Dripp Dropp TWS Earbuds Hands-On Review

The TWS earbuds market is big business, with the global earphones and headphones market valued at US$10.52 billion in 2018, according to Grand View Research. Counterpoint, another industry analysis firm, estimates that sales of TWS wearables will grow from 46 million units in 2018 to 129 million units in 2020, a market currently dominated by the likes of Apple, Sony and Samsung. A major supplier of chips to this emerging market is Qualcomm, which currently sells multiple audio SoCs to thousands of OEMs globally.

While searching marketplaces like Amazon or AliExpress will reveal hundreds of companies selling Qualcomm-branded TWS earbuds, one pair caught our eye last month on crowdfunding website Indiegogo. Dripp Audio, a start-up based in Shenzhen, China, launched a campaign for what it promised to be the "most affordable" TWS earbuds on the market, for which it exceeded its campaign goal of US$10,000 in funding. The company estimates that it will start shipping to backers in January next year, but in the meantime, it has kindly provided us with a pair of Drip Dropps to test.

We have been using the Dripp Dropps daily for close to two weeks now, during which we have worn them while working, exercising and just generally when out and about. Dripp Audio currently sells the Dripp Dropps on Indiegogo for US$49, having initially priced them at US$39 for early backers. The company states on its campaign page that the Dripp Dropps will eventually retail for US$99, although it remains unclear where it will sell the earbuds besides Indiegogo.

Please note that this is a hands-on review. While we shall discuss our experiences with the earbuds, we shall not be covering them to the depth that we usually do in our laptop or smartphone reviews.

The Dripp Dropps resemble many other TWS earbuds, as does their pill-shaped charging case. The earbuds and case both have black plastic chassis, although the latter has a much glossier finish than the former. The top of the case also has a silver trim around its bottom edge. Adorning both is the Dripp Audio logo, which the company has included on both earbuds. While the case also has regulatory text printed on its bottom, the earbuds only have L or R printed on them to denote what ear in which they should be placed. Dripp Audio opted to print these letters in dark grey for some reason, making them difficult to read in the brightest of ambient lighting.

Each earbud weighs around 6 g, although we measure the total carry weight at 56 g with the case included. Our review units fit snugly in our ears with the medium-sized rubber tips without applying any uncomfortable pressure to our ear canal as we have found some earbuds to do in the past. Each earbud has touch-sensitive controls on their sides, about which we will cover later. These sit at the top of the stem of the earbuds, but we often found these troublesome to locate with our fingers when in our ears. In principle, these should be easy to find when you learn the location of the touch-sensitive area, but the lack of a tactile hint of where the area is meant that we regularly ended up taking multiple stabs at activating the controls.

The Dripp Dropps have two metal contacts on each earbud, which allow them to charge via the included charging case. While the earbuds charge quickly, the case itself does not. The reason for the latter is the presence of a micro USB port, which is a shame. Most smartphones have USB Type-C ports now, so having to carry an additional cable when we are away from home for a few days seems ill-thought-out. Likewise, Dripp Audio has included a set of four LEDs on the inside of the case to inform you of its charge level. The earbuds each have an LED too, which changes to red when they start charging. However, there is no way of knowing the charge level of the earbuds. There are no LEDs on the outside of the case to let you know this, which could have been useful, nor do the earbuds display a green LED when they are fully charged. Incidentally, more than one person remarked the earbuds light up like a Christmas tree when pairing, as they cycle between blue and red until they pair with a device. Admittedly, this is a minor gripe and one that would probably only arrive during the festive season. Rounding off the I/O are two microphones, which sit on the bottom edge of both earbuds.

The built-in microphones worked well during our call tests, and picked out our voice nicely even in busy environments. Voices sounded intelligible too, and at no point did we feel the need to switch to using our smartphone.

The Dripp Dropps have comparatively good audio quality in general too, at least compared with equivalently-priced earbuds. While their music does not sound as lively or vibrant as it does on high-end TWS headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM or WF-1000X series, for example, the Dripp Dropps sound much better than other sub-US$50 earbuds we have tried.

Our review units reproduce highs well, and does a good job of recreating mid-tones too. Bass frequencies are present, but they do not sound as full as those that our WH-1000XM2 or even Motorola Verve Loop can create. While the Dripp Dropps offer greater clarity than the Verve Loops do, our Bose SoundTrue Ultra In-Ear Headphones sound more balanced than our review units do.

With that said, we are yet to try other QCC3020 powered earbuds, so the Dripp Dropps potentially only sound as good as their chipset. Qualcomm offers other superior chipsets too, like the QCC3034 found in the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2. While we are yet to try these, there are higher-quality Qualcomm audio chipsets on the market than the QCC3020. You can find all aptX-certified headphones here.

The Dripp Dropps support Qualcomm cVc noise cancelling too, which is not the same as active noise cancellation (ANC) that other more expensive TWS earbuds support. cVc worked well during our time with the Dripp Dropps and cancelled out most ambient noise. However, we could still hear background voices when in a coffee shop, for example, so ANC overear headphones may be a better option if you want to block out as much noise as possible. We also found the frequency that the Dripp Dropps output to minimise ambient noies more audible than the ones that our WH-1000XM2's produce. We expected as much considering the gulf in price between the two devices, but it is worth considering if that sort of thing bothers you.

The Dripp Dropps have an 85 mAh battery, which yielded between ten and twelve-hour runtimes during our tests. The case, meanwhile, has a 500 mAh battery, which Dripp Audio promises should give the earbuds two full charges before needing recharging itself. Our tests did not verify this, though. Case charge levels dropped by one LED for every three hours of playback, which would correspond with one full charge of the earbuds.

Over twenty-four hours use between having to charge the charging case is still excellent, though. Moreover, our experiences may not be reflected across other units. The case does take between two to two and a half hours to recharge fully, so we would recommend doing so overnight or when you do not need to use the earbuds.