Infinix XBuds 3 GT TWS Headset Review

Infinix has released a series of devices with an original design aimed at mobile gamers. It includes the Infinix GT Book laptop, the Infinix GT 20 Pro smartphone, which we recently tested, and the XBuds 3 GT wireless headphones, which we will talk about today. All devices are designed in a cyberpunk style that attracts attention, but the headphones stand out thanks to decorative elements and lighting inside the case, which makes them especially interesting.

The headphones are made in the «earbuds» format, do not have active noise cancellation and do not claim to be a flagship device, but they are quite affordable. Among the key features are low latency, which is important for gamers, a system of four microphones for clear voice communication, the ability to customize through proprietary software, as well as large 13-mm drivers that promise good sound.

* Based on our own measurements

Infinix XBuds 3 GT are packed in a stylish black and blue box with images of the device and brief specifications on the surface. Inside, the headphones together with the case are securely fixed in a plastic tray.

The package includes headphones in a case, instructions and a warranty card, as well as a 30 cm long USB-A — USB-C cable for charging. Well, the silicone tips are not needed for the «earbuds».

The main feature and the brightest element of the headset is the backlit case. The cover is made of two parts: transparent plastic on top, and a relief detail with backlight underneath, which is activated when opening and closing the case.

All this looks really impressive: animated lighting and carefully designed relief create a volumetric effect, which is interesting to look at from different angles. In addition, the LED strip in the center performs a useful function, displaying the charge level of the case. However, due to the abundance of decorative elements, the case turned out to be quite large. Of course, it will fit in a trouser pocket, but it will stick out noticeably and create inconvenience.

There's a small indentation on the front of the case that makes it easier to open the lid. It's really necessary, because the lid's smooth lines make it hard to grab. The surfaces are glossy and easily pick up fingerprints, but they're not too noticeable against the black background.

The case opens with some effort, as the magnetic fastening securely holds the lid closed. There is no closer, and when opening at medium levels, a small backlash is felt. In the fully open position, the lid is fixed mechanically, requires a noticeable effort, but without a clear click.

Opening the Infinix XBuds 3 GT case with one hand is possible, but it is quite inconvenient. Inside the lid there is brief information about the device and logos of certification systems.

The headphones are held in their slots with magnets, and the fastening is quite secure — if you turn the case over, they stay in place.

The lid has special recesses for additional fixation of the headphones when carrying. However, they are not very effective — the headphones do not pass the «rattle test»: when shaking the case, you can hear how they noticeably dangle inside.

Inside the slots are small spring-loaded contacts for charging, and next to them are the designations of the places for the right and left headphones. At first glance, the letter L seems to be inverted, but this is not so — both letters are simply «squashed» in height. This is a case where the designer went a little overboard with the choice of font.

It's easy to get the headphones out — just move the leg to the side, grab it with your fingers and pull it towards you. But putting them back is a bit more difficult — you have to insert them with the «nose» of the sound guide forward so that the magnetic mount catches the earphone and fixes it in place. If you try to put it in with the round side forward, the earphone will get stuck. These are small details, but in combination with the lack of a closer, a small backlash of the lid and its too tight closing, they remind us that we have a budget headset in front of us.

On the back panel there is a hinge that allows the lid to be opened, on which the manufacturer's name is applied. Below we see a USB Type C port, which is used for charging.

The headphones are made in the classic format of «earbuds with a stem». The cyberpunk design is also traced here: on the outer part of the «sticks» there is a drawing of some mechanism, which, although it does not look as impressive as the voluminous details of the case cover, still looks nice.

The outer part of the case, covered with a pattern, is transparent — underneath it you can see the circuit board located inside, which adds a little volume to the design.

The outer part of the legs is touch sensitive and is used to control the device. At the top of the legs are small LED status indicators that only flash when the headset is removed and the lid is opened; they are not noticeable when worn.

On the inside of the earphone legs there are “right”/“left” markings, as well as charging contacts.

Many modern earbuds have a slightly elongated «nose» of the sound guide, which provides a more secure fit and better transmission of low frequencies. In this case, the shape is traditional and familiar to fans of earbud headphones.

There is a barely noticeable bend in the area of ​​the sound tube, which provides a slightly better fixation at the base of the ear canal. There are also protrusions on the inner surface, which provide support on the ear cup.

The total length of the «sticks» is 30 mm, from the base of the rounded part — 18 mm. The headset will not catch on hair or raised collars.

The microphone holes for voice communication are located at the ends of the legs. They are slightly offset towards the inside of the case, which provides, albeit small, protection from «blowing».

In total, the manufacturer announced four microphones for voice communication — additional holes for them are located in the middle part of the inner side of the legs.

