Preface
Having reviewed Sudio’s first true wireless Sudio Nivå model previously, we were excited to check out Sudio’s second true wireless earphones – the Sudio Tolv.
Note:
- The models used in this review are the Sudio Tolv Black and White models.
- The earphone was tested on the Huawei P30 Pro, Mate 20 Pro, P20 Pro, Samsung S9+, Apple iPad Pro 9.7, Apple iPhone XS Max, XS, X, 6s and Ulephone S7 Plus.
- The photos sequence in this review is usually in the following sequence:
- Black Tolv
- White Tolv
- Black & White Tolv
Click HERE to skip to & see the exclusive 15% discount code for all Sudio earphone models!
Packaging & First Impressions
This is what the earphone will come with as shown below.
- Shipping packaging has recently been revamped and feature a more stylish presentation.
- Sudio Sphere was recently launched and now features an extended warranty of 18 months (up from 12 months) for customers who register their purchased Sudio products.
- Earphone’s box packaging looks attractive and has a premium feel to it.
- The earphone case (doubles up as its charging case) is rather sturdy (does not flex) when pressed and should withstand day-to-day abuse without issue.
- The attached (waxed lace- style) lanyard is able to support the full weight of the case and should hold up to the test of time.
- The magnetic closure of the case ensures that the case remains closed during transport.
- The earphone feels lightweight and does not protrude much when worn.
- The Left & Right earphones are clearly marked.
- Automatic subsequent pairings between the earbuds and connected device (lifting the earbuds from the case will automatically switch ON the earbuds).
- Usage of graphene driver for improved sound quality.
Shipping Packaging:
Sudio Sphere:
Front:
Back:
Sides:
Top:
Bottom:
Box Contents:
Quick Overview (Manufacturer Specifications)
- Earbuds Weight: 9g
- Battery
- Usage Time per charge: 7h
- Capacity: 50mAh each
- Earbuds Charging Duration
- Quick Charge: 10min
- Full Charge: 1h 30min
- Charging Case
- Provides 4 Full Charge for Earbuds (35h combined play time)
- Full Charge: Not Specified
- Capacity: 500mAh
- Microphone: Yes, Built-in mic on LEFT & RIGHT Earbuds
- Bluetooth: 5.0
- Bluetooth Range: 15m
- Driver: Graphene
- Sensitivity: 93 dB SPL/mW
- Impedance: 32 Ohm/mW
- Frequency Response: 18 Hz – 22 kHz
- Accessories Included:
- 3*Ear Tips (Different Size)
- 1*Micro-USB Cable
- 1*Carry Charging Case with Lanyard
- MSRP: $129 (S$189) – Click HERE to see our exclusive 15% discount code (price includes express shipping)
- Comes with 1 year International Warranty (register on Sudio Sphere to get the extended 18 months warranty)
- Colors Available
- Black
- White
- Green
- Pink
- Pastel Blue (Limited Edition Color)
UI (User Interface)
Both LEFT and RIGHT earbuds for the Sudio Tolv has a button that makes the operation process rather straightforward.
First Connection/Pairing
The following instructions would guide you through the simple process to connect the Sudio Tolv to a Bluetooth-compatible device for the first time.
- Switch ON Bluetooth on Bluetooth-compatible device (phone, tablet, computer or etc.).
- Lift earbuds from case, earbuds will automatically switch ON and go into pairing mode.
- Select the name of the earphone (Sudio Tolv) on the Bluetooth-compatible device to connect.
- The earphone is now connected to the Bluetooth-compatible device & all audio/phone call will now play on the earphone directly.
- Switch OFF Earphone:
- HOLD either LEFT or RIGHT earbud’s button till the RED indicator blinks. If you are still wearing the earphone when switching OFF, a chime will be heard followed by “Power Off”.
- Alternatively, place both LEFT and RIGHT earbuds back into the carry charging case and the earphones will automatically switch OFF.
Subsequent Connection/Pairing
The following instruction would guide you through the simple process to connect the Sudio Tolv to the Bluetooth-compatible device after the first pairing.
- Switch ON Bluetooth on Bluetooth-compatible device.
- Lift earbuds from case, earbuds will automatically switch ON and go into pairing mode. If you are wearing the earphone, the earbuds will sound out “Left Channel” and “Right Channel”.
- The earphone should connect with the Bluetooth-compatible device almost immediately. If you are wearing the earphone, a chime will be heard followed by “Device Connected” on the Right Earbud.
- If Step 3 does not occur, manually tap to connect on the device’s Bluetooth menu.
- The earphone is now connected to the Bluetooth-compatible device & all audio/phone call will now play on the earphone directly.
- Switch OFF Earphone:
- HOLD either LEFT or RIGHT earbud’s button till the RED indicator blinks. If you are still wearing the earphone when switching OFF, a chime will be heard followed by “Power Off”.
