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Baseus Inspire XC1: Two minute review

In every headphone niche there are going to be the big-name players, and there are going to be the little-known challengers offering a more affordable or even more novel take on the form factor, and it’s no different with clip-on, cuff-style sets, which still count among the best open earbuds we've tested.

Open earbuds are a type of headphone which intentionally doesn’t block out surrounding sound, letting you hear what’s going on when you’re working out, going on a run outdoors or are on your commute, and clip-ons are one style which clips onto your ear, in a kind of cuff style, rather than a hook style that snakes behind the curve of your ear.

While this form factor is dominated by names like the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and, more recently, the Shokz OpenDots One, a few other brands offer something different, and Baseus is now one of them.

The Baseus Inspire XC1 are the third 'clipping' headphone from Baseus, so you’d hope the brand has some expertise it can bring. Their pitch is that they fix open-ears’ common sound quality problems by bringing Bose-tuned audio, support for Hi-Res Audio and LDAC availability, all for a relatively modest price.

To that end it was claimed at launch that the XC1 were the first open earbuds with two drivers per bud, an assertion which the aforementioned Shokz OpenDots One might take issue with, but that certainly shows a focus on sound quality.

It’s ironic, then, that the sound quality was a weaker point for these open earbuds. The sonic profile is warm yet ill-defined, so bass lacks punch and trebles and mids are missing something themselves. While some fitness users might enjoy this kind of indistinct wall of noise (something to tune out with, while focusing on your workout), audiophiles aren’t going to be impressed.

I also found that the buds’ bridge could pinch over long listening periods, which isn’t ideal, but I do mean long – I could listen for several hours before noticing the issue, so it won’t be a problem everyone faces. And the fit is reliable beyond that.

I’m starting this synopsis with two negatives, but there’s a lot to like about the Inspire XC1 beyond these pitfalls. The battery life is longer than on many rivals, for one thing, and the equalizer is advanced with several presets and plenty of customization. Also, the touch controls are easy-to-use and convenient.

That last point in particular is something I want to emphasize. The vast majority of headphones and earbuds do touch controls terribly but Baseus' solution was simple and easy – other brands could learn a thing or two here.

As mentioned above, the Baseus also undercuts both Bose's and Shokz’ alternatives, and offers good value for money when you compare their feature sets and audio qualities. If you don’t want to stretch your budget to reach for those pricier options, the Baseus Inspire XC1 option could be a good compromise.

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: Specifications

Component

Value

Water resistant

IP66

Battery life

8 hours (earbuds), 40 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.4

Weight

5.5g / Charging case: 55g

Driver

1x 10.8mm, 1x tweeter

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Announced in September 2025
• Priced at $129 (roughly £100, AU$200)
• Undercuts many rivals

The Baseus Inspire XC1 were released at the annual tech conference IFA in September 2025, alongside the XH1 over-ear headphones and XP1 in-ear buds.

At retail price, the Inspire XC1 cost $129 (roughly £100 or AU$200 but TechRadar wasn’t provided international release information prior to launch).

That price is in the ballpark of rivals, confirming that the Baseus product undercuts lots of its competition to a greater or lesser degree; the Huawei FreeClip, Shokz OpenDots and Bose Ultra Open earbuds all cost increasingly more.

But there are some well-respected options for cheaper still, including the JLab Flex Open and Anker Soundcore C40i. And let's not forget, Baseus itself has two other alternatives that undercut this, in the MC1 and BC1.

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Bud and counterweight connected by small hook
• Lightweight but can pinch after extended use
• Easy-to-use touch controls

For those of you who skipped the intro, the Baseus Inspire XC1 is a clip-style (or cuff-style, if you prefer) open-ear earbud. The latter hyphenation indicates that these are earbuds which don’t block your ear, so you can hear your surroundings, and the former signifies that instead of using a sports loop to hover over your ear, they clip onto your auricle, using a small earbud which nestles into your ear and a counterweight behind the ear which are linked by a plastic bridge.

Clipping earbuds always look frightfully unreliable but that’s rarely the case, and it’s not true for the XC1 either: the buds’ hold is reliable and I went on many hours of runs without any slipping or falling. However, it does pinch a little which, although only noticeable after sustained use, means they can stop being comfortable if you’re listening for long amounts of time. I also found myself knocking the behind-the-ear counterweight with my shoulder on occasion when I was stretching or rolling my head, but those were rare cases.

