For casual listening and workouts, a pair of true wireless earbuds will do the job just fine without compromising on sound whilst liberating you from the shackles of wired earphones. The Edifier TWS1 are a good choice and worth considering because of their budget price point without compromising on quality.
Being true wireless, the Edifier TWS1 earbuds are recharged while they are inside the charging case, which also has an internal rechargeable battery that gets recharged at the same time as the earbuds do. During charging, the TWS1 charging case charges the earbuds at 5V/0.06A, taking 1.5 hours to fully charge.
The charging case recharges via micro usb connection at 5V/0.5A , which is as fast as charging via the usb 2.0 port of a computer. The earbuds feature a status led that lights blue and red to show pairing status. While listening to audio, the led does not flash, which is nice and also extends battery life.
Like most true wireless earphones, the Edifier TWS1 feature a single multi-functional button on each earpiece to control the audio playback, including skipping tracks forwards and backwards, play and pause. The Edifier TWS1 also integrate call functionality, which is also controlled via the same multi-functional buttons so, you can answer, decline and end a call.
Audio and calls are controlled from either earpiece button, which is different to the setup of other true wireless earbuds where audio and call functionality is controlled separately so, skipping forwards is controlled with the right earbud and skipping backward is controlled via the left earbud. With the Edifier TWS1 earbuds, skipping forward and backward is controlled via the same button via a series of taps.
The multi-functional buttons are touch sensitive, which on earbuds makes more sense than physical, clicky buttons because tapping on a button is easier than pressing a button, particularly when the physical button has strong resistance, forcing you to, literary, push the earbud into the ear-canal.
The downside to touch controls though, can be if they aren't very responsive but that isn't an issue with the TWS1 earbuds, which have responsive touch controls. Another convenient feature you get with the TWS1 earbuds is automatic power on and power off when putting the earbuds in the charging case and when taking the earbuds out of the charging case.
The charging case is made of the same material the earbuds are made of and that is hard plastic with a high gloss white finish, which hides the oil smudges of fingerprints. The Edifier logo is engraved on the top of the charging case lid, while the charging status led is hidden on the front of the case.
The charging case lid is easy to open and it closes shut magnetically, while the docking area is also magnetized, which prevents the earbuds from falling out of the case. The charging case measures 5.5 cm long, 3 cm thick and 4 cm tall, and weighs 30 grams. The earbuds weigh 4.5 grams each so, a total of 9 grams between the two earbuds - similar in weight to the TWS1 Pro 2
Pairing the TWS1 earbuds is super easy as one earbud connects to the other one before connecting to the bluetooth audio device (i.e. smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc). The Edifier TWS1 earbuds integrate bluetooth 5.0 and support the aptX codec, which means better audio quality (and no lag) as long as the device they are connected to supports aptX.
If your phone or tablet doesn't support aptX or bluetooth 5.0, the TWS1 earbuds will still work. It's just that you won't benefit from more stable bluetooth transmission and the better battery life you get when bluetooth 5.0 earbuds are connected to matching bluetooth 5.0 devices. You can get up to 7.5 hours on 50% volume from a single charge with an additional 24 hours from the charging case.
As far as sound and audio quality, the Edifier TWS1 are high sensitivity (98dB) so, maximum volume can go up reasonably loud. With other true wireless earbuds, their maximum volume is fairly low because of their low sensitivity, which is, definitely, an issue when you need to crank up the volume to drown the background noise.
With the Edifier TWS1, you won't have this issue; hence they're perfect to use on airplanes, train/bus commutes and the gym since they have an ipx5 rating and, well balanced sound with good bass and adequate treble.
Speaking of background noise, the TWS1 integrate a noise cancelling microphone on each earbud, which not only means stereo calling but also the ability to use the earbuds individually as single, mono bluetooth earpieces. Because of dual mics, the microphone amplification and clarity are good.
Included with the Edifier TWS1 earphones, you also get a short micro USB cable, different size silicone eartips and a user manual. A 1 year warranty is also included with the earbuds, which you can register online.