BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 True Wireless Earbuds Review

The BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 is part of a budget-friendly line of true wireless earbuds, focusing towards delivering a decent sound and a comfortable wearing experience, while completely removing the hassle of dealing with cables.

If you’re unfamiliar with what true wireless earbuds are, well, they’re the next step from the ‘regular wireless’ earbuds which had a cable running from one earpiece to the other and kept the Bluetooth antenna outside the earbuds (along the cable); the true wireless earbuds strip that cable completely and move the Bluetooth antenna within the earpieces themselves which does make them bigger therefore challenging the manufacturers to come up with the right shape and weight, so the user doesn’t experience any discomfort. The first true wireless earbuds come from Apple, but lately, the market has been flooded with various devices in every price bracket, the BlitzWolf aiming towards the entry-level segment.

Despite what its name may suggest, the BW-FYE3 is not the third entry from the manufacturer and it’s actually the successor to the BlitzWolf BW-FYE4 earbuds and, while the two devices do share some similar elements, the new BW-FYE3 feels better designed and the main highlight feature is the implementation of touch-sensitive buttons (so you don’t have to push the earbuds in your ear canal anymore every time you want to pause a song). I have already tested the BlitzWolf BW-FYE1 and it delivered a surprisingly satisfying experience considering the price tag, so let’s have a look at what the BW-FYE3 has to offer.

Built Quality and Design
Almost every BlitzWolf earbuds have tried a different design approach, but there are some clear similarities between it and its predecessor, the BW-FYE4, both featuring a cylindrical-shaped main body and an elongated plastic portion which ends with the silicone tips that get inserted inside the ear. The BW-FYE1 also had a plastic case, but the shape felt more natural and the soft top flaps did help a lot with keeping the device into the ears, while I had some trouble getting the BW-FYE3 in the right position.

But, after a few tries (with different silicone tips), I did get the hang of it and, surprisingly both earbuds stayed in place regardless of the type of head movement (something that neither the BW-FYE1, nor the xFyro xS2 could fully accomplish). Still, I do feel like the elongated plastic on the BW-FYE3 could have been a bit shorter because you will be tempted to push the earbuds deep inside the ear canal.
Each of the two BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 earbuds measure 1.02 x 0.78 x 0.98 inches (WxLxH) and weigh approximately 0.15 ounces which is to be expected considering that they have to carry all the necessary hardware inside the small case (each has its own Bluetooth antenna) and, when put next to the BW-FYE4, they do feel more refined in terms of design: the earbuds are covered by a black glossy finish, lacking any physical button, instead featuring a circular touch-sensitive button surrounded by a thin LED ring.

Its functions are similar to the button on the BW-FYE1, so, a light touch (with your full finger tip in the designated area – you don’t have to push) on either earbud will pause/start the song, while a long touch (of at least 2 seconds) on the left earbud will return you to the previous song and a long touch on the right earbud will take you to the next song. In case there’s an incoming call, you can answer it by light touching on the designated area on any earbud or reject the call by long touching the circle area (to hang up the call, just touch the circle area while the call is still ongoing). You can also wake up Siri by double-touching the circle area of any earbud while in stand-by.

If you have ever owned a pair of true wireless earbuds, then you know that you have to carry the charging box everywhere with you (to get a satisfying amount of play time), so the smaller and more compact the case, the better. When I tested the BW-FYE1, it had a small rectangular case which would easily slip in the pocket of my jeans, but, the BW-FYE3 decided to increase the size of the charging box to accommodate a bigger battery which, besides recharging the earbuds multiple times, it can also recharge other devices.The charging case measures 2.91 x 1.88 x 1.33 inches, so it will still fit in larger pockets – while I did find the tubular case of the xFyro xS2 strange, it now does seem like the more compact solution.

The bottom of the case is matte black and the top surface is transparent, allowing you to see the LEDs on the earbuds (the LED will flash green when the battery level is under 35%, it will pass from green to blue alternately when the battery level is from 35 to 75% and will flash blue when the battery level is above 75% – the charging box LED will display the same colors to show you the battery level – a bit less intuitive than the four LEDs of the BW-FYE1’s charging case).

Similarly to the other devices that I tested, the BW-FYE3 earbuds attach themselves magnetically to the case (each has its designated area) – I did like the fact that the charging case from the BW-FYE1 could close magnetically and it’s unfortunate that the manufacturer didn’t keep this feature for the BW-FYE3 as well.

On the front of the charging box, there’s a micro-USB port for charging its internal battery and, next to it, there’s a USB type-A port for recharging any additional device. While the BW-FYE1 was IPX4-rated, the BW-FYE3 earbuds are IPX6 rated which means that they’re protected against powerful water jets, so you can take it with you while it is raining, but you can’t submerge them under water (the manufacturer also advises against using the earbuds while showering).

