APRIL 2020 MACWORLD 113(XS, S, M, L) that helped me find exactly
the right size—for me, the small worked
best. An extra silicone wing juts forward
off the body of the BT 700s, helping
provide a little downward pressure and
keep them in place. Largely thanks to this
extra wing, I think, I never had trouble
with the extra weight and size of the
earbuds—even at the gym or on a trail run
through the woods.
SOUND
I had really mixed feelings about the
sound output of the BT 700s. On the one
hand, it’s very good. It reproduces rich
bass and bright treble, and it doesn’t
have any soft spots where the sound gets
muddy or overly bright. That said, I don’t
think it’s as crisp or clean as
other true wireless earbuds, and
it’s not noticeably better than
some options that are much,
much cheaper.
In a song like “Under
Pressure” by Queen and David
Bowie, the BT 700s reproduced
the thump of the bass drums
perfectly, and everything was
clear enough to pick up little
rings of resonance quiet guitars
and amps during pauses for
Mercury and Bowie to show off
their voices.
I also played “Virus” by
Deltron 3030. It takes a good pair of
headphones to reproduce both the low
notes of a drum track and the treble
notes of a rapper like Deltron, and the
BT 700s did great.
My biggest disappointment during my
tests of the BT 700s came when I ran an
aggressive bass shaker test and found
that both earbuds picked up rattles and
squeaks under heavy stress. This is a
sign of poor build quality, components
bouncing loose that might one day break
completely and trash these $140
earbuds. I recently reviewed a pair of
entry-level Monoprice earbuds (go.
macworld.com/mono) for $50 that
sounded rock-solid through the exact
same test.BOTTOM LINE
Once true wireless earbuds pass
a certain level of audio fidelity,
they sound more or less the
same for everyone but the most
detail-obsessed audiophile. To
justify higher prices, I think
earbuds need to be exceptionally
well designed, user-friendly, and
have long-lasting batteries. The
Phaiton Bolt BT 700s have great
batteries, but everything else
about them falls below my
expectations for this price
range. ■mm
Phiaton Bolt BT 700
PROS- Great sound.
- Great battery life.
- Good fit and options.
- Decent onboard
microphone.
CONS - Large and heavy.
- Huge charging case with a
terrible speaker. - Clunky touch controls.
- Poor build quality.
PRICE
$124
COMPANY
Phiaton