Mifo S Wireless Earbuds review – perfect for active people!

REVIEW – Workouts, running, cycling, walking… the Mifo S Wireless Earbuds are designed for doing the sporty things and the outdoorsey things with a rugged design and IPX7 water resistance. I beat these little guys around for a month to see how they hold up to the sweaty stuff. How do they do? To the review!

What is it?

The Mifo S Wireless Earbuds are wireless earbuds for sports and outdoor activities.

What’s in the box?

Your package includes the Mifo S Wireless Earbuds, the carrying/charging case, a USB to USB-C charging cable, and a set of different-sized silicone sleeves to fit your ears.

Hardware specs

• 7 ounces total weight including charging/storage case
• Case is 2.25″ in diameter and 1″ deep
• IPX7 waterproofing
• 3 levels of active noise cancellation (none, partial, full)
• 4-6 hour battery life between earbud charges
• 2 hour recharge time
• Up to 40 hours of total battery life with the charging case
• USB-C charging port on the case

Design and features

The Mifo S Wireless Earbuds are pushing a style vibe in their packaging and marketing materials, with a variety of sleek color styles and patterns to choose from. My test model uses a black and bright green color scheme and some fancy word cluster patterns across the case and earbuds. You won’t lose these in a dark drawer or gym bag.

And yeah, I know you caught the “Sport & Outdo” in the green banner. “OUTDO” expresses an attitude beyond the performance, people may misunderstand that it is the wrong spelling of the word “outdoor”. But the manufacturer is not one for spell checking and/or grammar. Here is the message tab that you get when you open the case…

It doesn’t get any better when you crack the user manual. You’ll get through it, but someone REALLY needs to pay an editor to look over their materials.The case itself is metal (aluminum, I think), compact, and solid. It will take some thumps. It also serves as a charger for the earbuds when not in use. A USB-C port sits on the back side of the case for charging. Mifo estimates that you’ll get about 40 hours of earbud use without having to recharge the case (the earbuds will go for 4-6 hours before requiring a recharge).

A USB-to-USB-C cable comes with the kit. I like that the cable is sturdier than I usually see in these models. The bright green color choice makes it easy to find in your cable collection!Back to the case itself, there’s a button on the front face that unlocks the lid.

When you first open the case, a green indicator tells you how much juice the charging case has left. We’re at full charge here. The LEDs drop at 70% and 30% charge levels to let you know how close you are to emptying the battery.

Your earbuds pop into these little contoured chambers when not in use, and magnets ensure they slot right into place and stay put, even if the case is turned upside down.

The earbuds themselves use a chunky housing to fill your earhole. That horn-shaped prong tucks under the flap of your ear to keep the earbud in place.

Here’s a closeup of the earbud in position. I found the fit to be quite secure during indoor and outdoor workouts, including some walking in the 100 degree Florida heat during a trip this month. Some other earbuds I’ve tested have a tendency to slide about. These did not. They also come with three sizes of silicone sleeves (pictured above) to get a more secure fit.

You’ll also notice the big, round pad with the logo… that whole area is your contact point for managing the earbud controls. This is nice. There’s no fumbling around to get the functions working. Just tap that big spot to do the things.

When it comes to controls, the Mifo S Wireless Earbuds use some combination of single taps, multiple taps, or tap-holds to get the functions to work. It’s just a matter of practice. They do a nice job of providing audio feedback when you execute functions (“Connected!” “Transparency mode!”).

The audio quality is good, but not exceptional in my opinion. There’s nice stereo pickup, the sound is clean and crisp, but I found it to be lacking deep bass ranges despite testing across a variety of music types, video apps, podcast apps, and the like. It’s not that the quality is bad, it’s just not what I expected given the price point.

We also need to talk about the noise-canceling features. I was excited for this as I was just on a trip that involved plane flights & busy airport terminals where I could give this feature a thorough test. It simply did not work. There are three modes you can engage: transparency so you can hear your surroundings, partial ANC, and full ANC. In my testing I could not detect a shred of difference in the modes, to the point where I had to go back to my trusty plug-in earbuds during the flight to drown out the noise. I also found dramatic and weirdly inconsistent differences in volume levels across apps and devices. The manufacturer professes that the earbuds have 6 different microphones to help manage ANC… not sure how that is supposed to work, but maybe they weren’t tuned right in my test model.

Like just about all other wireless earbuds of this type the buds will connect with your paired device when removed from the case. Unlike other buds I have tested, however, they don’t always disconnect right away when put back in their place. Sometimes I found myself having to disconnect them through my device after use.

The Mifo S Wireless Earbuds are rated for IPX7 waterproofing, and great for the wet/sweaty stuff. The promotional materials also say they are great for sleeping…