Haylou GT7 Earbuds Review: Basic Can Still Win
MSRP price: $19.99
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Disclaimer: Haylou sent us a unit of the GT7 free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
Lightweight. Wireless. Noise canceling. Long-lasting battery life. What more can you need from your earbuds? Here at The Sypnotix, we’re always in search of great earbuds that don’t break the bank. For $20, the Haylou GT7 true wireless earbuds just might be the next great entry level noise canceling product that is accessible to the everyday casual listener.
Simple From The Get Go
The Haylou GT7 earbuds are simple in design language across the board. Sold in three colors (white, transparent black, and solid black), the Chinese electronics company provides buyers with a small plastic charging case, a USB-C charging cable and three sets of ear tips. There’s nothing particularly extravagant or stand-out about the Haylou GT7 package, but we don’t always need to be wowed by the packaging to be impressed with a product. The black earbuds are unobtrusive and resemble just about any generic earbud on the market. This can be a good thing as it doesn’t draw attention to you while mounted in your earlobe. The set is also incredibly lightweight. I’d even go so far as to say the earbuds and charging case feel a bit cheaply made in material, yet not necessarily flimsy in build. Unless you were looking right at the charging case directly in front of you, there’s minimal branding and an overall clean aesthetic to these true wireless earbuds. The GT7 is as discrete of a earphone design as there is nowadays.
The earbuds are comfortable in the ear and I’ve been able to wear these for hour-long Zoom meetings at a time without feeling much discomfort. They’re not quite as snug in place as other brands I’ve tried in the past, but they still fit well enough to not need to worry about them falling out of my ear while moving around. I don’t necessarily see these earbuds as effective for sports or active use due to their fit in my ear, but I do seem to feel like the Haylou GT7 works quite comfortably as a commuter/use at your desk type of earbud set.
Making a Connection
Call me crazy but connectivity has always been a point of contention for me when it comes to wireless earbuds. It may be because I toggle between devices fairly frequently (I have a personal laptop and work laptop, in addition to my cell phone) and when reviewing and listening on audio accessories, I like to be able to traverse them across my various devices on the fly. This surprisingly isn’t as easily effective to do as you may think it is. Using Bluetooth 5.2, the Haylou GT7 actually did shock me in how easy it connected and rotated between all my devices. Simply take out both earbuds and look for a pairing connection and it’ll located the next location it needs to connect with in a blink of an eye. I’m typically wary of these auto-connecting headphones, as I much prefer having a physical button that blinks when it’s in pairing mode, but the GT7 earbuds worked effortlessly as advertised across both Apple and Android devices. Color me very impressed
Some Basic Functions
For less than $30, the typical earbud user here should recognize that the Haylou GT7 won’t come with all the bells and whistles that more expensive earbuds have. Nevertheless, I think Haylou has done a solid job of offering reasonable touch controls that cover most of the bases. There’s a small control area around the top of each earbud - simply tap to play or pause or double tap to skip. You can also activate voice assistant by triple tapping, although this feature was a little finicky for me at times. You can also use the same tap function for calls as well.
While there’s nothing special here in terms of gesture controls that you’d find in something like the Google Pixel-Buds A-Series, Haylou has supplied us with the fundamentals that are important and removed the fluff that really isn’t essential to the user experience of listening to music.
Sound Quality
Haylou advertises the GT7 earbuds to utilize a low-latency mode that adapts to gaming and videos you may be viewing while on your device. There’s also an AI functionality that uses noise cancellation to help reduce outside noise. These are by no means true noise canceling headphones in my opinion, nor are they particularly powerful for bass or sound, but for less than $30, the sound quality for casual listeners is solid.
Bass and treble presence is pretty average when listening to music with quicker beats as the ranges don’t seem to stand out on either the high or low-midrange. I’ve been using these to listen to music, YouTube interviews, and Netflix movies and while the quality of the audio in my ear didn’t impress me, I’ve been pleased with the overall sound quality provided when I put it into perspective based on the price tag. For $20, we sometimes dwell too much on what we don’t get when we should be perceiving it as hard to argue against what we do get.
Reliable Battery Life
The final test to make sure these earbuds could stand to be used out in the real world was focused around battery life and how they held up. The answer was that the GT7 managed to stay long-lasting. Haylou advertises 5 hours of playtime and an additional 20 hours from the charging case. I found this to be fairly accurate and was impressed with the quick charging time and simple plug to charge through the USB-C cable to the charging case. The battery on these earbuds lasted with no unexpected surprises and held through my busy days in the office.
Final Thoughts
For $20, it’s hard to go wrong with the Haylou GT7 true wireless earbuds. The price is right, and there’s simple to use touch functions that pair with a minimalist design. As I mentioned before, there’s nothing particularly mind-blowing about these earbuds, but they get the job done and do it pretty well. Sound quality is average across all types of audio platforms and battery life is long-lasting enough to survive just about any kind of workflow. As long as your intended use with these earbuds is at a seated desk or daily non-active commute, the Haylou GT7 fits the checklist needed for a reliable and affordable pair of earbuds. In some situations, basic can still be a winner.
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Lida
Always the number cruncher, the former narrative journalist turned data scientist, can’t help but find herself bursting with excitement with each new generation of tech gadgets. After all, predicting future trends is Lida’s forte. Any gadget that survives Lida’s torturous, adult working woman itinerary of over 700 notifications a day deserves praise!