The hole on the inner surface of the rounded part turned out to be unexpectedly small. Usually in earbuds it is much larger, as it not only helps to release excess pressure during speaker operation, but also improves the transmission of low frequencies. The oval hole of the sound guide is covered with a metal mesh, slightly recessed inside, which makes it difficult to clean, but sooner or later it will have to be done.

The headphones are connected in the standard way — via the smartphone menu. After removing from the case, the headset automatically turns on and tries to connect to already known devices; if this fails, the pairing mode is activated. There is no support for simultaneous connection to several devices (multipoint). We got a list of supported codecs and their modes using the Bluetooth Tweaker utility.

The headphones support two codecs: the basic SBC and the slightly more “advanced” AAC, which is quite enough for a budget headset. However, the settings of these codecs raise questions. The maximum Bitpool parameter for SBC is set at 38, while the recommended High Quality profile suggests a value of 51. The upper bitrate threshold for AAC is limited to 131 kbps, while most devices use 256 kbps. Let's be optimistic and assume that the manufacturer chose such values ​​to ensure a stable connection with the sound source.

The sound delay in the “music” mode when using AAC exceeds 400 ms, which is noticeable not only in games, but also when watching videos. Enabling the gaming mode reduces the delay to 200 ms, which is also too high for dynamic shooters. Forced switching to the SBC codec allows you to reduce the delay to the declared 40-50 ms in gaming mode. During testing, the connection quality did not cause any complaints — Infinix XBuds 3 GT works stably even in conditions of increased radio interference.

After connecting the headset, you need to install the Welife application on your smartphone, which provides access to many interesting settings. When developing the Infinix XBuds 3 GT, special attention was paid to the appearance and visual effects, which also affected the interaction with the software — the first thing the application offers is to configure a pop-up window when connecting, requesting the necessary permissions for this.

The window looks very attractive, and the application allows you to customize its appearance. It works correctly, but it is important to make sure that optimizers and battery-saving systems do not interfere with its constant operation. The button inside the window allows you to quickly go to the application, which is very convenient.

The main screen presents a list of settings — it is small, but more than sufficient for a budget headset. In the upper module, you can see the charge level of each earphone separately, and information about the case charge is provided only by the LEDs on its lid, which were mentioned earlier. In addition to the preset sound profile, the user can choose three more options — with an emphasis on low, medium and high frequencies. At the bottom of the list are links to the feedback form and user manual, and by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner, you can get technical information about the device.

The headset is controlled via touch zones on the outside of the legs. They work correctly and register all touches, including multiple presses. However, single pressing is blocked, so if you need to adjust the headset in your ear, you should be careful not to touch the sensor. This may seem a little inconvenient, but it adds the possibility of one additional pressing option — each manufacturer decides for itself what is more important. Wearing sensors and other «advanced» control options are missing, since the headset belongs to the budget segment.

The default profile is shown in the first screenshot below. Controls are quite flexible, including the ability to change the volume. Although there is no separate touch setting for the right and left earphones, in volume control mode, the left earphone is responsible for decreasing the volume, and the right one is responsible for increasing the volume.

Four types of touch are supported: single, double, triple and long. The game mode can be activated via a special tab, and there is also a corresponding module on the main page. However, the easiest way is to use touches on the touch zones.

The shape of the Infinix XBuds 3 GT is close to the classic — drop-shaped, but the inner part of the case has a slight convexity, which provides better support on the auricle. Thanks to this, the headphones are held in the ears better than standard «droplets». During intense workouts with sharp movements, they sometimes have to be adjusted, but when jogging, walking and even bending over on a bench, they remain in place. The headset is protected from moisture according to the IPX4 standard — it can withstand splashes of sweat and rain, but it is better to protect it from jets of water. In general, this device is suitable for sports and outdoor activities.

The Infinix XBuds 3 GT lacks active noise cancellation, and the passive noise isolation of earbuds is traditionally not very effective — they do not fill the ear canal, as in-ear headphones do. Therefore, it may not be very comfortable in noisy public transport, but thanks to this, your ears get tired less.

The manufacturer claims that the headset is equipped with four built-in microphones that provide active noise cancellation during calls — their holes were shown earlier.

To measure their frequency response, we use a specially prepared room and a monitor speaker system that reproduces a sweep tone. Since the frequency response of the speakers is not uniform, we obtain its graph in advance using a calibrated measurement microphone. This data is then used to create a correction profile that compensates for the acoustics. After that, the signal is recorded using the microphone under test, located in the same position as the measurement microphone. The resulting graph is corrected using a previously created profile, and at the output we get the frequency response of the microphone under test.

