Boat Airdopes 800 Review: Great sound on a budget

Boat Airdopes 800 is compatible with the Boat Hearables app.

The Boat Airdopes 800 was launched in India on May 17 with adaptive EQ and Dolby Audio compatible audio. The earphones are equipped with 10mm titanium drivers, ENC-enabled microphone, and IPX5 rating for splash and sweat resistance. They also support the Boat Hearables app available for both Android and iOS smartphones, which allows users to customize touch controls and equalizer settings . The truly wireless (TWS) earphones are said to offer up to 40 hours of battery life. I have been using the Boat Airdopes 800 for over a week now and I want to talk about how “amazing” this budget product is and isn’t.

Boat Airdopes 800 Review: Design and Features

The in-ear truly wireless Boat Airdopes 800 comes with three silicone ear tips: small, medium, and large. I was a little disappointed that none of the sizes fit me comfortably, but the small size felt the best. Of course, best is a very generous way of saying it. The medium tips should work better in theory, but every time I grinned even a little during the opening of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the earbuds would pop out and the in-ear detection would pause the show. I know by now that the in-ear detection works well, but more on that later. I mostly stuck to the small tips because I like to keep the earbuds in my ears in my everyday life.

The Boat Airdopes 800 is IPX5 rated for splash and sweat resistance.

No matter which tip size you choose, the fit of the Boat Airdopes 800 isn’t the best. The longest I used them was during my (re)watching of Arrival (2016), about two hours to be exact – one hour and 56 minutes. More on this later, but while the sound experience was vivid , the dull ache on the outside of my ears was equally vivid.

But apart from the fit, there is a lot to like about these TWS earphones. The stems have a slightly curved, protruding design that provides a better grip when putting the earphones on and taking them off. The touch control sensor is placed on the top and the operation is generally smooth. The charging points of the earphones, located inside the stems, come into direct contact with the skin. I did not suffer from any skin irritation or rashes, but those with sensitive skin or metal allergies may face issues.

The charging case for the Boat Airdopes 800 is bulky. The case together with the earphones weighs 45g, which is not unusually heavy for TWS earphones, but the boxy design makes it look bulkier than it actually is. You can carry it in your jeans pocket if you don’t mind a noticeable protrusion. The bottom of the case has indicator lights that show the earphones’ connection status and battery/charging status. The USB Type-C charging port is located on the right edge of the case. The cover is engraved with the Boat logo and Dolby Audio branding.

In addition to the earbuds with a charging case and two extra pairs of ear tips, the Boat Airdopes 800 sales box also contains a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable, information/instructions, and a few stickers.

Boat Airdopes 800 Review: Apps and Specifications

As mentioned above, the Boat Airdopes 800 are compatible with the Boat Hearables app . Once paired with your smartphone, the app will sync with the earbuds and display the battery levels of the left and right earbuds on the home page. Further down, there’s a list of different pre-installed equalizer settings, as well as the option to select an adaptive EQ option. This is powered by Mimi, which is also featured on the Nothing Ear (review) and Nothing Ear 2.

The Adaptive EQ is said to provide users with a personalized sound experience. To set up the Adaptive EQ on Boat Airdopes 800, you need to click on the “Set Adaptive EQ” option . This will take you through a practice round and a step-by-step test which you can easily follow by following the on-screen instructions. Once the setup is complete, you can turn on the Adaptive EQ mode to experience your own customized sound.

There are five options for preset equalization: Balanced, Pop, Rock, Jazz, and Club. You can also switch between Dolby Movie and Dolby Natural settings. In the following sections, we’ll take a closer look at the sound experience of each of these modes.

The second tab within the Boat Hearables app lets you select 1-tap and 2-tap functions separately for the left and right earbuds. These allow for four completely different actions, but I chose to use the same actions on both sides because it’s just easier. You can choose from functions like play/pause, volume control (up/down), change track (next/previous), as well as manage Beast Mode and Google Assistant.

The third tab, “System,” gives you access to the Boat Airdopes 800’s user manual and a section that helps you check for the latest version of the Boat Hearables app. This tab also lets you choose whether to turn on or off the in-ear detection feature and the multipoint connection option.

The Boat Airdopes 800 comes with a 35mAh battery in each earbud.

The Boat Airdopes 800 features 10mm titanium drivers and four AI-backed ENC-enabled microphones . Each earbud has a 35mAh battery, while the charging case has a 400mAh battery. It supports Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and 50ms low latency. The storage case has a USB Type-C charging port, and the earbuds are IPX5 rated for splash and sweat resistance.

