SENS Hendriks 1 review: A decent basic TWS

SENS is a relatively new brand in India, just entering the smart wearables and TWS market with a diverse portfolio of Indian products. SENS audio products are named after famous musicians (“Hendriks”, “Cnatra”, “Alvis” and “MJ”) and their smartwatches are named after scientists (“Edyson” and “Nuton”). We used their entry level TWS product, the SENS Hendriks 1, and tested it for about a week. The wireless headset is currently available for purchase at an introductory price of Rs 1,699. Here is our SENS Hendriks 1 review.

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SENS Hendriks 1 review: Design

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SENS Hendriks 1 comes in a compact square box that includes a charging case with headphones inside, USB Type-C charging cable, extra silicone tips, user manual, warranty card and product catalog.

The construction and overall design are the highlights of TWS. The charging case is made entirely of metal (zinc alloy) and comes in “Gun Metal Grey”. The case seems quite robust and is able to withstand a lot of damage. The lid is easy to open and close with one finger and the hinge is quite strong. Because it is made of metal, the charging case cools down very quickly in low temperatures. Although it may be heavier compared to other TWS, you can easily walk around with the case in your pocket.

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The Hendriks 1 design has been kept completely minimal. There is a small lip around the lid that extends to the hinge and essentially divides the case into two segments. In the lower segment, just below the lid, you will find the SENS logo printed on the case. A small notification light is located at the bottom of the front panel. The charging port goes to the bottom of the case.

While the charging case may weigh around 70 grams, the earphones are extremely light, weighing just 3.5 grams each. You hardly notice them in your ear and you can easily keep them in for hours. There is a small notification on the touch panel of each handset. The design is all plastic.

The in-ear design together with the silicone tips provide a very comfortable and snug fit. For those not comfortable with the fit, the TWS comes with a small pack of extra tips of various sizes. The horizontal stems are touch sensitive and can be used to control music and calls.

Thanks to IPX5 protection, the headphones can withstand low-pressure water spray without any damage. For a TWS in the entry-level category, that’s an impressive rating. We used TWS during the exercise and handled the task expertly. The fit remained undisturbed throughout the workout, even when things got sweaty. The touch controls are easy to use and we were quite surprised to see very minimal accidental touch detection.

SENS Hendriks 1 review: Performance

While the Hendriks 1 certainly impressed us in terms of construction, design and usability, we wanted some improvements in terms of performance. Let’s take a deep dive into what our experience with the SENS Hendriks 1 was after a week of use.

The Hendriks 1 features 10mm drivers on each earpiece and claims a connection range of 12 meters. However, we did experience some drops and lag after moving 5-6 meters away from the connected device. If you intend to use these headphones with your smartphone, range won’t be an issue as long as you keep your smartphone with you.

Moving on to the most important part of the review, the sound profile of the SENS Hendriks 1 is slightly underwhelming. The audio output sounds a bit boxy and muffled. While this works well for casual listening, the Hendriks 1 failed to produce much detail in its sound profile. Bass is constantly drowned out by higher frequencies. The overall mix feels like it lacks some of the depth that would be present if the lower frequencies were emphasized. The ideal volume range for listening to the Hendriks 1 is 40-60%, beyond which you will notice a slight increase in the distortion of the sound profile.

Call sound quality was decent and the microphone works well in quiet environments, delivering voice to the recipient without much interference. Both earpieces are equipped with a microphone, so you can use one earpiece to make a call while the other is charging inside the box.

Touch control works smoothly when listening to music or during a call. Since there is no dedicated app for TWS, you cannot customize the controls. A single tap on either earbud changes the music volume, while a double tap plays or pauses the track. Long touch to skip back and forth between tracks. The Hendriks 1 also comes with Voice Assistant support that can be activated by triple tapping the stem.

SENS claims battery life of up to 4.5 hours on each earbud and another 30 hours in the case. These figures were in line with our tests, as we got more than 4 hours of battery life even when playing music at higher volumes. The 450mAh charging case was good enough to provide 5-6 charging cycles. The case can be fully charged in about 90 minutes, while the headphones can reach 20% charge in 20 minutes.

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Statement

Priced at Rs 1,699, the SENS Hendriks 1 is not a bad deal for casual music listeners. If you’re looking for an affordable, durable pair of headphones that provide great battery life, you might want to check out the Hendriks 1 TWS. However, if you don’t want to compromise on audio output, there may be some better contenders that are only a few hundred rupees more expensive than the Hendriks 1.

Professionals

Solid construction

Clean design

Battery life

Disadvantages

The sound profile has room for improvement

The connection quality drops after 5-6 meters

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