1MORE ComfoBuds Mini Review – When the dwarfs drum reservedly and the measurements confirm the hearing impression

Control and pairing

Playback is controlled via the two touch-sensitive backs of the in-ears. The gestures are limited to two per bud and always represent a complementary action on the other side (e.g. double tapping for forward or back). However, it has to be said that these can still be customized and reassigned via the 1More app (of course, only within the scope of the available actions). But I will come to the software in a moment.

Switching through the ANC modes via gestures is annoying, since you only hear a beep and never know what has really just been selected. You should really leave that to the app. Speaking of ANC or the pass-through – all modes work, except I don’t find the ANC perfect overall because even the buds don’t seal as tightly as thicker in-ears. So you will always perceive something from the environment. And the ambient pass-through thing takes some getting used to, because everything seems a little louder than it actually is.

 

Pairing the buds with each other and with the systems is easy and succeeded right away. There is nothing to complain about here, even if it took what felt like ages. This works without problems under Windows 10 or 11, if you use a suitable Bluetooth 5.1 or 5.2 dongle, then it even works with your own voice. This is much easier on Android, because current smartphones can handle the buds without any problems.

  

Loading times and software

And how long do you have to load the parts now, so that you hear what for how long? Of course, I investigated the question and tested it with different volumes. To prevent unwanted playback stops (infrared sensor when Smart Play is activated), they lie in a small tray on the heater. This works just as well as the dry tangerine attached to the steering wheel with a cable tie for autonomous driving > 30 seconds. No, you don’t do that, but you could. Or you go into the app every time and deactivate Smart Play again.

It all depends on the volume and the selected ANC mode, but it was not quite 4 hours at full drone (i.e. what you can squeeze out to the maximum) and ANC at maximum level. If you take it more leisurely and do without ANC, it is over 6 hours. That’s not a bad value for the not even 4 grams heavy earplugs, so the ComfoBuds Mini last between 4 and 6 hours. I can thus confirm the manufacturer’s specifications by and large.

The charging tray has an integrated RGB LED that indicates the remaining charge of the integrated battery via the color of the light (i.e. green in the ideal case). The app also has a real indicator for the remaining charge of the earphones and the case. The battery installed in the shell with its 440 mAh is supposed to manage four complete charges. For me, it was three and a half loads. Series dispersion? It didn’t matter if I plugged the battery into the PC or a charger, that’s all I could do. After all, fast charging goes via the shell. The manufacturer already credits the Quickcharge function with 90 minutes of runtime within 10 minutes when the plug’s batteries were empty.

 

Software (App)

I had already written about the 1MORE app several times, and the functionality is not much different here. Besides the app update and the OTA update for the firmware, you can find the charging status, the reassignment of the gestures and otherwise some more functions up to SoundID and the individual sound adjustment. These, in turn, I would rather trade for a normal equalizer, but that’s nothing. Such predefined gimmicks are really superfluous, manual is still the best weapon. I already told you why this is the case.

 

The rest of the software is self-explanatory, you really don’t need to go through it in detail. Now it’s finally time to get down to business!