Each bud weighs roughly 5.5g, so they tip the scales to a similar degree as rivals, and they have an IP66 rating which certifies them against any kind of solid particles like dust, as well as high-pressure water jets… I think. Elsewhere in the information Baseus provided to TechRadar, it referred to the buds as having an IPX7 rating, which offers no proofing against dust but increased water resistance.

The counterweight has a small physical button, and you can customize what this does using the app – but by default, it pauses music. I found it pretty easy to pinch this to control my music once I got used to the position, and I’m glad Baseus isn’t trying to do anything more complex with its controls like some other brands.

The case weighs 54g and it’s fairly small, although that’s not saying much given that most clip-on earbuds have tiny cases. It opens horizontally and accepts either earbud in either hole, saving a lot of faff when you want to put the buds away.

• Design score: 4/5

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Not as many features as rivals
• Battery life is 8 hours, 40 hours with case
• EQ with lots of useful presets

The Baseus Inspire XC1 will offer you 8 hours of listening time in one go, according to the brand’s figures – my own testing didn’t raise any reasons to doubt this. That just a hair on the long side compared to lots of other rivals using this form factor.

Using the case, you can get an extra 32 hours of listening time, for 40 hours in total, and again lots of the Baseus’ rivals fall a little short.

Due to the form factor, there’s no noise cancellation – it’s not unheard of in open-ears, but it’s incredibly rare and so we don’t expect it.

Baseus offers an app with a few extra features including an equalizer, a low latency mode, the ability to customize touch controls, toggles to high-res audio and a feature I haven’t seen much of on headphones: a battery-saver mode. As someone who gets battery anxiety on long trips, this is certainly a welcome feature.

The equalizer comes with seven presets, including a Bose-designed one, but you can create your own sound mix using an eight-band EQ mode too.

I’ve never written this sentence about an earbud tie-in app before, but the Baseus app felt very slow to use on my powerful Android phone. This shouldn’t dictate your purchase decision but it’s just to say ‘no, your phone isn’t breaking down’.

• Features score: 4/5

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Two drivers per bud
• Muddied sound profile
• Support for several standards

Each bud of the Baseus Inspire XC1 gets two drivers: a 10.8mm woofer for low-end sounds and a balanced armature tweeter for high-end ones that we weren’t told the size of.

It’s rare to see a dual-driver open-ear, with most manufacturers opting not to kit out earbuds that will be competing with so many background sounds, but that’s not all. The buds also support higher-resolution audio and the LDAC codec if you switch them on in the app.

Listening to music, it’s clear that the sound is good quality, and that’s especially true if you do opt to make the most of the standards offered. And so you’re probably wondering why I criticized the audio before. Well, that comes down to the tuning.

The Inspire XC1 have a warm sound profile, with the woofer coming up clutch to support lots of bass. However it’s an ill-defined kind of bass, muddy and indistinct, a that’s an issue that plagues music as a whole: treble isn’t sharp, mids are mushy.

The result is that music seems to lack a lot of energy and spark. I don’t know about you, but lifeless tunes are the last thing I want with earbuds designed for exercise.

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just jump into the equalizer to fix the problem; I tried, and it didn’t really work. Other presets beyond the default (the Bose-tuned one, I must add) maintain the issue to a lesser or greater degree. If you’ve got the buds, I’d recommend opting for the Jazz Rock preset, which was the most energetic to my ears.

• Sound performance score: 3.5/5

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

The Baseus XC1 undercut a decent amount of the competition, including options which don’t offer substantially more for your money, although you can get alternatives that are a lot cheaper if you shop around.

Bearing in mind the cost and what you’re actually getting for your money, they offer a reasonable value set, letting you get all of the features of pricier rivals with a few downgrades to justify the cost.

• Value score: 4/5

Baseus Inspire XC1 review: scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

While they don't match premium options in terms of feature set, they don't in price either.

4/5

Design

They're not the most comfortable open-ears I've ever used, but they're lightweight and don't fall out.

4/5

Features

The equalizer is handy but beyond that there aren't any unique features and the battery life is about average/

4/5

Sound

I wasn't wowed by the Inspire XC1's audio chops, despite the hardware, but non-fussy workers-out will find them fine.

