Affordable Open-Ear Wireless Earbuds With Too Many Compromises

Open-ear earbuds help you hear traffic and other surrounding noises, which is great for runners and cyclists. The Baseus Eli Sport 1 Open-Ear earbuds provide that awareness, along with an IPX4-water rating and have solid battery life, but they leave a lot to be desired.

Bulky Design, But A Surprisingly Comfortable Fit

Unlike traditional earbuds which sit just inside your ear canal, open-ear designs sit just outside. This has a few advantages, like hearing your surroundings more easily, but they can also be more comfortable for people who don’t like the feeling of something in their ear.

The quick-start guide shows you how to place the ear hooks over your ears, and while this may take a little getting used to, it quickly becomes second nature. In addition to the over-ear hooks, there is a counterweight to help them sit more comfortably. This can also connect to the optional included tether that sits behind your neck, giving you a backup if they fall off your ears.

Over-ear earbuds are typically larger than your standard true wireless earbuds, mainly due to the hook that goes over your ear. Even with that in mind, the Baseus Eli Sport 1 earbuds are bulky, with a much larger body than most other earbuds. This extends to the case, which needs to be larger to hold the earbuds.

As the “Sport” in the name implies, these are meant to be used while on a run, bike ride, or at the gym. To that end, these are IPX4 sweat and water-resistant to help withstand workouts. In an unusual touch, they also glow in the dark, which may help make them easier to find if you lose track of them.

Bring The Bass, Forget About the Rest

While the large size of the Eli Sport 1 earbuds may not look especially great, it does have its advantages. For example, while many earbuds use 10mm or smaller drivers, this model packs a 16mm driver, and that larger size gives them an easier time reproducing bass.

Even on default settings, the bass is very present, and that’s before you enable the low-frequency enhancement feature. The earbuds connect via Bluetooth 5.3, and they feature support for multipoint Bluetooth, letting them easily connect and switch between multiple devices.

Listening to “Robot Stop” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, I was surprised by the amount of bass on the default EQ setting, with low-frequency enhancement turned off. That said, the sound was noticeably muddy in the midrange. Hi-hats and other higher-frequency sounds had an unpleasant sizzle to them. Switching to the “HiFi” EQ preset helped this somewhat, but thinned out the bass.

Listening to Dr. Octagon’s “Earth People,” the low-frequency enhancement boosted the droning bass line without getting in the way of the vocals. However, as more instrumentation came in, it made it slightly harder to hear the actual notes. This is something I’ve noticed in other earbuds’ bass boost modes, but here it was especially apparent.

Baseus talks up the Eli Sport 1’s noise-canceling microphone array for voice calls, but I wasn’t impressed with it. Even in a quiet room, the call quality was poor sounding, and taking things outdoors didn’t do the microphone array any favors.

Basic Software With Customizable Controls

Unlike the apps for some other similarly priced earbuds, the Baseup app, which is available for iPhone as well as Android, is on the bare-bones side.

The main reason for using the app is the EQ settings. You get 12 different EQ presets, with some being meant for genres of music like jazz or pop, while others have more nebulous names and purposes. If none of these work for you, don’t worry, as the app also supports custom EQ curves.

Beyond the EQ is the low-frequency enhancement setting, which does exactly what it says it does. Somewhat strangely, enabling this disables all other EQ features. There is another toggle in the app for low latency, which works better for gaming and video but wasn’t especially noticeable to me.

Finally, you can adjust the controls in the app, letting you choose what a tap or a press and hold on either earpiece does.

Larger Size Makes for More Battery Life

One benefit of the overall larger size of the Eli Sport 1 is that there is much more room for batteries. Each earbud has a 65mAh battery built into it, compared to roughly 45mAh in the Apple AirPods Pro, for example. The charging case features a 600mAh battery, capable of charging the earbuds around four times.

Baseus claims the Eli Sport 1 offer up to 7.5 hours of music time or seven hours of call time. With the charging case, this gives you a total battery life of roughly 30 hours before you need to recharge the case.

That shouldn’t take long, as the case charges in around an hour via the USB-C port. As you might expect for the price and the slightly oversized nature of the case, there is no wireless charging support.

Pricing and Availability

The Baseus Eli Sport 1 are available in the Aurora Green color that I received for review, as well as Stellar White and Cosmic Black. They retail for $110, though even as I write this review, you can easily find them selling for less than half that price, at least in certain color options.

If you’re looking for better sound quality, you’ll find most open-ear options like the Anker Soundcore AeroFit Pro are pricier. There are more comparable alternatives like the Soundpeats GoFree 2, but they have similar issues to the Eli Sport 1.

Should You Buy the Baseus Eli Sport 1 Earbuds?

Though they take some getting used to, the fit of the Baseus Eli Sport 1 Open-Ear is surprisingly comfortable, and this style of earbuds is perfect for people who find traditional buds uncomfortable. The optional behind-the-neck cord may have you thinking of older wireless earbuds, but for fitness, it can be very handy, especially if you’re taking these with you on the go.

These are bulky, there is no getting around that. Even compared to other open-ear earbuds, these are much larger than what most people have come to expect from wireless earbuds. The case will likely fit in your pocket, but it’s still much larger than most of the competition.

If what you’re looking for in earbuds has more to do with practicality than style or sound quality, the Eli Sport 1 earbuds may be the right choice for you. On the other hand, if sound or call quality is paramount, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

Baseus Eli Sport 1 Open-Ear Wireless Earbuds

The Baseus Eli Sport 1 Open-Ear TWS earbuds are a decent affordable option for taking on a run, a bike ride, or bringing to the gym, especially for the price.