Sens Hendriks 1 Review: New brand, promising start

Sens true wireless buds make a lot of sense

Sens-Hendriks-1-

Sens is a recent entrant into the Indian market, launching a range of wireless buds, smartwatch and fitness bands to announce their arrival. Let’s take a look at their Hendriks 1, a pair of TWS, priced at an introductory price of Rs. 1699.

Design: Firth impressions of these TWS are on the positive side, with a gunmetal grey charging case made out of zinc alloy metal. The case has some heft to it but aren’t too large by any means. It has the Sens branding and a charging indicator on the front and a USB type C port at the bottom. The buds have a long semi-cylindrical stem design and weigh less than 4 grams each. The stem has touch sensitive area for controls. The pair is surprisingly comfortable to wear considering its price tag, certainly better fitting than the Mivi DuoPods A350 that I tried a while back. You can tap the left earbud one to decrease the volume, tap the right earbud once to increase it, double tap either of them to play or pause your music, and triple touch to start your compatible voice assistant. The touch controls usually respond though you might trigger a control while wearing or adjusting the buds in your ear. The buds are IPX5 water-resistant, too.

Audio quality and experience: The Hendriks 1 comes with SBC and AAC audio codes along with Bluetooth 5.1. They feature 10mm drivers and what Sens likes to call “Wider Soundstage”. The sound output of these buds is more than satisfactory, given the price range, to put it briefly. The bass is a bit on the heavy side though it doesn’t get muddled that budget wireless buds can often do. The pair handles treble well along with vocals though it can get a little mushy with mids. Its output isn’t too aggressive when handling lows and highs but a bit more fairly balanced. There’s no app for the Hendriks 1, so you would have to use your own device’s EQ settings, if you want to adjust anything around it. As I said, you are not going to be disappointed with the audio quality, whether it is for watching movies or listening to music for most genres. The buds connect to your paired device without any issue. I found them to pair almost instantly when the case is opened and the other device has Bluetooth enabled. The buds, though, can disconnect well before you cross the 12 meters range mark, which is what the company claims. This is perhaps the only thing that doesn’t quite work as you might expect it to. The mics on the buds are good enough for calls, but when stepped outside, they do catch on to too much noise too frequently and even more so in windy conditions. The sound feedback the buds give (to say pairing mode or connected) could be a little jarring to hear, would have preferred for it be softer. Another thing to note, though expected at this price point, is that the buds don’t automatically stop playing when you remove them from your ear.

Other nitty gritties: The buds last around 4-4.5 hours on a single charge and with the case you get around 30 hours or so; the case has a 450mAh battery unit while each bud has 30mAh of its own. Charging these from nil to full takes up close to 2 hours in one go. You get extra pairs of silicon eartips in the box, so you might want to check those to see which size is a better fit for you.

Verdict: The Hendriks 1 at Rs. 1,699 offer a lot of value for your buck. The pair gives a satisfactory sound quality, decently long battery life, showed no major connectivity problems and also come in a nice charging case to top it all. If you are looking for an entry-level pair of true wireless buds, at this price point, the Hendriks 1 make a lot of sense, but if they start selling it at its printed price of Rs. 3,999, there are a lot more options that come into the picture, including a few from some established names in the audio space.

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