Pros & Cons
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- Excellent transparency
- Strong bass and mids
- Effective noise cancellation
- Long battery life
- Secure fit
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- Subdued treble
- No custom EQ
- Heart rate and O2 sensors aren't that useful
Edifier LolliClip Specs
| Active Noise Cancellation | |
| Connection Type | Bluetooth |
| True Wireless | |
| Type | Open-style earbuds |
| Water/Sweat-Resistant | |
| Wireless |
The Edifier LolliClip earbuds ($129.99) have an open-ear design, allowing you to hear your surroundings, which is particularly important when running or cycling. Often, this style of earbuds compromises audio quality for transparency. Edifier has managed to craft earbuds that deliver clear sound with noise cancellation, reducing the right frequencies so you can enjoy your music while remaining aware of your environment. Moreover, the LolliClip buds support high-resolution audio, the data-rich LDAC codec, multipoint connections, and have some of the longest battery life of any noise-cancelling buds we've tested. We wish the app included an adjustable EQ and that the high frequencies had more bite, but the Edifiers have more bass than the $149 Nothing Ear (Open) and are a much better value than the $299 Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, making the Edifier LolliClip our Editors' Choice for open-style earbuds.
Design: Tiny Dumbbells for Your Ears
The Edifier LolliClip earbuds resemble dumbbells with bent handles, which allows the two ends to wrap around your ear. This situates one portion of the earbud (where the battery lives) around the back of your ear and the other portion (where the speaker driver lives) inside your ear opening.
Because the earbuds apply a bit of pressure to stay in place, I found that they become uncomfortable after a few hours of use, at least initially. Eventually, I got used to them and found that I could almost forget I had earbuds on for most of the day. The Bosde Ultra Open Earbuds share a similar design, while the Nothing Ear (Open) rests on top of your ear.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)Since the curving arm that links the front and back portions is the most exposed section, that's where Edifier opted to integrate the touch controls. A single tap won’t do anything, which can be helpful since accidental touches are likely. Double- and triple-taps perform various actions, with the right bud handling playback controls by default, and the left handling noise cancellation and sound modes.
The wide portion of the earbuds that goes behind the ear has a light-based sensor to provide wear detection, automatically stopping music if one of the buds is removed. The feature works effectively and doesn't stop playback mistakenly. This component serves dual purposes, also acting as a heart rate and blood oxygen sensor—although you’ll need to use the Edifier ConneX app (available for Android and iOS) with an account to enable this functionality.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)Since the LolliClip earbuds are designed for active users, they feature an IP56 rating for dust and water resistance. I got caught in the rain wearing the earbuds, and it wasn't a problem. The case survived, too, but it has no IP rating (cases don't usually), so I'd recommend keeping it dry. The Bose has a lesser IPX4 rating while the Nothings have an IP54 rating.
Each bud contains a 13mm dynamic driver and delivers a frequence response of 20Hz to 40kHz. The eartip is designed to aim the audio into your ear canal. However, depending on the shape of your ear, it may be a little tricky to get it lined up just right. In my case, the buds pointed up a little. Fortunately, the tolerances are excellent, and even a slightly off-the-mark angle provides loud and clear sound. This is a common issue facing this style of earbuds.
They support Bluetooth 5.4, Bluetooth multipoint (for connecting to multiple devices simultaneously), and the AAC, LDAC (high-resolution), and SBC codecs. I encountered some momentary hiccups in the signal if I was paired to two devices and walked out of range of one of them, but otherwise, connections were consistent and reliable. The Bose supports AAC, aptX Adaptive, and SBC, while the Nothing supports AAC and SBC.
The case is somewhat bulky and roughly the size and shape of a chicken's egg. Because of its shape, it tends to rock about as it lacks flat edges to rest on, and the placement of the USB-C port on the back, rather than the underside, is awkward. The lid shuts firmly, ensuring the buds stay put. The front of the charging case features a small indicator light to provide a visual indication of the remaining battery life.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)When you take the earbuds out of the case, Google Fast Pair quickly recognizes them on an Android device to help you get them connected. Interestingly, the earbuds are identical, with neither dedicated to the left nor the right. You can place the earbuds back into the case in any order. When in use, they automatically figure out which stereo channel to play. If you swap them, they’ll swap channels in response. And when one bud is in use, it’ll adjust to play mono audio.
Battery: Marathon Length
Edifier says the LolliClip earbuds are rated to last 9 hours at 80% volume from a single charge, with the case providing a total of 39 hours of listening time. I seldom listen to the earbuds at that sort of volume, and I’ve gone whole workdays without getting a low-battery warning. When they do run low, 15 minutes of charging delivers three hours of listening.
