GravaStar knows how to make you excited about headphones. Futuristic look unprecedented design and bold colour palettes make each product stand out from the crowd. I started to believe that GravaStar couldn’t make their GravaStar Sirius series more exciting and they proved me wrong again with a new approach to earbuds. GravaStar Sirius P5 are for those who change their style a lot.
GravaStar Sirius P5
If you are swift, you can still secure the Combo deal on their website and get 3 case designs for the price of one. The latest power move from GravaStar is to offer unique “shells” that shape and style your carrying case.
GravaStar Sirius P5 design of the earbud reminds me of iPods. It’s not my favourite design (I’m partial to their GravaStar Sirius Pro series) but the similarity ends here. Regardless of the model selection, enclosures supplied by the P5 series are much smaller than the Pro range.
Defense Armour
Made from familiar to me alloy, machined to perfection lightweight grey frame wraps around the insert like an excellently fitted armour. The cap closes with a very satisfying click from the latch and this design is closest to the Pro series. I can almost close my palm around it – this is how small the case is.
This model will set you back $84.95 ($89.95) if you are quick on the trigger. I will forever wonder how they made the metal frame, as to my untrained eye, it looks carved out from a single chunk of alloy.
Defence Crystal
If you like the form factor, but not the coldness and weight of the metal, a transparent Defense Crystal is a nice sleeve to select. Tinted with blue ink, the shell fits perfectly around the insert and it looks like a force field when illuminated.
It’s light, detailed and also the least expensive at $67.95 ($79.95)
Defence Mecha
Gundam-inspired Defense Mecha sports a white aesthetic with Lego elements for possible customisation. The case is made of plastic but thanks to the great paint job it doesn’t look like it. I can only imagine how creative you could get with all the Lego attachment points.
It’s the bulkiest of the cases, but still smaller than GravaStar Sirius Pro and it will set you back $76.95 ($89.95).
Whichever design (or all) you pick, they all expose the customisable RGB LED on the side that acts as a power indicator. It’s a shame that colours are limited to Green, Red, Blue and Cyan. It would be awesome if you could program this via a USB-C charging port!
In use
All cases are small and fit nicely in your pocket. If you want to show off, including an anodized black chain lets you hang whichever carrying case you like most on your neck and accessorize like a champ. Unlike the Pro series, GravaStar Sirius P5 are easy to remove from the box and fits reasonably well in my ear.
Each bud is incredibly light. It’s great for comfort but you can also forget the bud is in your ear if the music isn’t playing. The fit will depend on your ear, I had no problem getting a good fit in mine, even if this bud design isn’t the one I prefer.
Touch controls are rich, however, due to the overall low weight of each bud, it’s easy to knock it off the correct position when changing volume, songs or modes. Pressing the touch surfaces multiple times in motion requires good agility. I found it easier to stop walking to tap the surface multiple times in the required timeframe.
Sound
It’s simply striking how something this light can produce that much bass. If you are a fan of buds that deliver on the lower end of frequencies, you won’t be disappointed. To me, the low frequencies were a little too pronounced. I had to go back and fiddle with the EQ to get the sound I agreed with.
What worked better than EQ, was adjusting the “attack angle” of the buds in my ear. It created a much better audio experience than fiddling with EQ. If you feel overwhelmed by the pounding beats, try rotating the buds a little.
I would complain more about it, but I launched a game with guns and explosions and suddenly things didn’t matter. I guess we all pretend to have sophisticated taste in how the music sounds but love it when explosions simply rattle our eardrums.
Gaming mode
I watched a couple of YouTube videos using Music Mode then played a more casual game (Dying Light 2). In both scenarios, I haven’t noticed any latency issues between audio and video. Switching to something more demanding like CS:GO on my Asus Zephyrus Duo and playing it (with bots) at 200FPS on a 165Hz screen the lag becomes apparent. It takes a moment to play the gunfire shot compared to what’s on screen.
This minimal latency of the Music Mode is completely removed when switched over to Gaming Mode. Latency is reduced significantly and I can no longer register the delay between shots and sounds played in my ears.
Microphone
Gamers will instantly ask about the microphone, and that’s a fair question. It could be a little louder. It records in mono, but the voice coming through the headset is ok. It’s not distorted and even when shouting with excitement the microphone keeps up with the audio levels.
Battery & Range
GravaStar Sirius P5 are way too light to support the battery claims by GravaStar, so I decided to actually develop a new Tasker Project that automates the battery testing for me. Something this light, can’t possibly last this long? Call me impressed as in my test scenario I played the same song on a loop at 50% of the volume for over 6.5h. That’s 125 songs on a single charge.
The range of GravaStar Sirius P5 is decent too. I get about 15-20m in a busy office space.
Getting active?
The weather wasn’t great to go out and clock some miles on my bike. With some serious bass, I have little doubt, that these would be gym favourites for many! There is one thing that made me hesitant about taking these for a bike spin.
The earbuds feel so light, I feel I could knock them off easily. The fit feels secure enough for a run and general prancing about at the gym, but if they fall out on a bike ride – you may not see it again. For bikes, I’ll stick with the Sirius Pro, which wedges nicely inside my ear and blocks out a lot of external noise.
In case you want to make your cave even more awesome and match the design of the newly purchased earbuds with some speakers, GravaStar has got your back with pretty wicked portable speakers too! From GravaStar Mars Pro to fill up your room with sound, to GravaStar Venus – an ultra-portable version from the same collection.
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Final Thoughts
Once again, GravaStar delivers an incredibly bold design which stands out in the crowded space of Bluetooth headphones. Interchangeable cases are a bit of a gimmick to catch your eye but if you don’t need the Combo Pack including all 3 designs, you can save a couple of dollars and pick the one you love most. I have no doubts that GravaStar Sirius P5 will appear to many of you. As the sound is pretty decent, you can have cool-looking earbuds without compromising on the sound quality too much. Which one would you pick? Let me know in this Reddit thread.
🆓📈💵 – See the transparency note for details.