3.5/5

Baseus Inspire XC1: Should I buy?

(Image credit: Future)Buy them if...

You want something protected
I don't often see earbuds with an IP66 rating, with most opting for less protection against dust ingress and sometimes just sweat resistance, instead of the ability to survive jets of water.

You know your way around an equalizer
I appreciate how much customization Baseus offers over your music. You've got plenty of presets for people who don't want to fuss over their tuning, and a 10-band EQ for people who do.

You don't want to stretch for a name brand
Clip-on earbuds from well-known brands cost more, but Baseus offers most of those features for a lower price, even though it's not an out-and-out budget option.

Don't buy them if...

You're an audiophile
Despite the specs, I wasn't won over by the Baseus' sound quality, as it didn't offer energy in tunes. If you need perfectly-optimized music in order to enjoy your workout, you might not enjoy these buds.

You plan to wear for long periods
I could feel the Baseus on my ear after working out for an hour or longer, so if you're about to do an ultramarthon and want something comfortable, this isn't it.

Also consider

Component

Baseus Inspire XC1

Shokz OpenDots One

Huawei FreeClip

Water resistant

IP66

IP54

IP54

Battery life

8 hours (earbuds), 40 hours (total)

10 hours (earbuds), 40 hours (total)

8 hours (earbuds), 36 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

5.5g / Charging case: 54g

5.6g / Charging case: 52g

5.6g / Charging case: 44.5g

Driver

10.8mm, tweeter

2x 11.8mm

10.8mm

Shokz OpenDots One

For a little bit more money you can get these Shokz options, which are more comfortable to wear, sound better and come with a longer-lasting battery.

Read our full Shokz OpenDots One review

Huawei FreeClip

For roughly the same price as the Baseus, this option from well-known Chinese brand Huawei comes with similar specs in most areas. However its age means that you might be able to find it greatly discounted.

How I tested

(Image credit: Future)

I wore the Baseus Inspire XC1 for two weeks in order to write this review, which is TechRadar's standard testing time for headphones.

The buds were connected to my Android smartphone through the test. I used them on runs, on cycle rides, at the gym, on public transport, at home and on walks around my neighborhoor, mostly for music streaming but for some spoken word too.

I've been testing products for TechRadar since 2019 and this has included plenty of other workout headphones, as well as loads of open earbuds.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: September 2025

The Baseus XC1 are clip-on open earbuds with a few rough edges, but they're a valid alternative to pricier rivals.

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Webshare came into existence in 2018 to meet the fast-growing need for proxies. To achieve this, it provides proxy servers for individual users and organizations, fulfilling over 650 billion proxy requests per month. Its service includes access to 80 million+ static residential proxies, rotating residential proxies, and proxy servers in every country in the world (yes, that’s 195).

In 2024, Webshare officially came under the auspices of Oxylabs, another notable proxy server provider. However, this doesn’t seem to have brought any major changes, as it has continued to operate independently as it did before. It also hasn’t received some of Oxylabs’ advanced features, like web scraping APIs.

Webshare: Plans and Pricing

Webshare charges its service by the type (proxy server, static residential, and rotating residential), number of IPs purchased (for proxy server and static residential), amount of traffic per month (for rotating residential), as well as the duration of the subscription (monthly or yearly).

Proxy server pricing starts at free for up to 10 proxies, which can be used as a free trial, just go get a taste of the service before committing to one of its paid plans with more IPs - but only this particular tier of the service.

The monthly-based proxy server plan with 100 proxies is charged $2.99 each month (that’s $0.0299 per proxy), and the more IPs you choose, the higher the discount, so 60,000 proxies come at a price tag of $0.0179 per IP. Going with the yearly option entails more discounts, so 100 proxies are charged $1.99 per month ($0.0239 per proxy), or $0.0144/proxy if you take 60,000 of them.

Moving onto the static residential proxies ranges from $4 per month for 20 proxies under the yearly plan to $20.01/month for 100 proxies, to $95.05/month for 500 proxies, to $180.09/month for 1,000 IPs, to $1,500.75/month for 10,000 IPs ($0.18 per proxy). There are other options based on the specific number of proxies required. The month-by-month plans are somewhat more expensive.

