Acefast Crystal 2 T8 review: Style over substance

Acefast Crystal 2 T8 is a pair of affordable true wireless earbuds that looks to take on the likes of Nothing Ear 2 and Nothing Ear sticks with its unique design. But how do they fare in real life? Let’s find out.

When it comes to audio accessories, especially true wireless earbuds, Acefast is definitely not the first name that comes to your mind. This young brand is making its presence felt with smartphone accessories like TWS earbuds, power banks, GaN Chargers, and more.

With hundreds or probably thousands of competitors, Acefast is following the latest trend of transparent design in all its products, and its flagship product Crystal 2 T8, is no exception.

Even though these earbuds cannot be compared with other premium products like the Beats Studio Buds + or the AirPods, despite all the limitations, they punch above their weight. We’ve been testing these earbuds for some time and are ready to share our experience with the Acefast Crystal 2 T8. Let’s dive straight in.

Key specs

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3 + EDR
• Driver diameter: 10mm
• Weight: 5.5g per earbud, 47g case
• Compatibility: iOS, Android, and Bluetooth devices
• Features: transparent design, one-touch pairing, IPX4-rated
• Price: $69.99
• In the box: Earbuds, Charging case, lanyard, silicon case, three pair of extra ear tips, and some manuals

Design

Design is the biggest highlight of these earbuds. The Crystal 2 T8 comes in six colorways – Black, Blue, Mint Green, Purple, Pink, and White. However, these earbuds sport a see-through design with a tinted transparent plastic outer core. Coupled with a generous use of LED lights, the Crystal 2 T8 is definitely an attention grabber.

In fact, we won’t blame if someone mistakes them for a new Nothing product because the Carl Pei-led tech brand has made transparent designs its signature style.

Unlike most earbuds, the Crystal 2 T8 is designed so that the buds attach to the outer shell of the charging case rather than getting stored inside. This makes them easily accessible whenever needed and makes the buds more vulnerable to scratches. Since the earbuds are constantly exposed, you might lose them quickly should you drop the case accidentally.

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Talking about the case and buds, the design allows you to see the textured internal plastics and neatly laid-out circuitry. While this might not improve the core features, it is pleasing to the eyes.

The charging case is highly compact and can easily fit your palm and the watch pocket of your jeans. It has a USB Type C charging case at the bottom and a retro-styled seven-segment LED display to tell you the charge left in the case and each bud at a glance.

The buds are also encased in transparent plastic with only some circuitry visible. A touch-sensitive area at the back of each bud allows you to control the music, volume, or change tracks. There are no physical buttons on the case or the buds.

Setup & features

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Setting up these earbuds is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is remove the earbuds from the case and remove the protective film to start using them. Since there is no bundled application, you only need to switch on your phone’s Bluetooth and pair the Crystal 2 T8. Thanks to Bluetooth 5.3, the pairing process takes just a few seconds.

While a bundled app makes the pairing process slightly lengthy, you can tweak the audio quality according to your preference, change the inputs, and even update the firmware. Unfortunately, the Crystal 2 T8 misses out on all these and more.

You also miss out on critical features like ANC and wear detection. While one can argue that the former is still a premium feature, wear detection is necessary for most budget wireless earbuds. Lack of wear detection means that even if you remove the buds from your ears, the music/video continues to play on your device.

The earbuds are light in weight and so comfortable that you might even forget they’re there. The soft silicone ear tips also reduce external noise, as the earbuds lack ANC or ENC.

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The controls are located on the back of the earbuds. This was the most significant learning curve as the touch is tiny and not very pronounced, making you search for them whenever you want to change the track or control the volume. Moreover, these aren’t the most responsive touch controls as well. Regarding controls, a single tap adjusts the volume, a double tap to play or pause a track, and a triple tap lets you go to the previous or next track.

Acefast, to its credit, bundles a bunch of accessories with the earbuds. The retail package includes color-matching freebies, a soft silicon gel protective case, a lanyard, a USB Type A to Type C charging cable, and three extra ear tips in a small transparent box.

These accessories are a pleasant surprise, especially when many premium and costly earbuds are shipped without any of these. Unfortunately, these accessories cannot compensate for the missing must-have features on any pair of wireless earbuds in 2023.

The Acefast Crystal 2 T8 constantly offered us just over 6 hours of battery life from each earbud, while the case can offer four more charge cycles depending on your usage habit. At this price point, over 30 hours of battery is impressive.

Sound quality

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Thankfully, the sound quality of Acefast Crystal 2 T8 is better than an average budget wireless earbud. It does an excellent job with calls on the phone or PC.

The earbuds do not support high-res audio as they do not support AptX or LDAC, meaning you’re limited to SBC and AAC codecs only.

The earbuds can get pretty loud at times and can produce thumpy bass. While the vocals sound good, , the overall audio profile can be categorized as “Flat” with no option to tweak it.

Listening to Hideaway from Jacob Collier was pleasant until you listen to the same song on a slightly better earbud like Pixel Buds A-series. The separation of sound originating from various instruments and Jacob’s voice was missing with the Crystal 2 T8.

Acefast has focused on highs and bass because that’s what most users opting for budget wireless earbuds look for. However, the rest could have been better.

Microphone quality

People we called largely did not complain about the audio quality; the background noise was audible. Some of the folks we called complained about muffled sounds, but that could be subjective.

Similarly, we could listen to the callers clearly, though speaking continuously makes the earbuds slip out of the ear as the shiny plastic casing offers very little or no friction.

Should you buy it?

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If you’re looking for a unique-looking pair of earbuds that doesn’t cost you a bomb, then you should go for the Acefast Crystal 2 T8, as these sure are attention grabbers. The bundled accessories help increase life and mean you don’t have to shell out more money for cases, lanyards, etc.

While these earbuds sound at par with the other earbuds in this price range, if audio quality is your top priority, you must look elsewhere.

The verdict: 3/5

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For a brand as young as Acefast, they’ve done a commendable job in nailing the design. However, the audio quality and missing critical features make the Crystal 2 T8 a difficult recommendation.

That said, the company has come a long way in a short period. The Crystal 2 T8 offers a lot of promise and definitely has us looking forward to their next product hoping that it irons out the pertinent issues.

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