introduction
Acefast isn’t a name you hear often in the wireless earbud market, but its latest TWS earbuds offer a flashy, transparent design, an LED display on the case, and six bold color options that really caught our eye. The Acefast Crystal (2) T8 earphones are under review and we will take a detailed look at what they offer.
Acefast T8 definitely stands out in terms of design and offers some bundled accessories. They feature Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, 10mm drivers, and support SBS and AAC audio codecs. Battery life is rated up to 30 hours of use with the charging case, and the whole package is IPX4 splash resistant. Let’s see how these earphones stack up against the competition and whether they deserve a place in your pocket and in your ears.
Project
Purple, pink, blue, green, black and white – these are the six colors on offer for the Acefast T8, and they all feature clear tips that expose the insides of the buds and their charging case. The charging case also has a seven-segment LED display that shows the percentage of battery remaining on the case and each earbud.
There’s clear inspiration from Nothing Ear (1) who brought the transparent earbud design to life last year, although you can actually see more of the motherboard on the Acefast T8’s charging case. The buds attach via magnets to the sides of the case, which is also seen on previous Acefast headsets and is definitely a way to stand out from the crowd.
There are no buttons on the case itself and all controls are on the buds instead. The earbuds stay in place when placed in the case, and I haven’t had any issues with them falling out. The in-ear fit is good provided you select the appropriate size of silicone tip.
The unboxing experience and accessories provided here are a step up from regular wireless earbuds. The box features a clear plastic piece that lifts to reveal three compartments containing a silicone gel sleeve for the color-matched charging case, a lanyard strap, a USB-C charging cable, and three pairs of earphones. extra silicone ear tips housed in a plastic container.
Each gem weighs 5.5 grams while the case comes in at 47 grams. The earbuds aren’t the lightest we’ve tested, although they feel good in your ears even after hours of use. The case isn’t that compact and barely fits in the coin pocket of your jeans, but it slips easily into other larger pockets even with the bundled silicone case.
Characteristics
Going beyond their translucent design, the Acefast T8 offers a rather limited feature set. There’s no hi-res audio support here, and you’re left with the legacy SBC and AAC audio codecs. The buds support the latest Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity standard with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) transmission via the BES 2600 IHC Bluetooth chip. Sadly, there’s no active noise cancellation (ANC) with the dual microphones on each earbud offering only ENC call noise cancellation.
Multipoint pairing is another major absence on the Acefast T8, and there’s no smartphone app for fine-tuning audio profiles or receiving firmware updates. The buds also omit wear detection for pausing and resuming media playback, which is a standard feature even on budget earphones today.
Acefast T8 features 10mm drivers with aluminum voice coil and 6mm dome tweeter. The earphones use a Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) antenna design that molds the antenna transmitter to a plastic strip near the bottom of the earphone stem. LDS is advertised to bring stable signal transmission and better anti-interference.
The LED display on the case is a nice touch and is definitely one of the coolest features the T8s have going for them. The display turns on for a few seconds when you remove the earphones from the case and again when you plug them in. This is really handy as you have instant access to your buds and case battery status without having to dig into the Bluetooth settings on your paired device. The LED display has a white color for battery status while the underside has a yellow hue that illuminates the bits around the exposed portion of the motherboard.
We love the design approach even though we think Acefast could have added a physical button that lets you turn on the display and check battery levels without having to pop the earbuds out of the case every time.
The buds offer touch controls for play/pause, volume controls, call management, and summoning your device’s digital assistant. The touch controls are all done at the top of the buds and work well enough although the volume controls didn’t always work on the first try. There’s no way to remap touch controls, which is a shame.
Performance and sound quality
After playing some audio content, you will notice that the bass output is pronounced while the bass and mids are slightly muted. The high mid range sounds like the vocals sound good. Acefast T8 can get very loud which is an added bonus. The audio profile is flat and an equalizer tuning option could potentially improve their audio output, although at the time of this review there is no such feature.
I did notice a slight static noise on the Acefast T8 after pairing them to my devices, albeit mostly when listening to podcasts and audiobooks in a quiet environment. Granted this issue hasn’t been replicated with some of my colleagues who have tried the buds at the office and they probably won’t bother you on your daily commute or at the gym.
Connectivity performance was perfect with no interruptions in testing on iPhones, Android tablets, and laptops. Moving on to calls, voice response is below par with people on the other line reporting that my voice sounds muffled on calls. Latency is on par with other wireless earbuds we’ve reviewed with no noticeable lag between video and audio.
Battery life
The Acefast T8 is advertised to last up to 7 hours of continuous music playback at 70% volume and 4 hours of calls, while the charging case extends the total listening time to 30 hours – that’s ample endurance for a pair of earphones. wireless and more than most competitors . Each earbud holds a 45mAh battery, while the case holds a 480mAh charge.
I found the earbuds to last between 6 and 7 hours on a single charge during my trial period, which is in line with Acefast’s claimed values. A full 0-100% charge takes around 90 minutes, while a 10-minute quick charge gives you 2 hours of use. There’s no wireless charging, so you’ll need to find a power outlet and plug in a USB-C cable for top-ups.
Verdict
Acefast T8 earbuds offer a unique transparent design with smart features like magnetic storage inside the case and a large LED battery indicator screen. Battery life is stellar, offering up to 30 hours with the charging case. Audio quality is average, and there’s no ANC or support for any of the high bitrate codecs. That wouldn’t be a problem for an entry-level pair of earphones, but the Acefast T8 currently retails for $100, which puts them in a tough space considering the fierce competition in the TWS market.
The T8s are exclusive to the Acefast online store for now, though the T6 series is an indication they should appear on Amazon soon enough. However, we’d wait for a steep discount before pulling the purchase trigger.
We have to give credit to the design team at Acefast for creating one of the best looking headsets on the market. The six color options offered on the Acefast T8 all look great and we’re excited to see what future iterations of the range will bring to the table. We can only wish for a richer feature set with support for Hi-Res Audio and more control over the audio equalizer.
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