1More ComfoBuds Z Review – Headphones for Bedtime?
Peter Donnell / 3 years ago
A Closer Look & Performance
After unboxing, you’re left with this lovely little egg-like dock and charger. It’s noticeably one of the smaller docks I’ve seen, with a nice slim and lightweight design that will make it very easy to carry around in your pocket.
Of course, there’s a little protective bag too, so if you’re chucking it in your backpack, it’ll keep it cleaner, and it’s less likely to get scuffed up. It’s a hard-wearing plastic design with a durable rubber or matte finish to it. .
There’s a small rubber grip case, and it’s flat too, so it shouldn’t roll around or scratch up the surface you place it on.
Around the back, there’s a standard USB C port. While you can use the included cable, you could use any USB C cable you have to hand. The case can be charged from flat to 100% in just over an hour. The headphones themselves will charge to full in 1hr 15mins inside the dock. Thanks to the 410mAh battery in the case, you’ll get 3 or 4 full charges out of it. However, since you’re unlikely to drain the dock, it’ll likely just top up the headphones 6-10 times before needing to be charged its self.
There’s a small LED on the front to indicate charge, pairing, low battery, etc.
The dock is pretty slim, and rather smooth too. There’s just a subtle 1More logo on the top.
Open it up, and you can see a green LED is on, telling me the charge is good. There are some little tabs to remove from the headphones, as these prevent them endlessly charging/draining while they were still in their retail box.
The headphones snap in and out of the case easily enough, and some small magnets ensure they stay in place easily enough. Some small pins are here, which allow the headphones to charge as soon as they’re docked.
This button can be pressed to check the current status. However, with the headphones in the dock, hold it down and you can set them to pairing mode. They paired first time with my Samsung S20+, so no complaints there.
What does surprise me is just how freaking small these earbuds are. They weigh just 2.7g each, which is nothing, given the rather slim Comfobuds 2 True Wireless are 4.3g each, and I thought they felt light!
They look stunning too, despite being no bigger than a mint imperial. These will need looking after, they’re so small, I could see myself losing one down the back of the couch. The white design looks great though, they’re very stylish and minimalist and I really like that.
The size and weight is astonishing, given the level of technology they house. At 50% volume, these will provide up to 3.5 hours of constant usage for calls and music. However, from my own experience of using them at higher volumes, a little over two hours was more realistic. However, that can easily be 30 mins more if you’re not always at higher volumes.
Compared to my usual in-ears, the Creative Outlier Gold, the Comfobuds look even smaller. However, despite the obvious size difference, the sound quality of the 1More headphones is astonishing. 1More has equipped them with their in-house developed full-range balanced armature, which sounds tremendous. No distortion, good volume levels, and because they make a good seal in your ear, the low-end bass is pretty banging too. Something this small making such a big sound genuinely took me by surprise.
The drive is right at the tip, getting it right into your ear canal. I expected this to make it sound too direct, but strangely the opposite was true, resulting in a really wide stereo soundscape. The headphones are so small and light (bored of me saying that yet? I know I am!), I can’t really feel that I’m wearing them, so it’s almost like the sound is coming from beyond them… and it sounds fantastic!
The whole thing sits inside my ear, which is a first for in-ear headphones that I’ve ever tested. That means I can lay down on my side, and the headphones are not being pressed into my head. Admittedly, I am aware it’s there when I do this, but it’s not uncomfortable for me. My partner tried it and she couldn’t lay on her side with them in but admitted it was arguably better for it than any other headphones we’ve had. I feel like a spy wearing these, it’s like some secret earpiece, as from the front or back, you can’t actually see them! I can see that ear hair though, and it’s since been trimmed #toomuchinfo.