Honor Choice Earbuds X7 TWS Headset Review

The Honor brand continues to expand its Honor Choice line, which includes devices from third-party manufacturers. About once a year, Honor introduces a new budget TWS headset, offering everything you need at an affordable price. We have already reviewed the Honor Choice Earbuds X3 and the more affordable Honor Choice Earbuds X5. Today, our review is dedicated to the Honor Choice Earbuds X7.

This time, the promised features include hybrid active noise cancellation, up to 8 hours of operation on a single charge, improved sound quality compared to previous models, water protection, and software for customization. Honor Choice Earbuds X7 claims to be the «best choice for your money.» Let's find out how ready this model is to justify its ambitions.

The Honor Choice Earbuds X7 comes in a simple white box with a removable lid that has an image and brief specifications of the device printed on it.

Inside, the case with headphones is securely held with a plastic tray, so you don’t have to worry about the safety of the device during transportation.

The package includes the headphones themselves in a charging case, two pairs of replacement silicone tips (one is already installed), and a user manual. There is no charging cable in the package. This is unlikely to be a problem, since almost everyone has a cable with a USB Type-C connector. In addition, the short cables included with many headsets, which are included in the box «just in case», are often not used in favor of longer and more convenient alternatives.

The silicone tips are made of a pleasant-to-touch material, and there is a “mesh” inside that prevents dirt from getting into the sound duct of the headphones.

The Honor Choice Earbuds X7 headset comes in two colors: white and blue. Externally, it is almost no different from the already familiar Honor Choice Earbuds X5.

The Honor Choice Earbuds X7 headset comes in two colors: white and blue. Externally, it is almost no different from the already familiar Honor Choice Earbuds X5.

The design remains simple and laconic, without logos and bright decorative elements. On the front panel there is a small LED indicator showing the status of the device and the charging process.

The case is made well, no creaking or play of moving parts was detected during testing. On the back there is a loop for opening the lid and a sticker with brief technical characteristics, which can be easily removed without leaving traces.

The lid opens with a slight effort and is fixed in the open position by a closer that operates approximately halfway. The case is conveniently opened with one hand while holding it with the other.

The earbuds are held securely in place by magnets, but are easy to remove by simply grasping the top and pulling. The rounded shape of the case can cause your fingers to slip a little, so it's best to hold one earbud with the outside of your finger.

Inside the slots for the earphone legs are spring-loaded contacts for charging, cleaning them if necessary can be a bit tricky, but it can be done.

The lid has recesses that fit the rounded parts of the earphones precisely, ensuring a secure fit. Even when the case is shaken vigorously near the ear, no sounds are heard inside. Service information and certification icons are located on the inside of the recesses.

At the bottom of the case is a USB Type-C port for charging. As with the previous version, the standard plug does not fit completely into the port, but it is securely fixed.

Honor Choice Earbuds X7 are made in the format of «headphones with a stick». The design remains minimalistic: without inscriptions, logos and bright decorative elements.

The inside of the headphone legs are clearly marked as «right» and «left.» The length of the «sticks» is slightly longer than average today — about 9 mm from the base of the rounded part. However, this is not enough for the headset to catch on loose hair, scarves or high collars.

The sound guide is of medium length and will not penetrate too deeply into the ear canal and cause discomfort.

On the outside of the legs there is a small recess that serves as a guide for finding the sensor zones that control the device.

The top of the headphones has a classic teardrop shape, but is complemented by elements that provide a better and more comfortable fit.

In particular, when viewed from below, a protrusion on the inner surface is clearly visible, which serves as additional support for the auricle.

On the top of the «legs» you can see small holes for the microphones of the hybrid active noise cancellation system.

We see another hole for the noise-canceling microphone on the inner surface of the headphones.

The ear pads are held in place by a relatively large protrusion at the end of the sound tube, and can be removed and put back on without any extra effort.

The sound duct opening is covered with a mesh that is noticeably recessed inside, which makes it a little more difficult to clean if necessary. However, this should not be a frequent problem, since the silicone tips have their own protective mesh from dirt. Next to the sound duct there is a compensation hole that helps relieve excess pressure during the operation of the dynamic driver.

