Rowkin Pace: True Wireless Earbuds w/Charging Case. Bluetooth 5.0 Compatible, Sweat-Proof Headphones. Smallest Hands-Free Earphones Headset w/Mic for Android and iPhone (Black)

Let me first say that I'm not an audiophile nor do I use earbuds for phone purposes. My review will have no information regarding call clarity nor expertly professional descriptions of Sound. Secondly, after reading what I wrote, I see this has become more of a review of the Pace, Ascent, Bit Touch, and the original Bit offerings by Rowkin. I purchased these myself for my own purposes, was not given nor paid anything to write this review, and am writing this because why not?This turned out to be longer than expected so here's a brief comparison before the TLDR content.Original Rowkin Bit - Worst of the 4 models regarding connectivity between left and right earbuds and with my devices. However it does blast louder volumes compared the other 3 earbuds, especially the mids and highs. If you are listening to music in a very loud environment (eg. a construction site or a warehouse where the safety guy made sure all equipment beepers drowns out the fire alarms), these are for you as the true bass and treble are lost in the ambient noise anyways and the Bit emphasizes a higher end Bass that I can't get in even my wired Anker earbuds (which I'm actually a big fan of). I'm kind of undecided about the physical button being on the back as opposed to the side like the Pace. Both designs have their merits.Rowkin Pace - Has the loudest bass of all 4 models. This little thing really bumps... I had to fiddle with third-party EQ apps to get the other models to match the bass that the Pace puts out. However, the Pace had the second worst connectivity with my device. This is partly due to the antenna in the Pace needing to be oriented (more on this below) to acheive maximum distance whereas the Bit Touch didn't care and still got stronger connections. Also, the charging case holds precious little charge: the smaller Ascent (not the Ascent Charge) charging case has literally double the capacity.Rowkin Bit Touch - This model stands as the middle point of all 4 models in my opinion. Connectivity lags just behind the Ascent probably due to the smaller form factor. Sound volumes seems a tad lower than any of the models but general sound quality is better than the Original Bit and Pace. Deeper bass than the Original Bit and probably on par with the Pace but not as hard hitting. I really like the discreetness and simplicity of this design. I also like the charger that comes with the Bit Charge Touch model over all the others as it is the same as the Bit Charge and removal of the earbuds is the easiest.Rowkin Ascent - Biggest earbuds of the 4 and it shows with how strong the connection is. I was well over 80ft away (line of sight, of course) from my phone and it held a decent connection. Has the deepest bass but somehow lacks the volume that the Pace packs. The larger and bent form factor was actually a big minus for me but removing the rubber ring helped keep it snug in my ear canal. Not sure if I can explain the logic behind that but everyone's ears are different. The frankenstein look does bug me but the solid connection and the accessibility of the touch controls balances it out.-----end TLDR content----------unexpertly sound-----In general, I feel the Ascent produces deeper tone bass and louder treble than the Pace and Bit Touch. However, the Pace undoubtedly has a "louder" bass feel to it than the Ascent and the Bit Touch. In comparison to the original Bit, however, even my old ears can tell that the sound quality is better on the 3 newer models.One thing to consider is that the device you are using also plays a role in the sound quality of earbuds. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm no audiophile but there is a distinct difference while playing the same song at the same volume (usually between 3 and 5 out of 10) on the same app (Mx player) between my Note Edge, S7, Note 8, and various laptops. Latency also seems to differ with the app I'm using, even within the same device. For example, the volume on the Ascent is noticeably lower than my original Bit when I'm on my Note Edge. On my S7 (which is BT4.2), the volume on the Ascent is still slightly lower but it's not as obvious.-----looks-----Outwardly, the original Bit, Bit Touch, and Pace are all just about the same unit with a few tweaks. The Ascent is noticably larger:-Rowkin Bit - The Original tiny earbud by Rowkin. Outwardly identical to the Bit Touch except for the button.-Rowkin Pace - Has a physical button on the side for controls instead of a touch pad. Comes with a case that is charged via Micro-USB. Has a more rounded body compared to the ribbed body of the Bit/Bit Touch.-Rowkin Bit Touch - Has a touch pad instead of a physical button. Comes with a case that is charged via Micro-USB. Shares the same body as the Bit but the bottom cover is ever-so-slightly longer making it the same height as the Bit with a button at the bottom.