Tesoro Tuned In-Ear Headphone Review

Introduction

Tesoro has been branching out on their product lines for quite some time, and today is the day we check out their in-ear headphones which are dubbed ‘Tuned’, a supposedly tuned to perfection ear piece that offers you something quite amazing. Given that they are only going to cost you roughly $34.99 USD (currently unavailable in the UK), just how good can they be? Let’s find out, shall we?

Before we continue though, here’s a brief overview of the specs. They feature a 9.2mm driver that is encased in a solid metal enclosure, designed to help you grab onto the earpiece without too much difficulty. There’s an inline audio remote which also features a microphone, and they’re also tied together used flat cabling which is meant to be tangle-free. We all know how well tangle-free things that claim to be tangle-free work though, don’t we? Oh, there’s also a small carry case included with the headset. Pretty neat!

There’s a promotional video floating around on YouTube, so it only seems appropriate to place it into the review. Feel free to check it out below.

Specifications

Model number: A3
Colour: Black
Driver Unit: 9.2mm
Frequency Response: 20-20K Hz
Impedance: 16 ohms
Max. SPL at 1kHz: 95 +/- 3dB
Microphone Directivity: omni-directional
Mic Impedance: –
Mic Sensitivity: -42 +/- 3dB
Headband: No
Ear cushions: Interchangeable
Cable Length: 1.2m
Cable: Tangle-free
Plugs: 3.5mm Gold-plated plug
Compatibility: Mobile devices/PC/MAC
Package Contents: Tuned In-ear Pro, Audio/MIC Splitter Adaptor Cable, Small/Medium/Large Ear-tips, Carrying Bag
Dimensions WxLxH: 180x110x50 mm
Weight (w/o cable): 17.8g

Packaging & Closer Look

Tesoro have packaged their product in a way that only Tesoro could. It looks pretty great if you were to ask me personally. It’s a near monochromatic design with only their purple accents from their logo showing colour on the front of the box. It definitely grabs the eye, that’s for sure. On the front, it gives us a few bullet points regarding the key features of the headphones. Although not pictured, on the back is more information regarding what we spoke about in the intro, such as the metal grips and so on.

Opening up the box reveals the carrier case, the inline audio button/microphone and the two separate headphones, one with a side-on view and the other face on. It feels pretty sturdy, too.

Once everything is out of the box, you can see the entirety of its contents as they are hidden beneath the plastic shroud initially. What we have is of course the headphones, a set of different sized ear inserts, a user manual and of course the carrier case. The last item on the list is a splitter cable that allows PC users to bypass the 4-pole jack that is designed for smartphone users.

The in-line audio remote/microphone has the same sort of textured feeling that you find on the headphones. A nice touch, Tesoro!

To finish off, here’s a close up shot of the noise makers themselves.

Performance

The first thing I wish to comment on is the tangle-free cabling that Tesoro used on Tuned. They are actually surprisingly good at withstanding the tangle, which is not something I was expecting. My standard Samsung S6 headphones have a similar style of cable, and they always get tangled up. It’s nice to see that they are actually holding up to their claim, and being tangle-free after all.

Grabbing onto the device whilst they are inserted into your ear does seem somewhat easier than other in-ear headphones that I’ve used in the past. The grip which Tesoro has implemented really does help you to find which ear they belong in much faster as well. It sounds odd, but it really does.

Where the Tuned cans do fall short is in the audio arena. Whilst it does give you crisp mid and high level sounds, it lacks any feeling of bass, and I was hoping for better. I’ve read similar stories from other reviewers, too. It’s a real shame, but don’t let that deter you if you just want to listen to audio books or watch a few YouTube videos on the go. They’re probably best avoided for music, though.

The microphone is something that I would imagine plenty of you would use on a near day-to-day basis if you are using them with a mobile device. In order for the voice to be picked up, the microphone does need to be pretty close to your mouth due to its rather limited pickup range. It does, however, provide clear sound and the overall quality of the voice is good when using a cellular device. The experience was unfortunately a little different on the PC, and it left us with a poor sounding microphone when talking through the commonly used VOIP apps such as Discord and Skype.

The overall experience didn’t get any better on PC, and I did not expect it to do that either. Whilst it may be okay for some that are into casual gaming, they definitely cannot be used to do anything other than that. If you are more of the competitive nature such as myself, you’ll find yourself falling short due to the lack of sound definition. It can give you a fairly good idea where your enemy is if you listen out for the reloading of their guns or their footsteps, but the overall experience is pretty poor.

Conclusion

Okay, time to wrap this one up. So, the question remains… would I recommend these to anyone? Yes, actually. If you are looking for a durable solution that you are not going to be using for intense music listening, then they would be a great fit for you. However, that comes almost as a double-edged sword, as I would not recommend them to anyone who likes to listen to music as they just cannot deliver the bass that you require to get a good experience. It’s a real shame, and hopefully something that can be improved upon in their next release should there be one. That being said, overall, Tesoro haven’t done a bad job and although there is strong competition in the sub £30 audio market at present, with a few improvements, the Tuned could be a winner!

As always, a thank you to Tesoro is in order for providing us with the Tuned headphones for review.