The House of Marley Champion is a bargain purchase with great audio performance, long battery life, and an eco-friendly design to boot.

Our Verdict

For $69, the House of Marley Champion gives yous vibrant sound in a stylishly sustainable package.

For

Signature HoM eco-friendly design
Clear and punchy audio
Responsive controls
Well-built charging case
Great isolation

Against

Extremely short on features
No bear upon controls or motility detection
Unreliable connectivity

Laptop Mag Verdict

For $69, the House of Marley Champion gives you vibrant sound in a stylishly sustainable packet.

Pros

+
Signature HoM eco-friendly design
+
Articulate and punchy audio
+
Responsive controls
+
Well-congenital charging case
+
Keen isolation

Cons

-
Extremely short on features
-
No touch controls or movement detection
-
Unreliable connectivity

House of Marley has established itself as the premier eco-friendly audio manufacturer, releasing everything from wireless headphones to USB turntables composed entirely of recycled materials. Over the past two years, it has expanded into the truthful wireless market place and released 2 models: the Redemption ANC and Liberate Air True. While considered decent AirPods alternatives, the biggest issue with both products was their toll points, which were listed at $149.99 and up.

Looking to stay competitive, HoM wanted to launch a new model that not simply stays true to their brand initiative but also promised great performance for half of the price of their premium offerings. That model would turn out to get the Champion.

Our proficient picks for the best wireless earbuds, per upkeep and style
Check out our Apple AirPods Pro review
…and our Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 review

Boasting dynamic sound, stable battery life, and a chic, eco-friendly design, the Champion is a model that has no business organisation beingness in the inexpensive wireless earbuds category. I say that because, in reality, they should get for more when taking such hallmarks into business relationship. Arguments tin be made about the lack of smart controls and special features. Still, the Champion nails the nuts so well that you would be foolish not to consider owning it, especially if yous're on a upkeep and want something that sounds improve than the regular AirPods.

House of Marley Champion for $69.99 at Amazon

House of Marley Champion: Availability and price

The Business firm of Marley Champion is available for $69 at Amazon or directly from HoM. These wireless earbuds are sold in one colour: Blackness. Bundled with the purchase are a charging example, a USB-C charging cable, two sets of ear tips, a quick commencement guide, and a warranty booklet.

Firm of Marley Champion: Design and comfort

HoM's penchant for sustainable craftsmanship has been its greatest strength and the Champion is exemplary. These buds are built from bamboo, natural fiber composites, and proprietary REGRIND silicone, which the company managed to create by "reclaiming and upcycling post-process and post-consumer waste matter." That is phenomenal in itself.

House of Marley Champion — (Image credit: Regan Coule/Laptop Magazine)

What virtually the build quality? The casing is extremely durable, reassuring you that these buds won't interruption if dropped from a high distance or stepped on. I really like the wooden multifunctional button with an engraved logo, along with the buds' polish matte finish. There is an LED indicator on the right to inform users of battery levels and connectivity status.

The charging instance is even more impressive. It's both sturdier and lighter (1.4 ounces) than the AirPods case (one.34 ounces). More importantly, the lid does a ameliorate task of keeping the buds secured; you won't have to worry about them spilling across the floor if e'er the instance hits the basis. The wooden construction does make the case susceptible to chipping, but in this scenario, scuffs or scratches can actually blend into the grainy design, creating a worn-and-seasoned look. Details similar the protruding wood piece on the front likewise make the case more distinctive.

Business firm of Marley Champion: Touch controls and digital assistant

At 0.17 ounces, these are some of the lightest and comfiest buds out at that place. I wore them daily for about iii hours straight until fatigue set in. My just complaint is that having a push button right on the front affects comfort, particularly if y'all're someone who constantly pauses or changes tracks, as pressing it digs the buds further into your ear.

Fit-wise, the Champion is surprisingly stable. I didn't wait this at all since the angled sound port doesn't rest entirely on the concha, which I idea would have increased slippage. All credit goes to the non-toxic silicone gel tips that create a tight seal to keep the buds latched onto your ears.

House of Marley Champion: Affect controls and digital banana

It'south always disappointing to see no bear upon controls or motion detection on a pair of wireless earbuds. Fortunately, the physical buttons on these buds are responsive to presses and produce excellent tactility. Single and multiple-printing gestures are programmed into the Champion, giving you a decent range of functions, including play/pause and answer/terminate call (1x printing), skip dorsum (2x press on right bud), skip forrard (2x press on left bud), and voice activation (3x printing). On-board controls would have been a cool improver.

Google Assistant and Siri are attainable, and though they piece of work for the most function, the latter had some latency issues. It took Siri several seconds to recognize and respond to inquiries. The good news is that Apple tree's bot picked up my every give-and-take and comprehended commands to evangelize authentic results. This also practical to Google Assistant, which operated much faster.

