Just as I thought nothing can make my eyes open as wide as Gravastar Mars Pro speakers, another parcel arrives. While the speakers will continue to wow my unlikely guests and visitors (blame the pandemic, I’m a great host!), with Gravastar Sirus Pro you can continue showmanship and eyebrow-raising on the go, as Gravastar has one more surprise: Bluetooth Earbuds!
OMG in your hands
When it comes to my reviews of Bluetooth earbuds, cases get very little attention. All it matters is the size, and relevant usefulness and I move on to the next part of the review. You’ll hate me if I skipped past how awesome this case is, and feels in my hand.
Anything marketed for gamers has an aggressive but often cheap aesthetic. There is nothing cheap about Gravastar Sirus Pro, there is enough aggressive and some more about the box it came in.
As a WH40K and & Borderlands fan, these are right up my street! The absolutely lovely box (which I’m going to repurpose to hold only the most awesome things inside) and the carrying case which looks like something, that accidentally fell off the power loader, which Riplay used to smash Alien’s Queen head into a pulp.
Get GravaStar:
Buy your own GravaStar speaker and earbuds and enjoy 16% off!
NETECH16
(valid for GravaStar Store)
The weathering effects aren’t cheesy, and the scratched shiny metal looks the part because the case is made out of metal. If that’s not enough, a mechanical spring-loaded latch holds the earbuds secure and doubles as an office mini catapult for paper projectiles. To make the whole thing just a little bit more noticeable in the crowd, a diffused RGB light bar has been added inside.
Despite its rather spartan looks, it fits inside the palm well and doesn’t bother you in a pocket too much. Especially if you going to use the included oxidised steel chain to wear the case like an amulet on your chest.
There is a USB-C port for charging, a button to reset the earbuds and change the RGB colours and a battery that can be used to charge the headphones up to 3 times. Gravastar Sirus Pro look pretty awesome if you are asking me!
Earbuds
Despite that over the top caring case, the earbuds are designed sensibly. I found them to be very comfortable in my ear and make a perfect seal with the default cup. No amount of shaking the head, or working out would pop these out of your ears. Gravastar Sirus Pro come with a 4 h battery life and in-ear detection (the most welcome feature) and while I’m not the biggest fan of the touch interface (doesn’t work with gloves), it works reasonably well, with the exception of the voice assistant taking 4 taps to get activated.
While Gravastar Sirus Pro doesn’t come with ANC, they do have 3 sound profiles: Movie, Music and Gaming mode. The latter one isn’t just a sound profile. It uses a special BT protocol to lower the latency of the connection delivering audio with a latency of 65ms (on supported devices). They pair instantly with the last connected device and go to sleep when put away in the case – pretty standard behaviour.
Audio
I was going to write how looks are going to compensate for rather an average sound, but… turns out that these are also one of the better earbuds I had in my ears. Perhaps watching yellow robotic arms from Kuka smashing instruments in Automatica while fidgeting with a strangely relatable charging case made me enjoy the video more, or Gravastar Sirus Pro are just as good as they look.
I got stuck on Movie mode for a moment leaving me with the impression that the sound was a bit flat, but once switched over to Music mode, that feeling went away, with a deeper sound profile. If there is anything constructive to be said, perhaps the earbuds could use a touch more bass, but nothing that a decent EQ wouldn’t fix.
Fans of loud noise will be pleased as well with my comfortable levels of listening maxing out at about 50% of the Xiaomi Mi 11 (review) volume. So use it wisely. Thankfully, volume can be easily adjusted via touch.
Is Gaming mode real?
Gaming mode isn’t a marketing stunt either. There was a minimal but real delay when watching YouTube videos on my computer in the Movie mode (this strongly depends on the device as well as the headphones) but after switching to the Game mode, the sound became synchronised. I haven’t noticed any obvious loss in audio quality, but then again – it was an online YouTube video.
There is one problem…
Earbuds are an absolute pain to get out of the box! First time I struggled for about a minute to get both out. Consecutive tries weren’t much better. It’s not like the case isn’t a nice fit or the magnets are too strong. I can’t get any grip on slanted surfaces. Without any friction, it’s near impossible to overcome the magnetic force holding them together and if not for my slightly overgrown nails which were able to catch the moulding seam, I’d need tools to pop them out.
Has anyone ever tested this? I spend extra time looking for some clever buttons or latches present on the case that would ease the process. After all, the case looks all kinds of fancy, but no… you are left to your own devices.
It’s the only disappointing feature, especially I would actually love a mechanical button to pop them out from the case. Gravastar people – you can do so much better than that! If this is any consolation, others noticed that too, but apparently, it gets better over time.
While I’m moaning about the obvious, thanks for a lovely chain to hold the case secured, but why do I have to use the rubber band to link these? It seems like an afterthought, while in reality, the solution would be so easy. I realise this is a nitpick, but well placed one after all the praise given to a pretty freaking awesome design.
Get GravaStar:
Buy your own GravaStar speaker and earbuds and enjoy 16% off!
NETECH16
(valid for GravaStar Store)
Final thoughts
It’s one way to have earbuds that capture everyone’s attention, another to get all the attention by wrestling with your earbuds for half a minute. I want to love these as other than this absurdly ridiculous oversight, Gravastar Sirus Pro are almost perfect. I’m only hopeful that feedback from other customers is right, getting them out from the case gets better over time. As I really going to use them as my daily headphones. I mean, who wouldn’t? You can grab these, starting at $129.95 on the Gravastar page. Got thoughts? Leave it in this Reddit thread.
🆓📈 💵- See the transparency note for details.
