Chic Styles

I tried the PaMu Scrolls on every possible occasion, testing them both in call and in listening to audio and video files. Here’s what I think.

Why did I decide to review them? Simply because of people are eagerly waiting to know how they really work and if it’s worth it, so I decided to put them under stress on as many occasions as possible. So I decided to contact Padmate Tech, the company that produces these PaMu Scrolls, to send me a pair of them to try. My curiosity was great and I could not wait for my personal PaMu Scroll to arrive. To purchase PaMu Scrolls and learn more about them, all you have to do is go to the Moldac.

WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY OFFER

PaMu Scroll are the latest generation Bluetooth in ear wireless earphones that promise excellent listening and ease of use.

The technical characteristics are reported below:

• leather charging case
• auto power off and auto power on
• touch surface for music and call controls, as well as to activate Siri and Google Assistant
• resistance to water and dust IPX6
• Bluetooth 5.0
• automatic pairing between right and left headphones
• wireless charging (with optional accession that sale separately)
• very light (5 grams)
• about 3.5 hours battery life for a single fully charged

THE FIRST APPROACH WITH THE PAMU SCROLL

The PaMu Scrolls I have are in the black color. The leather case is very beautiful, as a lover of minimalist design, I would have preferred “less doodles”. But we’re talking about aesthetic minorities.

The construction is really well done and the leather details give a premium feel, probably greater than many other much more expensive headphones.

Here it is. I would like to talk about this. I don’t know whether to treat these PaMu Scrolls as $ 39 headphones (about € 40 including shipping) or as if they cost $ 150 (about € 150 with shipping). In fact, you must know that the current price of $ 39 is dedicated to those who purchase them on Indiegogo. It is clear that the claims from a headset with a market value of $ 150 are significantly higher than one that costs $ 39, so I will try to take these two situations into account.

The cylindrical case is not the maximum comfort to carry around with you and in your pocket. It is not the best object to carry in your daily life. However, it is small and does not take too much space in the pockets of the backpack or handbag. Bringing it with us every day is a must, if we don’t want to lose the small PaMu Scrolls, not to mention that it allows us to recharge them twice(thanks to the integrated 500 mAh battery ).

The 4 blue LEDs that show us the percentage of dump energy of the case are nice and useful. With 4 LEDs lit it means that the battery is 100%, with 3 at 75%, with 2 at 50% and with 1 at 25%. With 0 it means that we no longer have any remaining charge in the case and we will have to recharge it. It can be recharged by means of a microUSB cable (in a pack, a pity due to the absence of Type-C) or a PaMu wireless charging receiver if we purchase the accessory separately.

PAIRING WITH IPHONE, ANDROID, MAC AND PC AND CONNECTION STABILITY

The first pairing with iPhone was disarmingly simple. I remove the protective film from headphones, not even the time to remove them from the case and have already paired each other.

I put them to my ear, they connected with the iPhone in an instant (I have an iPhone 6s, so I can’t even use Bluetooth 5.0 but I still feel satisfied). First beep that tells me I’m pairing right and left, second beep that tells me I’m pairing even with iPhone. Everything lasted a few seconds and I was ready to listen to some songs.

The second and third device pairing was instead more problematic. Once connected to the iPhone I could not connect them with the Mac, except after turning off the iPhone’s Bluetooth, restarting the Mac and pairing again.

Moreover, after having paired them with the Mac, I found myself in difficulty to use them again on the iPhone, so that I had to unpair them and re-couple them in order to use them again. All this, however, I believe is due to the limitations of Bluetooth 4.2 in managing multiple devices together. I had the same problem with other bluetooth headphones in the past. I must also say that I had this “problem” only initially and it did not show up again later. I also consider the scope of the Bluetooth connection to be excellent, in my case I exceeded the 10 meter range declared by the manufacturer.

It happened to me once, finally, that the two headphones weren’t perfectly in sync. It was a limit situation (Spotify free but offline due to lack of signal and telephone drained in energy saving).

AUDIO LISTENING TEST: MUSIC

I tell you one thing right away, pay the utmost attention to which silicone adapter you choose. Because choosing it will completely change your listening experience.

It applies to most in-ear headphones but for these PaMu Scrolls even more. With the S size, in fact the audio was really scarce enough to make me worry, even with the M, which is usually my size, the situation didn’t improve too much. Once the size L was placed, the largest and most present inside the package, as well as the M and S, things changed radically.

Personally I will use two sizes, depending on the use:

• size M to have less insulation from external noise to the detriment of a worse listening quality;
• size L to have the highest quality listening with isolation at the highest levels (in the end it will be my final choice).
• I would be a liar if I told you that they are the best in-ear bluetooth headphones we’ve ever tried in terms of audio quality.

Of course, besides the Meizu EP51 and the Nokia Active (of which I haven’t told you since they are not dedicated to our market, but I could do it in the future) I haven’t tried anything else in depth (obviously excluding the over ear like these Parrot Zik 3 ).

