Laser 3 in 1 Audio Bundle review: Triple threat

Affordable but uneven.

Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle
Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle
2.3 out of 5 stars
2.25
Price
From $49.95
Includes
Over-ear Bluetooth headphones + in-ear true wireless earbuds + portable speaker
Fergus Halliday
Oct 23, 2024
Icon Time To Read6 min read
Quick verdict: Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle

Laser's affordable audio bundle gives you a lot of tech to play with but plenty to complain about. Each part of the bundle has its charms as well as compromises. For better or worse, you get what you pay for.

pro
Pros
pro Wireless Bluetooth Headphones sound better than expected
pro $49 is a great price
pro Portable speaker has nice aesthetics
con
Cons
con True wireless earbuds suffer from noise bleed
con Cheap feel-factor
con Portable speaker isn't very loud

How much does the Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle cost in Australia?

Starts at $49.95
Laser 3 in 1 Audio Bundle

In Australia, the Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle starts at $49.95. On paper, that's a pretty compelling price-tag for the holy trinity of on-the-go audio gear. There aren't that many brands out there that sell any single part of the bundled tech seen here piecemeal at such a low price, let alone all three.

Even so, you might be able to save even more if you shop around. Take a look at the table below for a round-up of Australian deals for the Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle.

Store
Price
More info
Amazon
$49
Kogan
$49
Big W
$49
Gladstone Hi-Fi
$99

Laser True Wireless Earbuds: Are they any good?

Laser 3 in 1 Audio Bundle - True Wireless Earbuds

On paper, the true wireless earbuds that comprise one third of the Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle are the most tantalising tech in the package. Alternatives to Apple's iconic true wireless earbuds are commonplace but a price-tag this thrifty isn't. Even if you were paying the entire recommended retail price for these alone, you'd still be paying a whole lot less than you might for the likes of the new AirPods 4.

Powered by Bluetooth 5.3, these in-ear headphones arrive in a small carry-case that's a natural complement to the compact size of the earbuds themselves. This accessory is square in shape with rounded corners and a single USB-C port on the bottom-end of it.

Flip the lid open and you'll find what you're looking for. Laser's take on true wireless are made of a comparable black plastic material that's lightweight but hardly luxury-grade.

As you'd expect, the form-factor here is similar to the likes of the Apple's AirPods and the more recent Galaxy Buds3 Pro. These headphones hang on your ear canals but there's no ear-tips to extend inside them. This detail may make them a more comfortable fit for some than others. While I didn't encounter any major issues wearing these while at home or the train, they could not keep up during workouts or treadmill-based workouts.

As for battery life, it's also very much a case of getting what you pay for. The Laser True Wireless Earbuds earbuds offer around 4 hours of playback on a single charge. There's no official estimate for how many recharges you can get out of the case but the math here works out to be around seven or eight recharges.

Each earbud has a touch sensor build into the step that's used for various inputs. This control scheme is fairly standard, but the everyday experience of relying on it was janky even compared to other budget earbuds. Half the time, I'd have to blindly fumble with these earbuds to get them to do what I want and, since there's no feedback chime, I'd often accidentally hit the trigger more times than I intended.

All this would be perhaps forgivable if the sound quality surpassed my expectations. Unfortunately, noise-bleed proved to be a major issue for the Laser True Wireless Earbuds. One thing you don't get here is noise-cancelling and that omission is something that colored every second I spent listening to music, audiobooks and podcasts.

Subjected to our usual earbuds testing regime, Laser's true wireless earbuds fared pretty poorly. Pink Floyd and The Weeknd aside, they flubbed every single test track we threw at them. All told, they produced the second worst result we've ever seen from a set of earbuds. That's not the bottom of the barrel, but the gap between them and last place isn't that big.

The Laser True Earbuds work more or less as intended but are difficult to recommend from a comfort, sound quality and battery life perspective. The only advantage they have is price and that'll only get you so far when every other front is as iffy as it is.

icon-expertise

How we review wireless earbuds

When we review earbuds, broadly speaking, we're looking at five main considerations:

  • Sound: Obviously. Do they sound good? 
  • Comfort & Design: Are they nice to wear? 
  • Features: Is the battery good? Is the connectivity reliable? What's the noise-cancelling like?
  • Vibe: What's the overall experience like? 
  • Value: Are they good for the money?

While audio products can be quite subjective for many reasons, we have standardised testing procedures across the team designed to help us look at the category in a consistent way. You can read more about how we review wireless earbuds here

Laser Wireless Bluetooth Headphones: Are they any good?

Laser 3 in 1 Audio Bundle - Bluetooth headphones

If you find the true wireless earbuds that arrive with the Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle aren't quite doing it for you, these wireless headphones are very much intended to pick up the slack.

Design-wise, what you see is what you get. There's a plastic headband with a few notches of adjustability and some light padding on the ear cusions. The earcups can also be folded away, which is nice-to-have but as close as you'll get when it comes to premium features. 

The material design seen in the Laser Wireless Bluetooth Headphones is as thrifty and plastic as you'd expect given the price. All the control keys here can be found on the left earcup. There's a set of pause, play and volume keys. There's also a USB-C port used for charging and a headphone jack for those who want to stay old school.

As for battery life, these headphones swing above their weight. The Laser Wireless Bluetooth headphones tout a solid 20 hours of playback on a single charge. That's pretty solid, even if it the form-factor involved is a little less impressive.

