Erato Rio 3

We’ve been treated to plenty of wireless earphones over the last few months, and when the Erato Rio 3 first arrived we were a little skeptical to what they promised. True wireless sports earphones that are comfortable AND won’t fall out during physical activity? Many others have claimed the same and have only partially lived up to the promise.

We’ll spoil the story right now and say that the Rio 3 units are possibly the best fitting, true wireless earphones that we have worn to date. There is no connecting cord and the drivers are connected wirelessly to each other and your smartphone through a Bluetooth connection.

A 120mah battery in each unit allows for a continuous play time of six hours, and the water resistant sealing means that you don’t have to worry about sweating and ruining them. What we like most about the Rio 3 is the fitting. The rubber hooks and angle of the earbuds worked amazingly well together in keeping the units secure on the ears without discomfort.

It’s possibly the first wireless earphones that we have used that felt like they simply ‘disappeared’. After 10 minutes on a treadmill they just felt like nothing at all. They look hefty, but are actually incredibly light, without feeling cheap or brittle. The Bluetooth receiver has a range of around 30 feet, so you can leave your smartphone nearby in the gym and still get perfectly clear music.

There are the usual selections of earbud sizes available in the package to choose from for an optimum fit, and the classy, compact storage case looks very durable.

Their nature as separate units means that there are two power switches to press whenever you put them on, but the master volume and microphone for answering phone calls are all mounted only on the right hand unit. Charging the units are done through a standard micro USB port.

As far as audio quality goes, they’re pretty decent with a 14.2mm speaker driver in each ear. There is good detail in the sound when you listen to it. While the sound is bass heavy as expected, their high frequencies are not overly bright, allowing for prolonged usage without ear fatigue. You can run a full marathon with them if you want, and they’re very unlikely to fall off or make your ears ache after an hour, which some of its competitors are wont to do.

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