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1more Piston Fit BT

Inexpensive and good quality neckband in-ears

In a nutshell

At a price of 30 Euro the 1more Piston Fit (E1028BT) are a real winner. These headphones deliver a harmonious and rich sound experience with good wearing comfort. As expected, the brand’s other models Dual Driver BT ANC or E1001 Triple Driver BT offer more clarity and detailed resolution, but cost four times as much.

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In the past we have tested several in-ear headphones from manufacturer 1more with convincing features and attractive price/performance ratios. The new Piston Fit BT (E1028BT) can now also score highly in their price range of around 30 Euro.They use Bluetooth 5 and have good sound for their category.

Practice

These are comfortable to wear because the robust aluminium composite earbuds fit well. They are held securely in your ears with their 45-degree angle and they can be adapted to your ear size using four silicone plugs. I could wear these earbuds for hours. When not in use, the two earbuds can be magnetically clipped together.

The neckband, with its two plastic weights, is not necessarily pretty, but it fulfils its purpose and is also protected against twisting.

The lightweight 18-gram construction is well suited for daily use; IPX4 is splash-proof and sweat resistant. The secure fit and the neckband are definitely advantageous for sporting activities, with only the counterweights seeming counterproductive for sporting use and endurance runs.

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The Bluetooth connection is quickly established, and then works stably and reliably. Listening through several rooms was possible without interruption. On the right-hand side, there are four slightly raised buttons next to the talkback microphone. The bottom button starts and pauses playback, toggles calls and jumps between titles by double and triple clicks. The upper button switches the device on and off and calls the speech assistant in your smartphone, while the two central, combined buttons are used for volume control. This three-part design makes for convenient operation.

On the side of the control unit is the connection for the supplied Micro-USB charging cable, but the cover looks a bit delicate.

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The Piston Fit BT is quite powerful when it comes to playing time. Once charged, the Piston Fit BT holds up to use with Bluetooth 5 at medium volume for about eight hours and, according to the manufacturer, offers an impressive standby time of 200 hours. The battery (130 mWh) can be charged in one hour.

The exterior insulation is adequate. In a jerky, noisy train, the vehicle noise is drowned out as at least moderate listening levels pushed it far enough into the background. Conversely, sound leakage is typically not a problem, except at the highest volumes and in quiet environments.

Sound

The Piston Fit BT is a reliable, comfortable and good sounding everyday headphone, even if they only use basic codec SBC due to their price range. The dynamic 10-mm titanium composite driver in aluminium composite housing delivers a harmonious sound image across genres with pleasant pressure and attractive detail resolution – for just under 30 Euros, that’s more than acceptable. They reproduce pop, rock and electronic styles convincingly, and work for ballads, acoustic recordings and even classical music – always taking the price class into account.

The bass sounds powerful, full and defined. It delivers dynamics, recognisable tonality and avoids surface buzzing. There are limits to the low bass, but it is still present at a sufficient level. In my opinion, this set up for mobile use makes sense. The headphones sound somewhat more lush than balanced, but it is fun to listen to music in noisy everyday life.

The centre spectrum is also mapped cleanly. Voices, acoustic and electronic instruments as well as distorted guitars are adequately reproduced. Depending on the production, the headphones can reproduce a club atmosphere or a widescreen cinema. And you can also listen to less sophisticated or older productions within their limitations.

In the top end, the Piston Fit BT do not fail. The sound is quite open, but not sharp. The airiness of more expensive headphones is not achieved, but that is hardly to be expected.

While the depiction of spatial depth shows weaknesses that in-ear systems in this price class always have to struggle with, this system scores points with a differentiated and well-defined stereo panorama. This makes listening to well-produced electronics fun. On the other hand, the limits of these headphones are noticeable when listening to acoustic jazz and orchestral recordings. These headphones are certainly not designed for listening pleasure in a relaxed living room atmosphere. Nevertheless, they manage to convey calm compositions, such as a piano solo piece, with the necessary closeness and emotionality. Finally, the voice quality during telephone calls is also just fine.

5 years ago by Ulf Kaiser
  • Rating: 4
  • Sound
  • Handling
  • Price/Quality
  • Function

Technical specifications

  • Ear couplingIn-ear
  • Typeclosed
  • Transducer principledynamic
  • Impedance32 ohms
  • Weight with cable18 g

What's in the box

  • 4 pair of ear tips (XS, S, M, L)
  • Micro USB charging cable

Special features

  • BT codecs: SBC
  • BT version: 5.0
  • BT profiles: HFP, A2DP, AVRCP

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