Within a few months of its arrival in India, LeEco gained quick success in the country. It was all thanks to the company’s Le 1s smartphone which took the industry by storm as the best selling smartphone in India in the budget segment. Now, with a host of smartphones already up for sale in the country, the company has launched a new category of devices: mobile accessories. These include a pair of Bluetooth headphones and a couple of other wired earphones.
The LeMe, the latest headphones from the company, boasts of an innovative droplet design, that is in contrast to the traditional headphone design language. The headphones are available in four bright colour variants: red, orange, pink, and white. We put the LeMe to test to find out whether these headphones can keep up with the standard set by LeEco.
LeEco LeMe
What Is Good?
- Decent mids
- Good battery backup
- Good call quality
What Is Bad?
- Uncomfortable fit
- Sound leakage
- Feeble bass
Futuristic design with an uncomfortable fit
The LeMe is a pair of on-the-ear Bluetooth headphones with a futuristic design that can easily pass off as a headgear from some sci-fi movie. It is made of glossy plastic on the outside with a leather-like lining on the inner part. It also comes with a leather-cushioned adjustable headband. The headphones are pretty light at 240g, and even after prolonged use we didn’t feel tired.
We received a glossy pink variant of the LeMe from the company. In spite of its futuristic design and form-factor, the awkward shape takes away from the fit of these headphones. The leather cushioning on the headphones doesn’t cover the ears completely, as a result of which, there is significant sound leakage.
LeMe houses only three easy-to-access controls, which are neatly recessed on the right earcup. These buttons are meant for volume and pause/play which can also be used to answer and end calls. Also, by holding the volume up/down buttons for a while, you can advance tracks forward or backward.
The clamping force of the headphones is not evenly distributed. What that essentially means is that they tend to exert more pressure on your lower part of the ear than the upper part of your ear, and for this, its unique design is at fault again. Neither the earcups nor the headband can be folded in any manner and do note that the LeMe doesn’t come with a carry case. LeMe is good for listening either at your workplace or at home, but not while you are on the move as these headphones tend to fall off easily.
The headphones come with a Micro-USB cable for charging the headset.
The LeMe is powered by two 40mm moving coil drivers and uses Bluetooth v4.1 to connect to other Bluetooth devices. The frequency response on the headset varies from 20Hz-20,000Hz. Moreover, LeMe is enabled with CVC 6.0 standards for noise reduction and echo cancellation.
How good is the LeMe tonally?
As mentioned earlier, LeMe comes with a pair of 40mm moving coil drivers, which the company claims provides deep and punchy bass. However, we didn’t find this to be true. We listened to various genres of audio on the headphones and found that the bass on these headphones is not very punchy and tight. Fortunately, the upper bass is subtle and hits the right spots. Trebles which are meant to be sharp and crisp tend to sound blunt on these headphones.
To test the imaging on these headphones, we played ‘Boy In The Tree’ by Milli Vanilli in which the vocals are interspersed with multiple instruments. The headphones fall short in differentiating the various sounds and clearly lack details.
For the vocals, we tested these headphones with ‘Now We Are Free’ from Gladiator’s OST, for which LeMe does well in providing structure to the vocals. After having used the headphones for a while, we feel that these headphones are considerably better in the mid-range frequency section when compared to the highs and lows.
The audio quality on calls is pretty decent without any disturbances. However, one might experience some shortcomings during travel. Nonetheless, the headphones are loud and the sound doesn’t crackle even at the maximum volume. During our time with the LeMe, we never faced any signal issues, and the headset was very quick and responsive in terms of connectivity.
LeMe houses a 195mAh Li-Ion battery, which takes slightly more than three hours to charge from zero to 100. But once charged, it can play up to 10 hours of continuous music with ease, which is good for a pair of Bluetooth headphones at this price.
Should you buy it?
LeEco’s attempt to excel in the Bluetooth headphones segment clearly falls short when you compare it to the existing competition. Although the headphones come with a unique design and provide very good battery backup and clear call quality, the awkward shape takes away from the fit and comfort. Bass and treble, which are meant to be tight and sharp respectively, are rather dull and blunt.
LeEco LeMe comes at a price tag of Rs.2,499. At this price point, there are various other wireless Bluetooth headphones such as the Creative SoundBlaster JAM, and the Philips SHB7000WT, which are better sounding and offer an even better and comfortable fit. However, if you are biased towards a futuristic-looking pair of headphones and wish to stand out from the crowd, then the LeMe can be your choice.