- Alternatively, place both LEFT and RIGHT earbuds back into the carry charging case and the earphones will automatically switch OFF.
Normal Operation
The following instruction would guide you through the simple process of operating the Sudio Tolv after being paired to the Bluetooth-compatible device.
Play/Pause OR Accept/End Calls
- Play: Press the LEFT or RIGHT earbud’s button once.
- Pause: Press the LEFT or RIGHT earbud’s button once.
- Accept Calls: Press the RIGHT earbud’s button once.
- End Calls: Press the RIGHT earbud’s button once.
- Reject Calls: Hold the RIGHT earbud’s button for ~2 secs.
Volume Up/Down
- No option available to increase Volume Up or Down (use Bluetooth-compatible device to adjust manually).
Previous/Next Track
- Next Track: Press 2 times the RIGHT earbud’s button.
- Previous Track: Press 2 times the LEFT earbud’s button.
- If the current track is already playing for a few seconds or more, pressing 2 times of the LEFT earbud’s Button will restart the same track only.
- Immediately press 2 times the LEFT earbud’s button again, to get to Previous Track.
Factory Reset
Occasionally, the LEFT and RIGHT earbuds may refuse to sync/pair with the Bluetooth-compatible device and allowing to sync either the LEFT or RIGHT earbuds only.
The fastest solution would be to carry out the following Factory Reset instructions:
- Switch OFF both earbuds by holding the button on the back for at least ~6 seconds.
- Switch ON & HOLD both earbuds’ buttons on the back for at least ~13 seconds (till the earbuds’ lights stop flashing).
- Place both earbuds back in the Case and wait for at least ~10 seconds.
- The earbuds should be able to sync/pair without any issue. If not, repeat steps 1 to 3 again but carry them out with a slightly longer duration for each of the steps.
Connectivity
The Sudio Tolv uses the Bluetooth 5.0 version. Interestingly, Sudio did not bring over the aptX codex they had in their Tre Black & Vasa Blå models in this second true wireless earphone still.
After the first pairing/connection, the earphone would connect to the Bluetooth-compatible device almost instantly through our tests.
No disconnection occurred when placing the Bluetooth-compatible device in the pocket or bag. However, there were 3 separate instances that a split second drop out in the left earbud occurred but it has never occurred again despite our extended tests (probably some fluke interference with nearby Wi-Fi radio signals).
The claimed Bluetooth range is 15m and the earphone is still connected to the Bluetooth-compatible devices up to the ~13m mark, beyond that the earphone will suffer from intermittent drop outs. The earphones will still remain connected even in an adjourning room (separated by a concrete wall), although this decreases the Bluetooth range to about half. There is a noticeable improvement in range with the Bluetooth 5.0 used.
Note: For those using Huawei phones, on certain models such as the Mate 20 Pro and P20 Pro, we found that both our review samples had noticeably lower sound as compared to the Huawei P30 Pro and other phone models from Samsung and Apple. This is probably due to some software glitches on the phones’ parts and will probably be solved with subsequent software updates. This may or may not occur for your usage but we felt a proper disclaimer is necessary for this instance.
Wearing Comfort/Form Factor
The design of the Tolv is great for those looking for a true wireless earphone option.
When worn, the Tolv does protrude from the ears slightly. With the correct-sized ear tips fitted, the earbuds held sturdily even when doing more vigorous activity (eg jogging/running); at no time did the earbuds feel like it was about to fall off.
Comfort-wise, the earphone felt comfortable in almost every position when worn. We had no issues wearing the earbuds for ~5 hours on one sitting and experienced no discomfort throughout.
Since there is a battery pack on both the LEFT and RIGHT earbuds respectively, the earbuds feel well balanced when worn.
The following pictures shows one of our team members wearing the Sudio Tolv model.
Pictures of the Sudio Tolv and the carry charging case can be seen below:
Battery Runtime
There are a lot of factors that affect an earphone’s battery runtime – distance of earphone from Bluetooth-compatible device, Bluetooth-compatible device’s Bluetooth version, volume of audio, genre of music and more. Hence, we try to make as much as the above variables, as constants instead.
Here are the parameters for our unofficial runtime test:
- Bluetooth-compatible device used: Apple iPhone 6S, Airplane Mode activated, all background applications closed
- Distance of Earphone from Bluetooth-compatible device: Placed next to each other
- Bluetooth Version: 4.2
- Music Player used: Apple Music (no Equalizer activated)
- Audio used: Royals by Lorde (in Repeat mode)
- Volume of Audio: ~50%
With the above parameters in place, the earphone lasted a full ~5 minutes longer than the 7 hours claimed by Sudio.
The battery indicator for the earphones changes mostly linearly in 10% intervals. We highly recommend charging the earphones once it hits 20%. While the 20% battery percentage might last fairly long, the drop from 20% to 10% and 10% to 0% will occur rather quickly – leaving the user without any audio.
