Tozo Golden X1 are the latest wireless earbuds that we put to the test. With an impeccable record on Amazon and a price tag of $150/€150/£150, these earbuds promise Hi-Res sound with LDAC support, active noise cancellation and up to 30 hours of total battery life with their charging case.
Do these buds live up to their lofty claims and are they good enough to compete with the rest of the wireless earbuds in the $150 range? These are our findings.
Design
Tozo Golden X1 brings a standard in-ear design with silicone tips and a short stem. They are made of plastic and have a matte texture with gold elements for the Tozo logo, charging pins and the speaker grill. Each knob weighs just over 5 grams while the drawer comes in at 43 grams. The black color and matte finish on the casing and knobs smudges easily and requires occasional wiping to keep it looking pristine.
The pill-shaped charging case opens to reveal an LED status bar with battery indicators for the case and each earbud as well as a pairing button. There’s a second color LED indicator for the case’s battery at the lid opening and a USB-C port on the back for charging. The lid mechanism is sturdy enough although it loosened a bit after a week of use. There is no worry, it will open by itself as it is held with strong magnets.
The retail packaging is a step up from most competitors with a well-crafted box that opens from the side with a magnetic flap. The inside houses the buds, their casing, a USB-C cable as well as a total of six silicone tips in sizes ranging from XS to XXL that should be good enough for just about any ear shape and size.
We found the Tozo Golden X1’s lightweight and ergonomic design to be quite comfortable, even with prolonged use. The wide variety of ear tips helped us with the right fit and we are happy to report that the buttons stayed in place even during active gym sessions and the occasional jog.
Characteristics
Tozo bets big on features with the Golden X1 and you’ll find all the essential features for a premium pair of wireless earbuds here. Golden X1 features hybrid driver setup with 12mm carbon nanotube diaphragm dynamic drivers and balanced armature drivers by Knowles. This kind of setup isn’t something you’d expect from a few buds in this price range from an up-and-coming brand and it’s definitely a major selling point here.
The buds cover a wide 12Hz to 44.1KHz frequency range, which is an impressive feat that even most of the flagship earbuds from established audio brands can’t offer. Pairing takes place over Bluetooth 5.3 and you get support for the AAC, SBC and LDAC codecs. The sound equalizer can be adjusted in the Tozo companion app available for Android and iOS devices.
We really enjoyed the neat layout of the Tozo companion app. The menus were well organized and you can access the ANC, EQ and touch control settings with a few taps. Tozo also provides an ear test called “Earprint” which emits a series of low, mid and high frequency sounds to your ears to determine your individual hearing curve. At the end of the hearing test, you get a detailed hearing curve that shows where the Tozo app has applied an AI algorithm compensation for the sound ranges where you are not as sharp.
Tozo app features
Tozo’s Acoustic Labs has added a total of 16 EQ presets, including alternating bass and treble modes as well as music genre-specific ones to suit your listening preference. In addition to the EQ modes, you are also free to adjust the EQ to your own personal taste and save your own preset.
Golden X1 also comes with active noise cancellation (ANC) which is advertised to drown out up to 42dB of noise around you. On top of the EQ adjustment, you also get 6 noise reduction modes with varying noise cancellation strength ranging from transparency mode to wind noise reduction and even a custom pattern mode that lets you tweak how much noise you want to reduce. The buttons also have an ambient call noise cancellation feature.
Tozo has gone with good old touch controls on the Golden X1 which you can remap within the companion app. There’s even volume control that uses long presses on the left and right side of the knobs. It is important to note that the volume adjustment feature only works on smartphones and not on laptops and other devices like TVs.
Last but not least, these earbuds bring an IPX6 splash-proof rating and wireless charging to the bag.
Performance and sound quality
Thanks to their hybrid driver setup, Golden X1 offers a balanced bass response coming from the dynamic driver unit and the precise clarity in the high end coming from the anchor drivers.
The standard sound stage on the Tozo Golden X1 is above average for all music genres and general media consumption. There is enough bass in the low range without overwhelming the rest of the soundstage. The midrange features clearly defined vocals and faithfully reproduced instruments, while the highs come in with deep texture along with a consistent frequency response to them. This translates to a pleasant listening experience out of the box and one that feels significantly more pleasant than competing buds in the price range.
The added LDAC support provides even richer sound on supported devices with an enhanced stereo effect. Once activated, you hear finer nuances and details that you can’t hear otherwise and it definitely brings a heightened listening experience. The main disadvantage is that the high bitrate codec taxes the battery. We also noticed that the volume in LDAC mode is much lower compared to when listening on the SBC and AAC codecs, so you’ll need to adjust accordingly.
The adjustable EQ settings within the Tozo app add another dimension of sound customization that can iron out any minor issues like the slightly underexposed mid-bass frequencies. You can save your preset for future listening which is always useful and should be standard on all wireless buds.
Tozo Golden X1 offers good ANC provided you have the right ear tips on the buds. Once you activate ANC, you immediately notice that lower frequency sounds disappear and these buttons even do an excellent job of drowning out unwanted noise in busier environments.
The touch controls worked well in our testing with occasional misses on double-tap gestures as our only complaint. We were surprised to find that the Golden X1 lacks wear detection sensors to automatically play and pause media, which is now a common feature even on entry-level earbuds
Connection strength was reliable, although we should mention that the Golden X1 only supports an effective Bluetooth range of 10m, which is among the most recent offerings from competitors. In our testing, the earbuds lost connection when moving between two rooms, which was not the case with other headphones we’ve tested recently. The multi-point pairing function worked well, although you can expect some initial latency when switching between a laptop and a phone, for example.
Golden X1 worked well enough during calls and managed to pick up my voice well in quieter environments, but had a tougher time outdoors with winds and heavy car traffic. The latter two aspects are known weak points for most earbuds.
Battery life
Tozo Golden X1 is supposed to last up to 8 hours on a single charge with SBS and AAC codecs with ANC off based on Tozo’s claims and the charging case should extend the total play time to 32 hours.
In our testing, we managed 7 hours of use on a single charge with ANC off and up to four full recharges with the charging case. Using ANC and streaming over LDAC brought the buttons’ endurance down to 4 hours. A full charge of the buds and their case via USB-C takes 2 hours.
Pronunciation
Tozo Golden X1 brings an excellent sound quality experience at a price that undercuts most established brands in the wireless earbud market. The hybrid driver approach results in rich and detailed sound with a soundstage that feels much larger than you’d expect from knobs of this size.
The added LDAC support enhances the listening experience on compatible devices and music streaming platforms, while the EQ presets and customization options are a nice touch to get the optimal sound for your particular taste.
Battery endurance is more than adequate and the Tozo companion app is neatly laid out and easy to use. The only drawbacks we have are the poor Bluetooth range, average call quality and the absence of wear detection sensors. That said, we can easily recommend the Tozo Golden X1 to anyone looking for a new pair of wireless earbuds in the $150/€150 price range.