The Most Feature-Rich TWS you have ever seen

The iKKO ActiveBuds are not just another pair of TWS earbuds, they represent an almost crazy amount of features and functionality over any True Wireless Earbuds I have even used.

A simple concept implemented in full

I imagine the initial concept for the ActiveBuds comes from a deep understanding of the latest Bluetooth specifications where you can have multiple devices connected to one bluetooth earbuds / TWS. Up until now every implementation of this feature assumes you would just be pairing your smartphone and your laptop with your ear buds, but iKKO had a genius idea, what if your second device was the charging case itself, since you have to bring the charging case with you, it is already a second device in your pocket, so adding a bluetooth stack to the case means your TWS buds can be communicating both your smartphone and the ‘ActiveBuds’ smart case was born.

But then they didn’t stop there, running with that concept, the iKKO team obviously let their imagination and their engineering team go a bit ‘crazy’. I can imagine the initial design meeting for this would be well lets put a touch screen on the case and support Wi-Fi and a mobile data connection (via an optional SIM card slot). Then lets add a microphone and speaker and sliding control. Then lets get a way to run software on this hardware was to shrink a customised Android down to run on it. Then because it is an android device they can have
support for the most popular Streaming services like Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music.

This effectively turns the ActiveBuds into an Android ‘wireless’ DAP (Digitial Audio Player) where you can listen to both your own offline music via the 32GB of storage or stream music from the most popular music streaming applications.

And then finally they went beyond even this concept, and decided to integrate lots of the latest AI capabilties and use ChatGPT front and center in the overall highly customised Android UI experience (called EarSync) running on the case.

Overall this makes the ActiveBuds probably the most gadgety ‘gadget’ I have used in years and I will admit before getting into the details that I mostly love what iKKO have down with this, though it is not perfect and I do have a few issues to highlight which I will go through within the review.

So, I hope this section gives you an idea of the main concept of this $329 ‘gadget’. So now let’s do a deep dive on a few of these features, but before I go into its audio features, sound quality and capabilities, let have a quick look at the unboxing experience.

Packaging and Accessories

The ActiveBuds arrive in cool premium packaging that reflects the high-tech nature of the product.

Along the side you rip open the box:

This reveals the 2 sides to the storage:

One side has the case and a generous amount of eartips and the usb-c charging cable:

The other side is more documentation but does have a SIM removal tool:

Features

Let’s look at the hardware first then get into the software features

Hardware:

You basically get a wireless charging case which is slightly larger than a ’normal’ TWS charging case but not by much. Here is a photo with some of my other TWS cases:

Front Screen

You get a reasonable sized 1.8 inch AMOLED touch screen with 326ppi and 500nits brightness. More on this brightness in a little while but next to the screen is a cool navigation sliding mechanism for fast navigation (think like the iPod ‘click wheel’ except vertical). You slide up the whole front screen to access the TWS earbuds which are hidden securely underneath the screen. One of my friends decided to christen this the ‘Glide Slide’ when he borrowed the ActiveBuds for a few hours.

Issue 1: Screen brightness So as you see from my early picture of the ActiveBuds next to my laptop as I write this review, in doors, they are easily bright enough to see, but once you want to use the active buds outside it isn’t always bright enough. E.g. here are 2 photos from my recent walking trip to France and Spain where I was using the ActiveBuds most days to help with some translations and look up interesting things on ChatGPT.

So since it was very hot most bars and restaurants were outdoors - but it is very hard to see the screen:

If you put it into a little bit of shadow it can be slightly more visible:

Though I did notice afterward that, even though I had it on 100% brightness, there is a separate battery saving option which I should have disabled to make the screen slightly brighter.

Connections on the case

There isn’t much to see on the back and sides of the ActiveBuds, there is a SIM card tray on one side, an usb-c charging port on another and the ‘power / action’ button on a third side with a tiny microphone / speaker near the action button.

The Power / Action button works as the name implies it wakes up the device from sleep but can be used to switch it off or switch it back on by long pressing. The bottom of the case also supports wireless charging.

Minor Issue 2: Microphone and Speaker on case This is a minor issue as mostly you should interact with the ActiveBuds by talking using the TWS earbuds but on occasion, for example, when in a group ordering some beers in that photo above, I thought I would talk to AI / ChatGPT and listen to the response without putting in my TWS earbuds. Technically this works, but you have to ‘shout’ to be heard and it is very difficult in a ‘group’ to hear the response via the very poor speaker volume.

Similar to the issue with screen, I found neither of these were issues when I tried them in my hotel room. So I would hope that iKKO will enhance each of these in a future version of the ActiveBuds.

