Product

REVIEW: Lypertek Tevi Headphones

Top build quality, great sound, impressive battery.... But are these wireless earphones BMX compatible?

Wireless headphones have been around for some time, but to be quite honest with you, I’ve never tried riding with them before. This new set, the Lypertek Tevi, have a fair bit of cycling in their marketing, so Lypertek thought we’d like to give them a go and see if they stand up to the demands of BMX riding.

First up, let’s have a look at the gear. The Tevi headphones arrive in a simple little package containing the carry case, the headphones, the USB-C cable and some spare ear plugs in different sizes and textures.

The case, a tidy cloth-covered pill-shaped unit, houses a battery that charges the headphones, as seen on other systems like Apple’s AirPods. (Side note: the case smells really nice. There’s some kind of fruity perfume on it.)

The battery life here is impressive – we’re looking at 70 hours of audio thanks to the case recharging between sessions. 10 hours on a single charge from the case, which you can do 7 times. That’s a week of 10 hours music per day before you have to charge the case again.

The earpieces snap happily into their slots magnetically, as does closing the lid of the case, although this feels a little less robust than I’d like. There’s a set of status LEDs to tell you how much battery is left in the case, and the headphones themselves will tell you how they’re doing via lights and audio signals.

“The main thing I wanted to test was whether or not the Lypertek Tevis fell out when riding.”

The Lypertek Tevi headphones have a button on each earpiece. These allow you to play/pause audio, adjust volume (up on the right, down on the left) and rewind/skip tracks (left/right). It’s an intuitive system. There’s no on/off switch, as this happens automatically. You can also answer calls – there’s a built in microphone on each earpiece that should do alright in most situations but in louder environments you can just take one earpiece out and talk into it.

Trying them out for the first time, I found one side was pretty keen to fall out of my ear. Luckily each set comes with a few different sized ear-tip inserts, so I just swapped to the larger size on one side and that seemed to do the trick for normal use.

“Canalphones have a kind of rubber nozzle that goes into your ear canal, enhancing noise isolation and making you feel ‘plugged in.’”

Lypertek Tevi are In-Ear headphones (Canalphones) as opposed to Earbuds. This means they have a kind of rubber ‘nozzle’ that goes into your ear canal, enhancing noise isolation and making you feel ‘plugged in.’ This definitely makes for a superior listening experience, as you have less background noise, but is this good for BMX riding?

It comes down to personal preference, but I rather like being able to hear the bike, it helps me concentrate on what I’m doing. If that’s not an issue for you, these headphones could be a great choice. You can also experiment with the other ear-tips to see what you prefer, since they also come with a foam set that offers a slightly different experience.

Regarding sound quality, I have no complaints at all. They’re extremely clear, everything sounds as it should. The high end clarity is so good that it might make you notice the compression on your music streaming service, for example when I tested them using Spotify from my phone, I could hear imperfections in the audio quality that I’d never hear if I were listening on a Bluetooth speaker.

Headphones with this style of helmet are always a bit tricky.

With my set up, I found the tone of the Tevis to lack a little low end, so I simply added a bass boost on my phone’s equaliser. I’m not sure if that was only necessary due to my set up or just for my taste, but it’s worth mentioning. Trying out different EQ settings while listening to various styles of music, I thought the Tevis handled quite drastic EQ changes very well.

Riding BMX with the Lypertek Tevi earphones was an interesting test. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a big fan of blocking out other sounds when I’m riding – I like to hear my bike. On that count, these were not really for me.

A shorter beanie can push the earphones out…

While I was riding, I thought it would be worth trying different hats and helmets to see how the fitting and shape of the Tevis was affected. If you wear a cap, no worries. With a beanie, it depends how low it sits. Wearing one of mine, the edge of the beanie was basically resting on the Tevis, almost pushing them out. With another, it kind of clamped them into my ears – this was a better option.

Wearing a helmet, I found the over-the-ear ‘full cut’ style to be a bit problematic while listening to music, as access to adjust the position of the earphones was tricky. Between runs, you might want to take one out to chat to your mates, and this wasn’t too easy. I suppose that can be said of all headphones when wearing this style of helmet. With a regular helmet, I had no problem swapping them in and out, skipping tracks, adjusting volume, etc.

A longer beanie helps press the earphones in.

The main thing I wanted to test was whether or not the Lypertek Tevis fell out when riding. I’m afraid to say that yes, they did. Perhaps it’s due to the top-heavy shape of them, or it could be the fact that the fit wasn’t always perfect in my ear, but every time I dropped in or hopped something, I felt like they could come out. If I were riding with a beanie on, pressing them into my ears, I reckon this would be less of an issue.

While I probably wouldn’t recommend the Lypertek Tevi earphones for riding sessions, I’d have no reservations recommending them as a daily use headphone option. For travelling, the battery life and compact size are major pluses. The design and functionality of both the earphones and the charging case are very pleasing, the performance as an earphone is top notch, the build quality is excellent, and – oh yeah – they’re waterproof. Lypertek Tevi: not the best for riding with, but you can use them in the shower.