The Soundpeats Clip1 Might Be My Favorite Ear Buds For Under $100
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The Clip1s are a textbook product in affordable, yet quality tech. They’re comfortable to wear all day with an enduring battery, while users can enjoy the benefits of open earbuds, including listening to media while retaining situational awareness and promoting ear health—all for under $100. I just wish the charging case were a bit smaller.
After testing the Sony LinkBuds Clips and getting familiar with the open or clip-on earbud form factor, I was curious to see how others in the category might hold up. As I was finishing up the Sony review, we got the SoundPeats Clip1 buds in to review. For the uninitiated, it’s a budget-friendly, open-style earbud that offers specs similar to those of Sony and other open-ear buds.
After spending a few months with them, I wanted to see how well the Clip1 fares and what differences, if any, there are between the two beyond the price. Spoiler alert: these might be my new favorite earbuds under $100, as they retail for $70 on Amazon and are often on sale for even less. Let’s dive into the why of it all.
As with every other open-ear design, the Clip1 touts a C-shaped look with a flexible, lightweight construction. These buds weigh 5 grams each and 55.5 grams together in their charging case. The Clip1s aren’t as light as the Pixel Buds 2a, but are relatively close. Soundpeats made them using a combination of soft silicone, plastic, and a flexible ear hook. The company’s logo is placed on the rear touchpads with an aluminum border. The buds are covered in an IPX5 coating, which can handle splashes and low-pressure water jets. Both buds sit inside a massive plastic charging case, with the Soundpeats logo at the center and a syncing button next to a USB-C port.
Soundpeats' flexible construction results in lightweight, comfy buds for all-day use.
The open construction of the Clip1 lives up to its name as it clips onto your ear, with the speaker resting near your ear canal and the battery tucked behind your ear. The company uses a thin nickel-titanium alloy covered in silicone to connect the speaker and battery areas, and gives the buds flexibility along with a secure fit. This custom structure allows for a pleasant fit that’s not too snug or too loose, making them ideal for up to 8 hours of wear without fatigue. I’ve gone on several-mile runs and fallen asleep with them on and stayed in place without any qualms.
Soundpeats equipped the Clip1s with 12mm dynamic magnetic drivers, high-resolution audio, and LDAC sound profile support. This combination makes for an excellent sound profile, and this is before you dive into the companion app’s 12 preset or custom EQ settings. Lately, I’ve been exploring Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Larry June and Alchemist albums, and various YouTube videos. Soundpeats excels in sound quality, as I didn’t expect them to be comparable to Sony in bass, mids, highs, and overall output at a fraction of the price.
I expected decent audio, but what I got was near Sony-level quality.
When it comes to its mics, Soundpeats’s use of a software-based noise-blocking feature excels in external noise and wind environments and offers an advantage over Sony’s efforts when taking phone calls in noisy spaces. The buds also provide multi-device support and can connect to two devices simultaneously. However, I’m not a fan of toggling the LDAC feature on/off, which triggers restarting the buds. Thankfully, it only takes a minute to restart and reconnect.
Soundpeats suggests these buds offer 40 hours of battery in total, consisting of 8 hours on a single charge and up to four full recharges with their charging case. It’s a good thing that the Clip1 lives up to its suggested battery life. Honestly, earbuds that obtain a battery life of 7 hours or better are all one could ask for. Depending on how much daily usage, I usually charge them once every two weeks or so. Speaking of charging, the Clip1s delivers two hours of juice in ten minutes.
The Soundpeats Clip1 earbuds are a prime example of great technology that doesn’t need to cost hundreds of dollars. They’re comfortable to wear all day, have a long-lasting battery, and pair effortlessly with any smartphone or tablet—whether or not you use their companion app. My only gripe is the size of the charging case, which feels a bit large for the small-ish buds.
The Clip1 lets users enjoy the benefits of open earbuds, including listening to media while retaining situational awareness, promoting ear health, and being versatile enough for everyday use and exercise—all for under $100. However, there isn’t much notable competition in the sub-$100 open earbuds space. The best place to pick these up is Amazon for $70, but they can go as low as $49 on sale.
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