In-Depth Review of the ENACFIRE F1 Wireless Earbuds

Wireless earbuds are now the gold standard for music listening. Even just 5 years ago, they weren’t nearly as popular as they are today. Given the fact that Bluetooth technology has improved vastly over the last few years, it’s easy to see why. The technology has improved so much to the point that there are literally thousands of different makes/models to choose from.

Browsing on Amazon, you may have come across the Enacfire F1’s. They’re often available as a “lightning deal” for a generously discounted price. Because of this, we decided that we needed to get our hands on them for ourselves. We wanted to test them out, see how they perform, and find out all the good and bad things about them. Can they live up to the hype, or do they simply fall short?

First Look

The Enacfire F1‘s are not the first Enacfire brand earbuds we’ve tried in the past. In fact, last year we reviewed the E18 Plus, and before that, we reviewed their older model, the CF8003 in 2018. To put it simply, we found both models to perform adequately and recommended both to our readers.

Moving forward, looking at the F1’s, you’ll see a much more useful design that Enacfire implemented when creating them. Both earbuds appear to be as small as possible and include a charging case. These “in-ear” earbuds are sleek in appearance and boast touch controls for operating your music on the fly. Additionally, they’re packed with a wide multitude of features. Let’s take a look at each feature and truly see what they have to offer.

Comfort and Fit

Opening the box for the first time, you’ll want to achieve a secure fit right from the start. If you don’t, your experience using and listening through them might be unsatisfactory. Take a second and look through the included ear tips. They’ve included 3 different-sized pairs – small, medium and large. Swap each one out and make sure the ones you choose are snug yet do not create any pressure points.

We found that the default tips that were pre-installed (medium sized) fit perfectly in our ears. When placing each earbud within the ear canal, they offer no movement and almost feel the same as a snug earplug. Perfect! The tip goes into your ear canal while the body of the earbud rests nicely within the cartilage of your ear – no hooks or band required.

Charging Case

A lot of earbuds these days include a charging case. It’s definitely a good addition and offers a few benefits. First, it gives you somewhere to securely store them while they’re not in use. Second, it keeps the earbud batteries topped off and ready for listening at a moments notice.

The case itself is compact and not bulky in any sense. The clamshell design folds open and each earbud has a place to lay. On the outside, you’ll find a nice leather-like vinyl finish on the top and a rigid plastic chassis. On the front is a small rubber flap that reveals a micro USB and USB-A charging port. Right above that, you’ll see three small LEDs that indicate the battery status. The lid securely stays closed as do each earbud when they’re properly installed thanks to the use of tiny magnets.

As far as usability with the charging case goes, we’re pretty impressed. In fact, we achieved 6 full recharges on both earbuds before we needed to plug the case in. This means you could likely go multiple weeks without needing to charge the actual case.

One of the coolest features is the ability to use the charging case as a portable power bank. You can plug in any device (like your smartphone) to the USB-A input and it’ll act as a power bank to charge-up anything. While it will take away available power for charging-up the earbuds, it’s great to use in a pinch if your smartphone is running low and needs a little extra juice to get through the day.

Battery Life

As we previously mentioned, the charging case can hold around 5 or 6 charges before needing topped off. The earbuds on the other hand, are advertised to have an 8 hour battery life. This is quite long, however, so we knew we needed to see if this was true.

Through normal volume (about 50%) and consistent music-listening, we were greeted with a “low battery” warning at about 7 hours each time we drained them down to their lowest level. Although we never truly achieved a full 8 hours, they can get pretty close to this estimate. Our pair lasted for roughly 7 hours and 30 minutes before completely turning off. Simply put, this is still downright impressive in our opinion. Even if 7 hours is the actual battery lifespan for the pair of buds, that’s still great! Additionally, it’s much better than most other earbuds in this price-range.

Keep in mind, however, that some factors may drastically effect the battery life/levels. If you’re in a cold environment, don’t expect 7 hours of battery life. Cold is a known enemy of small integrated batteries like the ones that the F1 utilizes. Also, playing music at a higher volume will certainly have a negative effect on the batteries.

Touch Controls

Taking a glance at the Enacfire F1’s, you’ll likely notice that there are no physical buttons on the outside of the earbuds. Instead, “touch controls” were implemented. With the use of a single finger, you’re able to tap the outside of each earbud to command different functions. To skip tracks, touch for 2 seconds. If you’d like to pause your music, double-tap the right earbud. To answer a phone call, tap once. More functions are available, but these are the main ones that will get you started.

Overall, we like the touch controls but the lack of physical controls can be a nuisance for some. Luckily, you can always control your music from the smartphone that’s paired with them.

Durability

Given that the Enacfire F1’s boast IPX8 waterproofing, it’s obvious that these were made to easily withstand the elements. In fact, IPX8 means that they’re completely sealed from dirt and water ingress and can handle full submersion in depths over 1 meter deep. While we’re not exactly sure how deep you can take them, they’re definitely rated for swimming.

They’re hermetically sealed in all regards so that water, sweat, mud and small particles never pose a problem. You can rest assured knowing that they’re built to withstand virtually any realistic thing you throw at them.

Of course with any electronic device, we would advise against purposely putting them in harms way. However, avoid dropping them from heights or handling them too-rough. They’re sealed but not equipped for shock-proofing. The overall durability is quite impressive and likely suitable for any application.

Sound Quality

Likely the most important aspect of any earbuds is the sound quality. After all, it’s really what you’re buying them for. Whether you’re listening to music, taking a phone call or watching a movie with them, we must say, the Enacfire F1’s seem to deliver. The clarity is fantastic since highs, mids and lows all sound right-on. No matter what genre of music we used them with, we found good results.

The only problematic aspect to their sound quality is when you crank up the volume. With the volume turned to above 85%, you’ll begin to notice a tiny bit of distortion and unfavorable sounds. The bass became a bit crackling and the vocals didn’t seem to be quite as crisp.

As long as you don’t turn the volume up near its limit, we’d say you’d likely be happy with the overall sound quality. These aren’t going to be on the same playing-field as a $300 pair of true wireless earbuds, but they’ll definitely achieve promising sound quality for those on a budget.

Potential Downsides

Although the Enacfire F1’s have a whole lot going for them, we found a couple things that weren’t too impressive.

First, the range is limited to about 30 feet. This means, the moment you move too far from your paired device, you’ll experience laggy transmission or a complete drop in the connection. Most wireless earbuds these days max out at around 50 feet, so the limited range might be a deal-breaker for some. If you require a pair of earbuds with a much improved wireless range, be sure to take a look at the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79. They’re fully capable of up to 90 feet of range – and they boast some other sweet features too!

Secondly, the inclusion of micro-USB is a bit comical. Micro USB is outdated – it’s time for manufacturers to start using USB-C. While this may not make much difference to some, we’d love to see a standardized USB-C charging capability included. It’s 2020 – time to get with the program!

Final Thoughts

The Enacfire F1 True Wireless Earbuds have a whole lot of great things going for them. They’re compact, comfortable and simple to use. Additionally, they have outstanding battery-power and emit high quality tunes right from the box, with no tweaking. The value they provide is excellent – there is really no debating that. They perform quite well in most regards, although we did have a couple qualms about the wireless range and the use of micro USB. All in all, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for an affordable, well-rounded pair of true wireless earbuds.