So, are the BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 earbuds comfortable to wear for longer periods of time? If you put them right, they should feel comfortable for at least a couple of hours and since the earbuds lack a physical button, you won’t irritate your ear canal with constant pushing and readjusting. But, I still find their shape a bit unnatural and I had to take a break after an hour or so of constant use. Furthermore, I wouldn’t wear them while jogging since they may fall off at some point due to the constant movement, but that’s pretty much the case for all true wireless earbuds, unless they come with ear hook silicone tips.

Connectivity and Sound Quality
All BlitzWolf earbuds are equipped with the same chipset, the Airoha AB1526P which is Bluetooth 5.0 dual mode certified (while also supporting wide band speech), so it should offer a good range and more throughput than the last gen Bluetooth (up to 2 Mbps). Additionally, the earbuds use 6mm dynamic drivers which are smaller than the 10mm of the BW-FYE1, but, the size of the drivers doesn’t have an impact on the quality of the sound, instead it will dictate how loud it will get (although I couldn’t really discern a clear difference between the two pairs of earbuds in terms of volume). The pairing process is also the same as on the BW-FYE1: all you have to do is take the earbuds from the charging box (they’ll immediately turn on) and simply pair your mobile device to the left earbud; the right one should automatically pair to the left (I tried the other way around, but the pairing process failed unless I first paired the left earbud).

Once again, I used a Google Pixel 2 XL smartphone and the earbuds would automatically connect using Bluetooth every time I took them out of the box (the BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 is compatible with both iOS and Android devices). You can also only pair one earbud to your mobile device (it will go in mono mode) but, unfortunately, you won’t be able to connect one earbud to a device and the other to another device. If you wish to pair the earbuds to another device, you don’t have to reset them, but simply unpair them from the current smartphone or just turn off the Bluetooth (this way, the earbuds will automatically go into ‘waiting to be paired’ mode – the LED will cycle through blue and green). In terms of range, the BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 works in the same manner as the BW-FYE1 and the xFyro xS2, reaching out to about 30 feet – increasing the distance made the connection unstable.

When I tested the BW-FYE1, I noticed that sometimes the left earpiece would briefly disconnect from the right earpiece and the only way to fix this problem was to put both earbuds in the box and take them out again. Fortunately, the BW-FYE3 remained connected to the smartphone and between each other at all times, so, despite having pretty much the same internal hardware, there does seem to be a difference in implementation between the two pairs of earbuds.

To test the sound quality of the BlitzWolf BW-FYE3, I used the excellent guide from audiocheck.net and followed some of the mentioned steps. This way, I tried to measure the frequency response of the earbuds (specifically its lows, mids and highs reproduction) and the BW-FYE3 offered a slightly better performance than the BW-FYE1, specifically the bass, which was a bit better reproduced. The human ear can hear a sound at a frequency as low as 20Hz and that’s pretty much where the BW-FYE3 stood on the bass frequency test (the BW-FYE1 had a bit of trouble in this department, but I’m sure that the shape of the earbuds and the insertion level do make a difference). While running the treble extension test, I could hear up to 17 kHz, so it’s the same as with the BW-FYE1 (nothing extraordinary, but enough for most users). Next, I ran the sound clarity test and the performance was decent for most part, but I could occasionally hear a buzz while the sound went through different bass frequencies.

The driver matching test uncovered an interesting result, because the sound wasn’t perfectly centered (a bit to the left), but once again, it is heavily dependent on the insertion level (I did try to keep them as balanced as possible). The BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 earbuds don’t have any active noise canceling and that’s to be expected considering the price tag, but they do a really good job at isolating the background noise (it did decently well even with muffling the airplane engines).

Each of the two earpieces has its own built-in microphone which means that regardless if you use both or only a single earbud, you will be able to respond to calls. As with the BW-FYE1, I could hear the person on the other side reasonably clear (once again, the sound was a bit muted), but the background sound would amplify if nobody would say anything. From the other side, the other person could hear me relatively well and I could keep a conversation even if I was in a crowded area.

The manufacturer claims that the earbuds can deliver between 2 hours and 2 hours and a half of play time and this is pretty much accurate (I got about 2 hours and 15 minutes while playing music at 70% volume); each earbud is equipped with a 40mAh battery (a step down from the 50mAh of the BW-FYE4). The charging box features a 26000mAh battery which means that you can recharge the earbuds about 20 more times (the earbuds will take about an hour to fully recharge) and you can also recharge the battery of your mobile device.

Conclusion
Similarly to the other earbuds from the series, the BlitzWolf BW-FYE3 focuses towards the budget-conscious people that want to try the new true wireless technology, but don’t care for the highest sound fidelity. Still, despite being an entry-level pair of earbuds, the sound reproduction is actually surprisingly decent (the improved bass was a nice surprise) and the larger battery from the charging case is a welcomed addition. Furthermore, the decision to replace the button with the touch-sensitive area (along with the flashy LED) was a good idea since it removes the ear canal irritation that you would get from pushing the earbuds to activate various functions. Still, I am not really a fan of the shape of the BW-FYE3 since it doesn’t feel intuitive and it may actually end up irritating the ear canal due to constant adjustment until finding the right position, but that may be just my case.