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Glad Plugs Clip: two minute evaluation
The Glad Plugs Clip are a pair of open ear headphones that basically stunned me – however not in the way in which I might hoped. These clip-on buds are weird within the sense that they don’t actually nail something specifically. They’re a jack of few trades and a grasp of completely none.
Normally I’d begin by speaking about sound high quality, however I wish to as a substitute begin with design – as a result of these have a quirk I’ve not encountered earlier than. After you open up the admittedly enticing charging case, you’re met with the 2 open earbuds that are… the wrong way up? Sure, after choosing these out of their charging vessel, I spotted that the ‘L’ and ‘R’ symbols on the left and proper bud have been the flawed method up. That implies that every time you go to place them on (or go to place them again), it’s essential fiddle a good bit to get them in your ear – unsure how that one received previous the drafting board.
Anyway, the buds themselves look slightly low cost – maybe to be anticipated given their checklist value of $49 / £50. They’re additionally fairly massive in comparison with another clip-style open earbuds I’ve examined, although they solely weigh 5g every, which is lighter than even among the best open ear headphones.
I discovered them to be pretty comfy, although a tad loose-fitting, which made it slightly difficult to search out the right match. On high of that, this stuff use contact controls, however they activate with a single contact, that means I typically unintentionally paused music or adjusted quantity by mistake when attempting to get them to remain put. Nonetheless, in case your ear form works with them, stated contact controls do allow you to management a good quantity, together with music playback, calls, energy standing and even your supply system’s voice assistant.
And one closing level on design – Glad Plugs name the Clip ‘sweat resistant’ however don’t specify their waterproof score. I wouldn’t count on that it’s any greater than IPX4 with that description, which is slightly disappointing when you think about that different finances fashions just like the Huawei FreeArc, are IP57-rated.
However anyway, let’s get onto the principle occasion: audio efficiency. Sadly, this is among the worst areas for the Glad Plugs Clip. You’re going to get skinny, unbalanced, generally harsh sound out of those, which goes to be an issue for nearly anybody. As an illustration, when listening to Una canzone d’amore per te by Pino D’Angio, the 80s model percussion sounded tinny – unlistenable at excessive volumes – with the lead saxophone missing separation from different instrumental components.
How A lot I Really feel by Ambrosia additionally had an nearly muffled tone all through. The soundstage was cluttered and percussion by means of the treble frequencies once more sounded grating. It’s secure to say I used to be excited to return to my normal LG Tone Free T90S earbuds.
You received’t get good bass response out of the Glad Plugs Clip both – and I am taking into consideration their open design, the place bass clout is all the time a possible difficulty. When tuning into Black Eye by Allie X, the deep drum machine was massively understated, stripping the monitor of its impression, rhythmic bounce and groove. The one time I actually received a serviceable hear out of those open earbuds was when listening at low volumes, when the cruel, muddied nature of its sound was significantly tempered. However who desires to take heed to music so quietly in a set of open ear headphones?
So, it’s secure to say that these lack star high quality within the sound division, however there’s all the time a chance for a strong feature-set to redeem issues, not less than barely. Nonetheless, that’s one thing that the Glad Plugs Clip don’t possess both.
Firstly, there’s no companion app, so that you received’t get devoted EQ settings, adjustable noise cancelling, customizable contact controls or… something actually. There are a few options out there to you, although. Initially, these spotlight ambient sounds in case you’re on the go. As an illustration, it was simpler for me to listen to a baby screaming in a grocery store, which some open ear followers could also be searching for. I wasn’t precisely loving that have, although.
Secondly, these have two inbuilt mics, meant to facilitate “clear calls”. That was one thing I didn’t expertise, nevertheless. When making a video name and a regular cellphone name, I used to be informed that my voice sounded fairly muffled and fewer clear than when utilizing my cellphone’s built-in microphone. I additionally recorded a voice notice and heard a complete lot of sibilance, which was fairly disagreeable.
Sadly, even the battery lifetime of the Glad Plugs Clip is sub-par. On the entrance of the field, you’re informed you get 20 hours from these. And in a way, that’s true. When you depend the extra battery life equipped by the charging case, you’ll be capable of get a complete of 20 hours from these. However actually, you’re getting 4.5 hours per cost, which is – to be blunt – merely dangerous. After we reviewed the Honor Earbuds Open, we described their six hour battery life as “restricted”, so, yeah… nothing to shout about.