The battery case is said to contain an additional 4 charges for a total combined play time of 35 hours. However through our tests for both earphones (using the above unofficial run time test repeatedly), we averaged between 28 to 31 hours total combined play time. That said, the 7h play time for the earbuds in itself is a substantial leap in improvement when compared to the Sudio Nivå‘s 3.5h play time.
Sound Quality
There are many components to evaluate an earphone’s sound quality. We do not pretend to be true hardcore audiophiles but we will look into 4 of the more common characteristics that most audiophiles tend to look for. The following unofficial tests are made without an equalizer.
There is a split second audio delay with videos on both earphones – it is not exactly noticeable till you actually look for it. Hence, video editing is definitely not possible with these earphones.
- Soundstage: The soundstage is slightly narrow and is probably due to the adjusted bass but the graphene driver might have something to do with the slightly wider soundstage than the Sudio Nivå.
- Treble: The treble is mildly boosted.
- Mids: The mids is slightly boosted.
- Bass: The bass is fairly boosted and may sound slightly muddy at times.
Overall, the sound quality is fairly good with a little less focus on bass and focusing on overall better sound quality instead – especially when factoring the cost of the earphone.
Microphone Sound Quality
Both earbuds have an in-built microphone and when taking a call, both earbud can be used (sound/voice can be heard on both earbuds). That said, when both earbuds are used, only the RIGHT earbud’s microphone is utilized.
The parties on the other side of the line were able to hear our voices fairly clearly, despite being in a noisier environment.
Battery Indicator
Referring to the first photo below, there are 2 LEDs indicators above the Micro-USB charging port. Both LEDs Indicators will light up after the earbuds are placed back into the Case.
- The LEFT LED Indicator indicates the Case’s current Battery Level with the following colors:
- Solid WHITE (for ~10 secs) — Power is between 70% & 100% (Can fully recharge earbuds 3 to 4 times).
- Flashing WHITE (for ~10 secs) — Power is between 40% & 70% (Can fully recharge earbuds 1 to 2 times).
- Solid RED (for ~10 secs) — Power is between 10% & 40% (Can fully recharge earbuds 0 to 1 time).
- Flashing RED (for ~10 secs) — Power is between 0% & 10% (Case power is almost depleted).
- The RIGHT LED Indicator indicates the earbuds’ charging status with the following colors:
- Solid RED — Earbuds are being charged.
- RED LED is OFF — Earbuds are charged and/or Case power has been depleted (check LEFT LED indicator for Case Battery Level).
The Tolv’s LEFT LED indicator lags behind in comparison to the Sudio Nivå‘s 4 LEDs Indicator but it is probably due to space constraints in the Tolv’s overall smaller case size.
Note: Once the Case Battery Level has been fully depleted, the earbuds will not automatically switch ON to pairing mode when lifted from the Case (even if the Earbuds are fully charged).
Charging Process
With the provided Micro-USB Cables, the carry charging case was charging at ~0.34 to ~0.39A.
The LEFT solid RED indicator depicts charging in progress and LEFT solid WHITE indicator depicts charging has completed.
For charging the earbuds, the blinking BLUE indicator depicts charging in progress and no indicator lit depicts charging has completed.
Waterproofness
As there is no official IP rating for the earphones (rated as sweat-resistant only), they were subjected to being sprinkled with room temperature water (to best mimic light showers and sweat) whilst switched ON.
No signs of water intrusion in the earbuds was seen. Nonetheless, the ear tips have to be removed to dry out the water (the basic post-water maintenance procedures are still required).
Scale Comparison (Ruler)
Summary
To sum up, we believe that the most important part of any review is if given the chance to purchase the same earphone for our own usage or to gift to our loved ones out from one’s pocket (wallet), would we still do it?
For this true wireless earphones, it is a definite YES if the sound quality/signature is what you are looking for.
The increased battery lifespan per charge, sweatproof, lightweight, smaller charging case size, ear comfort when wearing them, overall slightly better sound quality (perhaps the usage of the graphene driver has something to do with it as well), faster charging rate for the charging case, stronger magnetic closure for charging case, automatic switch ON with pairing function and comparatively slight premium over the Sudio Nivå – are all positive points for this earphone.
However, it would be nice if Sudio is able to incorporate aptX with their latest earphones as they did for the Tre Black & Vasa Blå models.
Here is a bonus size comparison of the Sudio Tolv & Sudio Nivå charging cases.
As with all gears, two is one and one is none.
Stay safe,
The Lite Review
Disclaimer: Earphones, tote bag and gift bag were provided for by Sudio (manufacturer) for this review. No other compensation was provided.
Where to Buy Links
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**This discount code should work worldwide and applies for all models in Sudio Sweden range – Contact Us if there is any issues with the discount code.**
Sudio Tolv
Sudio Tolv: Click Here
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Sudio Gift Bag (Add-on)
For an additional $3.99 (S$5), the below Sudio Gift Bag can be purchased to complete the gift package look.
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