When Apple lower the headphone jack from the iPhone, it was straightforward to imagine that dozens of corporations would undertake the Lightning connector for his or her headphones. As a substitute, nevertheless, corporations merely continued doing what they had been doing, leaning slightly extra into wi-fi know-how, and counting on the Lightning to headphone jack adapter for those who needed wired headphones. One firm that’s nonetheless releasing Lightning headphones, nevertheless, is Thore, with the brand new Thore V100 earbuds.
The headphones don’t simply provide a Lightning connector — they’re additionally comparatively low-cost, coming in at solely $30 on Amazon. Do they sacrifice high quality for a low price ticket? We put the Thore V100 headphones to the check to search out out.
Design
The Thore V100 earbuds look positive, however they’re fairly fundamental. On one finish of the cable, there’s a Lightning connector, whereas the earbuds themselves appear to be just about every other earbuds. Half approach down the appropriate cable, there’s a three-button controller that enables for quantity and playback management.
The headphones are available a number of completely different colours, together with black, white, and white with pink accents. We’re reviewing the black model and we discover that they give the impression of being the most effective primarily based on on-line footage.
Within the field, other than the headphones themselves, you’ll get a clamshell carry case and a complete of three pairs of ear ideas, every a unique measurement. We might have appreciated to see different sorts of ear ideas, however most individuals will likely be completely proud of the ear ideas within the field.
Consolation
Due to the truth that the Thore V100 earbuds are wired, they don’t want batteries or Bluetooth chips inside them — and as such, they’re smaller than wi-fi earbuds. That lends itself effectively to consolation. The earbuds match properly in your ears, and by no means felt like they might fall out throughout our use.
We discovered that like every earbuds, the Thore V100 headphones may get slightly uncomfortable after lengthy durations of listening, however for essentially the most half the headphones are snug and straightforward to put on.
Sound
In the end, crucial factor to think about is how the headphones sound — they usually’re not the most effective, although they’re not horrible for headphones on this value vary.
The bass, for starters, is ok, nevertheless it’s slightly muddy. We might have appreciated slightly extra extension within the bass, which might assist make for a extra pure and highly effective sound. The bass that’s there might use a bit extra of a lift too.
The mid vary can be positive, however once more, it’s not good. The low mids are fairly muddy, however they do provide fairly a bit of heat to the general sound. The excessive mids are current sufficient, making certain that vocals and guitars shine properly by a mixture.
The worst factor about these headphones is the excessive finish. The highs want some severe work — and in the event that they sounded higher, these headphones could be infinitely extra definitely worth the cash. There’s little readability to the general sound of the headphones, and the result’s a boring, dynamic-less sound.
Conclusions
The Thore V100 earbuds are decently designed and comfy, however they’re let down by their sound high quality. It’s arduous to count on headphones within the $30 value vary sound good, however not less than slightly higher high-end response could be useful.
Are there higher choices? Effectively, if you need headphones with a Lightning connector, then probably not. If, nevertheless, you’re keen to make use of a Lightning to headphone jack dongle, then we suggest the JBL E15 headphones, which value $10 extra.
Nonetheless, contemplating their good match and respectable design, we’re awarding the Thore V100 headphones the Headphone Evaluate Bronze Medal.
| Retailer | Value |
|---|---|
 |
$30 |
| Frequency response | 20Hz – 20kHz | Energetic noise cancellation |
No |
| Driver measurement | 8mm | Noise attenuation | Unknown |
| Driver kind |
Dynamic | Inline controls | Sure |
| Design |
Closed | Microphone | Sure |
| Sensitivity | 95dB | Eartip materials | Gel |
| Rated impedance |
16Ω | Magnet materials | Unknown |
| Complete harmonic distortion |
Unknown | Water resistance | No |
| Rated enter energy |
Unknown | Battery life | N/A |
| Most enter energy |
Unknown | Wi-fi distance | N/A |
| Wi-fi connection |
N/A | Cable size | 1.2m (4ft) |
| Wired connection |
Sure, Lightning | Case kind | Clamshell |
| Removable cable |
No | In-the-box |
|
| Weight | Unknown | Colours | Black, white, white and pink |