There’s certainly a lot of competition in the truly wireless headphone market, but a lot of the latest have attempted to up the ante in terms of features, more specifically battery life. But the Cleer Ally True Wireless Headphones are doing just that, and more.
Offering up to 10 hours of battery life per charge, the Cleer Ally are easily some of the best wireless earbuds at the $150 price point. Available in red or grey, I received the grey model that looks fantastic but sound just as incredible. Featuring Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX, you’ll be hard-pressed to find as many features, including the automatically syncing functionalities in another pair of earbuds. Compared to the popular AirPods, the Ally triples the listening time with its 10 hours of total listens, and in my testing, that’s held strong.
Previously with my AirPods, I would start my day listening around 7 am at the gym, continuing to work, with the AirPods finally giving out around 10:30 am and needing to be recharged. With the Ally, this is completely different as you can not only start your day listening, but continue it through the afternoon; I would listen every morning in the same routine and easily breeze through 4-5 podcasts, then end up still at 60% by noon, regardless of the playback volume. There’s an included charging case that allows an additional 20 hours of battery life, which when paired with the five-minute quick-recharge, can be helpful when headed to the gym, giving you an hour of playback.
For what it’s worth, they do feature IPX5 water-resistance which is great for sweat or a somehow if you get caught in the rain, but I wouldn’t take these for a swim. If you are a runner or even someone who hits the weights, you’ll find that the wing-tip design is great, allowing a secure fit when lifting, or running, and even when you sweat, you won’t be completely sealed off from hearing your environment, let at the same token sweat won’t get lodged into your ears. The standard tips work for casual listening here and there, but I find the wing-tips to give you the ability to “forget” they are in your ear, making them perfect for any setting.
Each of the earbuds comes with a set of controls that allows you to play and pause tracks, as well as take calls without having to pull your device out of your pocket. Being able to take a finger and gesture to answer when carrying groceries, is a big deal for me, and Ally’s controls make that just as easy as any of the competition.
One additional feature that I enjoy, that it kinda takes from the likes of the Jabra Elite and the AirPods, is its automatic Bluetooth pairing, courtesy of Bluetooth 5.0. When you take the earbuds out of its case, they automatically pair to your device with a chime letting you know that they are indeed connected. And similar to those earbuds, if you tend to take out a single ear to hear someone interrupting your favorite Netflix show or podcast, you can take them out and the audio will be paused, and then continue once you reinsert the earbud. As a measure to save battery life, the Ally automatically turns off after ten minutes of inactivity. The caveat, though, is you have to insert them back in the case and then back into your ears. This is not really ideal if you tend to go on a run and leave the case at home, but it’s still an idea that I appreciate.
As you can tell with the case it’s clear at the top, allowing the earbuds to be the main attraction. My only issue being is the case itself charges through micro-USB when something as elegant as the Ally really seem fitting for USB-C.
Overall, in my listening experience, the Ally have been absolutely fantastic. Featuring some of the most elite features you could ask for in earbuds, a battery life that will easily get you through a workday, and more importantly a price tag that justifies it all, the Cleer Ally are a worthy adversary for some of those “bigger name” brands that you’ve been considering, and they will not look silly in your ears while doing it.
For more information on how to purchase the Cleer Ally, head over to the Cleer Audio site.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit
What I Like: Ten hours of battery life is more than you’d get from many other brands
What Needs Improvement: Need an all-black model
It would be interesting to see what they look like while wearing them. Maybe you said it above, but I missed it, can you listen to music with only one bud in? Are you using them with an iPhone? I ask, because I’m interested in these or the Galaxy buds….but it seems like the many of the features of the Galaxy bud are Android only. Also, I welcome any thoughts comparing the two, Cleer Ally vs Galaxy Buds. Thanks so much.