These $300 Swarovski earbuds aren’t my style, but their sound quality has me hooked

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• These Moto Buds Loop earbuds are avaialble now on Amazon for $300.
• With plenty of bling factor, these earbuds don’t skimp on the sound
• You’ll definately want to use the app and the custom EQ option to get the best sound from these earbuds.

I’ll be honest: when I first opened the box containing the Moto Buds Loop with Crystals by Swarovski®, I laughed. Why would anyone want earbuds (especially those designed for active lifestyles) that are encrusted with crystals?

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But then I considered that there are plenty of people who would love to have a pair of earbuds with a bit of panache. After all, considering that so many earbuds on the market look the same, why not?

Is it a marketing gimmick? Probably. Do they look fancy? Yes. How do they sound? That’s the rub.

My experience

I want to lead off with the price of these earbuds, which is currently $300 on Amazon. I’m certain that price is because of the bling, but you cannot discount that the sound on these earbuds was created by Bose.

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Before you say anything, I’m not the biggest fan of Bose. Back when I was an audio installer, we had a saying that went, “No highs, no lows, it must be Bose.” Since then, Bose has come a long way, but no matter how far advanced they get, the Bose sound is distinct. To many audiophiles, the Bose sound is overly processed, which means the music won’t sound pure or as the artists intended it to sound.

That’s not always a bad thing, but if you want accuracy, you want a sound that is not heavily processed.

Right out of the gate, there was a firmware update, which you can deal with via the Moto Buds mobile app for Android. At the time of this writing, there is no Moto Buds app for iOS. The firmware update completed very quickly, and I was ready to go back to the app and see what I could do.

Within the app EQ section, you get 4 preset options: Brilliant Treble, Bass Boost, Vocal Boost, and Flat. Sadly, these presets aren’t very good (the Brilliant Treble lacks bass, the Bass Boost lacks treble, the Vocal Boost is too midrange heavy, and the flat lacks dynamics). 

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The only way to go is the Custom route, which offers a 10-band EQ, so you can get fairly granular with your sound. I tweaked the custom EQ option for my standard curve and hit play on one of my Spotify playlists. 

Even with the custom EQ, I felt the sound lacked a bit of dynamics and the soundstage was a bit too narrow, so I decided to see what Gaming Mode would do. 

That was the sweet spot.

I assumed Gaming mode would only optimize the latency of the earbuds, but I was wrong. Switching on Gaming mode gave the earbuds a bit more depth, and the highs and lows were more active and slightly more accurate. 

One piece of music in my running playlist is “Fall For Me,” by Sleep Token. This is a (mostly) vocal-only track, with all sorts of effects added to Vessel’s voice. I found the Moto Buds Loop earbuds highlighted the voice quite well and produced a really nice soundstage to help separate the different effects of the voice. That special song was quite lovely through these earbuds.

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Next up was “Chemistry” by Rush. I’ve heard this track sound considerably better on other earbuds (especially the Denon PerL Pros). Most Rush songs place a pretty high demand on the low end (thanks to one of the greatest bassists of all time, Geddy Lee). 

The Moto Buds Loop earbuds handled the song well, but could have used a bit more separation in the low end to better distinguish the bass guitar from the bass drum at times. It certainly wasn’t muddy at the bottom, but it could have used a bit more clarity.

That’s not to say every track suffered from a bit of muddy bottom. In fact, most tracks came off quite well with regard to bass. There’s a particular song I like to listen to when trying to test the low end of earbuds and headphones, and that’s Tricycle, by Flim & The BBs. 

This song was also used by the audio engineers I worked with when I was installing sound systems. The bass line is very active, and the bass drum just the right amount of punchy. If a pair of earbuds can pull this tune off well, then they get my stamp of approval.

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To my surprise, the Moto Buds Loop earbuds presented Tricycle quite well, with a smooth low end, crisp highs, and the right amount of midrange. On top of that, these crystal-encrusted earbuds gave the song a fairly wide soundstage, so each of the instruments had its own space and never once blended together in the wrong ways.

ZDNET buying advice

You have to have the right style to pull these earbuds off. I mean, they have Swarovski crystals, which make them look more like earrings than earbuds. But if you happen to like the look, you’ll also enjoy the sound the Moto Buds Loop earbuds produce.

If bling is your thing, I would highly recommend these earbuds. Not only will they impress others, they’ll impress you.

The specs

• Open ear design.
• Bose technology for enhanced audio quality and balance. 
• 12mm Drivers.
• Dual Microphones with CrystalTalk AI.. 
• Supports spatial audio for a more immersive listening experience 
• Smart Connect.
• Water-Repellent Design.
• Battery Life: Up to 8 hours of playtime on a single charge (the charging case provides an additional 37 hours).

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