Finally, rotating residential proxies are cheaper than their static counterparts and are charged per GB. So, a 1 GB plan under the yearly commitment will cost you $2.8/GB/month, 10 GB goes for $2.20/GB or $20.20 per month, 25 GB can be yours at $2.08/GB or $52/month, 100 GB is charged $1.80/GB or $180/month, and 3,000 GB is priced at $1.12/GB or $3,360/month.

That said, Webshare doesn’t offer a free trial for its residential IPs. There’s no money-back guarantee either, but the company does provide a possibility of a refund under certain conditions. These include not having breached 1 GB of bandwidth, having fewer than 1,000 proxies used in the subscription, and making the request not later than 48 hours after the purchase.

Webshare: Features

A user’s adventure with Webshare starts at registration, which can be done via your email address or through an existing Google account. Considering that the platform already caters to more than 60,000 businesses, you know you’re going to be in good hands here. Once the registration is out of the way, you’ll be redirected to a dashboard with access to all of Webshare’s features.

Residential IPs

Webshare’s rotating residential IP addresses are ethically sourced, which means they come from consenting users, something that means a lot in a proxy industry overwhelmed by illegally obtained IP addresses. In other words, Webshare gets its IP addresses from device owners agreeing to join its proxy network in exchange for certain benefits.

Residential IPs are useful in many cases. For example, a hotel comparison site needs to scrape price lists from many hotel websites. However, hotel websites often discourage scraping by placing geo-restrictions and IP restrictions. Suppose a U.S.-based hotel blocks foreign IPs from accessing its website. Webshare lets you bypass it by choosing a proxy U.S. IP address to view the website and scrape pricing information.

Residential proxies are also helpful in e-commerce, wherein price comparison sites scrape data en masse to help people find the best deals. If you run a price comparison site, you can use residential IPs to access localized versions of a retailer’s website and scrape relevant information.

Webshare offers IP addresses in 195 countries around the globe (which means every country in the world as recognized by the United Nations), with the most popular locations including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Australia, France, and Canada. It has over 80 million IP addresses spread across all of these countries.

Still, Oxylabs has 102 million+ IPs, and Decodo has 125 million, but Webshare is getting there, as it has grown the number of its own proxies from 30 million in 50 countries in December 2024 to the current figure that now includes all the recognized countries in the world.

(Image credit: Webshare )Static Residential IPs

Static IPs are a faster alternative to Webshare's residential IPs. They are technically still residential IPs, albeit sourced directly from internet service providers (ISPs). They’re faster and more reliable because the IP doesn’t change with each session, relying on the unstable Wi-Fi connections of the device owners. Static IPs are issued for long-term use and are harder to detect, helping you stay anonymous while browsing.

Webshare’s static IPs have unlimited bandwidth. That’s why it charges per IP instead of by bandwidth like the standard residential IPs. Webshare sources its static IPs from ISPs like AT&T, Sprint, and Cox Communications. These ISPs have massive networks and offer speeds of up to 1 GB per second. Once you pay for a static IP, it's assigned only to you, and your IP address is fixed as long as your subscription remains valid.

Webshare has over 100,000 static IPs in its pool covering various countries. You can manage your proxies in an intuitive dashboard, utilizing them to bypass geo-restrictions and browse the web without revealing your actual IP address to third parties.

Proxy servers

Webshare offers its proxy servers with 400,000 IPs according to your specific needs. This means you can choose between shared proxy servers (shared with more than two users), private proxy servers (shared with one to two users), or dedicated servers (fully owned by you), with the pricing to match.

A dedicated proxy server offers much faster speed, as you aren't sharing resources with other users. It's similar to running your proxy network but with the features and flexibility that Webshare provides. With a dedicated proxy server, all your activities are only known to Webshare and are not shared with third parties.

You can connect to dedicated proxy servers using the HTTP and SOCKS5 protocols. Webshare’s dedicated servers offer up to 100 Gbps and unlimited bandwidth, which is ideal for massive data scraping. With nearly 100% uptime, which we verified during our test, you shouldn’t worry about reliability when using Webshare’s proxy servers.

Webshare’s dedicated proxy servers start from $26.60 monthly for 20 proxies with 250 GB bandwidth. If you surpass your bandwidth allocation, you can pay extra fees to get as much bandwidth as you need. You can also pay additional fees for unlimited IP authorizations, high concurrency, and a high-priority network (recommended when using proxy servers for time-sensitive data scraping).

