prologue
Acefast isn’t a name you’ll hear often in the wireless earbud market, but the latest TWS earbuds feature a flashy transparent design, an LED display on the case, and six bold color options that grab your attention. The Acefast Crystal (2) Earbuds T8 are in review and we’ll take a closer look at what they offer.
The Acefast T8 certainly stands out in terms of design and offers a neat bundle of accessories. It features Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, 10mm drivers and supports SBS and AAC audio codecs. Battery life is up to 30 hours in the charging case, and the entire package is IPX4 splash-proof. Let’s see how these earbuds stack up against the competition, and if they’re worth keeping in your pocket or ear.
design
Purple, pink, blue, green, black and white – these are the six colors offered by the Acefast T8, all with a bit of clear to expose the buds and charging case interior. The charging case also features a 7-segment LED display that shows the battery level of the case and each earbud.
We can actually see more of the mainboard of the Acefast T8’s charging case, but there’s a clear inspiration from Nothing Ear (1), which brought us the transparent earbud design last year. can be attached to This is also seen in his Acefast earbuds in the past and is one way to stand out from the crowd.
There are no buttons on the case itself, instead all the controls are on the buds. The earbuds stay in place when docked in the case, but I haven’t experienced any issues with them falling out. The in-ear fit is good if you choose the right silicone tip size.
The unboxing experience and accessories offered here are a step up from your typical wireless earbuds. The box has a clear plastic piece that lifts up to reveal three compartments, a silicone gel case for the charging case in colors that match the earbuds, a strap strap, a USB-C cable for charging, and three extra pairs of silicone Ear tips are stored. It’s a plastic container.
Each bud weighs 5.5 grams while the case weighs 47 grams. The earbuds aren’t the lightest we’ve tested, but they fit comfortably in your ears even after hours of use. Even with the included sleeve, it easily slides into other large pockets.
Features
Beyond its translucent design, the Acefast T8 brings a fairly limited feature set. There is no hi-res audio support here, and the traditional his SBC and AAC audio codecs are used. The earbuds support the latest Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity standard with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) transmission via the BES 2600 IHC Bluetooth chip. Sadly, there’s no Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and the dual mics on each earbud only offer his ENC call noise reduction.
Multipoint pairing is another big omission on the Acefast T8, and there’s no smartphone app for tweaking audio profiles or receiving firmware updates. Tsubomi also omits wear detection for pausing and resuming media playback, a standard feature even in today’s budget earbuds.
The Acefast T8 features 10mm drivers with aluminum moving coils and 6mm dome tweeters. The earbuds use a Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) antenna design that molds the antenna transmitter into a plastic strip near the bottom of the earbud stem. LDS is advertised as providing stable signal transmission and improved interference immunity.
The LED display on the case is a nice touch and one of the T8’s most attractive features. The display turns on for a few seconds when you remove the earbuds from the case and turns back on when you dock. This is very useful as it gives you instant access to the battery status of the earbuds and case without having to dig into the Bluetooth settings of the paired device. The LED display is white to indicate battery status, and the underside is a yellow tint that illuminates the bits around the exposed portion of the mainboard.
While we like the design approach, we think Acefast could have added a physical button to turn on the display and check the battery level without having to remove the earbuds from the case each time.
The buds have touch controls for play/pause, volume control, call management, and summoning the device’s digital assistant. The touch controls are all on the top of the buds, and while the volume control didn’t always work on my first try, it works pretty well.
performance and sound quality
When you play audio content, you’ll notice that the bass output is boosted, even though the lows and mids are slightly out of alignment. The mid-to-high range like vocals resonates well. The Acefast T8 can put out plenty of volume, which is an added bonus. No such feature at the time of this review, but the audio profile is flat and the equalizer tuning options could improve the sound output.
After pairing the Acefast T8 to the device, I noticed a subtle static noise, mostly when listening to podcasts or audiobooks in quiet environments. It hasn’t been replicated by some of my co-workers, and it probably won’t bother you on your daily commute or at the gym.
Connection performance was decent and no dropouts when tested on an iPhone, Android tablet, and laptop. Voice pickup is below average when switching to a call, and people on other lines report my voice being muffled during calls. It’s on par with other wireless earbuds we’ve reviewed.
battery life
The Acefast T8 is advertised to play music continuously at 70% volume and last 4 hours on calls and up to 7 hours. Using the charging case extends the total listening time to 30 hours. That’s durable enough for a pair of wireless earbuds and better than most of the competition. Each earbud has a 45mAh battery and the case has a charging capacity of 480mAh.
During our testing, we found that the earbuds lasted 6-7 hours on a single charge. This is in line with the value claimed by Acefast. A full 0-100% charge takes about 90 minutes, while a 10-minute quick charge gives you 2 hours of use. No wireless charging, so you’ll need to find a power outlet and plug in a USB-C cable for charging.
verdict
The Acefast T8 earbuds bring a unique transparent design with clever features like magnetic storage inside the case and a large LED battery indicator screen. Battery life is great, with up to 30 hours of use in the charging case. Audio quality is average and there is no ANC or support for high bitrate codecs. That’s not a problem for an entry-level pair of earbuds, but the Acefast T8 currently retail for $100, placing them in a tough market given the fierce competition in the TWS market.
The T8 is exclusive to the Acefast online store for now, but if the T6 series is any indication, it should appear on Amazon soon. Still, wait for a significant discount before pulling the buy trigger.
We have to thank the design team at Acefast for creating one of the best looking earbuds on the market. All six color options offered on the Acefast T8 look great and we’re looking forward to seeing what future iterations of this range bring to the table. Support for Hi-Res audio and more control over the audio equalizer We can only hope for a richer feature set with .
