Lenovo XT81 Gaming Earbuds with Bluetooth 5.3 & Dual Mode

Bold gaming design, class-leading features, and an affordable price tag are the thoughts on the Lenovo XT81, Lenovo’s latest in-ear headset from the thinkplus XT series dedicated to lovers of gaming earbuds, that has a modern design with better specifications, and features, and most importantly it’s for a budget.
That’s why these buds aim to catch the eye visually as well as the ear audibly: the XT81 stands out from the crowd with its armored design and LED lighting. However, the funniest entries in the best gaming earphones market wouldn’t matter if they didn’t have the feature set and sound quality to back them up. Better and more stable Bluetooth 5.3, 40ms No-sensitive Latency is excellent, Game mode & Music mode, BASS & HiFi Stereo Surround Sound, Quite HD calling, this set of buds can challenge the best gaming headphones In the under $40 category.

• Gaming Design With LED Lighting
• Touch control, Easy to use
• Bluetooth Chipset V5.3
• Game mode & Music mode
• 40ms Ultra-Low Latency
• 20h long playtime
• BASS & HiFi Stereo Surround Sound
• Quite HD calling
• Voice Assistance

Design And Build Quality

Charging Case

You are reminded that the Lenovo XT81 is unlike any other earbuds with its full mica armor. The body of the open cargo box is designed to open from the side, and it is really new enough. The angular design, together with a green LED lighting effect on the front in the form of a rectangle divided in the middle, are the telltale signs of a product aimed at gamers; In addition to having a logo for the thinkplus series. So the charging case features a unique design and is very compact, small, and lightweight only 40g you can easily slide it into your pocket and take it with you on the go. And made of grey plastic with a matt finish well crafted it leaves no fingerprints behind and doesn’t get scratches so you know it will look new for a long time, It looks very cool.

The build quality is nice, it feels solid and well-built and you won’t notice any manufacturing defects, and just like the rest of the XT series line, even though it is a budget device, you can’t tell that just by looking at it because of the great build quality. But unlike headphones with a long slot in the center of the front to open the case, this model opens from the side with a built-in magnet for easy opening and closing with one hand. And because the cover has an open design, the possibility of it being exposed to dust and water is high, especially since there is no protection certificate.

From underneath, we find the USB C charging port just like most products of this line, and it is nice to have a USB C at this price range, fortunately, the XT81 has a base and it can stand on it to reduce scratches on the other sides of the body.

Lenovo XT81 Earbuds

The Lenovo XT81 earbuds are made of ABS plastic with a glossy finish with the Lenovo logo and its very small with a little tail which looks better than the longer stem and is my personal favorite, they don’t have silicone earplugs so it’s just one size fits all piece of plastic, it fit my ear perfectly.
Also, has a LED blue dot and a small surface on the lower side for touch control, they also seem so well crafted that you can’t tell they are cheap just by looking at them. The buds themselves are light and one of the most comfortable I have ever worn. in fact, a few times I completely forgot I was wearing them. As well as being comfortable, the buds are pretty secure as well, I’ve been for a few runs and gym sessions without them budging at all or feeling worried they might fall out.

On the lower side of the earbuds, you will find the magnetic pins that help keep the earbuds still inside the case and charge them in addition to a microphone hole for all communication, it’s worth mentioning that this earbud doesn’t come with noise-canceling technology, except that because of the way it’s built, it’s impossible to hear your surroundings at a certain high volume.

Touch Control Panel

The multi-function touch control area is located in the middle of the left and right earbuds, each side has a different set of actions, unlike other models, the Lenovo XT81’s stem has a flat exterior, which makes the touch control area wider than usual which works in the advantage of the user experience by making the touches more accurate and less likely to miss, even if you are running or in a hurry, for example, you will be able to hit the touch area accurately, not to mention that the sensor in itself is precise.

How To Pair Lenovo XT81

Thanks to the new and improved Bluetooth 5.3 technology chip integrated inside the Lenovo XT81, it is compatible with most Bluetooth-enabled devices and on a variety of platforms such as Android, iPhone, Windows, and MAC OS, it provides the most seamless and hustle-free pairing experience you can get on a device of this price range just as if you were using a mid-range device, the BT 5.3 is power efficient and plays a major role in the long battery life this device provides and supports the most popular audio decoding for SBC and AAC. unfortunately, there is no aptX Adaptive codec and this is to be expected in this price category. The company claims 10m of the distance between the earbuds and the device, but tests have shown that obstacles such as a thin wall can cut that distance in half.

The pairing is the same with any wireless earbuds, all you have to do is open the charging case and take out the earbuds, and the earbud will automatically turn on and enter the pairing state. Immediately after that, open the Bluetooth interface of the smartphone, and the device name “Thinkplus-XT81” will be automatically recognized, click it, and the pairing is completed successfully. The pairing is done manually once, after that it is automatic and fast provided Bluetooth is enabled, just remove it from the box and use it.
additionally, the earphones support single connection mode and you can use one earphone while the other is charging for example, which is an advantage and can extend the battery life to double if you are okay with using the earphones one at a time.

Lenovo XT81 – Audio Quality

In addition to the appearance design, the Lenovo XT81 also has a sufficiently excellent performance in sound quality, which have an acceptable amount of stereo effect and a powerful dynamic range for all types of music with excellent treble, mid-tones, and bass. Equipped with dynamic drivers that give you surprisingly clean sound with little to no noise when the ultra-low frequencies let you know where each singer was positioned, the intensity of their voice, and instrument discrimination was good and everything felt very balanced. So the XT81 was great in that regard.

