Dissappointed with Zolo Liberty+

#15

Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense, yeah. This was my first foray into the “truly wireless” field.

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#16

Good way to think about this, yeah.

#17

Here is how you can contact Zolo by phone if you wish.

  1. United States +1 (800) 988 7973 Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM (PT)

  2. United Kingdom +44 (0) 1604 936 200 Mon-Fri 6AM-11AM (GMT)

  3. Germany +49 (0) 69 9579 7960 Mon-Fri 6:00-11:00

  4. Japan +81 03 4455 7823 Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00

#18

I have tested two bluetooth earphones - the Anker SoundBuds Sport IE and the Mpow Cheetah - and the Zolo Liberty+.

While both the SoundBuds and the Mpow allow stereo phone calls, the call quality is horrible - imagine the sound being compressed by a factor of a hundred - and, in the case of the Mpow, the caller simply can’t hear me.

While I agree that I was somewhat disappointed in not having sound on both ears during calls and using Siri, I must say that call quality on the Liberty+ in general is way better than the other two I tested. There’s almost no difference between the sound through the Liberty+ and wired earphones, they are just as crisp - the same way there’s almost no difference between music quality - and the caller can hear me just fine - in one test the only thing that let the caller know I was on earbuds was the lack of ambient noise cancelling most phones do when you talk directly on the phone.

So, I happily trade stereo calls for the call quality. Maybe stereo calls can be achieved through firmware updates?

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#19

I’m going to give Zolo another chance with a replacement instead of refund, so maybe I’ll be able to hear an audio call-- assuming the replacement works. Right now, the right-ear piece doesn’t work so I can’t use them for calls at all.

#20

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Isn’t this funny?
Since I have got APPLE TV 4K I can not chose my ZOLOs as favorite sound source although they are playing.

#21

Thanks for sharing this review

#22

I have been using mine for two days now and they work great.

I just did a test,
I started a track and then put my left earbud in a tight sealed box. The right one continued to perform great.
I repeated the test placing the right one in the box and the left began to fail right away.
I assume by this test that your right earbud is faulty and is not transmitting or receiving Bluetooth signal properly and the left won’t work without the right.

Calls will only come through the right side and it is designed as such.

be patient my friend. I know you are upset with the service you received and I am not sure why except that it is a brand new product that is being tested by users before creating masses of inventory. We are the testers, lol

I truly believe you will like the new pair. I used mine outside for 1/2 hour with a heavy jacket on and they worked good except a couple of instances where I adjusted my toque.

#23

I received mine yesterday.

Transparency mode is just a gimmick and right earpiece stop producing sound after 10 min. of use. Now sound is very faint on right earpiece.

Curiously enough another guy from my very same city which received it yesterday like me is complaining about the same issue.

@Alex_Gac, you are not alone and, @bobbleheaderman, even if we joined a KS campaign it does not mean it is alright to provide an unfinished product. We are not beta testers and Quality Control should be top notch anyways.

After so much waiting (since August) I’m really DISAPPOINTED with this product.

#24

That’s a bummer. Now I am worried that mine will fail. I will report back if they do. These are my favorite out of 4 completely wireless sets that I own, all the others from different manufacturers would clip out from left to right as the Bluetooth signal would not penetrate my water filled head. I did research and water in the head is the biggest challenge with completly wireless buds and causes lots of issues as Bluetooth will not pass through water.

Here is one article on the subject

Cross-body Interference
A little known fact about Bluetooth is that the radio signals do not go through your body very well. This is because Bluetooth’s radio frequency is blocked by water, and the human body is made up of mostly water. If you keep your cell phone in your pocket and your headset in your opposite ear, then it is possible the connection may be weak, which can cause some interference issues. Many cell phone manufacturers are aware of this issue and have attempted to compensate by boosting the power of the Bluetooth radio.

another on Jaybirds findings here

#25

@bobbleheaderman, nothing to do with water in your head -you are right about it, BTW. To verify that it wasn’t a problem with both of them communicating I just took them off and listened to each one of them nearing them to the same ear. It wasn’t me imagining it, my wife and kids confirmed that right one is not working.

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#26

I also ordered 2 pairs through Kickstarter program, first ones (Black) received approx two weeks ago and the white ones we received a couple of days ago, Black ones worked fine for about one week, then I had the same issues as yourself, I tried all known troubleshooting steps, without success, then sent email to support at Zolo, they replied one day later with there trouble shooting steps, which I tried without success, contacted support again and now waiting for there reply

They advised

  1. Please adjust volume down(-) button first and then press the volume up(+) on your phone.
  2. Put the earbuds back to the charging case in the right place and taking them out again.
  3. Double tap both earbuds simultaneously.
  4. Go to the Bluetooth menu on your device and select “Zolo Liberty+”.

I hope they will resolve soon or will be requesting a replacement.

White earbuds are still working fine, If we have issues with them later, I will report back

Stuart

#27

I am having the same problem with the right ear piece hopefully their support team will reply my email soon.

But searching the internet it seen like it is a common problem now that the right ear piece volume is low. Maybe is a hardware problem ???

#28

Interesting as my right ear bud just went down to 10-20% as well in the past 3 days. It is definitely playing very quietly. It sounds like the balance on my phone’s setting got messed up. But I checked, and it is balanced correctly. Contacted support and just waiting to hear back…

#29

@Brian_Zollinhofer @Jacky_Yiu @stuartculley
I mentioned before that you should take a look at the metal screen that protects the estbud from wX and other debris. Since it sits so close to the ear it can easily get wax build up which will limit the amount of sound coming through. Apple earpods have experienced the same problem and many people have reported cleaning them has restores the sound, so maybe give that a try

#30

Yup… not the case in my case. I’m pretty careful about keeping my earbuds clean (wax is gross). I just cleaned them again to make sure and that is not the case.

Also… I’m not sure how one ear would produce THAT much more wax that would cause a loss of 90% of sound in one ear and the other one would be fine… And why would this be a case with these as opposed to EVERY other pair of earbuds I’ve ever used?

#31

Here is a photo that explains what @elmo41683 is trying to convey to others. The standard earbud on the right has about 1/4 inch or more of space for the wax to build up. On mine I usually find it in the rubber tip and it can be cleaned very easy.

On the Zolo (Left) the metal screen is almost flush which can cause wax to contact the screen more easily making it harder to clean off. I agree though that it should happen on both left and right Zolo buds and not just the right one as others have suggested.

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#32

I understand what you’re saying and I suppose that makes sense, but I clean them off every time I use them and there isn’t any major kind of buildup on them (at least any more than my other earbuds). My issue isn’t about the sound being “blocked.” There is something wrong with the right headphone.

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#33

Hi

I’m glad I found this discussion. I have the identical issue.

I’ve had my Liberty+ for 2 weeks & I 've been satisfied with the earbuds apart from the earjacket anger. And the low volume when wearing them out, eg on the London Tube. And the pressing buttons when putting them in the ears.

Then 2 days ago the sound from my right earbud went down to 25%. The left is perfect.

I thought I switched on the transparency so I clicked for 3 seconds. No change. I’ve put them back in the charger, switched them off, no change.

and no, wax is not the cause.

Is this a hardware fault? Is this product defective?

Can I return for a refund.

I’ve emailed support.

#34

Support gave the options for return or refund. They gave a few suggestions of things to try to fix, but those options didn’t work. I really liked how they worked, so I’m a bit bummed, but I think I’m going to have to ask for a refund. Oh well… :frowning: