Mifo S Sport & Outdo review: Tiny earbuds for sports and... sleeping?

Price and availability

The Mifo S earbuds are currently available for just under $150 via both Amazon and the Sport & Outdo online store. Exclusively for NextPit-readers, the manufacturer Sport & Outdo provided us with a discount code that you can use until July 31, 2022. If you enter the code "mifoSSSS", you will benefit from a 20% discount. There's only one thing left to do: you have to pick a color-variant in either black or white – both with eye-catching prints.

Find out more about the Mifo S on the Sport & Outdo homepage

Note: The manufacturer Sport & Outdo paid a reimbursement for this article. This had no influence on the content and the rating.

Design & fit: Magically disappeared

The Mifo S earbuds are designed to be used for sports and while sleeping. That's the reason the earbuds are particularly tiny and ultra-light weighing in at only 3.5 grams. The charging-case is quite the opposite as it's somewhat bulky. Sport & Outdo decided not only to build it out of metal, but to integrate a clever folding mechanism – Why? Because it's fun – that's why!

Likes:

• Super cozy in your ears
• Usable while swimming or during rain
• High-quality charging-case made of metal

Dislikes:

• Very unique design

Let's be honest: Personally, I don't really fancy the design of the Mifo S. From a purely functional perspective however, the tiny earbuds are really great for sports. Each earbud fits comfortably and almost flush into your ear – and they don't tend to fall out while exercising. At the same time, they are not uncomfortable even while wearing them for a long time. According to the manufacturer, they are comfortable enough to stay in your ear while sleeping.

After using the Mifo S for some time, I can only partly agree on this. Yes, you can sleep on your back wearing the headphones. If you sleep on your side, you'll have to live with an unpleasant suction-effect despite the narrow profile, which is rather uncomfortable. You can also wear the headphones while swimming as they're protected with an IPX7-rating. Though they can withstand permanent submersion, the touch-sensitive surfaces on each side are activated when they come into contact with water – a well-known problem of waterproof headsets.

While the Earbuds are ultra-light at 3.5 grams, the charging-case is noticeably heavy with a weight of 71 grams. This is due to the metal finish, which hardly flexes even under strong pressure from my hands. Although this makes the headphones feel a bit more "high-quality", the high weight can be really annoying. The metal-case wobbles back and forth while running – I preferred to leave it at home after being annoyed on the first jog.

Like a jewelry box, the charging-case pops open once you press the button on the front. This allows you to remove the Earbuds only to snap the case shut again with an easy motion. That's fun, despite the flap getting stuck in the middle sometimes.

Companion-app & smart-features

The Mifo S come without a smartphone app to control features and equalizers. Thus, you have to control them via the touch-sensitive surfaces on the sides.

Likes:

• Dedicated sleep-mode

Dislikes:

• No companion-app
• Hardly any smart features

There is not too much to tell about the features of the Mifo S. Typical headphone functions like volume- and track-control aside, there's only a three-level control for the active noise cancellation (ANC). If you do not connect the Mifo S to a device and tap the right earbud thrice, you activate the sleep mode. During this, the ANC stays activated and all other features are turned off.

You'll wait in wain looking for clever functions like a wearing-detection, location-based ANC controls or 3D sound. Compared to other models, the manufacturer concentrates a bit too much on the basic functions. While this isn't too much of a problem, the lack of a companion-app does cause problems in everyday-life. You can't change the control-setup or activate an equalizer to change the Mifo's audio to your own taste. If you're buying the Mifo S, I have some good news for you: Sport&outdo is currently working on an app that will be launched in a few months.

What the Mifo S offer already, however, is a sleep mode and a low-latency mode – the former activates the ANC and ensures that the headphones do not turn off without a connected Bluetooth device. The low-latency mode on the other hand is supposed to reduce the latency during Bluetooth transmission. During a quick audio-sync-test, I did not see any differences turning the mode on and off, though.

Sound & ANC

According to the manufacturer, the Mifo S drivers cover a frequency range of 20 to 20,000 Hertz – that's pretty much standard for cheaper headphones. Although Sport & Outdo integrates a low-latency mode, the headphones rely solely on SBC and AAC in terms of bluetooth-codecs. A contradiction, since both codecs are not capable of lowering audio-latency. Anyway, let's have a listen.

Likes:

• Good ANC performance

Dislikes:

• Mushy sound
• Too heavy on bass
• No high-def codecs
• Partly jerky audio playback

Up to this point in my review, the Mifo S can be summarized as not particularly pretty, but quite comfortable in-ear-headphones for sports and recreation. Unfortunately, I was less convinced by the sound and the active noise cancellation.

The ANC is based on six microphones and definitely manages to suppress ambient noise. While testing, I could not detect any noise or interference, which would be typical for lower prized ANC-earbuds. The ANC-modes "Strong / weak ANC / Transparency mode" don't give you much control while wearing the headphones. Many alternatives allow you to control the ANC-effectivity in several easy steps, mixing the ANC and the transparency mode in the process. This is a practical and important feature, especially while cycling or running through dangerous vehicular environments like Berlin.

While the ANC is okay overall, the sound is below the standard other headphones priced at around $150 establish. It is too bass-heavy, mushy and cannot be adjusted via equalizer. If you expect maximum audio-quality, you'd have to look at other alternatives. Our contact at Sport & Outdo explained that the R&D had to find a compromise in audio-quality in order to make the earbuds smaller, lighter and to integrate the IPX7-rating. The main-focus is to change the background noise during workouts to your favorite podcast or artist – and this does work sufficiently with the Mifo S.

However, the headphones could have benefited from higher-quality Bluetooth codecs, since they only support SBC and AAC. Thus, you are bound to a technically very limited codec, at least in combination with Android-devices.

Battery & charging

The Mifo S offer a run-time of six hours with activated ANC. Afterwards, the headphones can be recharged almost five times via the included charging-case. This allows you to use the headphones independently from power-outlets for up to 40 hours. However, you will have to live without quick-charging or wireless-charging.

Likes:

• Excellent total runtime in combination with charging-case.
• Solid earbud-runtime of six hours (keep the tiny size in mind).
• Battery LEDs in charging cradle

Dislikes:

• No wireless-charging
• No fast-charging

I'm confidently able to confirm the manufacturer's claims in regards to battery-life. This means six hours of active music playback. Compared to other models, this is nothing special – but the Mifo S are particularly small. The battery life is correspondingly impressive, especially when you recharge them via the charging-case. The combined total runtime of 40 hours is top-notch and should even be enough for longer weekend trips.

Again, I must complain about a lack of features. Most headphones in 2022 offer fast-charging for example. Wireless charging is also missing, so you will always have to rely on a USB-C cable for juicing up your Mifo S. Excluding both functions was intentionally, as Sound&outdo told us and would cause problems with the longevity of the headphones. Wireless-charging on the other hand is missing because of the metal charging-case.