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If you are looking for strong and durable sports Bluetooth earbuds and you are sick of experimenting with all those generic brands, you should try Optoma NuForce BE Sport3. As the name implies, they are made for sports and if you are a sports enthusiast, you are definitely going to appreciate their performance and durability. In this review, we are going to analyze and explain all the advantages and disadvantages and give you our honest opinion on whether you should buy them or not.
Optoma is probably more known for its projectors and video equipment but they decided to expand their product range when they acquired California-based audio equipment manufacturer called NuForce in 2014. Since then, Optoma has been making Bluetooth earbuds and DACs.
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 earbuds are the third upgraded version of the NuForce BE Sport line of earbuds (they have already released the fourth version BE Sport4). The main target group are the active people and sportsmen. The emphasis is on the design, build quality, and durability while the sound quality is secondary. Now, when we say that, we are not implying that the sound is bad or crappy. We are simply lowering your expectations. Considering their purpose and price, you should not expect an audiophile listening experience. That’s all. And, by the way, the sound is pleasant and warm.
When it comes to the most noticeable advantages, we should mention the visually appealing and colorful design, very solid build (aluminum housings, rubberized cable and controls, IP55 water resistant and dust resistant rating), very good battery, and a nice and pleasant midrange and treble reproduction.
As for the disadvantages, you should know that we’ve experienced some comfort issues, especially with those ‘’SpinFit TwinBlade’’ ear tips but this doesn’t have to mean anything since comfort is a subjective feeling and it depends on your sensitivity and the ability to tolerate something being so deep inside your ear. It’s probably safe to say that you should not use ‘’SpinFit TwinBlade’’ tips if you have sensitive ears. Besides the ear tip issue, you should know that these earbuds, unlike many other sports earbuds, aren’t bassy. The lows are recessed. Also, you should know that the cable tends to stick to your neck if you are sweaty.
- Stylish design and colorful ear tips and in-ear hooks
- Very good build quality
- IP55 water and dust resistance
- Balanced and detailed mids and highs
- Pretty good battery life and playtime
- In-line controls and built-in mic
- Comfort issues
- Weak bass
- Sticky cable
- Bluetooth range
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 earbuds are very durable and very stylish sports earbuds. They are not the best earbuds on the market when it comes to sound quality but if you need something solid and reliable that’s not going to fall apart after a few days of use, you should definitely give them a try.
Official video – Optoma NuForce BE Sport3
Table of Contents
What’s in the box?
The earbuds come in a nice colorful box. The packaging is rich and there are plenty of accessories. Besides the earbuds, you will get one pair of ‘’SpinFit TwinBlade’’ ear tips, six pairs of silicon ear tips in different colors and different sizes (S, M, and L), 6 pairs of in-ear hooks (or earwings), also in different sizes and different colors, one cable clip, nice-looking carrying pouch with a carabiner, flat USB to micro USB charging cable, cable slider so you can adjust the length of the cable, user manual, and 1-year warranty.
Box contents (depending on the color of the cable and earbuds, you will get in-ear hooks and ear tips in different colors)
Specs
| Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 Specifications | |
|---|---|
| DIMENSIONS | |
| Weight | 0.5oz |
| Cable length | 22.8 inches |
| DRIVERS | |
| Size | 6mm |
| Type | Dynamic |
| MATERIAL | Plastic, rubber |
| BATTERY | |
| Type | Li-ion, rechargeable |
| Capacity | 150mAh (2x75mAh) |
| Playtime | Up to 10h (at 50% volume) |
| Recharge time | Up to 2 hours |
| CONNECTIONS | Bluetooth |
| BLUETOOTH DETAILS | |
| Supported Bluetooth profiles | A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, aptX |
| NFC | No |
| Bluetooth range | 33ft |
| OTHER TECHNICAL DETAILS | |
| Frequency response | 20Hz to 20kHz |
| Sensitivity | 94dB |
| Impedance | 16Ω |
| Mic sensitivity | -42dB +/-3dB |
| ADDITIONAL FEATURES | IP55-certified, multipoint connection, remembers up to 8 devices, colorful ear tips and ear hooks, in-line controls and built-in mic |
Design
We have only words of praise regarding the design and aesthetics. The earbuds are very stylish and attractive and all those colorful combinations are a huge plus. Optoma really made a likable product. Having ear tips and earwings in different colors probably didn’t raise the costs too much but really made these earbuds recognizable.
