REVIEWED: PadMate PaMu Quiet ANC earbuds
Noise cancelling ‘true wireless’ earbuds in a retro ‘pocket watch’ package
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Are you after a pair of Apple AirPods, but at a much lower price? Currently being crowdfunded, these ‘true wireless’ earbuds are much like Apple’s efforts, and even add active noise cancellation. Created by PadMate, can the PaMu Quiet live up their billing as the best value and most advanced true wireless earbuds out there?
PadMate PaMu Quiet ANC earbuds: design
A clamshell battery case weighing just 91g houses the earbuds and also recharges them. It’s easy to store in a pocket, though it’s bigger than the brands’ great value PaMu Slide Mini ‘true wireless’ earbuds, which TravGear rates as some of the best true wireless earbuds. Inside the PaMu Quiet case – which slightly resembles a retro pocket watch and even comes with a neck-strap – are the two earbuds themselves. Silicon tipped, with small and large versions of those tips also supplied, the earbuds are black, which immediately makes them standout. Also shipping with a a small carry bag, the stems themselves weigh 5.1g each, while AirPods weigh 4g.
PadMate PaMu Quiet ANC earbuds: features
The charging case stores 10.5 hours worth of battery life when fully charged via a USB-C cable, but it’s also Qi-compatible so works with any wireless charging pad. The PaMu Quiet use a Qualcomm QCC5124 chip for audio via Bluetooth 5.0 and an AMS AS3460 chip for active noise cancellation, and in fact this is the first pair of ‘true wireless’ earphones to include both. PadMate claim that the PaMu Quiet reduce ambient noise by up to 40 decibels.
PadMate PaMu Quiet ANC earbuds: performance
If ‘true wireless’ earphones have an achilles heel, it’s battery life – or lack of. The PaMu Quiet don’t exactly disappoint in this regard, though at 9 hours they didn’t last for quite as long as TravGear had hoped. What we did love, however, is both sound quality and usability. On the former, the PaMu Quiet produce a surprisingly bassy sound, with both voice and music endowed with lots of low-frequency boom. That was unexpected, and though the rest of the soundstage isn’t quite as lively, the PaMu Quiet certainly have lots of presence. Meanwhile, its noise cancellation feature does a great job; on a recent flight TravGear was easily able to get some work done by successfully blocking-out the aircraft’s engine hum. The stems on the PaMu Quiet are touch-sensitive, with various gestures (tap, double-tap, tap and hold, etc.) controlling various functions.
PadMate PaMu Quiet ANC earbuds: conclusion
A relatively short battery life aside, the PaMu Quiet are an impressively good value pair of ‘true wireless’ earphones that deliver on their promise. Are they the best true wireless earbuds around? Probably not, but with a nice pocket watch design and a low price, they will impress anyone after a cable-free experience and plenty of bass.
Price as reviewed: US$89
