1MORE EVO Review
1MORE EVO Review
Evolutionary
Pros: + Very good sound quality
+ Balanced and musical tuning
+ Open and spacious soundstage
+ Effective ANC without compromising sound quality
+ Premium looks and excellent build quality
+ Lightweight, discreet and comfortable
+ Compact sized charging case
+ 12 presets and 10 bands user configurable equalizer
+ Sonarworks Sound ID application
+ Stable Bluetooth connection with LDAC support
+ IPX4 water resistant rating
+ Excellent price to performance ratio
Cons: – Touch control actions are rather limited
– Short battery duration
– The inside compartment of the charging case gets easily scratched
– Soundstage is lacking in depth and holography
– ANC is not up to the competition standards
– Lack of aptX and aptX-HD support
– More tips would be welcomed
The review sample was kindly provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
I didn’t receive monetary or any other kind of compensation and I don’t use affiliate links.
The price of the EVO is $169.99 and can be ordered directly from the 1MORE online shop.
1MORE EVO
1MORE is by now a well established brand with a couple of well known and much acclaimed products in their portfolio like the Triple Driver in ear monitors.
Lately they have been expanding to include wireless earphones with active noise canceling like the EVO.
The 1MORE EVO is a True Wireless (TWS) Active Noise Canceling earphone with a hybrid dual driver configuration and LDAC support.
Adopting a hybrid acoustic solution of a 10mm diamond-like-carbon dynamic driver and a balanced armature, the EVO replicates the studio sound quality that musicians and sound engineers strive for.
The EVO is precisely tuned by the 4-time Grammy Award Winning sound engineer, Luca Bignardi, so you can enjoy natural, authentic music exactly as the artist intended.
With 1MORE’s proprietary QuietMax active noise cancellation technology, the EVO can provide up to 42dB noise cancellation depth, allowing you to experience the tranquility and purity for a truly immersive music enjoyment.
Furthermore the EVO features 6 microphones (three per earbud) with an A.I.-powered DNN (Deep Neural Network) algorithm that can detect and remove background noise and then amplify human voices, providing unrivaled speech intelligibility.
The EVO can be connected with two devices simultaneously and effortlessly switch between music, online meetings, videos, and calls on the two connected devices.
The EVO comes with an IPX4 water resistant rating so you can use them during exercise or on rainy days.
Accessories
The EVO comes with 5 pairs of high quality silicone ear-tips (XS,S,M,L,XL), a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, a 1More sticker and a user manual.
Design and fit
The EVO faceplates are made from precisely crafted 3D ceramic panels that produce a surface as smooth as a mirror and can effectively reduce electromagnetic signal interference.
The rest of the housing is made from scratch resistant aluminum alloy with smooth matte black or white finish.
The earbuds are very compact and lightweight with an anatomically shaped and premium design that is aesthetically pleasing and reminds of much more expensive earphones.
The actual fit is very comfortable and discreet, the ear-shells stay securely in place offering good passive noise attenuation without causing annoyance.
The charging case
The charging case that houses the earphones is compact and lightweight with a curved, elegant design.
It is made from scratch resistant aluminum alloy with a rubber, non-slip, surface at the bottom and a premium back or white matte finish.
The inner compartment is made of plastic though that gets easily scratched.
The case has a charging status LED at the front, a USB type-C charging port at the back and a pairing button at the inner compartment.
Battery duration
Each earbud houses a 48mAh battery while the charging case has a 450mAh one that can be fully charged in two hours and offer about 3 additional charges for the earbuds.
The charging case supports Qi-Wireless Charger technology while it needs about 15 minutes to fast charge the earbuds giving them about 3 hours of playback time with the LDAC codec and the ANC enabled.
Full charge takes about one hour and increases playback time to 4 hours.
Disabling the ANC or choosing the plain SBC codec will increase the total battery duration.
Considering the compact size of the earbuds and the charging case, the total battery duration should be considered as satisfying.
User interface and Bluetooth connectivity
The outside surface of each earpiece functions as a capacitive touch control panel which is quite sensitive so accidental actions should be expected while trying to fit the earbuds into your ears.