Attractive design and many color combinations
The earbuds have angled tips in order to improve comfort and stability. There are so many ear tips and earwings included in the box, and finding the right size (unless you have really large or extremely small ears), should not be a problem.
Ergonomic angled design of the earbuds and ‘’SpinFit TwinBlade’’ ear tips
The cable connecting two earbuds is flat and it doesn’t tangle. On the right side, close to the right earbud there are 3-button in-line controls (two volume/track buttons and one multifunction button) with a built-in mic. Next to the volume down button, there’s a small LED Bluetooth/battery status indicator.
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 feature 3-button in-line controls with a built-in mic
Features
The earbuds are made for sports so that kind of design and build quality are not surprising. The housings are made of aluminum and look solid, the cable is flat and seems very strong, and the control pad is rubberized.
The build quality is quite impressive
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 earbuds are IP55-certified, which means they are dust and water resistant. You can be assured that a little bit of sweat will not damage them.
Optoma Nuforce BE Sport3 earbuds are IP55-certified
The earbuds also have magnetic ends so you can connect them and wear them around your neck when you are not using them.
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 feature Bluetooth 4.1 with the advertised range of 33ft. The pairing process is simple. The earbuds can remember up to 8 devices and they will pair automatically with the last paired device when you turn them on. They support multipoint connection and can be paired with two devices simultaneously. BE Sport3 earbuds are compatible with all kinds of Bluetooth-enabled devices (iPhones, Android devices, Windows devices (phones, laptops, PCs), Macs, Apple watches, etc.). The Bluetooth is the only possible type of connection (there is no AUX input). The earbuds feature support for aptX Bluetooth codec which enables you to watch videos without experiencing any audio delay. Siri and Google Assistant are supported, too.
The earbuds feature voice prompts (you can turn them off if you don’t like them).
The battery delivers more than satisfying playtime. There are two small 75mAh rechargeable Li-ion batteries inside the control pad and they can deliver up to 10 hours of playtime at 50% volume. The recharge time is approx. 2 hours. The micro USB charging port is located on the control pad and protected with a rubber flap.
Performance
We have only had a few minor issues regarding the performance but nothing truly alarming.
Durability and the battery performance are truly great. These two features, along with the design, are the greatest selling points.
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- Anker SoundBuds Slim+ Review
Those in-line controls can be tricky. We are not talking about basic things like controlling the playback or answering calls. That’s pretty simple.
But, there are some advanced features and if you want to use them, you have to read the manual. For example, if you want to know the battery status, you have to press all three buttons simultaneously and look at the LED indicator. It will flash red and blue and the number of flashes indicates the battery status (2 flashes – low, 3flashes – 50%, 5 flashes – fully charged). We dare to say, this is a bad solution. A simple voice prompt would be more convenient.
When the battery is low (when there is less than 15min of playtime left), you will hear a beep or a voice prompt saying battery low every 2min. The voice prompt is really loud and quite annoying. On some devices (iPhones and some Android phones), you will be able to see the battery status on the screen.
If you want to activate the voice prompts you should press power and volume up buttons simultaneously for 2sec, and if you want to turn off the voice prompts you are supposed to press power and volume down for 2sec.
In order to activate Siri or Google Assistant you have to press (shortly) power and volume up buttons simultaneously.
Control buttons and their functions
We have mentioned certain comfort issues at the beginning and we are going to elaborate that now. None of the members of our AudioReputation team liked those large ‘’SpinFit TwinBlade’’ ear tips. There is only one pair (probably M size) and they go really deep into your ears. Once you manage to push them deep enough, they really are stable and even isolate the ambient noise better but it’s painful. At least for us. Your tolerance and ear sensitivity play a huge part here and we cannot claim that you are going to hate ‘’SpinFit TwinBlade’’ tips. Those regular silicon ear tips are much more comfortable. It would be really great if some additional foam tips were included but if you want those, you will have to buy them separately. These earbuds are compatible with Comply T500 and T600 foam ear tips.
Bluetooth connection is another thing we want to discuss. The problem is the Bluetooth range. It is shorter than the advertised 33ft. It’s more like 10-15ft. if you move further away, the signal starts to cut out. This was arguably the biggest issue we’ve had with these earbuds.
Replacing the ear tips and earwings is super simple and takes less than a minute.
Replacing the ear tips and earwings
The microphone works just fine when you are in a quiet room but if you are trying to use it in a noisy gym or on the street, you will realize that it picks up a lot of noise and chatter.
