TOZO Golden X1 Review
TOZO Golden X1 Review
Introduction:
TOZO established in Seattle is a company committed in research, develop and manufacture of high-tech digital products. Include wireless audio, smart IOT, virtual reality, and digital accessories.
The Golden X1 is the flagship TWS earphone of the company that features a Hybrid Driver configuration, which is a combination of 1x Customized Knowles Balanced Armature and 1x 12mm Dynamic Driver unit. The Golden X1 offers the latest Bluetooth Version 5.3 protocol that supports wireless audio codec’s such like s AAC, SBC and LDAC decoding. Moreover, it offers Wireless Charging, IPX6 Water Resistance, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode and the companies OrigX Pro Sound Enhancement Technology.
Disclaimer:
I would like to thank TOZO for providing me the Golden X1 TWS Earphone as review sample. I am not affiliated with TOZO beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered, opinions about the product.
Price & Availability:
The actual price of the TOZO Golden X1 is about 149,99 US$. More information’s can be found under the link below;
Package & Accessories:
The TOZO Golden X1 came inside a black cardboard box that sports the product illustration and some product related brandings and details on its surface.
Inside the box are the following items/accessories:
- 1 x TOZO Golden X1 TWS Earphones
- 6 x pairs of Silicone Ear tips (XS/S/M/L/XL/XXL – 1x pair came pre-installed)
- 1 x Charging Case
- 1 x USB Type-C Charging Cable,
- 1 x Print Material
Design, Comfort & Build Quality:
The TOZOZ Golden X1 is a petty small and TWS earphone that offers a pretty ergonomic shape that fits perfectly in to my ear concha with an average size. The Golden X1 has a Nano Coating that offers IPX6 rated protection, which is extremely waterproof, impenetrable by weather, waterfalls, and even a non-sustained total soaking.
The housing that is made from plastic material in black color features a touch sensitive surface on both earpieces that has the TOZO branding on the top.
The touch sensitive surface of the Golden X1 is pretty responsive. You can customize their operation such like skip songs, adjust volume, answer/reject calls and select modes. Here is a LED status indicator that gives information about the operation status of each earpiece.
Each earpiece is equipped with a Hybrid Driver Configuration, which is a combination of 1x Customized Knowles Balanced Armature + 1x 12mm Carbon Nanotube Diaphragm Dynamic Driver unit.
Each earpiece is equipped with microphones on different locations that are dedicated for voice calls, active noise cancellation (ANC) and transparency mode.
On the rear side of each earpiece are the left or right markings, the slightly angled sound nozzle and the charging ports.
The sound nozzles do have a finish in gold color and do sport a fine metal filter on the top to prevent the insertion unwanted particles such like dust or earwax.
The build quality of both the earphones and the wireless charging case is pretty fine.
Charging Case & Battery Life:
The TOZO Golden X1 has a pretty small and compact charging case that shares the same plastic material in black color like the earphones. On the top of the charging case is the TOZO brand logo.
On the front of the case right under the lid is an LED indicator.
When you open the case you will see a very useful Digital LED display and the seats for the monitors and the male connectors. There is a small button that wakes up the display, which is a nice addition.
The LED Display shows the remaining battery (0 -100) of the case and the earphones (in lines). These seats have a magnetic surface to ensure a secure connection for the charging process and to avoid that the earphones drop out by mistake.
At the inner surface of the top cover are some brandings (Knowles, LDAC, Hi-Res Audio Wireless) printed in gold color.
The USB Type-C charging port is on at the rear side of the storage case right below the hinge mechanism.
Each earpiece comes with a built-in battery that provides a continuous playback of up to 8 hours. The charging on the other hand has capacity of 500mAh that gives you a total battery duration of approx 32 hours.
Here are some details about the battery life in different scenarios are listed below;
- ANC Off / Volume % 50 : approx 7.5 hours
- ANC On / Volume % 50 : approx 4.5 – 5 hours
Yes, the performance is not bad, but I would wish that the Golden X1 could last a bit longer, maybe at least 10 hours with ANC OFF. Another nice addition is the wireless charging support of the case, which means even a mobile phone or tablet with bi-directional wireless charging option can be used in case when the batter runs out juice.
Pairing, Signal Strength, Call Quality & Latency:
The TOZO Golden X1 has a quite simple pairing process and once you have connected the earphones with your BT source it will automatically reconnected.
The stable operating distance of the TOZO Golden X1 is approx 10 meters.
When it comes to the voice transmission during voce calls, I can say that the Golden X1 offers an average performance, which is better than the Sony WF1000XM4, but not as good as the NUARL Next1.
The TOZO Golden X1 offers a pretty efficient performs while watching to Videos. The lip sync performance was pretty good when paired with BT sources such like the Samsung Galaxy TAB S8 Ultra and the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
ANC & Transparency Mode:
The ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) performance of the TOZO Golden X1 is relative good but not the best in its price class. What I don’t like about the ANC function is the negative impact of the decent sound performance of the Golden X1.
The Transparency Mode works pretty fine and the Golden X1 offers even a wind reduction Mode, which is a nice addition.
TOZO APP:
The “TOZO App” is a quite useful software to manage the features of the Golden X1 that is available for both iOS and Android devices. You can easily access and change features such as ANC Presets, Transparency Modes, Equalizer Settings/Presets and Touch Commands. Moreover, you can update the device to the latest Firmware simply Over the Air (OTA) and can also configure TOZO’s exclusive features such like the EarPrint Technology, which customizes exclusive sound effects for different user’s ears in order to compensate hearing deficiencies.
