We normally refuse to touch wireless earphones and headphones that sell at rock bottom prices. This is because there’s really nothing to choose between them and hence little to write about. But on insistence, we tried out the MULO Wonderloop 500 because we were promised a lot of features for ₹1,499 — and were amazed to find this really turned out to be the case.

The name MULO comes from a combo of Music and Lovers and users of this company’s made-in-China audio products are to be called ‘Mulonials’. Be that as it may, their neckband-style earphones, Wonderloop, don’t look as cheap as they are. The packaging is budget enough but once you take the neckband out of the box, you’ll find it’s made of sturdy stuff. The neckband itself is thin but strong and sits very lightly and can barely be noticed. The cables that extend from the neckband to the earbuds are flat and quite tangle-resistant. They’ve even managed to throw in some styling.

Our review piece had a red and black colour sandwich through the cables and the neckband and red accents on the ear-tips. That’s taking a lot of trouble over something that doesn’t cost much. The MULO logo is on each earphone and that doesn’t look too classy, but we’ll forgive it for now. The left arm of the neckband has no buttons while the right (and they’re marked, for convenience) has three buttons. Tiny as these buttons may be, they do just about everything needed: power on and off, pause and play, volume, track navigation, call acceptance, and summoning the Google Assistant. They have a good clicky feel to them which is thoughtful because you’ll be reaching up to your right shoulder to use them.

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The charging cable is an old-style USB so don’t lose it as these are getting more difficult to find as everything around switches to USB Type-C. It takes about an hour to charge and you’ll see when it’s done by the light on it turning green. The moment you touch the power button, there’s a startling long vibration, which I have to admit made me jump the first time, which is the MULO way of letting you know the device is ready for pairing. Nice that it does it automatically. It’s paired in the usual way, via Bluetooth and you can pair it with two phones. It connects automatically when power is turned on any time. There’s no companion app and, in fact, no other fuss altogether. We’re ready to turn on the music. And get a bit of a shock.

A lot of bass

‘Let there be bass,” says the Wonderloop’s tagline. And there is certainly bass. A lot of it. More than is usual for earphones. You’ll need to push them into the ear correctly, working with the slight angling given to the ear-tips and get a good fit and seal. Your head will promptly fill up with bass. This can, not surprisingly, get quite overwhelming on bass-heavy tracks, so you should figure out how to protect your hearing if you want to listen to music for many years to come. The bass actually ends up being the primary experience with the rest being not bad at all as well. If turned on too loud the higher frequencies can almost hurt. They sound best with balanced tracks. But overall, used responsibly, it’s easy to see why millennials or Mulonials will love the sound.

The Wonderloop is very comfortable, right up to the earbuds and ear-tips. Lying on a pillow with them is perfectly nice. There’s some passive noise isolation if you wear them properly. The battery lasts a good eight hours. Call quality is just fine. On top of everything, these earphones use Bluetooth 5.0 and maintain a stable connection. And finally, they throw in IPX7 water resistance. All for almost nothing.

Price: ₹1,499

Pros: Impressive sound quality, sturdy build, comfortable, Bluetooth 5.0, nine hour battery life, IPX7 rated, stylish

Cons: At this price, nothing

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