True wireless earphones may be all the rage these days, so Sudio’s latest product launch, the Elva, may seem like a contradiction at a first glance.

An ideal companion for a busy lifestyle

A neckband-style earphone with active noise cancelling feature that allows you to block out environmental noise to stay in control with your sound, the Elva is being advertised by Sudio, as an ideal companion for a busy lifestyle.

And as well, the earphones also come with a Bluetooth flight adapter included in the box too, which allows you to charge it on the go, even when you’re on a plane.

Design and setup of the Sudio Elva

Sudio sent me a set of the new Elva earphones to try.

In terms of the design of the Elva, the neckband is designed to loop easily around your neck whilst popping the two earbuds into your ears. 

Sudio’s Elva has a simple and sturdy setup, but I personally found it to be a bit on the clunky and bulky side. It cannot be folded up and stored easily and does not appear to come with a storage case. So I felt that it isn’t really the most versatile of earphones to carry around.

Inside the box, the Elva comes with five extra sizes of ear-tips so this means that there’s a size to suit everybody. I didn’t feel the need to adjust and play around with the various sizes; the one straight out out the box seemed to fit my ears just fine.

Pairing process

Pairing the Elva to my iPhone via Bluetooth was a fuss-free and simple affair. My phone was able to pick up the earphones immediately and they were connected and ready for use.

Fitting and comfort

The fit of the Elva is snug in my ears. So this makes wearing the Elva pretty comfortable and great for long hours of usages through the day. Surprisingly, I found that the neck band doesn’t really add stress or tension to the neck.

So since many of us are still working from home because of Covid-19, the Elva makes a comfortable earphone to accompany you in your daily work and important conferences on online platform Zoom.

Besides that, I’ve also been using the Sudio Elva during my bus rides for streaming music and podcasts on Spotify during my commutes and they’ve served me well for that purpose too.

Not suited for sports

However, the Elva is not suitable for vigorous activities or sports. Whilst walking is still okay because it is slow-paced, I do not recommend running with the Elva. I tried, and the result was that the earphones dropped out of my ears repeatedly, possibly caused by the vigorous movement. 

As well, the control panel and graphene driver kept bobbing up and down during running, making it quite uncomfortable.

And this was despite the neck band remaining firm and secure round my neck.

 It was really annoying. So I gave up using them, after the first 500 metres of a 5km run.

Sound quality and active noise cancellation

In terms of the sound quality of the Elva, this varies greatly whether you turn on the active noise cancelling feature.

This highly-touted active noise cancelling feature can be switched on quite easily; you only need to press the middle button of the earphones twice.

With the active noise cancelling turned on, the overall volume is reduced, making the bass notes very pronounced and dominating and the trebles lack crispiness and clearness as a result.

On the other hand, when the active noise cancelling is switched off, the opposite happens. The overall volume increases, making the trebles sound dominating, bright and airy, while the bass notes are lacking.

Sudio Elva Call quality 

Call quality is quite decent on the Elva. I have used the earphones to pick up a few calls and the callers have mentioned that my voice is still clear and audible, even in busy environments such as shopping malls.

Battery life and charging the Elva

The Elva has a long battery life of 11 hours, which is more than enough for telecommuting calls and to last throughout a busy workday.

As well, the Elva has a rather unique charging mechanism; to charge the earphones, you would detach the left side of the earphones and connect them to a power source.

And if you need the Elva urgently only to find that it’s out of battery, you’ll be glad to know that 15 minutes of quick-charge can provide 1 hour of playtime.

Water resistant

Also, the Sudio Elva is IPX5 water resistant, meaning that it can withstand splashes and sweat and it will not get damaged if you’re caught in the rain with the earphones on.

In fact, there had been an occasion where I was listening to my music on the Elva, outdoors, and it began raining; the Elva still works perfectly with no ill-effects after that incident.

So I can indeed vouch for the water resistance rating. Just don’t accidentally drop your Sudio Elva into the toilet bowl or swimming pool and expect it to work.

Sudio Flyg Bluetooth flight adapter

And Sudio has also advertised that the Elva comes together with a Bluetooth flight adapter, called the Sudio Flyg.

 This portable device allows you to connect your Sudio Elva, or any other earphones, to a headphone jack on your phone or an external sound system, which then transmits to the earphones.

The Flyg has two different types of plugs; a two-pin plug as well as a stereo plug to plug into in-flight entertainment systems and other normal audio devices respectively.

However, with so many plugs on the device, perhaps Sudio could have included clearer instructions on how to charge the Flyg, inside the box, as I had thought that the design of the Flyg makes things quite confusing.

Where and when to get the Sudio Elva

The new Sudio Elva launches on https://www.sudio.com/sg/ on 14 September and will retail at S$199.

15% OFF PROMO Code

And to get a 15% OFF discount from your purchase of the Sudio Elva once it launches, use the promo code ‘wireless15’ upon checkout at their website.