Today we’ll be looking at the Truefree F1 Air Conduction Headset. Being an Air Conduction headset, it works a little differently than most normal headphones. The difference in the way the F1 transmits audio is hard to properly explain in a text review. For that matter, it’s really something you have to experience for yourself to understand.
What comes in the box
Audio Delivery
The complete crispness of the audio and the clarity of it’s delivery can not be understated, this results in an extremely “immersive” experience unlike any other audio product I’ve tried previously. You might have heard about bone conduction headphones. Well, this isn’t quite like that.
The sound of each earpiece is transmitted via two speakers, the angles of which cause sound to be transmitted both via the the edges of the ear passage as well as through the air. I think it would be best described as halfway between “normal” and “bone conduction” headphones.
The result is audio quite unlike most other headphones. It’s hard to accurately explain how vivid this difference is, and truth be told I’ve been delaying this review because I fear my words will not do it justice.
Crisp, Clear Audio
Compared to over the ear headphones, the experience of listening to the TrueFree F1 felt more akin to naturally hearing something – especially at lower volume levels. In fact, at those lower volumes it was sometimes hard to distinguish whether or not I was hearing sounds from the headphones or from “real life” if I didn’t already know it was coming from the headphones.
While listening to music, or watching a movie, or even playing a video game every part of the soundstage can be discerned perfectly. This “crispness” I keep referring to means that in songs this means you’ll notice details which you might not have noticed before, in a video you might be able to hear a low whisper or other background noise more clearly, or in a video game you might hear your opponent slowly creeping up on you better.
Bass
If you’re looking for headphones with a lot of kick in the bass – these aren’t the headphones you’re looking for. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying the bass produced by the F1 is bad – but it’s different. Let me explain a bit. Like the other spectrums of audio, the bass produced by the F1 is extremely crisp and you will be able to appreciate the extreme depth of sound clarity. However, generally bass is much softer than other headphones. The quality of the F1’s bass is good. However, the strength of it’s bass leaves much to be desired.
The strength of the bass will vary based on the type of bass it is, the quality of the audio source, and the ambient noise level – mostly the latter two. In a quiet room the bass can be fairly prominent depending on the type of bass, though it won’t have quite the kick of over the ear headphones.
Some of those headphones have a lot of “kick” with their bass, but suffer from muffling and/or distortion. The F1 is the exact opposite – it’s bass won’t have quite the strength or “kick” that bass lovers will be used to, but the depth and clarity of the bass it offers is completely and perfectly crisp with no distortion whatsoever. The strength of the bass and deeper tones will vary based on the ambient volume, and will be diminished in extremely loud environments.
Extremely light body
As you can see in the photo above, there’s not much to the body of this headset. It’s extremely light. I’m not sure exactly how much the headphones alone weigh, but amazon lists the package weight at 0.95 ounces.
Controls
The F1 is one of a few devices with Bluetooth 5.3 support which is said to use less power, bring a longer transmission distance, and have lower latency than previous Bluetooth versions. However, few devices support Bluetooth 5.3 – my Google Pixel 6a only supports 5.2. As such, I wasn’t able to test the new features of Bluetooth 5.3
Otherwise, the device is controlled with the buttons on the side of the right earpiece, and works much like most other bluetooth devices do.
Conclusion
In my opinion, TrueFree’s F1 have ruined most other headphones for me. The absolute clarity offered by this unit blew my mind. The ability to listen to music while still having the ability to hear your surroundings completely cannot be understated, you can have conversations with others while still listening to music or go for a jog/run and still be fully aware of any outside sounds.
I think this headset is pretty killer – but it’s not for everyone. Bass heads who want the strongest kick won’t be satisfied by the F1’s softer kick. But those who prefer crispness and clarity of music over raw bass strength will be very happy with the F1.
If you’re interested in the TrueFree F1, you can use code GRWRN2P8 for a 25% off discount on Amazon.com though November 13.
