I review tech for a living and I'm shocked by how good these $30 earbuds are
The amazingly capable Baseus Bowie MA10 sets a high bar for low-cost earbuds.
How much do you really need to spend for a good set of wireless earbuds? Apple would have you think $129 minimum, or $249 if you want active noise cancellation (ANC). Those are the prices for second-generation AirPods and AirPods Pro, respectively. But here's Baseus with its new Bowie MA10 wireless earbuds, which include ANC, for just $30. At that price, they can't possibly be any good, right? There's just no way a $30 product could compete with a $249 one. Right?! Hold onto your earholes; here's my Baseus Bowie MA10 review. (Spoiler alert: It made our list of the best AirPods Pro alternatives under $100.)
Ear detection: No | Companion app: Yes | Multipoint connectivity: Yes | Case charging: USB-C | Max battery life: 8 hours on a charge | Water-resistance: IPX6 | Ear tips included: 3 sizes
VERDICT: Baseus has crafted amazingly good earbuds with a price tag that's even more amazing.
- Exceptional battery life
- Very good sound and noise-canceling
- Smart touch controls
- Useful companion app
- No in-ear detection
- Hard to hear yourself on phone calls
- Charging case too large for most pockets
A quick note about price: It fluctuates, often a lot. When I first published this review, you could buy the MA10 for $30. For the past couple months, however, Amazon's been showing it at $35 — but almost always with a coupon that would knock off 20 or 30 percent. In fact, I've seen the product discounted as low as $21. It's a steal either way, but I'd avoid paying over $30; just wait for the next sale or coupon to knock some extra dollars off.
Baseus Bowie MA10: Design and features
Available only in black, the Bowie MA10's have no known relation to David Bowie — or American pioneer Jim Bowie — though Baseus did score endorsements from three Oscar-nominated film composers.
These are bullet-style earbuds, which I find a little harder to grip than AirPods and other "pipe" earbuds; the latter give you a stem to hold onto while inserting and removing them from your ears. The orientation is also less obvious — it took me a minute to figure out which end is "up" when first trying these out.
The good news is that they fit snugly and comfortably — in my ears, at least — with the medium-size ear tips and hooks that came already installed. Your experience may differ, as ear shapes can vary greatly, so be prepared to experiment with the included extra sizes (small and large) to get the best fit. For me, these were darn near perfect straight from the box.
Or, should I say, straight from the charging case. It's a mammoth compared with most earbud cases, and not especially pocket-friendly. It doesn't support wireless charging, either — only USB-C. But the upside is that the case can recharge the earbuds more than 16 times before needing to be recharged itself. And the earbuds last up to eight hours, meaning you're looking at upwards of 140 total hours of playtime.
AirPods Pro, in comparison, last up to six hours on a charge and 30 total with the case. Winner: Bowie MA10 by a mile.
Also of note: These earbuds support multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, meaning you can pair them with, say, a phone and laptop and easily switch between the two. They're also IPX6-rated against water, so they should be able to withstand whatever amount of sweat your ears produce.
The only feature I'm really missing here is in-ear detection, which would automatically pause playback when you remove an earbud and resume it when you replace it. It's hardly crucial, but I'm spoiled by it now, so I miss it when it's not available.
Baseus Bowie MA10: How do they sound?
Of course, features and battery life mean nothing if the earbuds don't sound good. I'm no audiophile, but I've tested a lot of these things — cheap and premium alike. Color me impressed: The Bowie MA10s produce rich and well-balanced sound, maybe not quite as full-bodied as AirPods, but extremely good overall. Indeed, I think you'd need a sensitive and well-trained ear to find any fault with these earbuds; for "civilians" like me, they're great.
And if you're one who likes to fiddle with sound settings, the Baseus companion app provides 12 equalizer presets (jazz, classical, voice, mega-bass, etc.) and lets you create multiple custom ones.
The app serves up other features as well, like tweaking the earbuds' touch controls. Baseus wisely designed them so that a single touch does nothing; an accidental graze won't pause your music or skip a track, for example. Instead, a double tap will play/pause, a long press toggles sound mode (normal, transparency, noise-reduction) and so on. Within the app, you can customize all these to your liking; maybe the left ear is for play/pause and the right one activates your phone's voice assistant.
If you watch Netflix, TikTok or other videos, you can toggle low-latency mode to better sync up the audio and video (which, in my testing, was necessary). Misplaced an earbud? The app can "call" it by playing an increasingly loud tone. If it's buried in the couch cushions you probably won't hear it, but if it's just sitting out somewhere, this feature can definitely help.
There's also a sort of poor man's Find My feature: The app records the last known location of the earbuds, helpful if you can't remember if you left them at home or the office.
Baseus Bowie MA10: How's the noise canceling?
Give credit where it's due: Apple's AirPods Pro are virtually unrivaled when it comes to noise canceling. How do the MA10s compare? They're solid in some areas and they struggle in others. For example, when I put them up against "TV blaring in the other room while I'm trying to work, ahem," the Baseus product worked nearly as well as AirPods Pro. No joke.
Next, I sat beside an AC unit that produces a loud, low hum while running. I played no music; I just wanted to gauge the overall reduction in this particular noise. The AirPods were vastly superior here; the sound of the AC all but disappeared. I'd say the MA10s cut the noise in half.
The Baseus app lets you choose between three ANC presets, each designed to tackle a different subset of noise: indoor, outdoor and commuting. There's also a custom option where you can turn a dial between 1 and 10, useful if you're concerned about tuning out too much noise (like oncoming traffic, for example).
Interestingly, when ANC is engaged but you're not playing any audio, there's no background hiss — a common gripe with ANC earbuds. Ultimately, the MA10s do better in some environments than others, but let's keep in mind: $30.
Despite the presence of four ENC (Environmental Noise Canceling) microphones, I didn't have the best luck with phone calls. Although I could hear the other person just fine, I had a hard time hearing my own voice, even with transparency mode engaged. (Also, I had to engage it manually; ideally it would kick in automatically for phone calls.) AirPods are definitely better in this department.
Should you buy the Bowie MA10?
Yes. Absolutely. Baseus has set a new bar for "cheap" earbuds, delivering amazing sound quality and virtually unmatched battery life for an impossibly low price.
Sure, in-ear detection would be nice to have, as would a case that supports wireless charging. But those are just missing sprinkles on top of a cake that already has plenty of icing. I'm extremely impressed by these earbuds; they'd be a solid buy at twice the price.