-Rowkin Ascent - Has a touch pad instead of a physical button. Comes with a case that is charged via USB-C (although it still charges at roughly 0.65a). Has a slight angle so that the touch pad can be more easily accessed while worn. Due to this, the body of the Ascent is slightly larger and heavier than the other 3.-----eartips-----Rowkin decided to give the Ascent a different style eartip than the other models. It is a little deeper and the inner diameter is smaller than the eartips for the Pace/Bit Touch/Bit.Also worth noting is that Rowkin supplies 3 different sizes of eartips for each of these models. However, the Large eartip is too large for the charger so insertion requires a little effort and removal results in the eartip getting inverted. I worry about how long the Large tip will last with repeated use. This problem is the same for all 4 models I have. Also, I think other people have mentioned using Comply memoryfoam eartips for better sound isolation but in my experience, the Comply eartips are so "tall" that they will not allow the earbuds to charge in their chargers. More on this below.-----charger-----The charging concept for all 4 of these Rowkin earbuds are the same: there is a magnetic ring that sucks in and holds the earbud in place. This magnet doubles as a battery terminal (negative) that contacts the metal body of the earbud. The positive terminal is a spring-loaded pin that makes contact with the speaker's mesh.Due to their similar size, the Pace/Bit/Bit Touch will charge in each others chargers. Dropping a Pace/Bit/Bit Touch into an Ascent charger "works" but it is really, really difficult to remove (you have been warned!). The Ascent will physically not fit into a Pace charger and its taller (deeper) eartip prevents it from contacting the charging pin in the Bit/Bit Touch chargers. As mentioned above, this is the same problem with fitting Comply or other brand tips onto the rowkins.(Update 12/10/18) Word of warning: I measured the voltage between the positve and negative terminals of each charger and found that the Ascent and the Pace both have 5.5 volts and the Bit and Bit Touch chargers have 5.09 volts. While I did not measure the amperage and voltage while the earbuds were charging, I'd be careful about popping the Bit or Bit Touch into the Pace charger as it might affect longevity.(Update 1/8/19) I found my Pace charger was dying rather frequently and decided to see the capacities of each charger. I found that the Pace charger has a disappointingly small capacity considering the Ascent Micro's charger is physically smaller. The following numbers I measured are general averages and I've only really measured the Bit and Bit Touch charger twice.Orginal Bit (I measured the Charge charger for this) - ~2020mAhPace Charger - ~490mAhBit (Charge) Touch - ~2050mAhAscent (Micro) - ~900mAhTo be fair, while I was disappointed with the Pace charger, I found the rated capacities of each product on the Rowkin website and my numbers were pretty on par with what was listed.Personally, I prefer the pushpop-like design of the Bit/Bit Touch charger as it is easier to remove the earbuds compared to the Pace charger. The Ascent charger is okay but I can see how this would change if the Ascent didn't have a ribbed body.Lastly, the latest 3 models (the Bit Touch/Pace/Ascent) are designed to turn on when the earbuds are removed from their chargers. Apparently, this feature uses the presence of a charger to activate instead of the magnet that holds it in. The drawback to this is that the earbuds turn on when the charger dies and there have been a number of times when my phone was connected to my earbuds without me knowing. I want to say Rowkin should have gone with the magnetic option but I'm reminded of my Anker Tab that has a similar feature where they turn on when separated from each other. There were times when my Anker automatically turned off when I rested my left ear on a metal pole. First world problems, indeed.-----battery life-----(Update 1/8/19) Battery life really depends on your preferences. Constant, bass-heavy music at max volume will obviously drain your earbuds faster. I usually like my music at volumes hovering around the half mark and all models lasted ROUGHLY 3 hours in stereo mode. If I were using only 1 earbud, I could cop over 4 hours before I get the "Low. Batteryplease charge." warning (yes, it sounds like that!). Funny thing I noticed is that if the battery in my right earbud dies, both earbuds power down whereas if the left earbud dies, the right side keeps going (note: I actually haven't done this with the Original Bit but I'd assume the result would be the opposite.)One thing I want to point out here is that in Stereo Mode, one earbud (let's call this "Primary") connects to both the device and the other earbud ("secondary"). The Primary has to maintain the connection with both the device and the Secondary AND output music. This results in this "Primary" earbud draining its battery faster than the Secondary earbud. Rowkin, if you are listening, could you implement some method or option to switch the Primary between the left and right earbuds? I believe this would add a few minutes of stereo listening. Having the option to switch could also help with connectivity problems too.