Tozo Golden X1 Earbuds Review: New High-End Earbuds that Do Sound Golden

Tozo Golden X1 Earbuds Review

Technological progress makes it hard to play products against each other, which is why we don’t run many comparison reviews. Every new product adds features that were previously differentiators in the previous generation. It will soon be hard to find earbuds without Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) or wireless charging. 

Tozo stepped up the earbud game with their Tozo Golden X1 earbuds, which arrive in a cool OLED display case that allows owners to track battery charge without the app. And while these $259.99 list price headphones don’t include all the bells and whistles of the most sophisticated headphones, they certainly put the competition on notice that they know what makes people buy headphones: great sound, small size and long battery life. 

An effective app, support for multipoint connections, and IPX6 water resistance combine to offer a compelling value for those seeking high-end earbuds but not willing to pay top-of-the-line prices—despite its $259.99 list price, the Tozo Golden X1 earbuds often sell for around $150—and at that buyers may even be able to apply an extra coupon on Amazon.

Selected specifications

Frequency response range: 12Hz – 44.1kHz

Supported codecs: LDAC, AAC, SBC

Active Noise Cancelation: Yes

Battery life: 5h with ANC, 8h with ANC off

Charging time: Case, 2h. Earbuds, 2h.

Wireless Charging: Qi-supported

Water resistance: IPX6

Bluetooth® version: 5.3

Weight of case with earbuds: Approx: 1.93 ounces

What we like

Pros

• Digital battery-level indicator in case
• Good sound quality
• Comfortable fit
• Effective Active Noise Cancelation (ANC)
• Great app with Customizable EQ 
• Multipoint connections
• Strong and stable Bluetooth® connection
• Customizable touch controls
• Decent microphone
• Long battery life 
• Wireless charging 
• IPX6 Water resistance

Let me start with the small and beautifully sculpted case that, like a Cracker Jack box, includes a surprise. That surprise is a very well-appointed OLED display that shows the battery life of the headphones and the case. Unlike Poly’s Voyager Free 60+, which sports a multi-function touchscreen that integrates with earbuds, this is a passive display, but it offers valuable information in a well-integrated way, including animation of charging after placing the earbuds in the case. This is one of the smallest cases around, easily fitting inside a pocket, bag, or anywhere else it might be carried.

What makes earbuds worth buying isn’t the case; it’s the sound, and these $259.99 headphones sound great. Don’t be afraid of that list price, though; the actual price online at Tozo and on Amazon is often closer to $150. There are pricing issues, with the Tozostore.com list price showing at $259.99 and the Amazon list price, before a discount, at $229.99. Tozo needs to rationalize its pricing across platforms.

I have listened to everything from podcasts and news to classical music and pop with the Tozo Golden X1s and was never disappointed by any of the experiences—not from my office chair while listening to concentration music on a productive writing afternoon or when wandering around Home Depot evaluating mulch and landscaping rock alternatives.

On the concentrated sound test that I conducted when writing the core of the review, I listened almost exclusively to Dua Lipa. Her songs cross boundaries and offer deep beats and capture her vocal aspirations. The answer to Levitating was clearly yes, as the earbuds did their best to simulate a night in a club. The Tozo Golden X1 earbuds will also help listeners Hallucinate when they call her name.

I did test against some of my standard headphone testing songs, including Hamilton’s It’s Quiet Uptown and David Guetta’s Titanium (feat. Sia). The earbuds responded to every note my iPhone threw at them.

For those interested in tweaking sound profiles, the Tozo Golden X1s support a range of equalizer settings, which I think are incorrectly referred to as Sound Effects in the app. Choices range from Classical to Hip-Pop, and Deep to Piano. Picking the EQ that corresponds with the song playing clearly enhances the audio. I appreciate the subtle animation that shows the app pushing the new settings to the earbuds. EQ settings can be modified and saved or deleted to unclutter the UI. [Note: when using the in-app EQ, set your device EQ to flat so the equalizers don’t compete for the sound profile.]

Tozo also includes AI adjustments to the music and other streams based on their in-app hearing test. My test showed some high and low drop offs that it appears the earbuds will now compensate for during my listening experiences.

As a final note about the app, it also supports firmware updates, a Tozo store, the ability to create an account for customer service purposes, and the remapping of the touch controls. Everything in the app is easy to understand and well-illustrated. I like that they don’t require an account to use the features that don’t require a dialog (such as problem feedback).

I found the ANC adequate in real-world situations. I did not evaluate these earbuds on an airplane, however, but outside or in an office, they work very well. Tozo offers a variety of levels of ANC, though I didn’t notice an appreciable change in the experience when listening to music; without music playing, the earbuds clearly let in more outside-world sound. 

ANC asserted itself quickly with the selection of any noise reduction modes. None of them, however, blocked the sound of my fingers tapping this review on my Drop keyboard. On the other hand, the washing machine noise appeared to disappear from down the hall.

Although the Tozo Golden X1 earbuds support Hi-Rez audio, realizing a Hi-Rez audio experience requires more than capable earbuds—it also requires a device and an audio streaming service that can feed the earbuds the necessary bits that represent Hi-Rez audio.

With the use of Knowles balanced armature drivers and carbon nanotube diaphragm dynamic drive, Tozo claims to produce sound that exceeds human hearing, stretching into the realm of Dolphins. I’ll let you know what Flipper thinks next time I share an earbud with him.

Earbud battery life runs 8 hours with an additional 24 supplied by the 2.752 inches x 1.346 inches x 1.504 inches case.

Other positive features of the Tozo Golden X1 include multipoint connection, Bluetooth 5.3, and IPX6 water resistance. Microphones are adequate for calls.

The warranty runs a year, with support promised for the product’s lifetime. The company also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

What could be improved

Cons

• No fast charging 
• No in-ear detection
• Expensive list price

Tozo has packed most of the latest features into the Tozo Golden X1 earbuds, but they are missing a couple of features, including fast charging and in-ear detection.

As noted above, the $259.99 list price is high for earbuds from other than a name brand. That list price sits $10 above Apple’s Airpod Pros—but again, the discounts seem rather perpetual. My sense is companies like Tozo list their earbuds at a level that suggests their competitive features, but they set margin expectations below that. That said, save the Apple magic like Handoff, the Tozo Golden X1 earbuds offer a reasonable alternative to Apple’s buds.

The packing is generally sustainable, but the cardboard box was covered in a clear, tough plastic, non-recyclable wrapper that detracted from otherwise mostly paper-based packaging. I would have preferred just a box, even if that meant the potential for scuffing the beautifully shot images on the box. A cardboard hang tag would also be a good packing choice.

Tozo Golden X1 Earbuds: The bottom line

I really enjoy the Tozo Golden X1 earbuds. The small, curvy case is easy to carry, and the small curvy earbuds prove just as easy to wear. The sound is outstanding, and the app, unlike so many that don’t do much, is an asset to the listening experience.

Tozo provided the Tozo Golden X1 earbuds for review. Images courtesy of Tozo unless otherwise noted.

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