However, many of our readers would like to go slightly deeper than that previous comment. That’s why we publish reviews on tech products and there’s the one for SENS Hendricks 1 that will eventually inform you if you should buy it or not.
What’s In The Box?
Hold the SENS Hendriks 1 and you will certainly feel like it is well-designed. Although there’s nothing fancy about it, the retail box is still interesting. It packs in the earbuds tucked nicely in the gunmetal grey-coloured steel charging case housed in a nice tiny bag protecting it from scratches. There’s a cardboard-made box around it along with another tiny box that houses its USB-c cable. Next, we have additional silicone tips that you can use. There’s a user manual, a lot of foam probably thick enough to stop a bullet, a warranty card, and a brochure talking about all the SENS devices out there and yes, there are many.
Pricing in India
For comparison, it will pit against Oppo Enco Air 2 and Sony WF-C500 TWS. The introductory pricing is actually more alluring than the retail box so if you are interested in it, you should pick it up right away.
Specifications
Let’s get obvious out of the way. Here are all the specifications that you get with the SENS Hendriks 1.
10mm graphene composite diaphragm, Neodymium magnet drivers30mAh battery per bud plus 450mAh battery on charging casePlayback time is 4.5 hours per bud (30 hours in total with the charging case)Standby backup up to 400 hoursMEMS MIC IPX5 water resistantAudio Codec – AAC and SBCBluetooth v5.1 with BLE, BR, and EDR and Auto Pairing (12m range)1.5 hours charging timeMFB Touch Sensor ControlsZinc Alloy Metal CaseBuilt-in Voice Assistant support
Build Quality and Design
The design has to be one of the best in this price segment for sure. Clad in a gunmetal grey color, the charging case is made up of zinc alloy metal which means it will stay relatively cool in temperature when stored away from sunlight. The charging case is square in shape and with 70 grams in weight, 55mm in width, and 25mm in thickness, it is surely pocketable. In fact, you can tuck it inside your shirt or jeans pocket and forget it’s there. The charging case is as minimalistic in nature as possible. There’s a LED indicator at the front with SENS branding, the sides don’t have anything and the bottom has a USB-C port for charging. Overall, the charging case is curved on the sides and has a nice touch to the lid that makes a swift sound when closing. Remove the earbuds and there they are, the two lightweights, minimalistic and medium-sized earbuds made up of plastic with exchangeable silicon tips. On the back of the earbuds, you’ll find a nice LED indicator that shimmers showing the status of the battery. Additionally, it simply locks like a dot on the back of the buds when not illuminated. There are MFB Touch Sensor Controls on both buds that can perform a number of functions including increasing or decreasing volume, picking, ending, and rejecting calls, and so on. Carrying a weight of 3.5 grams a pop, you won’t find it difficult to hold onto your ears for long since you’ll barely feel the weight. Perhaps, why I loved the Hendriks 1 is also because they are particularly indiscernible when you click a selfie wearing up which means only half of the stem barely pops out of your ear. There’s no ANC (which is available on Hendriks 2) which means it will not block the noise from the surroundings but instead, it can blast really loud which might be able to offset some if not all the surrounding chatter. Overall, kudos to SENS Hendriks 1 for its design which is both impressive and minimalistic so it should get a few brownie points for sure.Brownie Points for Design: 4.5/5
Performance
If everything was said and done, we wouldn’t have needed a review on any product anyways. I have divided the ‘Performance’ section into a few parts that allow an understanding of each aspect of its performance better.
Pairing
It’s really straightforward to use the TWS. All you have to do is remove the buds from the case, pair it with your phone and that’s all. The next time you want to pair it with your phone, all you gotta do is remove the buds from the charging case, and bingo, it pairs automatically. Now that’s convenient, isn’t it? Since there’s no way to actually trigger pairing, if you have kept the buds out of the charging case for some time and then try to pair it up with your phone, good luck with that. Try putting the buds in the case for a second, remove them, and then it will allow pairing in an instant. Although it is not a major flaw, it means that you will have to keep the charging case and the buds together whenever you want to blast music out of the latter. But hey, since the case is meant for storing the buds, I don’t think that would be an issue.
BT Range
In any case, the pairing is immediate be it with your phone or the laptop, and just happens in an instant. The range that SENS has mentioned is 12 meters although the more obstructions there are between the buds and the host device, the shorter the range is. However, I have noticed some issues with respect to the range. The sound might go out of sync as you move away from the host device. In fact, I have seen the buds go out of range even when they are not even 12 meters away from the host device which is a problem. But hey, at this pricing, it’s safe to say that you can expect some anomaly if not more.