-----controls-----The touchpad on the Bit Touch and Ascent are a little gimmicky to me. While they work, you need sharp, deliberate, and pressured "taps" for them to function properly and they won't work at all if you have gloves.The control functions of all 3 newer models are identical. (Edit 11/24/18, I was wrong: the Pace has different controls than the Ascent and the Bit Touch) There are different controls for the left and right channel but there is nothing preventing you from putting the Right channel into your Left ear and vice-versa so I can see how this can cause some confusion.On all 4 models, you have the option of using a single earbud by leaving the other earbud off. Music automatically switches to monaural. This is the feature that originally caught my interest in Rowkins because I can leave one channel charging as I enjoy the other and swap when the battery dies.The online manual and app covers the different tap commands in Stereo mode. However, they do not cover Monaural mode so I'll post what I've found so far:For the Bit Touch or Ascent, a double-tap is play/pause.For the Bit or Pace a single tap is play/pause.As far as I know, there is no option to skip tracks in Mono mode.A long press (about 6 seconds) from on is power off.A long press (about 6 seconds) from off is power on.A long press (over 6 seconds) from off first powers on the earbud, then goes into pairing mode.A long press (about 8 seconds) from off first powers on the earbud, goes into pairing mode, and finally goes into "true wireless stereo pairing" mode. This is what you need to do in order to pair your left and right channels if they somehow get unpaired.One interesting thing to note is that you can actually pair the Right side of one model to the Left side of a different model and it will still play in stereo! In fact, you can even pair 2 Rights (or 2 Lefts) together as well and each earpiece will tell you "True wireless stereo connected" but when you try to connect to a device, only one side will play. (actually, there is a way to make this set up work IF your device supports multipoint but let's not make this tooo complicated...).One last note regarding Monaural mode: in order to achieve wireless stereo, the earbuds support multipoint. This means that when you are in Monaural Mode, you can actually connect to 2 devices. To do this, turn off the earbud by holding down the button for 6 seconds (or long-pressing for the touch models), wait a few seconds before holding the button again to turn the earbud on and do not release until you hear "pairing". This comes in handy if you are someone who has 2 phones or if you use a separate device for your music and phone (or videos, laptop, etc). This is not possible in Stereo Mode because the second device is the other earbud. Also if you do connect to a second device, the Rowkin "forgets" the other earbud so you will need to re-pair both earbuds next time you want to use Stereo Mode. I think there are differences between Right and Left but I have not experimented with that yet.-----equalizer app-----If your device does not support BT4.2 or above (eg. my Note Edge which is BT4.1), you will not be able to install the App to change the EQ settings. However, the EQ settings are actually stored in the earbuds themselves so you can use another device that has BT4.2 or BT5 to change the EQ and then go back to your original device to enjoy your new settings.-----bluetooth, connection between channels-----I generally used the original Bit as a single earpiece because the connection between the left and right sides just sucked (ok, well, maybe it's because my job requires me to not cover both ears while working). The trick where you line up the dots or whatever kinda works but it is too much of a hassle when you are constantly removing and reinserting the buds all the time. In comparison, the connection of the Pace/Ascent/Bit Touch in between each earbud has drastically improved and I've only had issues when I purposely cup one ear with both my hands as a test.