Kick Buds S Pro Review: ANC on a Budget?

TechLekh Verdict

For the price, the earbuds bring incredible features to the table and it’s easy to recommend them, unless your priority is gaming.

The Kick Buds S Pro earbuds come with a good build, decent sounds, and a long battery backup. We would also like to give a shoutout to the unboxing experience. Many companies skimp out on this but Kick has really made the unboxing experience fun.

The ANC mode and wireless charging feature is something we don’t see in this price segment. The only complaint we can make is the high latency even with gaming mode already enabled by default. The latency is just so noticeable that fast-paced gaming is not really possible on this earbud.

Kick LIfestyle has marked its entry into the Nepali market with its Kick Buds S Pro which promises superior sound quality and unparalleled performance. Well, we’ll see about that.

Kick Buds S Pro price in Nepal is Rs. 2,999. You can use code TL2023 on Kick’s website to get a 5% discount on every purchase.

The Buds S Pro is a TWS that features ANC and is IPX7 rated in a budget price range. For more details, let’s look at our Kick Buds S Pro review below.

ALSO READ: Ultima Atom 520 Review

Kick Buds S Pro Review

Design

The Kick Buds S Pro has a pebble-shaped case with a flat back so that the case can rest on the table. The matte feel of the case and the metallic hinge makes you go “Wow” and the case gives a more premium feel than its price.

The case is kinda slippery and has a single LED at the front. The LED is used to determine charge level but since it’s only a single LED, we couldn’t tell how much charge was remaining. This problem will return when charging the case. More on that later.

When you open the case, you’ll see the earbuds in a simple orientation. No twisting in opposite directions is involved here. Taking the buds out of the case is fairly simple as the case opens wide and the hinge is tight.

The buds may feel cheap due to the plastic build and how light it is. But, the build is quite solid actually. It also has the same finish as the case.

Connection & Controls

Kick Buds S Pro features Bluetooth v5.3 for Bluetooth connection. We didn’t experience any connection issues with this version of Bluetooth. The connection is seamless and the buds auto-connect with the last connected device as well.

The buds have a latency issue. Even while watching youtube videos, we could feel the latency, so much so that we thought the audio and video were having sync issues.

We also compared it to the Ultima Atom 520, which is even cheaper, and the latency became more apparent. The Kick S Buds Pro is in gaming mode by default yet it was noticeably lagging behind the Ultima Atom 520’s beast mode.

The buds have noticeable latency and are not good for gaming in general, especially fast-paced shooters.

You get touch controls on both earbuds. You can tap once to play/pause the song or double-tap to change to the previous/next song. Triple tapping was pretty weird as the right bud decreased the volume while the left increased it.

You can also hold either bud to cycle through ANC On, ANC Off, and transparency mode.

Sound & Mic

The earbuds feature a 10mm titanium driver. The earbuds were comfortable at around 60% for most songs. During our testing, we used the earbuds in a multitude of surroundings and also cycled through the modes while noting the differences.

In a fairly quiet office environment, the ANC was able to block out the fan noise and even some silent conversations. Louder conversations could still be heard but were muffled.

We also tried using the earbuds with a vacuum cleaner, the ANC managed to block some of the noise but was unable to completely cut off the noise.

The transparency mode acted more like a hearing aid. Outside sounds were amplified and we could hear a constant buzzing sound even when nothing was being played while in a silent environment. It was fine and didn’t bother us very much but often felt forced instead of natural.

Moving on, let’s dive into what you’re really here for. The sound. But, as always, keep in mind music is very subjective and experiences can vary with the source audio and the mixing/mastering done. It also varies with the ear shape of the listener so you might not have the same mileage as we did.

Starting off with some K-pop. We tried listening to multiple songs from Blackpink and Fifty-fifty. The bass line was audible and the sound isolation was quite good as well. We enjoyed the music really. Nothing much else to say here.

We also tried some Pop songs and the vocals were clear and the loudest part. The sounds were bright and the guitar had good clarity.

Moving on to Rock songs, we tried Aerosmith and Guns N Roses for some old-school rock, the guitar sound was good and all guitars with overdrive and distortion could be heard. The drums were also very clear but the bass was a bit soft. The bass didn’t fall apart but would often get lost within the guitars. Solo bass performance had no problem and it was an overall enjoyable experience.

We then tried some Electronic in the form of Giorgio by Moroder. Here, after the iconic “My name is Giovani Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio” line, the bass line was audible but would often get lost with the drums, and the synthesizer was the most audible, taking center stage. Keyboards could also be heard clearly and the overall experience was decent.

For all you music genies out there, we tried Alternative Rock with Chon and Polyphia and it was fairly enjoyable. Good overall sounds with guitar notes being clean and audible. The instruments were well isolated and the fuzz from the guitars felt warm. The drum snare and kicks were also pretty good.

It’s a decent earbud for the price with somewhat effective Active Noise Cancelling. 

The earbuds have a decent microphone. The audio is clear and we had no issues with the mic. The earbuds come with ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) which was effective in canceling out music playing in the background. It doesn’t fully cancel the background audio when you speak, but it does help with clarity.

Battery

The battery life was good. Kick has claimed a 30-hour playback without ANC and in our mixed usage, it is fairly accurate. The earbuds are also capable of wireless charging which is very rare in this price segment.

The single LED on the case really made it difficult to determine the charge level. While charging, the LED turns orange and then turns off so we didn’t really know when the battery got full or when to plug it off targeting a certain charge level.

So this was our review of the Kick Buds S Pro. What do you think of the Kick Buds S Pro? Let us know in the comments!