Meanwhile, choosing a proxy server that you share with multiple users (more than two) is a budget option that provides the reliability of a standalone, but comes at a more affordable price. You can connect to shared servers with the HTTP and SOCKS5 protocols and choose IPs from over 50 countries.

You have unlimited bandwidth and speeds of up to 100 Gbps, the same as a dedicated server. However, your speed will vary depending on the workload of other users sharing the same server.

A shared proxy server costs $24 monthly for 25 proxies and 250 GB bandwidth, which can be upgraded to as much bandwidth as needed. You can also choose add-ons like unlimited IP authorization, high concurrency, and high-priority network.

The middle road is the private proxy option, where you only share your server with one to two other users, but nonetheless, you have access to all the perks offered by the above services - reliable uptime, HTTP/SOCKS5 support, IPs in 50+ countries, and a lower price.

(Image credit: Webshare )Chrome Extension

Webshare offers a browser extension for Google Chrome that lets users rotate proxies at the click of a button. This extension is ideal for individual users whose primary use case for Webshare is bypassing geo-restrictions. Whenever you encounter a geo-restriction, just choose a proxy IP from the relevant country and refresh the website to view the previously restricted content.

Webshare gives 10 free proxies, which you can access from the browser extension instead of visiting the website whenever you need a new proxy.

Webshare: Ease of Use

Webshare offers an intuitive dashboard that makes all features easy to understand. From your dashboard, you can set up any proxy type that you've paid for. Whether it's a static or rotating residential IP or a dedicated proxy server IP, you can spin one up at the click of a button. You'll see the complete list of all available IPs, which you can change anytime.

(Image credit: Webshare )

The dashboard shows detailed analytics about your proxies, including the error ratio and bandwidth consumption. This analytics lets you monitor your real-time proxy usage and make any needed adjustments. You can switch between dark and light mode depending on what suits you.

Webshare: Customer Support

Webshare offers reasonable support to users, both directly and indirectly. The Help Center contains detailed user guides and manuals for all its features, teaching users how to deploy and manage proxies effectively. Webshare provides extensive technical documentation for its APIs, making it easy to integrate its proxies into external applications. The API documentation guides users in configuring Webshare’s proxies to perform their required tasks.

You have access to a FAQ section with solutions to common problems. The Webshare blog provides numerous tutorials on integrating your proxies with other applications. We found this section very helpful when testing the app and its integrations.

If you need direct help, you can email Webshare’s support team and expect a response within 48 hours. However, there is no live chat or telephone support option, which we consider a drawback. You might need urgent support requiring real-time chat, but Webshare doesn’t provide this option.

Webshare: The Competition

There’s no shortage of competition in the proxy software market. We’d like to single out Decodo (formerly Smartproxy), Bright Data, and PacketStream as the most noteworthy Webshare rivals.

Decodo has a more expansive proxy network than Webshare. It offers 125 million+ IPs, compared to Webshare's 80 million+. Decodo offers search engine, social media, and e-commerce scraping APIs, but Webshare lacks this feature. The tradeoff is that Webshare has more affordable proxies.

PacketStream is a peer-to-peer proxy service, unlike Webshare, which is a centralized service. It is far more affordable and reimburses users who contribute their bandwidth to its network. The drawback is that PacketStream offers only residential proxies: there are no ISP proxies or dedicated proxy servers like Webshare. PacketStream’s peer-to-peer, decentralized nature also makes its IPs less reliable: the platform has no control over the internet speed of the device whose IP you share.

Bright Data offers residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies like WebShare. It also provides web scraping APIs, a Web Unblocker, and ready-made datasets to use instead of scraping from scratch. It has a significantly larger IP pool than Webshare and is overall a better tool. However, expect to pay for Bright Data’s proxies more than you will for Webshare.

Webshare: Final Verdict

Webshare is a reliable proxy provider that does a great job in its field. It’s easy to use, making the management and monitoring of your proxy usage a walk in the proverbial park. That said, it has its drawbacks, like limited customer support and the missing web scraping API feature offered by many proxy providers to let users automatically scrape public data from websites - a common use case for proxy servers.

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