-----bluetooth, connection to a device-----The original Rowkin Bit's connection to my device (generally, the Note Edge mentioned above) was fair at best, requiring me to stay within line-of-sight to hold a decent connection. Bluetooth has difficulty passing through organic material (such as my body or head) so putting my phone in my back pocket or turning my head in an open area would almost guarantee a few moments of silence. As for the Pace/Ascent/Bit Touch, their connection to a device has noticeably improved to where line-of-sight isn't as much of a problem. One difference is that in Stereo mode, the original Bit uses the left earbud to connect to the device whereas the Pace/Ascent/Bit Touch uses the right earbud to connect to the device.However, during a hike with the Pace, I had my phone in my back pocket and I'd lose connection when I turn my head a certain way. In contrast, on the same trail with the Bit Touch, I literally had zero disconnects. I will update when I try the Ascent on that same trail but as of right now, my opinion is that the Pace somehow has a weaker connection than the Bit Touch.(Update 12/8/18) The Pace seems to prefer to be oriented a certain way to get maximum connectivity. With my phone directly in front of me, I noticed the best connection with each earbud in their correct sides with the button on top (or slightly toward the back of your head). I tried this in Mono mode and I got the same result: with the right earbud in my left ear, having the button facing down yielded the best distances (like about 60 feet, line of sight).Also keep in mind that my experience is with an outdated BT4.1 Note Edge and I happen to know that it fires its bluetooth signal out the bottom. I intend to update this once I play around with other devices with BT4.2 or BT5.That's about it for now.

The media could not be loaded.  Update: I have had these earbuds now for over a month. Or use them daily, many hours per day. Battery life is about three hours and, but I have not really run into issues with battery life as I tend to use one earbud at a time, while the other is charging. They work flawlessly in this way. This means you can pretty well listen continuously. They sync up and pair effortlessly, and the range is great. My only wish is that the antenna which syncs the two earbuds together was a bit stronger. Occasionally, if you turn your head or look up or down, the stereo sound will cut in and out. This happens mostly when you are active, like playing a sport. However, Rowkin’s website acknowledges this and recommends rotating One of the two earbuds in your ear 90°. This helps the small strip and Tana on the right year communicate to the left ear. Once I did this, I’ve never had problems again. So there is a small learning curve and learning to use these. It that’s hardly a complaint, considering the other brands I have tried are bulky, don’t stay in as well, and sound worse. These earbuds meet my needs. And as you can read below, you will see that the customer support for this brand is excellent. They respond by email, quickly and helpfully. I would definitely recommend you give them a try.Original review: Bummer! I like these earbuds a lot! They fit my ears perfectly, feel very secure and are amazingly low profile. Music sounds great. Plenty of volume available. Unfortunately, I only know this from listening to the right ear bud. The left earbud did not work, straight out of the box. It is clearly broken. The ear tip rotates completely around. I was gently trying to pull the silicone tip off to try a different size and immediately noticed that the entire speaker was rotating all the way around. On the right ear there is no rotation at all it is fixed solid. The left ear syncs well, and the Bluetooth works fine, but the speaker does not. As you rotate the tip, you can tell the wires connecting the speaker to the Bluetooth body has broken loose so there’s no sound. I will return for exchange and give them another try. I really like the design and the fit. I will update review after I try out the replacement.***Update***I emailed Rowkin directly. They quickly replied and apologized and shipped out a new left earbud with 24 hours. So far so good. Awaiting the replacement to be able to truly test out the pair. Customer service 5 stars

I've not only never had a properly functioning pair of wireless headphones/earbuds. I've also struggled with a weird problem of hindering the signal. My guess is that the technology has gotten to much stronger place than years ago. Normally I'd walk around and sound would keep cutting out with other headphones I have used, this is something I've yet to encounter with these. These headphones are really simple to setup, just remember to pair one at a time. The sound quality definitely surprised me and in the short time I've only run into one issue with one of the earbuds randomly being extremely quiet despite the volume maxed on the phone. I appreciate that the case really holds these earbuds in place so I never worry about opening it and one just falling out. I'd suggest anyone who buys these earbuds to download the Rowkin app. While the find my earbuds feature isn't perfect, it at least helps give you an idea of being in the right area or not.Thus far I only have one real complaint and that is the earbuds kind of need to be in a sort of sweet spot to deliver the maximum level of audio fidelity.