Soundpeats PearlClip Pro Open Earbuds Review – Talk About Mudflaps, My Girl’s Got ‘Em
The Soundpeats PearlClip Pro Open Earbuds were provided free and unsolicited by the company for my review – and I thank them for that. You can get them on amazon.com [not yet released].
My role model for music critics is Hesh, the old record label guy from The Sopranos, who upon hearing the mediocre bar band that Adriana is promoting tells her “there’s good and there’s not good. And this is not good.”
Despite their apparent unavailability anywhere in the Western hemisphere, the $30-on-Aliexpress PearlClip Pro are, to use Hesh’s parlance, good. Utilizing the same ring-style form as house favorite Tozo Open Earring (2 reviews here), the PearClip Pro have slightly larger earpieces and, at least for my ear anatomy, aren’t quite as stable, although overall comfort is great.
Volume of the PearlClip Pro is good by earclip standards, although a touch more would have been ideal. Note that the control and battery units of each bud look identical, which make it easy to confuse which side goes in your ear. Build is more premium than the plastic Tozo; there’s a hard-to-navigate but useful app w/custom EQ which, unfortunately, requires registration to use. Hate that. The manual is wholly illegible—I’m convinced that some manufacturers seek to torture buyers for some perceived cultural slight.
OOTB, the Pearlclip surprise with a rich-textured, warm and bassy sound that, for lack of a better description, sounds more like an open-back headphone than any open ear bud I’ve heard. Unlike the lean-but-tight low end of the Tozo, the Pro’s is thumpy, voluminous and billowy, albeit in a musical way; decay is slow but it avoids smearing and bleeding into the higher frequencies.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Driver | 12mm Dual-Magnet Driver & dynamic EQ |
| Frequency Response | 20-20,000 Hz |
| Chip | BT8932D |
| Bluetooth Version | 5.4 |
| Supported Bluetooth Profiles | HFP/A2DP/AVRCP |
| Supported Bluetooth Codecs | AAC/ SBC |
| Mutipoint Connection | Yes |
| Battery Capacity | Earbuds: 35 mAh*2; Charging Case: 350 mAh |
| Total Music Play Time at 60% Volume (BT AAC connection & all other features turned off) | 6Hrs Playtime + 18Hrs with Charging Case |
| Charge Time | Earbuds: 0.53 h (Supporting Quick Charge) Charging Case: 1.77 h |
| Charging Case Charging Time | 3.2 h |
| Charging Input | 5 V/0.1 A (Earbuds), 5 V/0.5 A (Charging Case) |
| Charging Port | USB-C |
| Total Standby Time | 50 h |
| Auto-Turn Off Function When Disconnected | 3 min |
| Game Mode | Yes |
| PeatsAudio App (Google Play, App Store) | Customizable Touch Controls And EQ Settings |
| Water Resistance | IPX5 |
| Net Weight | Single Earbud: 6.1g Earbuds+Charging Case: 47.34g |
| Other | Automatic Left/Right Channel Adaptation with Charging Case |
U-shaped; mids are slightly behind the rest; high end lacks the resolution and crystal clarity of the Tozo or the similarly-positioned Sanag (review here), but is nonetheless sufficiently detailed, with some sparkle. Drums and cymbals are well-produced, even if they lack the ultimate snap and crispness.
Where these trail good open ears like Oldadance and Baseus is in the soundstage, which is intimate and narrow; performers are fairly well separated but located somewhat near center. This works well for straight guitar rock and less well for more expansive arrangements. Timbre is smooth and quite natural-sounding—there’s no harshness or fatigue—and presentation is immersive despite the limited stage.
I cannot categorically state that the Pearlclip are better than the Tozo Earring, which are more revealing and have an innate musicality. However, the Pearlclip have that unexpectedly big bottom and really do transcend most of the limitations of this design. That they do so for thirty bucks is pretty special.
Recommended.
