“The Mivi Saxo headphones feature an on-ear design and boast an impressive battery life”
Bluetooth headphones, especially the ones retailing in the budget segment, get a lot of slack for not sounding good and the ones that do often cut corners with the design or the build quality. So, should you as a consumer just drop the idea of well-rounded affordable Bluetooth headphones? Indian-based Mivi doesn’t thinksso and recently announced a pair of budget cans dubbed the Mivi Saxo, which boast a luxuriously comfortable design andpromise good sound. I used the headphones to listen to tunes for a week and heres what I think of them.
Table of Contents
Design and Comfort
Retailing under the Rs 5K mark, youd assume the Mivi Saxo to feel lackluster in terms of design,but I was pleasantly surprised by the headphones’ build quality. To be clear, the headphones have been constructed primarily out of plastic but that doesnt take anything from their appearance. In fact, the matte black finish of the headphones looks really good and for the price, I dont think the company couldve done anything better. The headphones pack some other neat tricks up their sleeve too, features you wouldnt ordinarily find in a pair of budget headphones. For starters, the Saxo will take very little space in your backpack since the headphones boast a foldable design. Moreover, while the headphones are designed to work over Bluetooth, you still get an AUX port as well as a 3.5mm cable for when the battery dies. Mivi has even included music controls on the Saxo andusers can switch between tracks or play / pause the music via the includedbuttonson the right earcup.
Theres a lot more to like about the design of the Mivi Saxo headphones. The unit comes furnished with plush synthetic leather lining on the headband and the earcups, making them one of the most comfortable pair of budget headphones Ive used in a while. Furthermore, despite boasting an on-ear design, the Mivi Saxo do a great job at passively isolating noise. With that said, while I dont have any qualms with the design, I do wish that the hinge used for the headphones’ folding mechanism was made of metal and not plastic as it wouldve ensured the headphones longevity.
Sound and Performance
As I stated at the beginning of my review, Bluetooth headphones rarely take the cake for sounding good and while the Mivi Saxo are no exception to this rule, the headphones dont sound outright terrible. The headphones pack a good punch in the low-end and boast clean mids too. Unsurprisingly, I was disappointed with the Saxos treble response and rock songs get extremely muddy as you increase the volume.
However, Saxo somewhat makes up for it by offering a decent soundstage and solid connectivity over a Bluetooth connection. Over the course of my review period, I didnt come across any issues of track skipping and the headphones match up to the companys claim ofoffering a 17-hour battery life too. On a side note, the on-ear profile of the Mivi Saxo results in significant sound leakage and therefore, the person standing next to you in a metro will have a pretty good idea of what youre listening to.
Verdict
So, should you buy the Mivi Saxo headphones? Well, if you travel a lot and want a pair headphones which boast good battery life without breaking the bank, then the Mivi Saxo is perhaps your best bet. The sound signature of the headphone is nothing to write home about and the units on-ear design might be a deal-breaker for some but if you can look past those limitations, then the Mivi Saxo will not disappoint you.
Editor’s rating: 3 / 5
Pros:
- Good build quality
- Decent sound output
- Impressive battery life
Cons:
- On-ear design might be a deal-breaker for some
- Significant sound leakage
Photos by Raj Rout
