Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is one of those features that you seem to go without just fine, but once you try, there’s no turning back. Sure, some audio devices do offer great passive noise isolation, but ANC is a different beast altogether, cutting out the hubbub around you so that you can relax in peace with nothing but music hitting your eardrums. The Flexnest FlexDubs earbuds (quite the tongue twister) offer the feature, and that’s cool. What’s cooler is the fact that they do so at Rs 2,999, which is a rarity.
Considering the price, I kept my expectations low about the noise cancellation bit when I received the FlexDubs a week ago. But when I wore them for the first time, I was immediately surprised by how well the feature worked. Still, where the earbuds gained points on ANC, they lost some on the fact that they lack a companion app to go with them – which is a rarity again. Flexnest has made some odd selections with the FlexDubs’ feature list, and in this review, I’ll be scrutinising these choices.
Design and fit
For those who haven’t heard of Flexnest, the brand sells home gym equipment products that enable you “to get fit in the comfort of your home.” Browsing the company website I spotted a pattern – most of the listed products follow a zesty black and orange theme that will appeal to youngsters (like me). There’s no orange on the FlexDubs, yet they seem to follow that design language, sporting a satisfying matte black finish.
An IPx5 rating offers mild protection against the elements (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Complementing all that blackness is a stylish set of lights – both on the earbuds and the case – that flash whenever you pop the lid open and yank the earbuds out. It’s a nice touch to the otherwise discreet-looking earbuds. Sometimes, though, the lights can be too flashy – the LED on the case blinks red throughout charging, constantly grabbing your attention when it’s not needed.
I am a fan of lowkey designs so the FlexDubs looked great to me. But users who prefer an in-your-face kind of look may find them boring. What I did not particularly like was the build quality – both earbuds and case feel rather plasticky. Scratches on the case in just a couple of days despite (somewhat) careful usage did not inspire confidence about durability either.
The FlexDubs fit excellently and I loved how lowkey they look (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
The fitting is great and the use of cheaper materials has ensured that the earbuds are super-light. They stayed put throughout my daily home-to-office-to-home grind.
ANC
Coming back to ANC…it’s surprisingly good. I use the Nothing Ear 1 as my daily driver and I couldn’t tell the difference at all. Once a baraat passed by when I was over at a friend’s place, and while I could feel the vibrations from the boomy speakers against my chest, my ears felt safe from the noise. Transparency mode works fine as well, although it seems to exaggerate fan noises.
Audio quality
The FlexDubs sport 10mm drivers and the audio quality is decent for the price, but not too great. The bass is slightly emphasized but the treble seems suppressed. I’m fond of flattish audio signatures, so I downloaded Wavelet to up the treble levels a bit. The sound is detailed but vocals lose their crispness at higher volumes. Loudness is good enough to make you want to stay well below the maximum volume to avoid damaging your hearing.
The earbuds flash when they’re searching for a device to pair with (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
So what’s it like using a pair of earbuds without an app? For one, you’re forced to stick with what Flexnest thinks is the best audio configuration – and that may not fully suit you. Recent launches in the audio wearables market offer at least treble and bass boost modes, if not a full-blown equaliser, but the FlexDubs allow none of that. No app also means no firmware updates and the idea of configurable gestures also goes out the window.
Gestures and battery
Still, the way gestures are set up on the FlexDubs is perfectly fine and I had no complaints. Triple tap on the right earbud changes ANC/ENC modes while the same gesture on the left fires up Google Assistant.
Flexnest claims 5 hours of music playback from the earbuds and a total of 35 hours when the case is included. I found it to be closer to 4 – 4.5 hours. I couldn’t test the 35-hour claim fully but I only charged my earbuds once throughout my week-long stint which saw at least 4 hours of usage per day.
Verdict
The earbuds boast a “4-Mic Setup” and the other party had no complaints whatsoever with calls (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
So the ultimate question…should you buy the Flexnest FlexDubs? I wouldn’t recommend these for the audio and build quality alone, not because they’re poor but because there are better products out there if these two factors are your primary concerns. But if ANC is crucial, then the FlexDubs offer possibly the best noise cancellation for Rs 2,999 – you’re guaranteed to not hear your noisy neighbours with these on.
