The Apollo 7s are some of the tiniest wireless earbuds around

Another new pair of truly wireless earbuds have popped up on Kickstarter today and, in all honesty, there's not much unique about them. The Apollo 7s are made by a company called Erato, and they are single-purpose, water-resistant wireless earbuds that come with a carrying (and charging) case. There's no fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, or internal storage to be found here.

But one thing that stood out is Erato actually sent me a prototype pair to try out. That's practically unheard of with any company that's launching a crowdfunding campaign, let alone one that's making wireless earbuds. The Apollos feel solidly built, are incredibly small and light, and sound pretty good for their size.

Erato actually sent us a test unit

But, being prototypes, they don't work perfectly. The connection between the two earbuds is weak, and can only be troubleshooted by switching which one is connected to your phone via Bluetooth. (Unlike other earbuds, which typically designate one bud as the main connection to your phone, you can connect either of the Apollo 7s, which can be confusing.)

Erato Apollo 7 wireless earbuds

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One thing did work better than any of the other wireless earbuds that I've tried: the microphone. The Apollo 7s actually did an admirable job picking up my voice during phone calls, despite their tiny size. And the call quality was great. Making calls was almost impossible with the Bragi Dash and its ear bone microphone, but it was never a problem with the prototype Apollos.

The tiny Apollo 7s cost $289, and there are early backer versions available for $249. The connection issues I experienced could be hammered out by the time they ship this summer, but that's a lot for single-purpose wireless earbuds, especially when you consider that companies like Samsung and Apple are on the cusp of entering this market.

• SourceErato (Kickstarter)