TL;DR: The UGREEN HiTune ClipBuds Magic are a budget-friendly pair of true wireless earbuds that get the basics right—solid Bluetooth 5.4 connection, lightweight and comfortable fit, and better-than-expected call clarity. But with mediocre sound and touch controls that test your patience, they’re best suited as a backup pair or for podcast lovers who just need reliability.

Budget Earbuds with a Magic Trick or Two

There’s something inherently charming about budget earbuds. Maybe it’s the underdog story, or maybe it’s just that satisfying sense of value when something cheap actually works well. Enter the UGREEN HiTune ClipBuds Magic. At first glance, they check all the right boxes—Bluetooth 5.4, touch controls, compact charging case, and a lightweight design that promises comfort. But do they offer enough to stand out in a saturated market? Let’s dig in.

Design & Build: Functional, Not Fancy

The ClipBuds Magic come in a smooth, glossy white finish housed in a compact, pill-shaped charging case. While the design feels clean, it also leans toward the generic side. The glossy plastic is susceptible to hairline scratches, and there’s an undeniable budget feel to the materials. That said, the case is featherlight and pocketable, making it an ideal everyday carry option.

The earbuds themselves are equally light and rest comfortably in the ears. Without any silicone tips, they rely entirely on shape for stability. For many, that won’t be an issue—but if your ears don’t match the default Apple-style mold, you might find them a bit loose.

Connectivity: Seamless and Stable

UGREEN equipped the ClipBuds Magic with Bluetooth 5.4, and it shows. Pairing is fast, seamless, and most importantly—stable. During testing, the connection held strong across multiple devices and common usage scenarios, whether walking around the house or on a short commute. In this price range, such reliability is a win.

Controls: A Bit of a Learning Curve

Touch controls on budget earbuds can be hit or miss, and here they land somewhere in the middle. Double-taps and triple-taps handle playback and track skipping, but the sensitivity can be inconsistent. Mis-taps are common at first, and the lack of haptic feedback makes it tough to know if a tap was registered. With time, you’ll likely adapt to their quirks, but it won’t be a seamless experience out of the box.

What complicates things further is the learning curve. There’s a kind of rhythm you need to develop—a mental metronome for interacting with these buds. Tap too fast and the command doesn’t register. Tap too slow and the earbuds think you’ve started a new gesture. This inconsistency can turn something as simple as pausing a song into a low-key game of chance, especially when you’re on the move or distracted.

Moreover, without a companion app to customize the controls or sensitivity, you’re locked into the defaults. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if those defaults were tighter or more responsive. Instead, users will find themselves going through a short but slightly annoying period of trial and error. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it does mean your first week with the ClipBuds Magic will likely include more than a few accidental skips, pauses, and the occasional public moment where you find yourself aggressively poking your own head.

Audio Quality: Flat

Here’s where the ClipBuds Magic show their price tag. The sound profile is fine for casual listening—think podcasts, audiobooks, and phone calls. But when it comes to music, the limitations become clear. The bass is weak, mids are recessed, and highs can become sibilant at higher volumes. Audiophiles and even casual music lovers will find the tuning uninspired. It’s functional but far from immersive.

Dig deeper and you’ll notice a distinct lack of warmth or depth. Genres like jazz, orchestral film scores, or anything with layered instrumentation come out sounding compressed and emotionally sterile. The soundstage feels narrow, making it hard to pick out individual elements in a mix. Drum kicks and bass lines in hip-hop tracks lack the impact they should have, and the subtle textures in ambient or indie tracks get lost in translation.

Volume dynamics are another concern. Cranking the volume doesn’t add richness—it only amplifies the flaws. The treble begins to dominate in an unpleasant way, causing listener fatigue during longer sessions. At moderate volume levels, the experience is passable, but if you’re hoping to get lost in your music, you’ll likely be pulled back by the sterile reproduction.

All that said, not everyone is buying sub-$60 earbuds expecting studio-quality sound. For voice content—calls, YouTube videos, casual podcasts—the sound quality is more than serviceable. But if you care about audio fidelity, there are better-sounding options, even slightly higher up the budget ladder.

Microphones & Calls: Surprisingly Solid

One area where the ClipBuds Magic outshine expectations is call quality. The built-in microphones leverage algorithm-based noise reduction to decent effect. Voices come through clearly, and background noise is kept in check. For remote workers and frequent callers, this is a pleasant surprise and a genuine selling point.

Battery Life: Just Enough

UGREEN promises up to 5 hours of playback per charge, with two additional charges from the case. In practice, I got closer to 4 to 4.5 hours per session. That’s acceptable for daily use but short for long trips or all-day listening. There’s no fast charging either, so expect to plug them in nightly if you’re a regular user.

Final Thoughts: Good Enough for the Price

The UGREEN HiTune ClipBuds Magic don’t reinvent the wheel, but they don’t need to. At under $60 SGD, they offer decent performance where it matters most for budget buyers: stable connectivity, comfort, and call clarity. Their sound leaves a lot to be desired, and the touch controls could use refinement, but for everyday tasks and short listening sessions, they’re a reliable option.

They’re not the earbuds you brag about. They’re the ones you keep in your bag just in case. And that’s not such a bad thing.