But I can safely tell you that I don’t regret the 3.5mm jack headphones after trying these PaMu Scrolls, which had never happened to me before.

The bass is so deep that it makes many competitors pale, with the right silicone adapter the external noises disappear almost completely and the sense of spatiality is incredible.

The words Enhanced Bass on their Indiegogo page had made me fear the worst, but in reality the basses are so beautiful and full-bodied but never bother, leaving the right space for high and medium.

Even at high volume, something I never recommend doing with in-ear headphones and headphones in general, PaMu never distort and audio is always clean.

Interestingly, there is a master headphone, which is the main one. It is the right. If in fact we want to listen to the sound with just one headphone, you can do it with the right one, putting the left in the case. However, we cannot do the opposite.

The touch surface on the headset is very good and precise. So precise that we need to get carried away because it is really sensitive. With a single touch, either on the right or on the left, we can play or pause the song.

With a double tap on the right headphone we can send the song forward, while with the double tap on the left headphone we recall Siri or Google Assistant.

Unfortunately it is not possible to increase or decrease the volume directly from the headphones.

AUDIO LISTENING TEST: VIDEO

With my iPhone 6s, which has neither Bluetooth 5.0 nor aptX (why Apple, why ??) there are some delays, albeit small, between audio and video. In short, the usual problem of Bluetooth and latency. But the fault is not of the PaMu Scroll but of the device.

The litmus test must in fact be carried out with a Bluetooth 5.0 certified device or that is at least aptX certified. In these cases the delay is absent, not only in perception but also in reality.

If you have Bluetooth headphones and you are curious to check the audio delay, here is a simple and quick test.

AUDIO LISTENING TEST: SPORT

This section will try to update it more accurately in the future. For now, after a week of intense use, I can tell you that I have never had any problems with these PaMu Scroll.

In short: no problem of falling (but here depends on the choice of the right silicone, from your ears and a thousand other factors), no ear discomfort and zero vibration problems or heavy sounds (obviously, since there is no cable dangling).

CALL TEST

First of all, one thing must be said. The master headset also has priority in this case. If you prefer to call with only one headset (earphone type, in my opinion mandatory with in-ear headphones like these that otherwise will make your voice feel different), you can do it but only with the right. If you put your right hand in the case instead the headphones will disconnect from the device.

Not very fond of talking with in ear wireless earbuds, I really appreciated the possibility of using these PaMu Scrolls like a classic bluetooth headset.

Placing the left in the case to charge, the right in the ear remains active and we can continue talking.

The audio quality in call (of the microphone) is excellent, my interlocutor told me that my voice was clear and crystal clear. Not only. I used my low tone of voice, without ever having to raise my voice. Even speaking in a low voice, if there are no noises around, I still felt good on the other side.

More difficult if we find ourselves in very noisy places. If on the street you can talk quietly enough, by train (regional, very noisy) I really struggled to make myself heard by the interlocutor.

The quality is slightly better if we keep both headphones with both microphones on (each headphone has its own microphone), but we’re talking about trifles. In fact, Padmate declares these PaMus as “Binaural Audio Call”, but I can assure you that even with just one the interlocutor feels good.

It is still incredible and I was very surprised by the fact that with these headphones, which have a microphone very far from my mouth, they felt great, as if I had my phone on my ear.

None, and I mean none, of the bluetooth headphones tried so far by me had reached such a level, although they had the microphone on the cable that passes behind the neck and therefore decidedly closer to the mouth.

The audio quality of the calls didn’t make me crazy instead. In my case, unlike the classic headphones with the cable at my disposal (Apple EarPods) or listening to the earpiece of the smartphone (iPhone 6s), the sound was slightly more dirty, with a little bit of noise always present.

Nothing serious, let it be clear, the noise is perceptible only if you are in a room with complete silence as in my case, but it must be said that there is and, for the most picky and attentive to this, you can hear.

However I don’t feel to consider it a negative side until I will be able to test them also in call with other devices that support Bluetooth 5.0 and / or aptX, because I am quite convinced that, as in the previous case, also this time the fault is to be blamed on the device ( iPhone).

On the other hand, the incoming call notice is not very professional, and even malfunctioning. Overlapping the ringtone in the headphones you can hear a low volume voice that tells us, in English, the number that is calling us. Too bad you do not feel and it is also ugly to feel superimposed on the ringtone.

Attention should also be paid to the touch surface of the headset. With a touch on the right or left headset we can answer the incoming call, with a double tap to reject it. It happened to me several times to reject it by mistake, surely it is very sensitive and we must be shaken.

The same if you want to use only one classic Bluetooth headset (my favorite mode, since I can’t really talk to both in-ear because I hear my voice muffled). I happened to answer the call and hold the left headset in my hand, and accidentally touched the touch surface to put the call down.

Excellent integration with Siri, with a double tap on the left earphone we can activate voice assistance and ask to call a person (in addition to all other operations allowed by voice assistance of course).