Available actions are rather limited, you can double tap on either to control playback and call management, triple tap to activate voice assistant control, swipe up/down for volume control and long press to activate ANC.
Some limited customization is available through the 1MORE Music application.
A smart playback feature will auto pause music upon removing the earpieces and resume when placed back.
Bluetooth connection is stable without any dropouts and with a working distance of about 5 meters without obstacles.
The LDAC codec is the best when it comes to sound quality but the lack of aptX and aptX-HD means that if your phone doesn’t support LDAC then you are stuck with the plain SBC or AAC codecs.
Sound latency with games and movies wasn’t tested.
Active Noise Cancellation
There are four ANC and two transparency modes available, configurable through the 1More Music application.
You can choose between adaptive, mild, strong and wind blocking while the transparency modes include pass-through and voice enhancement.
Active noise cancellation is pretty effective, especially the strong mode that did a great job blocking noises like a running car engine, a working air-conditioner or the noisy crowd without affecting the overall sound quality too much.
Call quality was reported as good, my voice sounded as usual if not a little more bassy.
The 1MORE Music application
The 1MORE Music application, available for both Android and iOS, supports 12 presets and 10 bands, user configurable equalizer while additionally you can use the Sound ID application by Sonarworks for a more personalized listening experience.
You can also perform OTA firmware updates and customize various options as discussed in the previous sections of the review.
Listening impressions
The EVO doesn’t have some kind of a volume limiter and can get pretty loud without any audible distortion.
The earbuds were burned for 11 hours using the “smart burn in” function that is available through the 1MORE Music application.
The overall sound quality is good, surprisingly good for such a friendly priced TWS earphone.
The LDAC codec is doing some pretty good job in minimizing transmission losses over Bluetooth while the overall sound signature is mildly V-shaped with a touch of emphasized bass, present mids and slightly forward upper treble.
The bass might sound a little accentuated but it is clear and well defined without too much mid-bass emphasis and bleeding into the mids.
Sub-bass extension is adequate for bass heavy tracks while at the same time technicalities are up to the task for more demanding listening.
This is a fun and enjoyable tuning that nevertheless doesn’t exclude more reference listening as long as you don’t mind some tonal inaccuracies here and there.
The bass is full bodied and punchy with good overall control and firmness while it is impactful and dynamic with good timing.
The mid-range is just slightly recessed compared to the bass and the highs but it still sounds present, crystal clear and articulate with a pretty much natural timbre and sufficient resolution.
Voices don’t get projected but they get all the necessary attention and blend together with the rest of the instruments in a realistic way.
The famous duet “You’ve undone me” from Handel’s oratorio Semele sounded wonderfully sung with a nice interplay between the two voices, emotional intensity and harmonic wealth.
The treble is extended with luminosity, crystalline clarity and plenty of detail retrieval.
At the same time it doesn’t get too bright and in no way harsh or piercing.
It is rather controlled and not too unforgiving so you can listen to almost everything without the fear of getting fatigued.
The upper range has a touch of artificiality and some digital glare but as a whole the driver implementation is well done resulting in tonal and texture coherence without thinner sounding mids and highs.
The EVO soundstage is very good for this kind of earphone, it is open and spacious with plenty of clarity and satisfying imaging.
Don’t expect laser sharp positioning or layers of depth and holography but you shouldn’t be afraid of listening to more complex material since the EVO manages to avoid congestion and instrumental suffocation.
In the end
The $169.99 1MORE EVO is a welcomed surprise and an absolute bargain when it comes to TWS earphones.
It has stellar sound performance with a fun but still balanced tuning that is supported by good technicalities, it is lightweight and comfortable, it has excellent build quality and is backed by a good application that offers plenty of sound customization options.
Add the ANC that despite not breaking any performance records it still manages to be pretty effective without degrading overall sound quality too much and it gets pretty clear why the EVO is a winner and an instant recommendation for an all-around, budget friendly, ANC TWS with great sound quality.
Copyright – Petros Laskis 2023.