency can be heard when the ANC is switched on.

Operation and App

The 1MORE EVO, like most other 1MORE products, are managed via the 1MORE MUSIC app. The app can be downloaded free of charge from the official app stores for iOS and Android devices. Fortunately, registration is not required to use the app.

From the point of view of user experience, there is little to complain about in the 1MORE app. As soon as the earbuds are connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth, they are automatically recognized by the 1MORE app. If an OTA firmware update is available, you will be informed immediately.

The range of functions of the app is manageable. We keep an eye on the charge status of each individual earbud and the charging case via the home screen. The “Listening Modes” item allows you to switch between ANC, pass-through mode or we can switch off noise isolation completely.

All other settings can be accessed in just one step via subcategories. Among other things, there are setting options for carrier detection ("Intelligent Playback"), gesture control and the Bluetooth connection mode, which we use to activate LDAC. You can also view a quick guide via the app that explains gesture control in just a few steps.

Only two gestures are recognized: double-tap and 3-tap. Which gesture performs which function can be determined in the gesture control settings. You can choose between “play/pause”, “previous or next track”, “volume up or down” and activation of “voice control”. The recognition accuracy of the gestures worked well so far in the test. Nevertheless, it would have been desirable if the 1MORE EVO had offered more scope for gestures.

SoundID

Some tonal variety can be achieved with the help of the integrated SoundID extension. SoundID by Sonaworks acts like an easy-to-use equalizer that creates a personalized sound profile based on the wearer's tonal preferences.

After a genre has been selected, various sound snippets are played for individual adjustment or creation of the profile, which are assigned according to preference (A or B).

There is no insight into the sound curve of the resulting sound profile and there are no possibilities to subsequently correct or adjust the sound profile in detail.

Instead of the straight-forward A/B test, a traditional equalizer would have been a better choice for most users, especially the 1MORE EVO target group. In addition, only one profile can be created and you have to repeat the A/B test every time if you don't like it.

Carrier detection

A proximity sensor ensures that playback is automatically paused when one or both in-ears are removed and resumes at the same point when they are reinserted. In the test, the carrier detection worked perfectly.

In the "Intelligent Play" settings, carrier detection can be set to "Auto Pause Only", "Auto Pause & Play" and "No Intelligent Play".

Microphone and calls

Each individual in-ear is equipped with three microphones for making calls. One microphone records what is said, while the other two microphones are responsible for eliminating background noise. In addition, a deep neural network algorithm filters out the background noise and improves the voice quality.

So much for the theory. In practice, the microphone quality of the 1MORE EVO is rather satisfactory. Although phone calls can be made in an understandable quality, the voice still sounds tinny, which increases audibly depending on the intensity of the background noise filtering. Also at this point one could have expected more due to the price.

Battery

Let's get to the battery. As the data sheet tells us, the earbuds are each equipped with a 48 mAh battery. The charging case battery has a capacity of 450 mAh.

The running time varies depending on whether ANC is switched on or not. At medium volume and without ANC, a runtime of about 7 hours was possible in the test. If you turn on the ANC, the runtime is reduced to about 4 1/2 hours. The LDAC codec also has an impact on the runtime and can reduce it to less than 4 hours.

In the case, the earbuds can be charged up to 2 1/2 times, which ideally corresponds to a running time of approx. 18 hours. With only 15 minutes in the case, the 1MORE EVO is already charged to 50 percent battery. It takes about 100 minutes to fully charge to 35 percent. It takes 1 ½ hours to fully charge the case. Contactless charging is supported and works with common Qi charging stations.