I didn’t have high hopes when unboxing the bulky Baseus Bowie MA10 earbuds, because we’ve all hadthatexperience: misplacing your favorite headphones and having to buy the cheapest earbuds you can find, which do in a pinch, but eventually get forgotten in a drawer. The MA10, typically found for under $30, are anything but that. They sound great, easily comparable to earbuds that would cost three times their price (or more). If you care more about how your earbuds sound than their connected app experience, or their touch controls, Baseus' earbuds give you solid,budget beats.
Baseus Bowie MA10
We didn’t expect the Baseus Bowie MA10 earbuds to sound as good as they did, given their rock-bottom price. Although the earbuds' companion app is a bit sparse, you get a lot of EQ settings to pick from (or customize), and built-in noise cancellation (or environment-boosting) is a great add-on for these inexpensive ‘buds.
Price and availability
Baseus’ Bowie MA10 earbuds can be found on the company’s website for $40, or other retailers like Amazon or AliExpress for a slightly cheaper retail price of $30 (if not a little less). The company makes a few different earbuds that can look a little similar, so make sure you’re viewing the correct “MA10” version when shopping. I haven’t found any regular brick-and-mortar retailers that carry these earbuds, so consider them online-only as of this review.
Design, hardware, what’s in the box
A larger charging case than you probably envisioned greets you when you first open the MA10’s box. If you were hoping for something akin to an AirPods, you’re actually getting a charging/storage case that’s even bigger than a Pixel Buds Pro. At around 3.25 inches wide by 1.75 inches tall, and a depth of nearly 1.5 inches, the MA10’s case feels awkward to put in a pocket.
The earbuds magnetically attach within the case, which makes charging a breeze. And that’s the only real benefit of having a case this big: battery size. Though bulky, you’re going to get an estimated 140 or so total hours of uptime out of your earbuds. That’s thanks to the case’s 2,500 mAh battery, before you’ll have to spend around an hour or a half (or so) recharging the case via its USB-C port. (If only you could use it to also charge your smartphone in a pinch.) The case has LED lights built into the front that show you an earbud’s estimated battery level whenever you insert it for charging.
The earbuds, like their case, are large and bulky. At first glance, I assumed they’d be uncomfortable to wear, but they actuallyfit quite comfortablyin your ear (blocking your entire ear canal). That is something to note, however, if you prefer open earbuds over those that insert somethingintoyour ear; if so, these might not be for you.
The MA10 earbuds come with three pairs of ear tips and two pairs of ear hooks, though I found that the default ear tips that come pre-attached to the earbuds were more than sufficient to get a comfortable fit and seal for everyday use. Their in-ear design already does a decent job of blocking exterior noise, but the earbuds also come with their own noise-canceling and environment-boosting modes that can be triggered by a simple gesture action. This defaults to a press-and-hold on the large, touch-sensitive circle on either the left or right earbud, but you may change this via a downloadable BaseUS app.
If you’ve connected your earbuds to your Android smartphone via Bluetooth, they’ll be live and active as soon as you take them out of the case. This means that you’re likely to trigger music to start playing, or switching through the aforementioned sound-canceling modes, while stuffing the earbuds into your ears. It’s annoying, but that’s just one of the pitfalls of budget earbuds: They’re going to have some quirks.
Sound quality and ANC
As basic earbuds, the MA10s are as comfortable to use as they are impressive to listen to. I was honestly surprised by the audio quality that we experienced from such inexpensive buds, and the granular controls to adjust what you hear that you get in Baseus' companion app were an unexpected delight. You’ll definitely want to install that app — more on that in a bit — because the earbuds are a bit too bass-heavy out of the box.
Unless you want every song you like to sound like it’s being played in a Vegas club, picking a more restrained equalizer setting is critical. I found that switching to the “Original” mode made the MA10’s sound much more the Apple AirPods I use every day, and I didn’t feel like I was about to blow my eardrums out every time some metal came up in one of my playlists.