Boat Airdopes 800 Review: Performance and Battery Life

The Boat Airdopes 800 pairs seamlessly with two devices (in this case, a Redmi Note 11 Pro smartphone and a Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptop). Bluetooth connectivity and a low latency of 50ms make these earphones a good choice for occasional gamers and those who enjoy full-time audiovisual content like me. Low latency or Beast mode can be toggled on/off by pressing and holding the touch control area on the right earbud for 3 seconds.

However, I did encounter some connectivity issues. When switching between the various preset EQ modes, the app would sometimes hang or fail to recognize the earbuds, prompting me to connect to a Bluetooth device to complete the action. Selecting the Adaptive EQ mode would sometimes cause both or just one side of the earbuds to disconnect. The easy fix for these errors was to place the earbuds back in the case for a few seconds and then reconnect.

The connection error when changing the equalization mode was quite frequent during the first few days of using the Boat Airdopes 800, but with each update of the Boat Hearables app, the frequency of this issue decreased. Apparently, this issue was caused by a bug that was fixed in an OTA update. With the current version (00.00.01.02), I am not experiencing any connection issues at all.

Boat Airdopes 800 Supports Bluetooth 5.3 Connection

The Boat Airdopes 800 sound is as advertised and expected, with strong bass but without any major drawbacks in the mids and treble, especially considering the price range. Listening to music with these earphones is comfortable, even without customizable modes. Battery life is also decent, making them good enough for everyday use.

The Adaptive EQ mode on the Boat Airdopes 800, despite draining the battery, offers a personalized sound experience that I liked in some cases, but not all. When listening to Baba O’Riley by The Who, I preferred the custom equalization offered by the Adaptive EQ mode over the regular sound, especially since you can always reconfigure the settings by running the test again.

Dolby Natural mode introduces an element of spatial audio that is best appreciated in music with stereo tracks. The fine details of the arrangement are particularly prominent in tracks like David Bowie’s Space Oddity and The Beatles’ Abbey Road Super Deluxe mix. If you’re as much of a Beatles fan as I am, you might imagine the various postures the Fab Four took in the recording room at Abbey Road Studios as the song Oh! Darling plays. This is more than you’d expect from a pair of TWS earphones priced under Rs 2,000.

As mentioned earlier, I watched Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 feature film Arrival with the Boat Airdopes 800 earphones. Apart from Bradford Young’s awe-inspiring cinematography, I would argue that Johann Johansson’s music makes this one of the best sci-fi movies of recent times. I didn’t have high expectations of the movie, as I’ve watched it on multiple occasions over the years on various mobile phones and PCs since seeing it at its second screening on the first day in theaters many years ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience the earphones’ Dolby Movie Audio mode delivered. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a theater-like experience, but it was close enough for the price range that it was a great experience.

The sound experience in the preset modes is pretty much what you’d expect: the Rock and Club options have more bass emphasis than the other options, the Balanced mode offers solid equalization for sure, and the Jazz and Pop presets have a bit more emphasis on vocals and treble.

The Boat Airdopes 800 have a charging point inside the earbud stem.

Making and answering calls was satisfactory on the Boat Airdopes 800. In an indoor environment with a stable network connection, calls were clear and there were no audio complaints from the other end despite occasional environmental disturbances.

The Boat Airdopes 800 is said to deliver up to 40 hours of battery life at 60 percent volume. For testing purposes, I maintained that volume throughout. With no Adaptive EQ mode turned on and using Dolby Movie Audio mode for a few hours, I got about 36 hours of total playback time on a single charge. The earbuds lasted up to 4+ hours.

With the Adaptive EQ mode on, the Boat Airdopes 800 earbuds can provide up to three and a half hours of playback at a time. It took about 30 minutes to charge the earbuds from 0 to 100 in the case, while the charging case was fully charged in an hour and a half.

Boat Airdopes 800 Review: Verdict

As a casual user, if you are looking for something that will give you a theatre-like experience on a budget, you may want to consider the Boat Airdopes 800 TWS earphones. The Adaptive EQ provides a favorable audio experience, while the Dolby Audio support gives the overall sound performance the spice it needs to stand out among the competition.

If you’re on a budget and looking for a decent, personalized sound experience, the Boat Airdopes 800 at Rs 1,799 is a great fit. The physical fit of the earbuds isn’t the most comfortable, but it’s good enough for hours of use at a time, with 10- or 20-minute breaks in between. You should also consider whether switching between different sound and equalizer modes is seamless. If it works smoothly, you’re good to go, but if not, make sure you have a case ready so you can quickly reconnect your device.

You should also check out the OnePlus Nord Buds 2r ( review ), which is currently selling for Rs 1,899 in India, Rs 100 more, with larger 12.4mm drivers, an IP55 rating, and a lightweight case. You might also consider the CMF Buds, which are priced at a slightly higher Rs 1,999, with a comfortable fit and Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) support of up to 42dB.