Connectivity

The ActiveBuds are equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, and a SIM card slot for 4G connectivity, ensuring they can stay connected at all times. I did not have a spare SIM card, so I mainly use the Wifi and the bluetooth to keep the Active Buds connected. This mostly worked well though the range on the Wifi is not as good as a smartphones and while technically I got a data connection over bluetooth to my Smartphone is wasn’t as reliable as I would have liked. But if your wifi connection is strong in your house or you can quickly enable a mobile hotspot on your smartphone that the AciveBuds can join it works well enough.

I actually found I used the offline storage, using the ActiveBuds more like a ‘classic’ Android DAP players where I had a very large playlist of music offline, so I could just listen to some music without needing my smartphone, so you don’t always need connectivity to be happily listening to your music.

ANC Implementation

The ActiveBuds are rated for ANC up to 48dB and ENC for voice calls. While not quite at the level of Apple or Bose, the ANC was better than I expected, especially once I selected the right earbuds to give me a good seal.

The ENC was excellent for voice calls especially indoors but does lack Wind noise cancellation, so it isn’t as effective if you are outside in a windy environment when you required ANC at least compared to the flagship TWS sets.

Battery Life

With up to 7.5 hours of playback on a single charge and a total of 70 hours with the charging case, the battery life is more than sufficient for most users.

You can check the battery status on the status screen:

The quick charge feature adds 2 hours of playback with just 10 minutes of charging, and the case supports wireless charging. After 4 days of solid use I did drain the battery on the case, but once i connected it via USB-C start the rapid charing process:

Bluetooth Pairing

There is a nice pairing status screen to allow you see what is currently paired:

Android Customised UI

So the main ‘home’ screen now has the date and time, but crucially you can quickly access the ChatGPT AI:

Each of the required Android screens like Settings has been customised appropriately for each access:

But sometimes it can still be hard to fit all the text into the small screen real-estate:

On these screens you definitely need the ‘Glide Slide’.

AI Features

As I mentioned above the ChatGPT is front and center and while not really an audio capabilities I thought a small section on the AI features would be useful.

AI Voice Assistant

One of the standout features of the ActiveBuds is the built-in AI voice assistant powered by ChatGPT-4o.

This assistant is more than just a gimmick; it was genuinely useful for answering questions, providing information, and assisting with various tasks throughout the day.

There are currently 2 more AI features within quick reach:

Two-Way ‘AI Translations’ capability

The ActiveBuds also shine in their two-way real-time translation capability, supporting 45 languages. During a recent trip, I used the case’s speaker mode to clarify food choices in restaurants, and it worked seamlessly. The translation accuracy was impressive, making the earbuds a valuable tool for international travel and cross-cultural communication.

AI Voice-Text “Memos”

What makes it even better for me was the ability to save notes through voice commands, a feature I found incredibly handy while reviewing these earbuds on the go, capturing my thoughts.

Pressing the record button starts the capture process: And the text can then be saved or synced later. You might be wondering what is the AI capability of this well its to more accurately capture what was spoken and even tidy it up a bit.

Note: Neither of these features are new concepts but the ability to access them from such a small device without needing to get my Smartphone out was pretty handy when I was outside.

Android App Store Features

The ActiveBuds has a small set of built-in Apps and a small but hopefully growing collection within its own AppStore.

You get some of the most popular streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify and a few others. I did notice that Apple Music was not exactly the latest version:

The iKKO AppStore has the following categories:

and even a few games:

Once installed you are visible via their icon:

Note: This includes any sideloaded applications.

I didn’t install that many application but there is a categories viewer also:

‘Sideloading’ Apps

The ActiveBuds also allows for side loading of apps via ADB, offering a good ability to get your favourite Music applications even if they are not already in the iKKO App Store. Specifically, I decided I wanted to sideload the PlexAmp and the ‘Radio Paradise’ App.

So first connect the ActiveBuds via an usb-c connection to your computer and make sure you have the Android Debug tools installed. Then run these commands to see if you can:

> adb devices
List of devices attached
2024070917383201	device

You can then get access to the ‘shell’:

adb shell

Type ’exit’ to exit out of the android shell

Then try and download some of your favourite Android music APKs, I used ApkPure to find and download the Apk’s I wanted.

Then use adb install to push them to the device - here were my Radio Paradise and Plexamp apk install commands:

adb install  ~/Downloads/rp4-vanilla-release.apk
adb install  ~/Downloads/Plexamp_4.11.0_apkcombo.com.apk

You then have to follow the onscreen process to finish the process, but it works well if a little difficult on some screens to ’navigate’ to click buttons during the setup process.

Once you do, for example, you can then use PlexAmp ‘download’ and ‘offline’ feature to save a bunch of music locally on the ActiveBuds and play back even without a network connection:

Audio specific features

So finally, lets get into the typical audio specific features of the ActiveBuds.

