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To test the Stylish TWS, 1MORE sent samples out to press about a month ago – and I've been using them as my daily driver ever since. This includes listening to music, watching videos and conducting phone calls as well.
Usability
The first thing I want to touch on is what it's like to actually use these earphones in terms of the connectivity and day-to-day ease of use. Quick spoiler alert, 1MORE has really nailed it in this department.
When you've unboxed the product and have the earphones sitting in their case, as soon as you take them out they will turn on. For your first use, you will have to manually pair the earphones to your phone/device, but then after that the Stylish TWS will automatically connect to your device as soon as they are taken out of the case. For me, it worked every single time.
So that's a first useful feature – there's no need to manually turn each earphone on. Building on that, as soon as you put the earphones back in the case, they will disconnect and then turn off. The case will automatically start charging the earphones, too, and the LED indicator will turn red on each earbud.
It sounds simple, but it means using the Stylish TWS is very straightforward – just take them out when you want to use them, pop them back in the case when you're done, and that's it. No worrying about turning them on, pairing, turning them off again – it's all automatic.
Another thing to mention is the way 1MORE has configured the relationship between the earbuds. When doing the first manual pair over Bluetooth, it looks like only one earbud is connected to your phone – this is the Master bud, and this controls the Slave bud as well. What's cool about this, however, is that the Slave/Master relationship is not configured to a left or right earbud – so either can be the Master.
There's a couple of factors which determines which bud becomes the Master – which specific earbud you take out first, and then if one bud has 30% (or more) battery life than the other – but the primarily benefit is that if you lose an earbud you can still use the other one by itself. Some TWS earphones have either the left or right earbud as the Master no matter what, so if you lose it the other becomes useless – but with the Stylish, you will always a fully-functional earbud if you lose the other.
All in all, it's been really easy to get going with the Stylish TWS, and I really don't have any criticisms here.
Comfort
As for comfort, I've again got on very well with these earphones. 1MORE's in-ear designs all have the same 45-degree angled nozzles, and that is again the case here. Personally I find this is great as the tips fit very snugly into my ear canals at that angle, and I got an excellent seal with the Stylish TWS which did a really good job at providing passive noise isolation.
On top of that, there's four different sizes of ear tips, and three pairs of ear hooks included. By default, the medium tips and hooks are installed, and while I found this perfect for my left ear, my right ear is actually slightly smaller. But with the ‘small' ear tip on the right bud, keeping the medium hook, this proved the perfect combo and I had zero issues with the earphones falling out. I've been taking them to the gym since I got them as well, and even while exercising these things have not come out.
If I had to level one minor criticism here, it would have been nice to have a bit more variety in the selection of ear tips – some foam or flanged tips, for example, would've just added that bit of extra flexibility for those who aren't too keen on standard silicon tips. I found the included tips to be just fine, and I'm still using them to this day, but it wouldn't have hurt to give users a couple more options.
Sound
Moving onto the overall sound quality of these earphones, I really wasn't sure what to expect from them. While £90 may not be a lot in the grand scheme of things – in the audio world, at least – it's certainly at the point where you're expecting impressive results. Then again, with TWS you have to factor in that a large chunk of that price is going towards the wireless functionality and associated R&D that wouldn't be required for wired earphones – so like I said, it can be hard to know just how good the sound is going to be.
Thankfully, I think the Stylish TWS sounds pretty good. It's a pretty similar overall sound signature to the 1MORE Quad Driver, though understandably it can't quite match the overall quality of that £150 earphone.
Starting with the bass, this is where most of the emphasis is placed – it's a pretty bassy overall sound, with a prominent mid-bass bump that definitely gives the low-end a real meaty punch. It can feel a touch loose and sound a little distorted on the odd occasion, but certainly the tuning is a lot better than the 1MORE Triple Drive BT I reviewed earlier this year. Again, considering the price, it would probably be unfair to expect a super-tight and crisp bass, but what you get is certainly fun and enjoyable.
So while there is a strong warm tilt to the sound, 1MORE has done a good job at preventing the bass bleeding over into the mids and muddying things up. Instead, the mid-range is pretty clean and clear, with just a hint of forwardness which puts vocals at the foreground. You don't get the same lushness as per the Quad Driver, but overall mid-range clarity is certainly decent.
The treble is fairly rolled off, though, meaning you don't get a whole lot of detail. It's not completely missing – you will still be able to pick out the rhythmic hi-hat from Dream Theatre's ‘Panic Attack' – but certainly if you like a ‘bright' sound signature this is not it. Personally I do like a little more detail in the high-end but at the same time there is zero chance of getting fatigued listening to the Stylish TWS.
It's overall a pretty ‘inoffensive' sound, and I think it is tuned to appeal to the mainstream audience who want a fun, bassy sound. I say that as this is the ‘Stylish‘ TWS from 1MORE, but we are expecting a higher-end, more audiophile focused TWS model – meaning the Stylish is the more mainstream model. With that in mind, I have to say the overall sound is certainly good. Not mind-blowing – but definitely good.
I'll also touch on latency here as well, and again this is not an issue for the Stylish TWS. The earphones use the Qualcomm CSR 3020 chipset, with Bluetooth 5 support, and with them connected to both my Pixel 3 and 2019 iMac I had no issues with latency when watching videos or films. My 2015 MacBook Pro did occasionally struggle, but I think that is more to do with the now dated Bluetooth chip in that machine more than anything. Watching Netflix on the go on my phone, however, was perfect.
Battery
Now, as for battery life – this is crucial for a TWS, and fortunately the Stylish TWS does pretty well. 1MORE rates the battery life at 6.5 hours when playing at 50% volume. For me, 50% volume is a little bit on the quiet side so I left the earphones playing music with the volume set a 70%, and there I got a little over 5 hours playtime, which I still think is a very decent result.
There's also the case to factor in, which can charge the earphones another three times. I put the earphones back in the case as soon as I was done using them – so they were always full charged whenever I need them – and only found myself charging the case itself every week or so, though this will vary depending how much you use the earphones.
In short, for a more value-oriented TWS, I think the battery life and case combination is excellent.
Mic
1MORE Stylish TWS Mic Test
Lastly, I will just briefly touch on the integrated mic. It's not the highest-quality mic I've ever heard, sounding just a bit too distant. It's not terrible, but I would suggest just using your phone instead if you have the option.
