It has been a few months since the real wireless audio market in India boomed. Since then, every brand has raced to offer at least one in the segment. There are even brands that you usually associate with smartphones like Realme and Samsung.
However, there are many types of variants that you may have seen in a large denomination. The more money you have to spend, the more options you have to choose. But what if you don’t have a bucket full of cash to spend? Enter, detail-pod.
A truly wireless offering from Detel that sells for just Rs 2,000. Detel is primarily synonymous with the feature phone market. The brand recently began producing audio products such as Detel Curve ProBass headphones and a range of Bluetooth speakers such as Detel Marvell.
The Di-Pod is now the brand’s first TWS offering. It boasts two things that everyone wants from a pair of TWS buds – good sound and great battery life. At the small price tag, it doesn’t ask for much, but does it deliver? let’s find out!
Design build
Detail Di-Pods is a budget offer so there is not much style on offer here. You get a small case with minimal design language that also extends inside the box.
A simple lid, a button and a micro-USB port next to it with an LED next to it creates the design. Opening the lid reveals symmetrically placed buds. For the price, the manufactured quality of the case seems very solid, we should say.
Take them out and the first thing you will see is the small form factor. They are light, and barely lift any space. Angular earbuds go to the ear in an unconventional way.
The bulk of the earpiece stands upwards instead of hanging downwards. There is a ‘D’ branding on the face of both buds which also labels the touch buttons.
The buds are so compact in size and shape that there is hardly any protrusion when you wear them. For example, we were able to wear a helmet above the buds and did not feel like the buds were being pressed into our ears.
Like the case, the buds also feel solid to the touch. However, the buds do not feel very safe in the ear. Since Detail Di-Pods have no earhooks or similar mechanisms to keep the units in motion, you must rely solely on a secure fit.
It is here that the lightweight nature also acts as a double edge sword. When you grow to rock and roll, the de-pods fall on their own, but can be easily knocked down. We will not try to run outward on these. Di-pods are better closed in a safe indoor environment.
Display
Detail Di-Pods provide a truly amazing sound. There is no AAC codec support. But even without it, the performance is above satisfactory. Bluetooth 5.0 makes pairing faster and more stable. The IPX4 rating makes earphones resistant to water up to a limit.
Turn on the music and you forget that you are listening to a pair of buds which cost around Rs 2,000. The audio output is well balanced. Bass quality is often overlooked in this segment.
However, the Detail Di-Pods provide clean and fairly deep bass. It makes the experience enjoyable depending on which genre you are listening to. The highs, lows and mids are so neatly balanced that the buds almost feel like they are compatible with whatever music they are playing.
So, while the subtle cymbals behind are clearly heard in tracks like Runnerin by David Dallas, you don’t miss the small instrumental details in the background songs by artists like Run the Jewels and Linkin Park. Transfer to metal by artists such as Skillet or Classic Rock by Ozzy Osbourne, and you won’t be disappointed there either.
For example, high bagpipes on AC / DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top are mostly broken on budget earphones, wired or wireless. However, Detail Di-Pods will not disappoint here. You can even dig up the vocals and listen to some Hans Zimmer’s orchestral melodies and feel the depth of the bass le command.
However call quality is restrictive. When going out, the people we talked to felt that we were either whispering or far away from the microphone. Meanwhile, we heard them very clearly. Quality was fine during indoor calls. With no audible disturbances around, Detail Di-Pods appear impartially in this area. But a busy street or an open market will put you back in case.
Battery life
When we read that the Detail Di-Pods offer around five hours of playback on a single charge, we were pretty sure that the number was largely exaggerated. Surprisingly, Di-Pod’s short buds actually last up to five hours of music playback. We tested the product at a full charge from 8:00 am and kept playing about 50 percent of the amount of music until about 1:15 PM when the right bud finally ran out of juice. TWS earphones have some great battery life.