So, Technically, the sound signature is warm, the earbuds produce a nice punchy bass, the mids are okay and the treble is a veil, which is the same profile on every cheap earphone, the good thing is that the sound is clear, you won’t be alarmed by any hissing or squeaking sound, and even at high volume, you won’t notice distortion, but the sound will leak and this might cause discomfort for others so we recommend you keep the volume at 70% since it is loud enough for most users.

Microphone Quality & Bluetooth Calling

Something that is little spoken of in the world of cheap wireless headphones is the microphone, the Lenovo XT81 brings a very good quality microphone to the table that you could count on for passing calls and being loud and clear for the other side to hear with minimal echo and distortion.
Which is equipped with a pair of microphones one on each earbud to help you pass calls directly without the need to pull your phone out of your pocket. practically these microphones work like a charm in quiet places such as a room or an office, the other side can hear you fine without any lags or cutting off, now even though these do not have electronic noise canceling, but once you get into a complex environment where there is background noise, the recipients will start to have issues hearing you, and depending on the level of noise around, it might be impossible to hear you at all, Keep in mind that even pricy wireless earphones face the challenge of offering good enough microphone quality for calls, let alone the cheap ones, so I think that XT81 does a very good job in this department.

The audio quality it provides is actually quite decent, I have tested it multiple times and the recordings were clearly audible, this one microphone can be used to send vocal messages to friends to reduce the typing and to talk to the voice assistant.

Low-Latency & Gaming

The Lenovo XT81 is marketed as a gaming headphone for all gamers, we have seen so many companies use this phrase for marketing purposes but not deliver, fortunately for us the XT81 is one of the few earphones that kind of deliver on this promise, thanks to the fast Bluetooth 5.3 chip and game mode which can be triggered by long tapping on the right earphone.
Lenovo XT81 will enhance footstep sound and other functions and can achieve 40ms low latency in the game mode. it’s well suited for gaming in my opinion, especially on smartphones, but at this low price point we don’t expect much, And even in online games such as PUBG or COD, the delay is so minimal about 0.5 seconds that you can’t notice it at all unless you pay extra attention, which is almost normal, and you can find it on most wireless headphones in this price range. So, for a regular mobile gamer and even pc gamers, this tiny bit of lag won’t be an issue at all.

As for content consumption, in addition to good sound quality, the thinkplus XT81 has no noticeable delay between the audio and the video with very low latency, for example when you watch Netflix, youtube, or HBO, the lip-synching is perfect all the time and you won’t be alarmed by any delays, which is the best we can ask for.

Lenovo XT81 Battery And Charging Time

The Lenovo XT81 offers great autonomy overall, and it has one of the longest-lasting batteries in all of the wireless earphones that we have reviewed, starting with the charging case, it has an integrated battery with a capacity of 250mah can charge the earbuds up to 3-4 times before they need new power giving a total usage time of around 20 hours, which is great, and the autonomy is high if we compare it to other headphones.

Charging using the USB-C cable included in the box in about 1.5 hours with the green LED lighting on the case indicating charging, as for the earbuds, they have got a battery of 30mah of capacity each, at 70% volume they last with you up to 4 hours of continuous usage thanks to the efficiency of the new Bluetooth 5.3 chip that consumes less battery than the previous generation and delivers better audio, this will allow you a great autonomy, you don’t have to ever worry about your battery dying out mid-day, enjoy your music and calls freely, these headphones will be your companions for the longest duration possible.

Final Verdict

Honestly for very little money, the Lenovo XT81 performs very well indeed for gaming, music, video, and everyday uses. Thanks to Lenovo, they make it really easy to recommend these headphones because they give you everything you need in any wireless headphones, all their bases are covered Good gaming performance, good battery life, a good microphone, and good sound quality. Also, the features of this product were amazing, they have made a good choice to adopt the Bluetooth 5.3 chip, which is the best in the market when it comes to the latency and the stability of the connection, and the seamless pairing experience not to forget the very accurate touch control that almost never misses.

So, XT81 is a very worthy option for budget gaming earbuds and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who needs some gaming earbuds that look unique and fancy the ragged design language. At a low cost of $12, the Lenovo Thinkplus XT81 doesn’t have a lot of competition, and these are easy to recommend over so many other options and introduce as one of the top 3 headphones in this price range.

Lenovo XT81 Price And Where To Buy

The Lenovo XT81 Earbuds are currently available on the AliExpress Store for a very good price and you can get a $1 discount by using this code F43M12XD5YHH. So, don’t miss out on this great deal. And to view its price or buy it, you can access the offer by clicking on the store icon.

• Lenovo XT81 Bluetooth Earbuds
• Charging Box
• USB-C Charging Cable
• Manual

• Material: ABS
• Bluetooth Version: 5.3
• Earphone Battery Capacity: 30mAh  
• Charging Box Battery Capacity: 250mAh  
• Charging Time: About 1.5 Hours  
• Transmission Distance: 10m
• Charging Interface: Type-C
• Music Time: About 4 Hours (80 Percent Volume)
• Talk Time: About 3 Hours (80 Percent Volume)
• Total Endurance: About 32 Hours
• SNR: ≥102db
• Distortion: ≤ 5 Percent
• Driver Diameter: 10mm
  • Horn Impedance: 32Ω±15
• Features: Stereo, HiFi Sound Quality, Touch Control