Comfort & Protection
Apart from being comfortably pocketable, the earbuds alone are comfortable when wearing them. I didn’t have any issue wearing them for a longer duration and they aren’t that easy to fall even if you are shaking your head or running. It simply straps in your buds as securely as possible. Additionally, there’s an IPX5 rating which means you can be assured sweating and drizzling water won’t cause any permanent damage. Of course, these buds aren’t meant for dust resistance such it is important to keep that in mind
Sound Delivery
Diving into the sound quality onboard, the SENS Hendriks 1 does offer a good quality sound backed up with its 10mm drivers that it calls ‘Wider Soundstage’. However, I could only say that the sound is loud with bass on the heavier side and trebles are well-balanced on the vocals. However, once you begin using it, you would feel that the lows and the highs are just balanced and the treble may get mushy with the mids. You can still watch movies and listen to songs but the sound quality will be loud but not that crisp but there’s not much distortion even if you keep the volume at the maximum settings. I don’t recommend keeping it to the max if you are in a setting with less or no chaos because the loudness may cause more damage than good. The buds don’t have their proprietary app to control the output. Instead, you will have to use the EQ settings of your device when the buds are strapped on to control the output. About the voice quality, it is good and it feels as if you are listening to someone while they are sitting on a soundstage. However, the opposite isn’t always true on your end. The mic may not be able to catch on to what you are saying always although it happens maybe twice or thrice during 10 day testing period. Although it might not even happen to you, it’s something I wanted to bring to your notice. Rest assured, the voice quality from your end isn’t that bad though.
Touch Actions
You have touch sensors on both earbuds which means you will have to learn a few things about how to operate them. Before reading the user manual, I believed that simply tapping on the upper touch portion of any bud would increase the volume while tapping on the lower would decrease it. For sure, this isn’t true. Let’s check the following touch actions you can perform on the SENS Hendriks 1 buds. Volume: To increase, tap on the right earbud once which will increase the volume by a level. Continue tapping in a succession to increase the max volume where the bud does notify you about it. When you need to decrease the volume, perform the same function as above but on the left earbud. Play/Pause: You can double-tap on either of the buds and it will either play or pause the video or the song right there. Prev/Next: For next, you will have to press on the right bud for 2 seconds which will take you to the next track/video. For the previous track/video, long touch on the left earbud. Voice Assistant: Yep, there’s a voice assistant too that connects to your phone and works on both Siri and Google. All you have to do is a triple touch on either of the buds and there you have it. Call Mode: When on a call, tap on either of the buds to pick it up, double touch to end, and hold for 2 seconds to reject a call. I didn’t find any difficulty operating all these touch functions which I think is surely a major USP since you don’t have to remove the buds at all. Simply perform the said functions and there you have it.
Battery Life
When talking about battery life, the one thing that sets it apart from neckbands is that the charging case juices it up automatically without needing to be strapped to a charger. According to SENS, each bud has a 30mAh battery pack capable of providing 5½ hours of battery life which is enough to watch two movies or a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother if you are blasting at more than medium volume. Turn up the volume to the maximum and you will still get more than four hours of battery life with it. The handy charging case comes with its high-caliber 450mAh battery pack as well which ensures you have an endless source of backup for 30 hours straight. That’s like watching a Harry Potter series marathon for context. You can easily charge a bud for 20 minutes and get 20-odd percent of battery and swap it with another bud charging in the case itself for that endless source of supply during a Zoom call. The charging case, on the other hand, has 30 hours of max battery backup as per SENS. I didn’t find much deviation in the claimed numbers although it remains to be seen how the battery handles deterioration in terms of performance that is apparent over a long period of time. Finally, the charging case takes two hours flat to juice up to its full capacity which means you can take a nap and simply enjoy SENS Hendriks 1 for days in case you aren’t using it continuously.
Verdict
At the end of the day, it all boils down to the verdict. Design-wise, the TWS looks good with a gunmetal grey coloured charging case (the model which I had for testing) available at INR 1,699/- (introductory price) which is good. Note that the TWS is expected to shoot up to INR 3,999/- once the introductory period ends so if you are interested in getting your hands on one, now is the time. It does make sense to buy it at half the price now than to wait for more reviews to come in and by that time, the prices might double so the risk is not worth it. There’s not much of an issue with the buds although I pointed out that it does suffer with a certain degree of inconsistency when connecting on Bluetooth. Sometimes, others might not be able to hear you properly when on call on Hendriks 1 although it happened maybe thrice during a 10-days review period. I don’t think it’s a deal breaker although, with no ANC, you might have to think about if your commute revolves around chaotic places where ANC could help. The battery life will keep you entertained for longer. I don’t use TWS much but the convenience of using a TWS for a decent battery-packed charging case onboard Hendriks 1 got me thinking to switch my preferences. In any case, if you are looking for some alternatives, you can check out Oppo Enco Air 2 and Sony WF-C500 although do have a look at SENS Hendriks 1 once before you can say it adieu.
Pros
Excellent designGreat battery lifePocketableInstant pairing
Cons
Average Sound quality No ANCInconsistent Bluetooth range
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