After the Shots X1 AIR launch rencently, Noise launched the Shots X1 AIR, the company’s latest wireless earbuds. It is compact, features Bluetooth 5.0 with support for aptX, has touch controls and promises over 4 hours of playback. After using it for over a week, here is the review of the Bluetooth headset.
Box Contents
- Noise Shots X-Buds in Matte Black color
- Different set of ear tips (Small, Medium and Large)
- Micro USB Cable
- Quick start guide
Design and Build Quality
Starting with the design, the Noise Shots X-Buds has a familiar design that we had seen in Apple AirPods and other headsets. Total weight of the case with the earbuds are about 50 grams, and the earbuds weigh about 6 or 7 grams. Even the headset it is made of plastic, it looks good and has matte finish, however the quality of the case could have been better even though it offers the same matte finish. The earbuds have LED lights that glow in blue, red and white colors, while the light on the case glows only in white.
There are touch controls on both the earbuds that lets you play or pause music, go to previous or next song, control volume, launch voice assistant and also accept or reject calls. These controls are a bit different from Noise Shots X1. Check them out below.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play/Pause | Double tap | |
| Previous Song | Triple tap | |
| Next Song | Triple tap | |
| Volume+ | Single tap | |
| Volume- | Single tap | |
| Voice Assistant | Touch and hold | |
| Answer call | Single tap | |
| Reject call | Touch and hold for 2 seconds | |
| End call | Double tap | |
| Mute on call | Touch and hold for 4 seconds | |
Thanks to the angled tips, these fit your ears firmly and doesn’t fall off easily during workouts or even when running. I have been using this for my runs without any issues. Since it comes with IPX5 ratings, it can withstand sweat and light rain.
Audio Quality
Coming to the audio quality, these earbuds offers fairly good audio quality with decent amount of bass with the custom drivers. It has support for high quality AAC audio codec, so once you enable this in the Bluetooth settings, audio quality is slightly better. Volume control on the headset is different from the phone, so even when you keep the headset volume to full using phone, you can still increase or decrease the volume using the headset’s touch controls, just by swiping. This was a bit confusing at the beginning since I felt the headset volume was very low, but later found it very loud after adjusting them on the headset. The earbuds offer good amount of noise isolation as well, and it is not too tight for your ears. You can choose the correct set of ear tips to fit your ears. We did not face any latency issues during music or video playback most times. Overall the audio quality is better than expected in most conditions.
The headset has a tiny microphone which is decent in most cases, but sometime it struggles to pick up your voice clearly for calls, especially in crowded and noisy environment. This is common most Bluetooth headsets in the price range, since the tiny microphone doesn’t catch your voice clearly.
Connectivity, Pairing and AI assistant
The Bluetooth headset supports Bluetooth 5.0 and also supports Qualcomm aptX audio for HD audio experience. You need to enable this from the Bluetooth settings in some phones for the best audio experience. It powers on and pairs to your phone quickly when you remove them from the case, and the LED lights blink blue once it pairs. Left earphone automatically connects to right earphone, and you hear ‘TWS connected’. You just have to select the Shots X-Buds from the Bluetooth menu on the phone to pair the headphones. You get voice feedback when it enters pairing mode and when it connects successfully.
Since there is no power button on the headset, you need to place and remove them from the case to connect them again. This doesn’t have multi point support, so you can’t connect the earbuds to two devices at a time. It is compatible with Android, iOS devices along with MP3 players with Bluetooth support. The headset doesn’t have a companion app, but you can launch Siri on iOS and Google Assistant on Android devices when you touch and hold any of the earbuds for 4 seconds when no music is playing.
Battery Life
The company promises about 4 hours of battery life, and we managed to get about 3 and half to 4 hours of battery life on a single charge, which is good. The headset automatically turns off when it’s not in use and doesn’t have a power off button. The case has 650mAh battery that promises 3 more charges or additional 12 hours of battery life, so you get a total 16 hours of battery life. If you have Android phones running Android 8.1 or later, you can see battery life of the Bluetooth headset. It gives audio prompts to charge the headset every 30 seconds when the headset has 5 minutes battery life remaining, and the LED indicators light up in red.
Charging the case from 0 to 100% takes about 2 hours using micro USB port. The LED light on the case lights up in white when it is charging and stops glowing when it’s full.
Conclusion
Overall, the Noise Shots X-Buds is a decent mid-range true wireless headset at a price tag of Rs. 3999. It has a compact design, comes with Qualcomm aptX audio, has IPX5 certification and offers decent battery life without the case. Even though there are touch controls, you can’t turn the headset on or off without the case, and the microphone could have been better. It will be available Flipkart and gonoise.com, but it is currently out of stock.