Design & Construction

The Samsung Gear IconX (2018) is the Samsung's second edition of truly wireless in-ear headphone. Controlling the playback functions is possible via the touchpads on both the earbuds. A single tap play/pause the music, a double tap skips forward and answers a call, while a triple tap skips backwards. Holding the touchpad activate ambient sound mode and reject a call, while double tapping and holding plays the next playlist. Lastly, swipe up to increase the volume and swipe down to decrease it. The LED on the earbuds will light up in red when it is docked in its case to charge. It takes about 3 hours to charge both the case with the earbuds and 2 hours to only charge the case. Tapping your phone's NFC tag to the NFC tag under the case instantly pairs the earbuds with your phone. Bluetooth pairing is triggered via the button on the rear of the case. It is also worth noting that the headphones only requires 10 minutes of charging for 1 hour of playback. The earbuds also comes with different size eartips and ear wings to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Honestly, I would prefer them to include more sizes of ear wings as the ear wings are quite small and acts more like a safety net in case. The earbuds also do a great job at resisting fingerprints smudges. Moving on to the case, the case is rounded with no protruding parts. The USB C port can be found on the rear of the case. The hinges holding the cover and body of the case proved to be strong and can take abuse.

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Sound Quality

The 5.7pi dynamic drivers may seem small but they do get pretty loud. They produce a decent sound signature. Based on user experience, the ambient sound mode is the fantastic, I could hear my surroundings even when there is music going. Highs, mids and lows come off as clean and balanced withouit any emphasis on any end on the frequency response. Soundstage was a little bit too shallow for my liking though as instruments, vocals, bass and treble do not have much depth and detail. The headphones are great for all genres of music ranging from soothing jazz to bass-heavy EDM tracks. Call quality was decent, the caller managed to hear me on the other end as the mics on the earbuds pick up some surrounding noise.

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Connectivity & Portability

The headphone operates only wirelessly. So if you are out of battery, you are out of luck. The earbuds supports the latest Bluetooth Version 4.2. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked or taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at 5 hours per use in streaming mode, 7 hours in standalone mode and 1 additional charge is provided by the case. The package also comes with a USB C cable for charging and extra USB connectors for you to connect your Samsung Galaxy phone to transfer tracks. The headphones' connectivity to the app is prefect as I never experience it being unable to detect my headphones when its already connected via Bluetooth mostly of the time.

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PROS​

• Bluetooth & NFC Enabled

• Controls For Music Play & Calls

• Standalone Music Player

• Water-resistant

• Low Profile

• Charging Case

• A Range Of Colours

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CONS​​

• No Sound Customisation

• Unfitting Earwings

 

The Bottom Line

The Samsung Gear IconX (2018) is definitely a huge improvement from its predecessor. With a decent battery life of 5 to 7 hours per use and water-resistantance and a low profile design, it will certainely satisfy consumers  who wants to step up their audio game. A range of colours is available to fit users of different gender.