After opening the lid of the Honor Choice Earbuds X7 case, it first tries to connect to already known devices for half a minute. If this fails, the pairing mode is activated. When using a device with the Honor Magic UI 6.1 shell and above, a quick connection window automatically appears on the screen. Just press the pairing button, and the headphones will be ready for use. During subsequent connections, a pop-up window also appears showing the battery level of the headphones and case.

Multipoint is missing again — you can’t connect the headset to multiple devices at the same time. However, it can remember two devices to quickly switch between them by triple-clicking the headphone sensor. We checked the list of supported codecs using the Bluetooth Tweaker utility. The headset supports only two codecs: SBC and AAC, which is a standard set for budget models.

The AAC bitrate of the Honor Choice Earbuds X7, like the previous model, is limited to 131 kbps, and the maximum Bitpool value for SBC is set to 39, although the High Quality profile suggests 51. We believe that the manufacturer did this to improve the stability of the connection. The headphones really demonstrate a reliable connection even in interference conditions. The delay when watching videos and playing games is about 500 ms, but when activating the «game mode» from the software, it decreases to about 100 ms. For dynamic shooters, this may not be enough, but for watching videos, the delay is quite acceptable.

The Honor AI Space app displays the charge level of each earbud and case on the main screen, and you can also activate the “sound transparency” mode and three levels of noise cancellation. There is still no full-fledged equalizer — only three presets are available. This is a bit disappointing, but for a budget headset, such capabilities are quite acceptable.

The Honor Choice Earbuds X7 are controlled via touch zones on the outer surface of the earphones' «legs», which are highlighted by small but easily perceptible depressions. The sensors respond accurately and on the first try, correctly registering both single and multiple touches.

To avoid accidental activation, single taps are blocked; double, triple and long taps are supported. Controls can be customized via the app, but there is no way to assign volume changes to any tap.

In a separate window, you can configure noise cancellation control, choosing from three modes: off, «transparency» and noise suppression. You can activate all three modes at the same time or select any two. Switching between modes is only possible through the application. The application also has a «game mode» and a «spatial sound» function. In the settings section, you can check for updates, read a quick guide, view information about the headset and change its display name.

The shape of the earbuds has remained the same since the Honor Choice Earbuds X5, which is good because the fit on the ears hasn’t changed either. The earbuds hold tightly and don’t cause discomfort, making them suitable for running, jumping, and other active activities. The headset doesn’t budge even during intense exercise, and the IP54 water resistance adds confidence when using it outdoors. If the earbuds get damaged, parting with them won’t be as painful as with expensive flagship models.

Noise cancellation in the Honor Choice Earbuds X7 now has three modes: «Comfort», «Moderate» and «Ultra». According to the manufacturer, the «Ultra» mode provides noise cancellation of up to 45 dB. Compared to the previous model, the effectiveness of noise cancellation has improved: although it is still far from the flagship models, the headset copes with most situations, including traveling on public transport. The feeling of «pressure in the head» is observed only in the «Ultra» mode and not immediately. The «Moderate» mode effectively copes with the noise of a cafe or air conditioners in an office.

The «sound transparency» mode activates the microphones of the headphones, which capture external sounds and transmit them to the speakers. This is convenient for hearing announcements in transport, talking to the cashier or being aware of the world around you during walks and jogging.

The microphones in the Honor Choice Earbuds X5 were a bit of a disappointment, but the new Honor Choice Earbuds X7 with four microphones and a noise-canceling system for calls are much better. Although the noise-canceling system did not allow us to conduct a standard frequency response test, we can evaluate the quality of the microphones in practice.

Compared to the previous model, the microphones have improved significantly. Although the voice is a bit boomy and has some “telephone effect”, it remains intelligible and understandable. For a budget headset, the result is impressive. However, to check the operation of the noise-canceling system, we conducted a test in background noise conditions: we turned on the sound of a busy street and assessed how the microphones cope with it.

Background noise was almost not included in the recording, which is good. The voice lost a little in naturalness and clarity, but this is not critical. As a result, the Honor Choice Earbuds X7 showed that you can comfortably communicate with them not only in a quiet environment, but also on busy city streets.

The manufacturer claims that the Honor Choice Earbuds X7 can work for up to 8 hours without active noise cancellation and up to 5.5 hours with the noise cancellation system turned on. These data were obtained using the AAC codec and 50% volume. We will conduct our own testing to find out how these figures correspond to real-life conditions.