Sound Quality
Unlike many other sports earbuds, Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 are not bass-heavy. The bass is recessed, maybe even a bit too much. It is present but unimpressive. Mids and highs sound much better than the bass. The mids are pronounced and very detailed. All the vocals are very clear. The treble is nice and clean. Sibilance is barely noticeable (at high volumes).
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 are definitely not the loudest earbuds on the market but they are not too quiet.
The Competition
Phaiser BHS-790
Phaiser BHS-790 earbuds are just slightly cheaper than the Optoma NuForce BE Sport3. In terms of design and build quality, we prefer BE Sport3 but BHS-790 earbuds are not far behind and have the same basic shape with angled earbuds and earwings. Both earbud models come in rich packagings with many accessories (ear tips, earwings, cable clips, carrying cases).
Both models are water resistant – BHS-790 is IPX6-certified and BE Sport3 is IPX5-certified.
BE Sport3 delivers longer playtime (10 hours compared to 5 hours).
Both models feature Bluetooth 4.1 with aptX support and they both have 3-button in-line controls and built-in mics.
BHS-790 delivers punchier bass, but less detailed mids and brighter highs.
Anker Soundcore Spirit Pro
This is another very similar model or sports earbuds. When it comes to design, BE Sport3 is still a winner (at least, in our opinion) even though Spirit Pro features the same basic shape. Spirit pro also comes with a bunch of accessories (ear tips, earwings, carrying pouch).
It’s really hard to decide which model is better when it comes to build quality. They both look very solid and durable. Anker Soundcore Spirit Pro features IP68 rating (dust resistant and fully waterproof) while Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 is only IP55-certified (dust and water resistant).
Spirit Pro features Bluetooth 4.2 and BE Sport3 features Bluetooth 4.1. They both have aptX support and in-line controls with built-in mics.
They both deliver the same playtime (10 hours).
In terms of sound quality, Anker Soundcore Spirit Pro earbuds deliver stronger bass but BE Sport3 delivers more detailed mids and cleaner highs.
Anker SoundBuds Slim+
Anker SoundBuds Slim+ earbuds are significantly cheaper than the Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 and they are one the best cheap alternatives. They feature the same design but BE Sport3 earbuds still look better thanks to those colorful ear tips and earwings.
BE Sport3 earbuds also look and feel just a little bit sturdier. SounBuds Slim+ earbuds are IPX5-certified while the BE Sport3 earbuds are IP55-certified.
They both feature Bluetooth 4.1 with aptX support, and they both have in-line controls with built-in mics.
BE Sport3 earbuds deliver longer playtime (10 hours compared to 7 hours).
SoundBuds Slim+ earbuds are really heavy on the bass while the mids, especially the lower midrange is muffled. BE Sport3 earbuds deliver better balance and more detailed mids and highs.
Comparison Table
| Earbuds | Playtime (at 50% vol.) | Waterproofness |
|---|---|---|
| Nuforce BE Sport3 | Up to 10 hours | IP55 |
| Phaiser BHS-790 | Up to 5 hours | IPX6 |
| Anker Soundcore Spirit Pro | Up to 10 hours | IP68 |
| Anker SoundBuds Slim+ | Up to 7 hours | IPX5 |
Final Thoughts
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 is a great pair of sports earbuds. They are attractive, durable, water (sweat) and dust resistant, they deliver satisfying performance, sound quality, and playtime. The price is maybe a little bit higher (compared to generic brands) but it is on par with the overall quality and performance. If you don’t mind those minor issues we’ve mentioned and if you need something durable and reliable for your workouts and other sports activities, you won’t regret buying these earbuds.
Hello, my name is James Longman.
I’m a writer and editor at AudioReputation. I disassembled my first portable AM/FM radio when I was only 8. At the age of 11, I burned the circuit board on my old boombox cassette player. I’m not going to explain how but it was reckless and stupid.
Since then, I have become much more careful around radios, boomboxes, and other audio devices (at least, I like to think so) but I have never lost the passion for audio equipment. Throughout 20 years of my professional career, I’ve been working for various audio equipment manufacturers and even started building speakers on my own in my little workshop.
I love the work we do here at AudioReputation. Testing, comparing, and evaluating all kinds of audio devices (speakers, soundbars, headphones, home theater systems, etc.) is something I truly enjoy. I try to be unbiased and give you my honest opinion on every piece of equipment I test. Still, you should take my reviews with a pinch of salt and always be just a little bit skeptical. The fact that I liked some speaker or soundbar doesn’t mean that you are going to love it. If you have the opportunity, you should test it/hear it before buying it.