The Bose last just 4.5 hours with an extra 12 hours in the case, while the Nothing last 8 hours with an additional 22 hours in the case.
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App Experience: Comprehensive Controls, But No EQ
The Edifier ConneX app prompts you to create an account when you first use it, but you don't need one to access most features. Only the heart rate and blood oxygen features require you to sign up—and they probably aren't what you expect. They aren't a constant monitor like those of a smartwatch or fitness band, which help you keep track of these important metrics while you exercise and go about your day. Instead, you open the Edifier app, select one of the options, and then actively begin a 30-second measurement, similar to taking a blood pressure reading. The app then saves the collected data with a date and time, allowing you to begin charting the information. Whatever marginal use this might provide is undercut by the fact that you can't export the data to any tool that does more health tracking.
(Credit: Edifier/PCMag)The app provides an overview of the battery status as well as quick access to noise cancellation, sound effects, and sound mode controls. Unfortunately, it lacks a custom EQ for personalizing the sound. A second page of menus provides options for adjusting on-device controls, toggling LDAC and Bluetooth multipoint, as well as utilities such as a water-expelling tool and initiating a loud signal tone to help you locate a lost earbud. Both Bose and Nothing offer EQs; the bose EQ is modesnt and consists of presets, while the Nothing EQ features eight bands for full customization.
Among the buds’ sound modes is a spatial audio mode with headtracking. This feature adjusts the sound smoothly and responds quickly to head movements, but it leaves the music sounding a bit like highly compressed streams coming from multiple points. It doesn’t work with LDAC, and other than turning it on to test it, I didn't use it as it worsened the listening experience.
Noise Cancellation: Enough to Be Useful
It's unusual for open earbuds to include noise cancellation, but the Edifier LolliClips do. It's on by default; in fact, you cannot turn it off or otherwise adjust its settings. The buds use three microphones on each earbud and adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) to help subdue ambient sounds, much like other noise-cancelling earbuds do.
In testing, I could still hear my surroundings perfectly, but the earbuds effectively dampened nearby droning noises, such as the sounds of fans and engines. Higher frequencies, such as from nearby conversations, easily make it past the ANC circuitry. It felt like turning down the volume on the noisiest parts of my environment without isolating me from it.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)The LolliClip's transparency is excellent, and I felt like I could hear my surroundings just as well while wearing them and when I wasn't. I was able to make them loud enough to drown out my surroundings, which is something to consider when awareness is important. Transparency of both the Bose and Nothing are excellent.
Sound: Impressive for Open Buds
Open earbuds often sacrifice audio quality, but the LolliClip earbuds sound excellent, likely thanks to their combination of large 13mm drivers and LDAC support. The buds kick off The Knife’s “Silent Shout” with powerful mid-bass, delivering the bass triplets that carry most of the song wonderfully. They dig down into sub-bass territory fairly well, letting the sub-bass quarter notes seep into the track. The vocal harmonies ring out clearly, with a fantastic stereo performance and a wide soundstage that enhances the effect of the harmonies all the more. But the highest registers suffer a bit. The buds lack the brilliance and heft I expect from little drivers backed by LDAC, and I suspect something is lost in that gap between the speaker and the ear canal.
This shortfall in brilliance is evident in Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty,” too, where the crisp cymbal hits and high Bruno Mars sample are mellow rather than sharp. The buds do a decent job with the sub-bass in the track, which arrives around the 35-second mark. Most of the notes are clear, if a bit restrained. Only the very lowest note in this sub-bass line is lost, sitting at just barely audible levels. Few open-style buds can reproduce this line.
The LolliClips present Bill Callahan’s “Drover” fairly well, but they don’t make for a stunning performance. The song doesn’t call for too much bass, and the buds easily handle the modest patter of the drums and bass. But the fiddle and acoustic guitar feel markedly subdued.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)Similarly, the earbuds aren't ideal for orchestral music, such as John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Their lack of brilliance leaves the whole orchestra feeling flat. The strings and horns don't have any bite. Also, with so much instrumentation, you really don’t want to let external sounds constantly bleed into your listening experience, but that's precisely what these earbuds are designed to do.
The weakness at the high-end is largely overcome by cranking the volume, but this can leave the rest of the mix too loud for comfortable listening. Unfortunately, without a custom equalizer in Edifier’s app, there’s no simple solution.
I have little to complain about with the microphones on the LolliClip earbuds, and my voice sounds clear even when I have a fan running in the room. It does sound slightly distant, but that's common with earbuds. Results were less impressive in a noisy environment with many voices, such as a cafe. They still honed in on my voice, thanks to the ambient noise suppression having multiple microphones enables, but with more artifacts in the recording.