1MORE Piston Fit Wireless review: Transcends beyond price

Over the last few years, we have had the opportunity to test quite a few products from 1MORE. Their devices span varying price points and cater to a wide selection of consumers. The Chinese-based audio product manufacturer has successfully launched earphones that cater to audiophiles, fitness enthusiasts as well as those who are looking for a no-nonsense pair of earphones that just serve the purpose of hassle-free music listening. This brings us to the 1MORE Piston Fit Wireless, a pair of Bluetooth 5.0 in-ear monitors that are designed for those who aren’t willing to pay an overly excessive premium yet don’t want to sacrifice on great audio quality.

The 1MORE Piston Fit Bluetooth earphones build-up from the highly-successful Piston Fit wired earphones and this time around, the brand has used an in-house Bluetooth 5.0 chipset that enables faster transmission and a stable connection during your day-to-day activities. And this is not all, the Piston Fit Wireless also comes with 10mm dynamic drivers and an IPX4 Ingress certification that can withstand sweat and light rain.

To know more about the 1MORE Piston Fit Wireless, read on below.

Design, Build

As mentioned earlier, the 1MORE Piston Fit Wireless is a pair of no-nonsense earphones and this means that it is designed to serve the ultimate purpose of offering good audio playback. While some of the brand’s earphones are designed to boast a sense of style like the ones from the Stylish series, this model does not. It features a simple neckband-style appearance that doesn’t come with any memory alloy like found on the OnePlus Bullets Wireless. Instead, it is just a simple cable that sits on the back of your neck and it has two modules on either side.

The left module features the battery while the right is fitted with an in-line microphone unit that features various buttons for powering it on, adjusting the volume, switching between tracks and accessing your voice assistant. The right module also plays home to the charging bay which is concealed by a tiny rubber flap. While we would have liked a USB Type-C port here to ensure that the Piston Fit Wireless is futureproofed, we have to be content with a micro-USB port.

Moving on to the actual in-ear casings, 1MORE has fitted the Piston Fit Wireless with a premium, durable aluminium alloy build that plays a major role in the overall durability here. On either end of the buds, there is a magnet, so the buds can provide convenient storage around your neck when not in use. These magnets serve no other purpose like auto-pause and they’re fitted with this for the simple reason of storage and nothing else.

The nozzles found on the Piston Fit Wireless are angled at 45-degrees which ensure they lay comfortably in your ear canal for a tight, secure fit during extended use. During our extensive testing, we felt as though the earbuds would fall out of the ears and our attention was drawn to it throughout. We often found ourselves pushing the in-ear monitors back in even though it was already sitting snug in the ear canals. This inadvertently distracted us from enjoying the overall listening experience and it was felt with every ear tip that came bundled with the earphones.

The 1MORE Piston Fit Wireless has an official Ingress rating of IPX4 which ensures long-lasting resilience under outdoor conditions and rigorous exercise. They can also withstand splashing rain from multiple directions.

Lastly, they are extremely lightweight at 18g and 1MORE claims that this is equivalent to the weight of 4 pages of A4 sized paper.

Performance

1MORE has a terrific track record when it comes to offering premium audio quality with its products and we are pleased to say that even with the questionable fit, the Piston Fit Wireless excels in the performance department.

To start off, these aren’t audiophile-grade earphones like some of 1MORE’s more premium offerings like the Triple Driver or Quad Driver. With that being said, this option is also custom tuned by Grammy award-winning Audio Engineer and Sound Designer Luca Bignardi. This means that the earphones’ output features a warm sincerity, refined precision and depth of colour. The end result here is a pure, unbridled and unsullied audio quality just as the artist intended.

Elaborating on the audio performance, we found that the bass had a depth to it that was amply powerful; however, for those who are bass-heads, this option may leave you wanting. The bass output is crisp and tight and although not geared to those who like their earphones with an elaborate thump, the Piston Fit Wireless will offer a response that’s well-articulated.

The mid-range performance is good, but not great and this is expected from a product in this price range. The lower-midrange has a bit of character to it while the higher mids are amply emphasized; but in the end, there is only so much that these earphones can do.

The highs had a nice extension to it, but like the midrange, you can’t expect much from it. Sure, it did have a shine to it and this will be great for casual listening, but those who are picky about their audio quality may want to look at options that don’t fall in this price bracket.

The battery capacity here is rated at 130mAh and it takes an hour to fully charge. After which we get a battery life of up to 8-hours for either talk time or playback. This battery life is average and other options provide a much better battery performance.

Verdict

The retail price of the 1MORE Piston Fit Wireless is Rs 3,999 but is being sold for as low as Rs 1,999 on 1MORE’s official Indian website and other popular online retailers. For this price, the earphones truly excel and those who purchase it will be quite satisfied. Sure, it does have some downfalls; but for the intended audience, the Piston Fit Wireless is more than justified.