In our test, we use white noise with a sound pressure level of about 95 dB, since the safe listening level is 75 dB, and many users prefer a higher volume level — 90-100 dB. We begin recording the signal immediately after playback starts to determine how long the headphones last before they are completely discharged.

The headphones discharge fairly evenly, the difference between the operating time of the right and left headphones is no more than 10 minutes. Since most users do not use headphones in mono mode and most often place both headphones in the charging case, we will focus on the earphone that worked less when determining the overall autonomy. All results will be presented in the table.

The results are slightly lower than advertised, but still good enough for comfortable use during the day — one charge is enough for the commute to the office, a lunch walk and an evening workout, even if you don't charge the headphones in the case. Although fast charging is not advertised, after 10 minutes in the case, the headphones worked for about 3.5 hours with active noise cancellation turned off, which indicates the presence of a fast charging function.

The case can charge completely discharged headphones up to 5 times, although the fifth charge may not be full. This provides the user with a battery life of more than a day, even with constant use of a headset with active noise cancellation. Full charging of the headphones in the case takes just under an hour, and charging the case itself from zero takes about 1.5 hours.

Honor Choice Earbuds X7 are equipped with 12.4 mm drivers, which is larger compared to previous models in the series. This size has a positive effect on the sound: the headphones demonstrate quite good quality, especially for the budget segment. Their bass is noticeably pronounced and prevails in the sound, which is especially evident in dance music, electronic and hip-hop. However, the enhanced low-frequency range sometimes leads to excessive “boom” and “mumbling”, which slightly disrupts the balance of the sound.

The midrange pleases with a more even and detailed reproduction, which is a pleasant surprise. A slight emphasis on the upper part of the middle adds detail to vocals and solo instruments. Although the sound quality does not reach the level of flagship models, it significantly exceeds expectations from extremely budget devices. In general, Honor Choice Earbuds X7 demonstrate a balanced tonal profile and the absence of obvious defects, which makes them an acceptable option for background music listening. For a complete picture, we will add a frequency response graph.

The graph above shows the IDF (IEM diffuse field compensation) curve provided by the manufacturer of the test rig. This curve is designed to compensate for resonance effects in the simulated ear canal and the characteristics of the equipment, creating a “sound profile” that most accurately reflects how the headphones are perceived by the listener. In fact, it is an adapted analogue of the Harman curve, developed by the Harman International team led by Dr. Sean Olive. We adjusted the frequency response graph according to the IDF curve to better match our subjective listening experience with the Honor Choice Earbuds X7.

Almost any noise cancellation has a negative impact on the frequencies where it is most active — that is, on the low-frequency range. In the case of Honor Choice Earbuds X7, this impact is especially noticeable, especially in the «Ultra» mode. Therefore, in a quiet environment, it is better to turn off ANC.

The equalizer presets perform the functions that correspond to their names. The «Bass Boost» mode emphasizes the low-frequency range, shifting the high frequencies into the background. In the «High Frequency Boost» mode, on the contrary, the low frequencies are reduced, which often improves the sound, especially for acoustic music. As for the «virtual surround sound» and «spatial audio» mode, they add reverberation to the sound, but the effect is not very noticeable.

So, let's compare the sound with the previous models. Compared to the Earbuds X5, the tested model wins due to a more balanced midrange. As for the Honor Choice Earbuds X3, the difference is minimal, since the main influence is exerted by the emphasis on the low-frequency range, which may not be to everyone's taste. The X3 cost twice as much, and even now it is slightly more expensive than the Earbuds X7. Overall, it is clear that there has been progress, and given the low price of the Earbuds X7, the sound of these headphones left us satisfied.

Honor Choice Earbuds X7, like the previous models, are an ideal choice for those who want to save money or are looking for inexpensive headphones that will withstand active training. They offer a good level of comfort and decent sound quality, although they do not reach the level of audiophile models. The sound is clear and pleasant for background listening, despite the lack of obvious defects. However, the headphones also have limitations: the equalizer offers only a few presets, there is no multipoint and the ability to adjust the volume via sensors, which is typical for flagship models. Nevertheless, they have active noise cancellation, although not the most effective, good battery life, adequate microphones and IP54 water protection. At the same time, all this is offered at a very affordable price, and in Russian retail, with a guarantee and fast delivery. In general, Honor Choice Earbuds X7 can safely be called an excellent choice for your money, even if they are not great.