Mpow MDots True Wireless  Headphones Review

The Mpow MDots aren't especially distinctive-looking. They slightly resemble the Mpow X5 Truly Wireless, though with slightly more squared-off buds. Their monochrome color scheme, matte-finish enclosure, and subtle manufacturer branding should ensure that they don't stand out in any environment.

These in-ears are decently comfortable. They come with a couple of different ear tip and stability fin sizes, which should help you find a suitable fit. They're also lightweight and compact. Unfortunately, pressing their controls could force them deeper into your ears, which could be uncomfortable for some.

These in-ears have an okay control scheme. The control scheme itself is easy to use, and quite a few functions are shared between both buds, so you can use one while the other charges without losing access to all controls. Clicking either bud once answers and ends calls as well as pauses and plays music. A click and hold rejects incoming calls while a triple-click of either bud turns on your phone's voice assistant. On the left bud, a click and hold lowers media volume while a double click skips media backward. On the right bud, a click and hold raises volume while a double click skips media forward. The buttons on the buds offer good, clicky feedback, and you should hear a chime once you've reached the maximum or minimum volume. Unfortunately, you don't receive any audio feedback when playing, pausing, or skipping tracks.

Like most truly wireless in-ears, the Mpow MDots are exceptionally breathable. They trap in very little heat, so you should be able to wear them for extended periods without sweating more than usual.

The Mpow MDots are fantastically portable. They can be thrown in a pocket or a pouch with little issue. Their charging case is also fairly compact, and it's noticeably smaller than that of the Mpow M30 Truly Wireless.

The Mpow MDots have a decent charging case. It's not too big and is made entirely of plastic, but doesn't feel especially sturdy overall. The buds also have to be precisely placed in their cradles for them to charge and for the case's lid to snap shut, which can be a bit of a finicky process.

The Mpow MDots are decently well-built. Their case feels somewhat flimsy and plasticky. The buds themselves are made of reasonably solid plastic, but the material used doesn't feel as sturdy as the Mpow M30 Truly Wireless' construction. They're rated IPX6 for water resistance, but we don't currently test for this. Their ear tips and stability come in a couple of different sizes but do feel as though they could tear.

These headphones have a very stable fit. They shouldn't fall out of your ears even during really intense workouts.

• Mpow MDots wireless earbuds
• Charging case
• 3x ear tips
• 3x stability sleeves
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• User Guide

The Mpow MDots have a bass-heavy sound profile. This should emphasize the thump and rumble of EDM and hip-hop music, but may be overwhelming for fans of other more delicate genres. They also lack any sort of sound customization features like built-in EQ presets.

These in-ears offer superb frequency response consistency. Once you achieve a proper fit with the included selection of ear tips and stability fins, audio delivery shouldn't vary on different listening sessions.

These headphones have okay bass accuracy. The entire range is overemphasized, which adds extra thump and rumble to genres like EDM or hip-hop. Unfortunately, this can also make some mixes sound muddy.

The Mpow MDots have excellent mid accuracy. The overemphasized bass response slightly carries over into the low-mids, which can slightly clutter vocals and lead instruments. A slight dip in the mid-mids also nudges them to the back of the mix, though the well-balanced high-mids yields good clarity and intensity.

The Mpow MDots have mediocre treble accuracy. The entire range is underemphasized, dulling the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments and making sibilants, like cymbals, sound somewhat lispy.

These headphones have good peaks and dips performance. A bump in the high-bass range adds extra warmth to some mixes but also muddies vocals and lead instruments. A dip in the mid-mids also pushes those notes to the back of the mix while a rise in the high-mids gives them a slightly harsh, boxy quality. A dip and rise in the low and mid-treble can dull the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments and make sibilants such as cymbals sound piercing.

The Mpow MDots have superb stereo imaging performance. Their weighted group delay falls entirely beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Their L/R drivers are also well-matched in regards to amplitude, frequency, and phase response, so objects like voices and footsteps should be accurately placed within the stereo image without any gaps. That said, these results are only valid for our test unit, so your experience may vary.

Like most closed-back in-ears, the Mpow MDots have a terrible passive soundstage. Creating an out-of-head listening experience relies on interaction with the outer ear, which in-ears bypass completely, meaning that sound is perceived as coming from inside your own head as opposed to all around you. Due to their closed-back design, their soundstage is also perceived as small and closed off, especially when compared to open-back headphones.

The Mpow MDots have good weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's little in the way of distortion across the frequency spectrum at both moderate and high volumes, so audio reproduction should be clean and pure.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid in this configuration.

The Mpow MDots have good overall noise isolation capability. While they don't block out much in the way of low-end ambient noise, like the rumble of bus engines, they isolate you quite effectively from ambient chatter as well as high-pitched sounds, like the hum of an AC unit.

The Mpow MDots have excellent audio leakage performance. You should be able to listen to content at high volumes without annoying people nearby.

The integrated mic has mediocre recording quality. Recorded speech sounds thin and muffled, but thankfully at least somewhat natural.

Update 03/03/2022: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we changed the way we test noise handling. We now use a subjective evaluation of our audio clips. This new method has resulted in different results than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed, and we have updated our results.

The mic has disappointing noise handling. It struggles to separate your voice from moderate ambient noise. If you're taking a call from a busy street, your voice can be drowned out by background noise.

The Mpow MDots have poor battery performance. They last just under two and a half hours on a single charge, which is significantly less than their advertised claim of four hours. This also falls short of alternatives like the Tranya T10 Truly Wireless, which provide roughly nine hours of continuous playback time. However, your experience may vary drastically depending on your usage. They also don't have any power-saving measures like a standby mode or an auto-off timer. Thankfully, you can listen to audio from one bud while the other charges.

The Mpow MDots have alright Bluetooth connectivity. They're Bluetooth 5.0-compatible, but you can't pair with more than one device at a time. Their wireless range is also noticeably shorter than that of the Mpow X5 Truly Wireless, so your audio may drop out if you move too far away from your Bluetooth device. Their latency on PCs as well as mobile iOS and Android devices is also quite high, which could be annoying if you're planning on wearing them while streaming videos. However, it's worth noting that different devices and apps compensate for latency to varying degrees, so this may not match your real-world experience.

These headphones aren't compatible with any wired connections. They come with a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging their case.

The Mpow MDots come with a charging case that supplies approximately four additional charges. The case itself can be recharged via a USB-C cable but doesn't support wireless charging.