Specifications:
- Model : Golden X1
- Driver Configuration : Hybrid Driver (1 Knowles BA + 1x 12mm Dynamic Driver)
- Frequency Response : 12 Hz – 44.1 kHz
- Bluetooth Standard : BT 5.3
- Supported Codec : AAC, SBC, LDAC, etc
- ANC : Yes
- Battery Life : up to 8 hours (Earphones) / up to 30 hours with charging case
- Charging Time : 1.5 Hours for a Single Full Charge
- Battery Capacity : 500mAH (Charging Case)
- IPX Rating : IPX6
- Multipoint Connection : Up to 2 Devices
Equipment’s used for this review:
- TWS Earphones : TOZO Golden X1
- Source : Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Apple iPad Air2
Albums & Tracks used for this review:
- Adele – My Little Love
- Randy Crawford – On Day I Will Fly Away
- Aretha Franklin – I Say a Little Prayer
- Hayley Westenra – Odyssey Album
- Dionne Warwick – Walk On By
- Sarah McLachlan – Angel
- Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien
- Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
- Dave Gahan – Kingdom
- Sting – Englishman in New York
- Barry White – Just The Way You Are
- Isaac Hayes – Walk On
- Elton John – Rocket Man
- Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight
- Sting – Englishman in New York
- Casey Abrams – Robot Lovers
- Fazıl Say – Nazım Oratoryosu (Live)
- Chopin – Nocturn No. 20 In C-Sharp Minor
- Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Seasons”
- Otto Liebert & Luna Negra – The River
- Gogo Penguin – Raven
- Lunatic Soul – The Passage
- Metallica – Sad but True
- Megadeth – Sweating Bullets
- Rush’s – Leave That Thing Alone
- Slayer – Angel of Death
- Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain
- Lorde – Royal Massive Attack – Angel
- Toutant – Rebirth
- Really Slow Motion – Deadwood
- Daft Punk (feat. Panda Bear) – Doin’ it Right
- Massive Attack – Angel
- Bear McCreary – Valkyries (Gof of War)
- Muse – The Handler
- Twerl – Lishu
- U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
- Yosi Horikawa – Bubbles
The Sound:
The TOZO Golden X1 shows a V Shaped sound signature with pronounced Lows and Highs that doesn’t sounds overdone. The general tonality is mildly warm, while the sense of transparency and airiness is on an efficient level.
Please note that I have written this review after a listening period of 40 hours. The TOZO Golden X1 sounds noticeably better after a burn-in period of 20+ hours. My sound impressions below are based on my pairings with the sources like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (LDAC Hi-Res Codec) and iPad Air2 (AAC codec). The ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) feature has been deactivated since it affects the sound performance in a negative manner. FW Version 3.1.1
Bass / Midrange / Treble / Soundstage & Imaging:
The TOZO Golden X1 has a fairly pronounced and entertaining bass response with its relative V shaped sound signature. The subbass region shows a god grade of depth and rumble, which is adequate enough for genres such like EDM, Trance or RnB music.The TOZO Golden X1 has a full bodied and pretty strong midbass presentation that is produced in a relative quick and controlled manner especially for a TWS earphone. This area has a smooth, musical and pretty entertaining tuning without to have remarkable negative conditions such like muddiness and mixings. The midbass region of the Golden X1 is produced with a decent grade of impact and intensity that is highly pleasant to listen to.
The TOZO Golden X1 has a mildly warm midrange tonality and an efficient level of fullness in this area. The general midrange presentation of the Golden X1 shows a moderate grade of clarity and airiness, along with a nice sense of musicality. The lower midrange adds the overall midrange presentation an adequate grade of depth and body, while the upper midrange sounds quite controlled yet bright due to an audible peak near the 3 kHz region.
Both male and female voices do sound in general pretty enjoyable. Male vocals such like Dave Gahan, Sting or Elton John are reproduced with an efficient amount of body and fullness, while female voices such like Edith Piaf, Adel, Aretha Franklin or Diana Krall do sound quite lively and clear, without to have negative sibilance or harshness.
The TOZO Golden X1 shows a fairly energetic treble tuning since it has a relative V shaped sound signature. The extension is a bit short, while the overall intensity and airiness of this region is on a sufficient level. The general treble presentation of the Golden X1 is fatigue free and unaggressive, which makes it successful with genres like Pop, EDM, Hip-Hop and Rock Music. The lower treble range of the Golden X1 has a good grade of presence that is in general able to produce an efficient level of clarity and extension, while the upper treble region shows an adequate sense of airiness and sparkle.
The TOZO Golden X1 offers a pretty sufficient performance for a TWS earphone when it comes to the separation and placement of instruments and vocals. Both the depth and the wideness are on a moderate level that meets my expectations from a TWS headphone at this price level.
Conclusion:
The TOZO Golden X1 is a quite versatile TWS earphone both in terms of sound and features. It offers a very entertaining V shaped sound signature with a powerful bass response and pretty crisp highs that doesn’t sounds overdone, especially after a burn-in period of 20 – 25 hours. Features on the other hand such like the latest Bluetooth 5.3 protocol with LDAC support, TOZO APP, Wireless Charging, IPX6 Water Resistance, Active Noise Cancellation & Transparency mode are some remarkable additions that makes the Golden X1 to a solid TWS earphone for its price tag.
Pros & Cons:
- + Entertaining V shaped Sound Signature
- + Powerful Bass Response (Good depth and Impact)
- + Crisp and Controlled Highs
- + Lots of Features (TOZO APP, Wireless Charging, IPX6, LDAC, ANC, etc.)
- + Fit & Comfort
- + Value for the Money
- – Battery Life Could be Better
- – Slightly Recessed Midrange Tuning
- – Voice Transmission is on an average level
Thank you for the Read!