COMFORT

Against all my best expectations I must admit that the comfort with these PaMu Scrolls is excellent. Let me be clear, in my opinion it remains lower than that of the classic headphones (like Apple AirPods), but to be in-ear it is really high.

I have worn them without problems for several hours, both on call (only one) and on listening to music on the train (passive soundproofing is excellent, the sound quality is excellent and no outside noise can be heard) and I had no problem, indeed I found them very comfortable.

However it must be said that the “in-ear problems” remain, that is vacuum sensation, which is obvious if we want to have a noise suppression. In short, it depends on what you are looking for and your preferences.

AUTONOMY, RECHARGE, HOUSING

The thing that immediately catches your eye is the ease of taking them and putting them inside the case. Which, I assure you, is not guaranteed by most of these headphones.

Thanks to the magnets it will be easy to take them and put them in the right position to put them back on.

However I have noticed that sometimes they have to be placed from time to time after having put them back in the case because it can happen that, “supporting it” without making too much case, the pins do not change perfectly and consequently they will not recharge. In reality there is a small plastic pin that allows us to position them in an optimal way, it is enough to make our hand.

It happened to me a couple of times, nothing problematic, also because we immediately notice it thanks to the status LEDs.

Both headphones in fact have a micro LED that turns red when charging, blue when they are pairing and active and connected with a device.

AUTONOMY

Once placed in the case, the PaMu Scrolls immediately go into recharge, unless they are already 100%. So the charge of the case will not last long.

When the case no longer has enough charge, the headphones exit the “off” mode and turn on by connecting to our nearest device.

This unfortunately is not the best because doing so will remain accessible and consume battery. The only option is to disconnect them or turn off the bluetooth of our device so that they go into stand-by mode and consume less.

In my first test I used the PaMu Scrolls for the following period:

• 2 hours of listening to music on the train
• 1 hour of music listening on foot
• 1 hour call
• about 3 hours of listening to home music divided between Mac and iPhone
• For a total of about 7 and a half hours / 8 hours mixed listening music (and video) and calls. Enough to complete a day full of listening to music and calls.

The autonomy declared by Padmate Tech is equal to 3.5 hours in listening to music and 5 hours in call, in addition of course to the charge given by the case. So I would say that the declared data is respected.

If you can listen for over 3 consecutive hours with in-ear headphones (but also with any other headphones that are not over-ear) I bow.

However, the fact that the headphones consume energy even if placed in the case remains a negative point. You can hardly do more than 5 days even without using them!

Consider that the competition (Apple AirPods, but also the Zolos), once put away in the case, guarantee over two weeks of standby charge, some even more as they are almost never discharged when stored. Another thing about the maximum 5 days of these PaMu Scrolls.

Bad so from this point of view. A 25% draining per day is too high a figure, which I can hardly explain to myself. Probably the company wanted to save on this aspect to keep costs down.

It must be said, however, that Padmate Tech has never hidden these values. On their page on Indiegogo they state:

• 3.5 hours of music
• 5 hours on call
• up to 100 hours in stand-by (therefore just over 4 days if stored in the case, even if not used)
• A tight draft is therefore due with regard to autonomy, which is behind competition to a large extent due to excessive consumption even in stand-by, although the company transparently declares this data.

Even considering the autonomy of the headsets in sound more than good listening, the inadequacy on the general autonomy caused by the draining in stand-by did not allow me to give these PaMu Scrolls a rating higher than 6.0 as regards this aspect .

RECHARGING TIMES

According to Padmate Tech, the PaMu Scrolls have a recharge time of two hours. The same applies to the case, which in turn allows you to top up them up to twice.

I can’t tell you if these times are respected, I noticed in fact that the recharge is faster than indicated, but I never completely downloaded the PaMu Scrolls during my use.

CONCLUSIONS

So, in the end, how do you think these PaMu Scrolls really are? Are the $ 39 right or are they priced at that price?

Before I arrived, I admit, I was expecting nothing but normal basic headphones. The price on Indiegogo equal to $ 39 is instead a unique occasion, because you really don’t find anything at this comparable figure.

Unfortunately I have never tried neither the IconX of Samsung nor the Apple AirPods, but I know that they are (almost) the reference in the sector. However the quality of these PaMu Scrolls is excellent, the case is very comfortable, the pairing is very fast and the microphones are really surprising.

The price of $ 150, requested at the end of the Indiegogo campaign, is a bit too pretentious for a brand that is unknown to date, which would exceed the street price of Apple’s AirPods (which are the top in terms of integration for Apple devices) and yes it would be dangerously close to Samsung’s Icon X (which has an advanced technology for active noise reduction as well as fitness functions).

In my opinion these PaMu Scrolls would be very well on the market with a price around 100 Euros, on this there is no doubt and I am convinced that their value is absolutely this. Attention, however, to autonomy: that is acceptable only on a product sold, in fact, for 40 Euros.

If you have the opportunity to buy them on Indiegogo, knowing that it is not a real purchase but a loan to the company with the hope that you will send them sooner or later, do not let them escape.