Over the last few years, we are witnessing a lot of headphone manufacturers launching their products with the major selling point being extra bass. This shift happened about the time Beats unveiled their products that offered headphone that delivered extra bass and the trend was born. Nowadays, we find headphones a dime a dozen that boast extra bass and this is striking the right chord (pun intended) with consumers as more and more people out there are looking for products that offer that thump that is so well desired.
While Beats offers its products that budget conscious people may balk at, several manufacturers introduce products that are cost-effective and offer that sweet bass that audiences crave for. One such brand is MevoFit, a fitness-centric brand that has recently introduced the Play N100 that offers an enhanced audio bass response that aims to be your go-to headphone for your run or just your daily commute.
Being a fitness-focused brand, we are eager to let you know what this headphone brings to the table.
Ever since LG introduced the Tone series of neckband style headphones, a new design was born; and boy — did it catch on quick. While the LG Tone series costs a pretty penny, the MevoFit Play N100’s price pales in comparison. We tried on the trendy neckband style headphones, along with in-ear monitors that fit snuggly in the ears.
The N100 comes with a silicone flex band that is said to be sweat proof with an ingress protection certification of IPX4. We advise you to not take a dip in the pool with it or take a shower with it; we also include not walking with them in torrential rains. However, they should be fine to withstand your daily sweat sessions in the gym or minor water splashes.
Elaborating on the neckband, it’s extremely lightweight and though concerned about this at first, you will find using them for extended periods of time to not be bothersome; in fact, you would even forget that they were on.
All controls of the Play N100 are located on the neckband itself with there being a single button for Play/Pause as well as power. This button also works to pair the headphones with a source such as a smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc. While the button works fine to do the intended tasks, the build quality is not up to par and when pressed, it tends to get stuck sometimes — at least our review unit showed that issue. On the outside of the neckband are the volume rockers which double up as buttons to go to the next track or the previous one. The micro USB charging port, located on the inside of the neckband has a rubber flap to protect it from sweat, dust, etc.
Moving on, the cables that connect to the in-ear monitors seem very feeble and there's no word if they are braided internally or not. If a bit of force is used, these cables could come apart from the neckband — but we did not try it.
As far as the in-ear monitors go, they are made of plastic and have been fitted with magnets on the ends to keep them secure. However, the magnets are not as strong and the earbuds kept on getting unfastened with the slightest tug. Additionally, the magnets do not come with a feature that’s prevalent in the OnePlus Bullets and a few others where the magnets cut off the music and turn the earphones off. Considering the price of these earphones, the in-ear monitors do not retract into the neckband as we see in LG’s Tone series but just dangle loosely. However, the wires are short enough and don't hang out too much, which is a good thing.
The MevoFit Play N100 comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon CSR 8645 chipset supporting aptX that helps offer enhanced stereo audio performance. The Bluetooth v4.1 wireless range found here is said to be 30 feet or 10 metres, which is common on all earphones out there.
While testing Bluetooth headphones to gauge its performance, we found that voices were intermittently inaudible during certain phone calls. However, the call quality on the MevoFit Play N100 is mostly appreciable and we could hear the recipient well and vice versa. We may have encountered call/network issues during our tests.
Out of the box, the N100 is a solid performer if you are into bass heavy music, however, the overall clarity lacks a bit. The headphones absolutely live up to its USP. Bass on these earphones has an incredible extension with the desired impact. When listening to popular music, there is a sweet thump in the sub-bass that has enough of emphasis to sound just right. However, the balance we found to be missing with the mids getting drowned out slightly during some tracks. Luckily, this is not prevalent across all genres which allows you to enjoy music suited for your taste without any complaints. The overall sound cannot be termed slightly above average, but at the same time, you will not find the sparkling highs that are found on headphones from expensive brands.
Overall, you definitely won’t be disappointed with the overall audio quality here even though they’re not for the audiophiles.
The battery is one of the strong points here. It comes with a 170mAh battery that’s rated at 7 hours of playback and 10 hours of talk time on a single charge. The battery tops up in around an hour and in our tests, we managed to pull just about 8 hours of playback.
The MevoFit Play N100 is available for a Rs 3,990 and sells for as less as Rs 2,690 on various online retail channels. There are competitors that offer better at the same price, hence we find these headphones to be a bit overpriced. These earphones feature a design that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon and this can be very appealing for those looking for a branded budget-friendly option instead of going for some of the higher-end models out there. The build quality is not the best and we are a bit hesitant to recommend them for fear of the wires coming apart. With that being said, if you can ignore the above-mentioned kinks, you’re going to get a headphone that offers great audio quality that never hesitates to deliver the bass.