The fundamental frequency of an adult male voice ranges from 85 to 155 Hz, while that of a woman ranges from 165 to 255 Hz. However, frequencies from 300 to 3400 Hz are usually used to transmit voices, called «vocal» frequencies, since this is the range in which the formants responsible for speech intelligibility are located. Low frequencies are not transmitted not only because of channel limitations, but also because they contain unwanted sounds, such as the hum of engines or low-frequency crowd noise.

The microphones are set up logically: low frequencies are predictably not perceived. An emphasis on frequencies around 300-400 Hz improves speech intelligibility, but makes it sound less natural. High unevenness in the «upper middle» can lead to an unnatural sounding voice. Let's check whether our assumptions are confirmed in practice.

Overall, the sound meets the expectations of the frequency response graph: the voice sounds a bit boomy and unnatural, with a pronounced «telephone effect». However, this is observed in a quiet environment, while the manufacturer promised noise reduction technology during calls.

The noise reduction system really works well: on the first track, only sharp and high-frequency sounds remain audible. However, the voice sounds even less natural, and intelligibility suffers a little.

According to the stated technical specifications, a full charge of the built-in batteries of the Infinix XBuds 3 GT headphones is enough for 6 hours of continuous music listening, and the charging case provides up to 28 hours of total device operating time.

The headphones discharge more or less evenly, with a difference of no more than 5 minutes. Very few listeners use headsets in mono mode, most often the disconnection of one earphone serves as a reason to put both in the case for charging. Therefore, in the table we will only include the operating time of the earphone that worked less.

The headphones in the case are fully charged in about half an hour. Fast charging is not officially declared, but after 10 minutes in the case, the completely discharged headset worked for about 2 hours, so we can assume that such a function is present. When connected to the charger, an animation is displayed on the top panel of the case, and the charging process can be monitored by the indicators located in the center.

Recently, manufacturers have been trying to install larger speakers in in-ear headphones. Infinix XBuds 3 GT have speakers with a diameter of 13 mm, which allows you to focus on the bass. This slightly compensates for the characteristic feature of such designs, which usually reproduce low frequencies with restraint. However, the emphasis on the bass turned out to be quite pronounced, with a noticeable “dip” in the lower middle, which leads to a somewhat “boomy” sound of low frequencies. The midrange frequencies are not smooth and detailed, which makes it difficult to perceive vocals and solo instruments. High frequencies are also slightly lost against the background of the bass, although a lot depends on the correct position of the headphones in the auricle, which is worth experimenting with.

Overall, the sound is not very balanced, but it does not have any noticeable drawbacks, which makes the headset suitable for background music listening. Do not forget that it is focused on gaming, where the requirements are slightly different. The emphasis on low frequencies allows the Infinix XBuds 3 GT to effectively convey the sounds of explosions, and the unusual delivery of mid-range frequencies surprisingly works well in shooters — steps and other sound effects are well perceived, which helps to better navigate in space.

The graph above is presented against the background of the IDF (IEM diffuse field compensation) curve provided by the manufacturer of the used setup. The main purpose of this curve is to compensate for resonance effects in the simulated ear canal and take into account the characteristics of the equipment, creating a “sound profile” that most accurately reflects how the sound of the headphones is perceived by the listener. It can be considered as a device-adapted version of the so-called “Harman curve”, developed by the Harman International team led by Dr. Sean Olive. Now we will compensate the resulting frequency response graph in accordance with the IDF curve.

In this form, the graph most accurately reflects subjective impressions from listening, although traditionally, the jaggedness in the high-frequency range should not be taken too seriously. The equalizer presets work effectively and perform the functions expected from their names. For example, «HF Booster» does not so much enhance high frequencies as reduce the emphasis on bass, which in some cases can be very useful. During testing, this preset was used for listening to music more than once.

When creating the Infinix XBuds 3 GT, design was a key aspect, and there is nothing wrong with that. For many users, a TWS headset is not only headphones, but also a stylish accessory. In this role, the device copes perfectly, especially thanks to the case backlight, which will attract the attention of connoisseurs of «gaming design». Although the case is not as convenient to use as we would like, you have to pay for the attractiveness. Do not forget about the price of the device: by modern standards, it can be classified as a budget segment.

In addition to an interesting design, it has a number of «chips», including full-featured software for customization, which allows you to add animation when connecting to a smartphone. The declared level of latency was achieved only after switching to the SBC codec, but it was still possible. Otherwise, the headphones demonstrate confidently good results: customizable controls, a comfortable fit for the «earbuds» and sufficient autonomy for comfortable use. The sound, although more focused on gaming, is also quite suitable for background listening to music. If the device attracts with its design, and the requirements for sound are not “audiophile”, it can be safely considered for purchase.