While the fit here isn't the most comfortable, the Laser Wireless Bluetooth Headphones did hold up to our usual head-bang test. What's more, they sounded better than I expected. This is mostly because they feature passive noise-cancellation. This is not the same as or on-par with the more sophisticated noise cancelling tech found in the likes of the Sonos Ace, but it's not nothing. Passive noise cancellation mostly means that ear cushions do a good job of isolating you from the outside world.

Subjected to the same gauntlet of tracks we threw at Laser's earbuds, I came away surprisingly impressed with what the Laser Wireless Bluetooth headphones could do. While it struggled to navigate the cacophonous chaos of the "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "The Funeral Portrait" it did rate much higher than the likes of Kmart's Anko wireless headphones.

All told, the noise cancellation here isn't on par with what more high-end options will get you. Even so, the size of the drivers and the more traditional acoustic design get Laser's budget-friendly Bluetooth headphones surprisingly far.

icon-expertise

How we review over-ear headphones

When we review over-ear wireless headphones, there are five main considerations:

  • Sound: Do they sound good? Audio quality is pretty important for headphones, after all.
  • Comfort & Design: Are they comfortable to wear over extended periods of time?
  • Features: How long does the battery last? Is the connectivity reliable? Is the noise-cancelling good?
  • Vibe: What's the overall experience?
  • Value: Are they good for the money?

While audio products can be quite subjective for many reasons, we have standardised testing procedures across the team designed to help us look at the category in a consistent way. You can read more about how we review over-ear headphones here.

Laser Portable Bluetooth Speaker: Is it any good?

Laser 3 in 1 Audio Bundle - portable speaker

As far as the three parts of the bundle go, the Laser's square-shaped wireless speaker is a clear front-runner in the looks department. It arrives clad in a coarse fabric on the front and a rubberised plastic on the back.

In addition to the fabric loop on the top of the unit, there's also a set of bands on the other sides that can be used to hang the speaker up somewhere. Unfortunately, neither of these inclusions has all that much give or flexibility. It's better than nothing but there's definitely a tight leash on what you can realistically do with the hardware.

The back of the Laser Portable Bluetooth Speaker is where you'll find the usual power and pairing keys. The former can also be peeled away to reveal the USB-C port that's used for charging.

Annoyingly, Laser forgot to put any sort of volume or audio control keys on this thing. When it comes to that stuff, you're relying entirely on whatever device you've got the speaker connected to. That's not necessarily a deal-breaker but if we tend to favor speakers that give you more options as better for more situations, this is very much the other side of that line.

While the Laser Portable Bluetooth Speaker does win some points for not over-complicating something that should be simple, it does lose a few for how it sounds.

Music played through the speaker couldn't compete with the likes of the Ultimate Ears Miniroll on either volume or fidelity. Even at its highest setting, the Laser portable speaker was barely loud enough to fill a room and it definitely lost something in terms of the quality and detail of the soundscapes it was tasked with projecting.

The battery life was another weak point. The Laser Portable Bluetooth speaker offers 3 hours of playback on a charge. It takes almost just as long to charge it back up afterwards. That's well behind what it's competition can offer. A little bit of fast-charging would have gone a long way here.

That's not to say it's all bad news though. The price is pretty hard to beat and what you're getting here does come with a few premium perks, such as IPX5 water resistance and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. There's even support for pairing two speakers together to offer stereo audio.

Ultimately, the Laser Portable Bluetooth speaker is the best looking but most compromised aspect of the bundle. The design here swings above its weight but the battery life, audio quality and technical shortcomings add up to something that's hard to live with, even with the thrifty price-tag.

icon-expertise

How we review portable speakers

When it comes to reviewing and ranking portable speakers, we put them through the paces of everyday use, depending on what they’re designed for. We spend a lot of time listening to a variety of music, comparing them to whichever speakers are our typical go-to options.

We like portable speakers that are as easy to set up as possible. Ideally, things should just work. You shouldn't need to connect to the internet or tinker with software.

Similarly, we believe that connectivity is important and favour speakers that offer the user plenty of options. The more versatile a speaker is in terms of its uses, the more potential uses it has and the greater its overall value.

Laser 3-in-1 Audio Bundle: Is it worth the money?

Laser 3 in 1 Audio Bundle

$49 is an exceptional price to pay for some Bluetooth headphones, a set of true wireless earbuds and a portable speaker. However, the reality of living with that hardware is that no single part of the package is without compromise. Even as someone who likes to advocate for more affordable tech, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend saving up a little bit more money and buying smart rather than buying in bulk.

You don't have to look hard or spend that much more to find an alternative to the headphones, earbuds or speaker that you're getting here. The Laser tech that you're getting with this bundle isn't without its charms, but it rarely outruns the sense that it's been built to be replaced.

Fergus Halliday
Written by
Fergus Halliday is a journalist and editor for Reviews.org. He’s written about technology, telecommunications, gaming and more for over a decade. He got his start writing in high school and began his full-time career as the Editor of PC World Australia. Fergus has made the MCV 30 Under 30 list, been a finalist for seven categories at the IT Journalism Awards and won Most Controversial Writer at the 2022 Consensus Awards. He has been published in Gizmodo, Kotaku, GamesHub, Press Start, Screen Rant, Superjump, Nestegg and more.

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