Once you’ve dialed them in, the MA10s sound much better than their low price would have you believe. And the same can be said for the earbuds' built-in noise-cancellation modes. You get three settings to play with: nothing, amplification of whatever is going on near you, or cancellation of nearby cacophony.
A number of quality earbuds at this price point ship with no noise-cancellation whatsoever; that said, the MA10s weren’t a slouch. They did a good-enough of a job reducing the sound of nearby cars blasting music from an annoying roar to a subtle din. So much so, I actually found myself able to concentrate and work just using the MA10’s noise-cancellation — no “concentration-themed” music required.
Features and app
You don’t need a supplemental app to control the earbuds, as their primary features can all be accessed using the earbuds' built-in touch controls. All you have to do is connect the earbuds to your device via Bluetooth, and you’re good to go. (You can even connect two different listening devices simultaneously thanks to the MA10’s support for Bluetooth Multipoint, which makes it easy to switch a song between two different Bluetooth devices.)
That said, you’ll want to install the app and connect your MA10s to ensure they receive a critical firmware update. Once you get it, you’ll no longer have nondescript tone notifications to indicate which of the three noise-canceling modes you’re using. Instead, you’ll get direct, audio descriptions of each mode; they’re less soothing, but you’ll never forget what you’re switching to, which is a welcome improvement.
The app, as mentioned previously, is also where you’ll play with the earbuds' equalizer (or preset modes, if you don’t feel like fine-tuning). The MA10’s come with 12 EQ modes to pick from, though jumping between them (which should just require you to tap your phone’s screen) was a bit fussy in the poorly designed app. I wasn’t able to switch between modes unless I long-pressed on each one; tapping threw up a “setup failed” error message, an awkward and unwanted interaction from a budget Bluetooth device.
To the earbuds' credit, you can also set up and save your own custom settings across an eight-band equalizer. That’s a feature you’re not always likely to find in a $100 pair of earbuds, let alone one that costs around one-fourth as much. That’s also the most you’ll likely interact with the Baseus app, as there’s not much else to do beyond EQ settings and mapping different actions to touch gestures.
Battery life and charging
Baseus claims the earbuds can go a full eight hours before needing to be charged. That sounds like a long time, but it won’t be very long at all if you just take the earbuds out and put them on your desk (or in a pocket) when you’re not using them. They stay powered on unless they’re placed back into their charging case, so you’ll want to ensure you’re diligent about returning them to their home.
The problem, again, is that the charging case is so big and bulky, it’s going to be a bit more annoying to carry it around everywhere compared to a more svelte case. I think Baseus could have shrunk the battery a bit, which would still give the earbuds plenty of supplemental power, but could have also possibly allowed the company to take some of the bulk out of the case, too.
Competition
There are plenty of earbuds that all have similar designs and prices as the MA10 we reviewed, including JBL (like the JLab Go Air Pop) and Skullcandy earbuds (like the Dime 2 series), as well as earbuds from lesser-known brands like EarFun (and its Free 2S Wireless Earbuds).
I think the MA10 are a pretty good deal, but they do have their flaws: a lackluster app, IPX6 water-resistance (less impressive than IPX7), and a huge charging case. The $25 JLab Go Air Pop earbuds probably provide the MA10’s the strongest competition. However, you won’t be able to fine-tune your sound via an in-app equalizer, nor will you get any active noise cancellation. The former might not be a big deal to most, but the latter can be huge.
Should you buy them?
The MA10s aren’t perfect, but it’s hard to find earbuds with a solid sound, active noise cancellation, and long battery life for less than $30. If you don’t mind having a huge case that you’ll have to lug around to turn the earbuds off, as well as an app that’s barely useful, these are excellent budget ‘buds — especially if, say, you forgot your regular, more expensive earbuds while on vacation and need to Amazon Prime yourself a temporary replacement.