An extra difficulty value contemplating, is that like most open ear headphones, these are fairly vulnerable to sound leakage. So, in case you’re out in public and have your tunes cranked up slightly too loud, count on just a few glares to come back your method – though you seemingly will not try this, due to that troublesome treble.
All in all, the Glad Plugs Clip fail to make a splash within the ever-expanding ocean of open ear headphones. They wrestle to ship throughout the board, with unsatisfying sound high quality, a weak feature-set, unimpressive design and restricted playtime. The one actual draw of those is, after all, their value. The majority of the open earbuds market does sit nearer to that $100 / £100 mark, it is true – but it surely’s effectively value spending that bit further, and I hope you will belief me on this.
Take a step as much as the sub £100 Huawei FreeArc, for instance, and also you’re getting nice audio, superior waterproofing and extra options – extra on these later. In any other case, I extremely advocate trying out some cheaper choices in our information to the best wireless earbuds – in case you activate Ambient Sound mode on the ultra-cheap Sony WF-C510, for instance, you’ll hear surrounding noise and nonetheless get excellent audio.
Glad Plugs Clip evaluation: specs
|
Waterproof score |
IP not acknowledged (‘sweat resistant’) |
|
Battery life |
4.5 hours (earbuds), 20 hours (whole, with charging case) |
|
Bluetooth kind |
Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Weight |
5g (per bud); 53g (charging case) |
|
Frequency vary |
20Hz-20kHz |
Glad Plugs Clip evaluation: value and availability
- $49 / £50 (about AU$80)
- Launched in January 2025
The Glad Plugs Clip launched in January 2025 alongside a handful of different merchandise, together with the Happy Plugs Joy Speaker. They’ve a listing value of $49 / £50 (about AU$80) which is comfortably in finances tech territory, however after all, you’re not getting nice high quality in return. It’s value noting that these can be found in both Black or White, however the colour you decide should not have any bearing on the value you pay.
Do you have to purchase the Glad Plugs Clip?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Ranking |
|---|---|---|
|
Options |
Environmental audio works, however battery life is dangerous, no app, poor mic. |
2/5 |
|
Sound high quality |
Skinny, unbalanced audio that’s serviceable at low volumes, harsh when loud. |
2/5 |
|
Design |
Buds the wrong way up in case, irritating contact controls, solely ‘sweat resistant’. |
2/5 |
|
Worth |
They’re tremendous low cost however supply little or no in return quality-wise. |
2.5/5 |
Purchase them if…
Do not buy them if…
Glad Plugs Clip evaluation: additionally think about
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Glad Plugs Clip |
Anker Soundcore AeroClip |
Huawei FreeArc |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Value |
$49 / £50 (about AU$80) |
$129.99 / £129.99 (about AU$210) |
£99.99 (about $130 / AU$200) |
|
Waterproof score |
Not acknowledged (sweat resistant) |
IPX4 |
IP57 |
|
Battery life |
4.5 hours (earbuds), 20 hours (with charging case) |
8 hours (earbuds); 24 hours (with charging case) |
7 hours (earbuds), 28 hours (with charging case) |
|
Bluetooth kind |
Bluetooth 5.4 |
Bluetooth 5.4 |
Bluetooth 5.2 |
|
Weight |
5g (per bud); 53g (charging case) |
6g (per bud); 42g (charging case) |
8.9g (per bud); 67g (charging case) |
|
Frequency vary |
20Hz-20kHz |
20Hz-20kHz |
Not acknowledged |
Glad Plugs Clip evaluation: How I examined
- Examined for one week
- Used within the workplace and whereas out and about
- Predominantly examined utilizing Tidal
I examined the Glad Plugs Clip for one week and spent hours listening to music, watching movies and making cellphone calls. More often than not, I used these within the workplace at Future Labs, however I additionally used them whereas out and about in busy areas.
When listening to music, I used the Tidal app on my Samsung Galaxy S24 FE. I additionally ensured that I ran by means of the TechRadar testing playlist, which incorporates tracks from a variety of genres and is optimized for judging sound high quality throughout the frequencies. As well as, I performed a ton of tunes from my private library. The place applicable, I in contrast these to the Soundcore AeroClip on points corresponding to sound high quality, battery life and design quirks.