Earbuds fit and comfort and eartip selection

Once I found the right eartips I found the comfort and general TWS usage of the Active Buds to be excellent. I had no problem over long periods for the past few weeks, the ANC mode does increase the pressure a little which is normal and I actually switched to mainly not using ANC when I was away from noisy areas.

Sound impressions

So out of the box the default sound profile is not great, I found it both ‘boomy’ and lacking any treble excitement. With the Electronic Profile sounding the best.

You will see the core reason in the measurement section below, but I can only imagine iKKO have focused on a typical give the consumer formula of “more bass == good” and didn’t really focus on getting anything like a balanced sound. This is what I mentioned the EQ above being crucial to the audio experience.

I have a custom EQ based on the ‘Harman target’ which I saved to the buds and I have published below the measurement section. The profile was ultimately how I listened to the ActiveBuds and what these impressions are based on. But the nearest acceptable profile to this would be the Electronic profile.

Once I had the EQ close to Harman everything sounded mostly as it should, the bass was deep but had a nice separation and never muddied the midrange. Midrange was very clean with vocals front and centre. The Treble was never sibiliant (at least for me) but was crisp, with hi-hats and symbols sounded exciting. The soundstage and imaging were good but not outstanding, but without adding spatial audio tricks it is hard IMO to get a TWS set to sound spatious.

Note: Even after switching to the EQ, if you enable ANC it will boost the bass frequencies again, I believe this might be a side effect of the ANC algorithm that iKKO used for their ANC.

Custom EQ

The EQ customization is an aspect of the audio capabilities where the ActiveBuds truly shine. Located within the iKKO Music App, the EQ adjustment capabilities are the most detailed I’ve encountered on any TWS set, including the flagship models. You can fine-tune each of the 10 bands within a 40dB range, therefore allowing up to 400 levels of adjustment.

You scroll to add more values, it can be hard to judge looking at the screen but its hard to click the up and down arrows and view the value being changed at the same time. Hopefully, there will be a future update to make these screen easier to manipulate.

Note: while it does save the values once you click ‘Set’ it doesn’t retrieve them when you go back to this screen, and you have to enter them again if you need to tweak them.

So after some tweaking and ‘real-time’ measuring the result, I managed to achieve a near-perfect Harman target for the ANC-off mode.

Here are values to enter to get that frequency response, of course, you can then tweak to your own preferences:

31 	-1.5
62 	-3
125 	-5
250 	-7.8
520 	-14.5
1100    3
2000    5
4000 	8.2
8000 	1
16000 	7.2

Specificaation, Measurements

Here are the key specifications of the ActiveBuds:

Measurements

As I mentioned above, the default sound tuning of the ActiveBuds is far from ideal.

Here is the default compared to Harman:

Here are all the standard profiles compared to Harman:

None are great but the electronic one is at least a little balanced:

However, with careful EQ adjustments, the sound quality improves dramatically.

So here is what I measured using the EQ profile presented in the previous section, still a few issues, and it is mostly impossible to ‘fix’ the upper treble with EQ:

Here is what it looks like on my Measurement DB - again compared to Harman and to the default iKKO Profile:

So all these EQing can really only work if there is super low distortion and thankfully there is:

So I was very happy with the sound profile once I applied and measured the EQ.

Rating

After much thought I have given the ActiveBuds a very pragmatic 5-star rating, but if I was to rate the ActiveBuds solely on audio quality when listening to the default ‘out of the box’ profile, I would only give it a mere 3-star rating but since there are so many features that are genuinely useful and most importantly the built-in EQ capabilities can completely change the profile for the better, I think it is only fair to give a 5-star rating as it really is a stunning ‘gadget’ for the price, especially as iKKO continue to enhance the capabilities.

Conclusion

The iKKO ActiveBuds to me are reminiscent of the early days of smartphones, combining multiple devices into one compact unit. They function as:

1. A TWS Earbud with good battery life, comfortable fit and decent sound (once EQed).
2. A Tiny Android DAP with support for offline music playback and various music streaming apps.
3. An AI Assistant powered by ChatGPT, offering clever features like real-time translations and voice note capture.

However, it is not without flaws. The screen can be difficult to read in sunlight, the microphone and speakers on case make it difficult to use in public and the interface can be too complex in some areas for its small screen. Despite these issues, the ActiveBuds are a superb gadget for those who love cutting-edge technology.

However, when I demoed the ActiveBuds to various friends, one question that came up a few times was “Why not just use your smartphone?” and some ’normal’ buds. So you may find it hard to justify carrying a separate device with overlapping functionality.

But If you’re a gadget lover like me, the iKKO ActiveBuds are an exciting new toy and I love playing with audio toys.