REVIEWED: Padmate PaMu Scroll BT 5.0 earphones
Now with wireless charging and Bluetooth 5.0, these ‘true wireless’ earphones excel
Have you ever tried out a pair of ‘true wireless’ earphones? It’s all about having zero cables. They pair with a phone the same way as any Bluetooth earphones do, but because they come as two separate earbuds, they also have to link to each other, and then keep that connection. Otherwise you get horrible connection issues, dropouts, echoes, and all kinds of audio nasties. Not so the PaMu Scroll, which costs US$39. Let’s say that again: US$39. For comparison, Apple AirPods cost US$159.
PaMu Scroll BT 5.0 earphones: design & comfort
With Bluetooth 5.0 inside, the PaMu Scroll – a pair of earphones with impressively meaty drivers – have the very latest wireless connection tech. Design-wise, they’re rather unusual; they live in a bronze tube with a soft magnetic cover that unfurls. That will be the ‘scroll’ design motif, then. The PaMu Scrolls are easy to position in the ear once you realise that they’re bottom-heavy, with the visible microphone slots (for hands-free calls) needing to stay at the bottom. Once in, they feel very lightweight, but also well-anchored.
PaMu Scroll BT 5.0 earphones: pairing
Pairing the PaMu Scroll was easy; take them out of their charging case and they instantly appear on the Bluetooth list on any phone. They connect first with a phone, then with each other. There’s a voice to tell you that the connection has been made.
PaMu Scroll BT 5.0 earphones: sound quality
The PaMu Scroll go ballistic on bass, which gives all kinds of music and voice more gravitas than we had expected. There are also some touch gestures; one tap on either earphone pauses the music, which is great when you’re wearing them out and about. A double-tap on the left-hand earbud awakes Siri or Google Assistant. However, that tap doesn’t always register, and when it does there’s a one-second delay, which can fool the user into tapping them again.
PaMu Scroll BT 5.0 earphones: battery life & wireless charging
The earbuds last for three hours, which is pretty good, with the charging case adding another nine or so hours. That’s great, but the PaMu Scroll earphones have another great feature that most don’t; wireless charging. Not the earphones themselves, of course, but the charging case, which can be placed on any Qi wireless power pad (we tested it with one made by Xiaomi) if you attach the (supplied) wireless charging receiver or you can just charge the case via micro USB.
With great sound, excellent usability and an unbelievably low price, Padmate’s PaMu Scroll BT 5.0 earphones are worth a place in your capsule wardrobe.