Now, I hope that you like reading, because I’m about to embark you on my adventure with these wearables! A thorough review for table one: here it comes! And for those that don’t like reading… There’s a TL;DR at the end !
Let’s start with what we see at first glance: packaging! What you receive is a fairly small box, boasting a picture of the case and the wearables, the name of the product, some features, and that’s basically it.
When you open the box, that’s where the magic starts. The smell of new, high-quality products never ceases to amaze me. You get a small quickstart guide explaining the basics, and some kind of welcome card with a quote.
When you lift those up… pure joy. You’re greeted by the Oladance logo, beautifully imprinted on the case. Now here I was quite surprised. As soon as I took out the case and opened it, my phone came to life and one notification was enough to connect the wearables to my phone. No hassle with searching the wearables in the Bluetooth menu, restarting them endlessly, etc. No, it “just works”. Pairing 101 people
Putting them on was easier than I thought. They designed them in a way that they just kind of lock on to your ear. A simple twist, and they won’t move anymore! Firmly hung on your ears, but without feeling some kind of clench. Without feeling anything at all, to be honest. They are really light, and you will totally forget them.
At first, that is. I don’t know if it’s me or the wearables, but I felt some discomfort after some hours. Well, 3 to 4 nonstop hours of listening to music, to be honest, so that’s still very good. But it may as well be me, because I always had trouble with stuff touching my skin, especially when doing sports. For example, I always had trouble with in-ear headphones, as they always irritated my ears to the point where I couldn’t wear anything anymore. So, here’s another advantage for the Oladance wearables: as they don’t get into the ear canal, my ears are very happy, and I have no problems no more!
So yes, I took them out for a spin in the gym, and then on a run. And I have to say, it’s pretty amazing to be able to move your head pretty heavily, have sweat dripping all over your ears, but to have the wearables firmly holding on to you. No undesired moving whatsoever!
Cleaning afterwards was easy as well. The IPx4 rating allows for the wearables to be washed softly under some running water. I wouldn’t recommend hosing them, but they will resist a normal faucet.
- But enough rambling… What about the sound quality?
Well… It’s amazing. Really, I was blown away. Almost literally, by the way, as my sound was maxed out at first. The 16.2 mm drivers get pretty loud if you want them to, but more importantly, they carry real bass. I just had bought bone conduction headphones before receiving Oladance, and boy was I underwhelmed: no bass, you felt the vibrations once you put the volume a bit higher, etc. But the Oladance wearables, they were just perfect out of the box! Crisp sound, deep bass (and if the sound is not completely to your liking, you have an equalizer in the Oladance app) I immediately understood the bold claim “calculated soundspace” you can see on the box, and the fact they call them “wearable stereo”.
Whether it’s rock, electro, hiphop, pop, or film music, everything sounds as I’d like it to sound. Even when I went out for a run or even just some walking in the city, the sound keeps up, despite the open-ear design. The only moment when I had some trouble listening to my music, was when I was in the subway or in the gym, where they had “big room” music blasting through their big Bose speakers. But that’s to be expected with these wearables, as for me, you buy these exactly for this reason: to be able to hear your surroundings when you’re running, biking, or doing any other sport for that matter. This way, you’re able to hear cars or bikes approaching, and even have a conversation with your sport partner!
Now for some smaller things: the call quality is crisp and clean, and me as well as the people on the other side had a nice experience with me using the wearables. Once the call was finished, I put them back in the case, which disconnected them easily from my phone, and when I re-opened the case, they reconnected just as fast to my phone. But (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) that’s when I saw some nasty fingerprints on the case. Yes, if you have sweaty fingers or if you’re used to putting on some hand cream, you’re definitely going to be cleaning the case day and night, if you’re a bit OCD like me. But honestly, I’m kind of nit-picking here.
By the way, speaking of the case! I would’ve loved if it was a case with an integrated battery for continuous charging, but when thinking of it, it’s nice to have the choice, as you can pay less the first time, to afford yourself these beautiful wearables, and buy the case later on. One thing that would be nice, is to be able to buy a bundle on the website, instead of having to buy the 2 separately and have 2 cases. I also saw people complaining and saying the case is bulky, but you have to put it into perspective, as the wearables are a bit bigger than other ones, because of their battery and the ring. Otherwise, it’s a nice case with a very smooth touch, and the wearables stay in place with a very satisfying magnet.
Something that’s nice, is that they charge quite fast: between 1h and 1h30 when I connected it with a USB-C cable to my computer. It may be faster when connecting to an outlet. Not that you’re going to recharge them very often, seen their massive 16-hour battery. Very appreciated!
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Now, without transition (I couldn’t think of one), something I don’t appreciate: the touch controls. I really have some trouble handling the sound volume directly with the touch controls, and pausing and unpausing easily has some 1 or 2-second delay, so I just my phone for that. It may get annoying, as you may think that you didn’t tap at the right place, and then re-tap, which then pauses and unpauses your music. So that’s definitely something to improve. You can change the touch controls in the app, which is nice, but the latency stays the same. And while I’m at it, I’d love another option in the app for the auto-mute option, as for now there’s only 5 and 60 minutes.
Now, I may be ending on something to improve, but if I had to rate these wearables, I’d easily give then a 4.5/5. Using them is pure joy every time I put them on, and I’m already recommending them to my other sporty friends! For $179, you have very good “bang for your buck” as they say! (people still say that, right?) I even found myself wearing them at home, even though I have a nice sound setup.
So honestly, go for it !
TL;DR
Pros:
Beautiful design
(Very) Easy pairing
Stay on your ears
Easy cleaning (IPx4)
Bass and clear sound (16.2 mm drivers)
Equalizer option in app
Massive battery life
Fast charging
Being able to hear surroundings
Pretty complete app
Cons:
Latency of touch controls
Case gets fingerprints easily
Mixed feelings:
Long-term comfort (may be my body)
Base case without included battery
