Insignia NS-CAHBTAP True Wireless In-Ear Headphones Review

Design and Fit

I have found Insignia’s truly wireless headphones to be have a much more secure fit than other truly wireless earbuds. The soft ear hooks fit comfortably around my ears and stayed in place even during HIIT workouts and running.

I do find that the sweatier I get, the “seal” into my ear canal can work loose and I lose some of the bass, but the ear hooks keeps the earbuds from falling completely off of my ear. So if you’re purchasing these for working out, you shouldn’t be disappointed, but please note that this “seal” also creates an underwater-like effect, meaning I can hear every footstep vibration amplified when these earbuds are in.

However, I’m not a huge fan of the touch pads on the side of each earbud. Normally, you can simply tap on the earbuds to play and pause your music (a double-tap skips to the next track). When adjusting the earbuds, I find myself accidentally activating the touch buttons and pausing my music. Although the Apple AirPods have a touch sensor, they do not seem to exhibit this issue like the Insignia earbuds. I would have preferred a physical button in this case.

Sound Quality

The sound quality is very good on these earbuds. They are passive noise cancelling earbuds, meaning that you need to seal them to your ear canal for the best sound quality and to muffle outside sounds. When seated properly in your ear, the Insignia earbuds have a very good bass output and mids and highs also sound very balanced.

The sound quality is not quite up there with Apple AirPods, but at half the price, the Insignia earbuds have more more than acceptable sound quality.

Connection

The connection between the left and right headphone seems to do fairly well. Indoors, I don’t really experience a lot of issues with the sound cutting out between the two headphones unless I’m near a router or other interference. Outdoors, the sound cutouts are slightly more frequent, especially if I wear my phone on the left side of my body (it pairs with the right earbud). Overall, I’m very pleased with the connection stability.

Battery Life and Charging

On a full charge, the headphones last up to 5 hours and the charging case can recharge the earbuds about 2 times, so you could get about 15 hours of usage when the case and earbuds are fully charged.

It’s important to line up the charging pins properly when returning the earbuds to the case or they may not make a solid connection. Closing the case helps to press the earbuds into their respective slots. In fact, I find the earbuds don’t usually charge until I press the case shut.

Oddly, the right earbuds must be placed in the left-side of the case and the left earbud goes into the right-side of the case, which is likely the opposite of what most people are expecting.

The earbuds and charging case are also a lot bulkier than I was expecting, especially when compared to the Apple AirPods. They definitely don’t fit in my jean’s pockets