House of Marley Champion: Audio quality

Overall, HoM did a commendable job tuning the Champion. The sound is clean and energetic with punchy bass that complements almost gimmicky music genres. That'due south not to say they won't perform well with Classical or Jazz tracks either; I only prefer models with versatile soundstages that can be tweaked similar the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2.

On melodic jams like The Fugees' "No Adult female, No Cry," the introductory guitar play provided an intimate properties until the snares took over and delivered a sonic boom to my ears. The emphasized bass added more than depth to the production, equally the two instruments blended well together, while Wyclef Jean'due south crooning was pronounced to feel the pain in his voice.

More than vivacious tracks like Megadeth'southward "Return to Hangar" took the depression end upwards a notch without compromising the soundstage. The hard rock classic offered a prissy exhibition of the frequency range, every bit the drums striking hard, clashing hullo-hats were hit and the insane guitar riff at the bridge sounded vibrant. Much could too be said about the reproduction on Dexter Gordon'southward "A Dark in Tunisia," as the double bass had an amazing snap to it in the beginning and carried over smoothly throughout the orchestral production. However, information technology was the sax solos that sold me on audio performance, which sounded abrupt, not screechy similar on almost inexpensive (and poorly engineered) wireless earbuds.

Isolation is the Champion's unsung feature. I have to reiterate how well the gel tips grip around the ear canal to prevent ambient noises from entering the soundscape. When sharing office space with my married woman and newborn, not in one case was I distracted past the baby'south whimpers or what she had playing on the TV.

House of Marley Champion: Battery life and charging instance

The Champion holds a sufficient corporeality of playtime: 8 hours on a unmarried charge. Factor in max volume and heavy streaming, that number tin can drop drastically (est. 5 hours), but you lot can go somewhere betwixt 7 to 7.five hours when listening at 50% volume. By comparison, this is a few hours more the AirPods (five hours). I got to use them for 4 days (i.5 hours daily) before recharging. Speaking of which, the Champion has some of the strongest quick charging technology in the category, getting you lot 2 hours of utilise from a 15-minute charge.

Every bit for the charging case, it tin concur 28 hours when fully charged. Again, this is more than playtime than whatever AirPods case (24 hours), and is right upwardly in that location with top performers like the Klipsch T5 2 (32 hours) and Samsung Galaxy Buds Live (29 hours). Wireless charging is missing from the spec sheet, a missed opportunity for HoM when seeing some of the other competitors with smaller charging cases back up the feature.

Business firm of Marley Champion: Call quality and connectivity

The Champion is an OK calling headset for video conferencing, but I wouldn't recommend it for phone calls. According to my clients, I sounded loud and clear during Skype chats, though external sounds similar keyboard clatter and my newborn's cries were audible. My married woman found it difficult to chat on the phone, stating that my phonation sounded muffled with words fading out. She also noticed some of the distractions around me, from barking dogs to whisking cars.

Bluetooth 5.0 is hitting or miss. You can look a lengthy range; my testing saw the buds maintain a connectedness from as far as 35 feet before stuttering occurred. At the aforementioned time, connectivity wasn't reliable. Oftentimes, I had to manually pair the buds because they wouldn't automatically re-pair to a device whenever removed from the charging case. Keep in mind that y'all can alternate betwixt using one or 2 buds, but information technology seemed like the Champion was always in mono style because whenever I was able to connect the buds to a device, only one would work. This meant that I had to power on the other bud in society to mind in stereo. I'1000 not sure if this is a bug or programming issue on HoM'south end.

Business firm of Marley Champion: Verdict

For $69, the Champion brings more than to the table than most models in its price class. HoM's warm sound signature hits but the right spot, feeding your ears with emphatic lows, while also producing crisp mids and highs. It'southward cool that the buds provide effective isolation also, assuasive you to enjoy music in peace without requiring dissonance cancellation. The all-eco-friendly design is also an excellent representation of the brand'southward commitment to sustainable audio products, and the entire package looks attractive.

But every bit the Champion's depression price would suggest, there are compromises. The biggest is the lack of a companion app with special features. If Anker and JLab tin can offer means to customize their budget-friendly models, be it the controls or sound (e.thou., EQ, presets), and so tin can you, HoM. The exclusion of touch on controls and motion sensors may besides steer abroad shoppers who want wireless earbuds with contemporary functionality.

Notwithstanding, if y'all're someone who prioritizes audio and bombardment life, and are all in on light-green initiatives, then at that place is no reason to not own the Champion. Otherwise, it may be worth spending the extra money on something more characteristic-laden like the Freedom Air ii, which is currently on sale for $79.99 at Amazon.