Sudio has finally brought Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to their latest true wireless earphones, the Ett. Launched last month, the Ett is the Swedish earphones manufacturer’s first ANC product, and also their first which includes a wireless charging case.
Like the Fem I reviewed earlier this year, the Ett shares a similar minimalist and elegant design. While looking good may be important, most people also want ANC earphones to actually work well and sound good. The Sudio Ett will not disappoint.
The Sudio Ett is mostly made out of soft-touch matt plastic. Each earpiece weights just 5 grams. They are designed to be in-ear type earphones, with a short extension below the earpieces. There is just one single physical button on each earpiece, and a LED indicator below that button.
The only branding is on the inside of the earpiece, together with L and R markings to help you figure out which goes left and right, if you needed to check. There are two microphones in each earpiece.
Charging contacts at the bottom of the earpiece extension connect with pins inside the charging case.
The charging case is very compact, measuring just 52 x 48 x 33 mm and weighing 40 grams. It carries enough battery capacity to recharge the Ett earpieces four times over, extending its 6 hours play time (4 hours with ANC) to 30 hours (20 housr with ANC).
LED indicators on the front of the charging case show you how many full-charges of the Ett remain in its battery.
There are two ways to charge the charging case: USB-C, or Qi wireless. The USB-C supports quick charge, giving about 1 hour of play time with 15 minutes of charging.
The Sudio Ett offers IPX5 protection, which means that you don’t have to worry about perspiration or some rain.
I’ve reviewed several other Sudio earphones, so I’m no stranger to their sound quality. That said, I did start off on the wrong foot with the Ett. As is the case with all in-ear headphones, it’s very important to get the right fit of the earpieces in your years. I used to simply going to a certain size of silicon tips, which usually works well for me. For some reason, I needed a different size with the Ett.
To this end, I must commend Sudio on the very generous variety of silicon tips provided in the box. Usually, you only get to choose between S, M, and L (i.e. small, medium, and large). Sudio offers not only XS and XL, but also different shapes of S, M, and L: one set that is flatter/shallower, and another that is deeper.
Once I got the fit sorted, the Ett sounded great. The 10 mm drivers deliver a rich and dynamic sound profile that is slightly warm. The bass, mids, and trebles were well-balanced. The sound is engaging. Casual music listeners will not be disappointed by the Ett.
The microphones, for call audio, are surprisingly good. The Ett does a good job of picking up my voice while rejecting background noises.
The highlight feature of the Sudio Ett is ANC. I’m pleased to report that it does not disappoint. During this time of COVID-19 and associated stay-home restrictions, I’ve not been able to test the Ett in real-world situations. At home, however, I found the Ett did a decent job suppressing noises from fan, rain, and other continuous ambient sounds. The noise reduction is quite noticeable, and it makes an otherwise slightly-noisy home environment more conducive to “work-from-home”.
I’m looking forward to test the Sudio Ett on a plane some time in the future. The Ett isn’t in the same league as heavyweight champs like the Bose QC35, but I think it fills a market for affordable ANC earphones that does a decent job.
The Sudio Ett is simple to use. It turns on when you take out the earpieces. Press the button once to play/pause music, twice to skip track forward, thrice to skip track backward. A two-second hold turns on/off ANC (with voice enunciation only when turned on).
During phone calls, one click answers, two-second hold rejects the call. ANC is automatically turned off during calls.
The one-button simplicity is good, but therein also lies a drawback. The Ett’s controls are too basic. You can’t control volume. The only way to turn it on is to remove it from the case (you can turn off by holding the button for 6 seconds).
Those are minor inconveniences. The bigger inconvenience is with pairing. The Ett attempts to pair immediately once you remove it from the case for the first time. However, you can’t put the Ett into pairing mode again if it is already connected to a device. You’ve to disconnect an existing connection to put the Ett into pairing mode.
Furthermore, while the Ett can remember up to eight paired devices, it can only connect to one. If you are listening to music on your phone, and want to move over to your PC, you have to go to your phone to disconnect the Ett, then manually connect to the Ett from the PC.
The Sudio Ett retails at S$239, with free worldwide delivery, 18 months of international warranty, and 30 days return policy. This is just S$20 more than the Sudio Fem. I’d reckon the ANC and wireless charging is definitely worth more than S$20. See also a discount code available at the end of this post!
Apart from the white colour you see in this review, the Sudio Ett is also available in Black, Pink, and Green colours. The green is a new colour
Conclusion
The Sudio Ett brings affordable ANC to casual music listeners, without sacrificing sound quality.
- Great sound quality
- ANC works very well
- Convenient wireless charging
- IPX5 protection
- Great design and build quality
- Generous selection of silicon tips
Cons:
- Somewhat basic controls
Promotion for my readers: You can get the Sudio Ett at 15% off when you checkout from sudio.com online store using the discount code zitsengEtt (i.e. net price S$203.15). You also get a free Sudio tote bag with every purchase from sudio.com until end of July, or while stocks last. (Note: I do not earn any affiliate fees or commission from this sale. Sudio provided the Ett for this review.)
Hello — I just purchased the Ett and I am trying to figure out how will it automatically turn on by itself. It says you need to charge it before use, but didn’t say for how long before the earbuds starts to blink. When I take them out from the case, the earbuds doesn’t light up at all. Please advise and thanks in advance!
Hi Jason, I am also facing the same issue. have you found the solution?
Any solutions to these paring issues? Pls help
I do have a question to ask you about the product since this is my first time trying to use it, is it the LED lights on the charging case that indicate the remaining battery level suppose to light on even when I’m not using it until it’s running out of the battery or there’s a way to switch that off when I’m not using the earbuds?
Appreciate your help on this matter.