Edifier W288BT

169.00

7.6

Build Quality

7.0/10

Accessories

7.5/10

Audio

7.5/10

Features

7.5/10

Value

8.5/10

Pros

• Lightweight
• Good set of accessories
• Good sound quality
• Great value

Cons

• Wingtip installation
• Questionable button controls

I have recently reviewed plenty of Bluetooth wireless headphones from Edifier. They are all excellent headphones with great sound quality but for some reason, this entry-level Edifier W288BT stays in my bag even after I completed my testing on it. Let’s find out why.

Edifier W288BT Specifications

Unboxing

What’s in the box:

• Edifier W288BT
• Hardshell carrying pouch
• Wingtips (1 pair)
• Earbuds (3 pairs)
• USB Type-A to Micro USB Type-B cable
• User manual

Build Quality & Design

First of all, the design. If you ask me to compare it to our recently reviewed Edifier W293BT with an oxygen tank design, this one looks a lot more conservative. The overall construction of the earpiece is made out of lightweight gloss plastic. Besides, the earpiece itself is not oversized which makes the earphone perfectly balanced for wearing even without the wing tips.

On top of that, the package also comes with 3 pairs of earbuds and a pair of detachable wingtips. The wingtips’ purpose is to make sure the earphone stay in your ear. I appreciate the provided wingtip but I just can’t get the wingtip to work properly on the W288BT. The installation doesn’t really make sense to me as there is no clear way of fixing the wingtips’ position on the earpiece.

Since the earbud would stay put in the ear canal without the wingtip, this problem doesn’t really concern me that much. Still, Edifier you got some design need to be fixed.

Also included in the box is the cable hook to reduce the length of the dangling cable. First timers might face some difficulty trying to adjust the length, but once you set the length, I believe you won’t need to change the length that often anymore.

User Experience

The W288BT supports NFC pairing, works with Android phone only though. If your phone doesn’t support NFC, pairing is can still be done through the conventional way. It supports

Three buttons on the control module have pretty straight-forward control scheme such as volume adjustment and track skipping. Apart from that, the home button also serves as call control or smart assistant trigger. Not my favourite control scheme where a single press on the up/down button is to change volume and long press to skip tracks.

Sound Signature

As for the sound signature, surprisingly, compared to the W293BT, somehow I prefer listening on the lower end W288BT. Although the W293BT may sound better in many ways, in terms of music preference, my personal taste still leans towards this pair. The lowered bass reduces the muddiness in the mids. That brings our more details in the vocals which in my personal point of view, makes the song livelier.

Bassheads might find it less attractive especially those who are looking for a punchy bass. Still, given that most of the music apps are able to tweak the equaliser, so it is not really a huge problem here.

Battery Life

The battery life also being affected by the apparent weight-loss, down to 5-hours of play time for the W288BT compared to W293BT’s 8-hours stamina.

Charging is a bit wacky because the earphone is so lightweight and slim. To a point that the micro USB port has to be hidden at the back of the earpiece. Certainly, it is not very elegant, but it works.

Final Words

As I often take public transit, Bluetooth earphones are definitely my best companion on during a light rail transit ride. The lightweight design makes the Edifier W288BT my favourite headphones for on-the-go. While the battery life is only up to 5-hours of play time, nonetheless, it should not be a problem for short trips. So the W288BT would stay in my bag for now.

Retails for RM199 but you can easily find it for sale at less, somewhere around RM169.