Introduction

Cards on the table first. A few snippets of information about myself and the equipment I’m familiar with/own.

I’m getting close to 60. This means that my hearing isn’t that of a 20-year old. At least I don’t think it is - seems perfectly fine to me.

I like a smooth, rich sound. I don’t mind a little reduction in the treble but at the same time I like a detailed and accurate bass - no extra ‘boom’ needed here.

I own (or have owned in the past) an embarrassing amount of bluetooth headphones and have been following their technical progress right from when they first started coming onto the market.

I have been into personal audio since around 1980 - first a Sanyo cassette ‘Walkman’ - progressing up to the Sony Walkman Pro D6 - then onto portable CD. My final portable CD players were the iRiver Slim-X and the Sony D-555. Then onto Mini Disc and finally with MP3 players (once the technology evolved sufficiently to replace these others).

Now I tend to do most of my listening from my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and occasionally from my Sony Walkman WM-A55. Nearly all my listening is now done using bluetooth headphones. I do however have the Sennheiser HD598SE, iBasso IT00 and Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10’s for wired listening.

The Jade Audio KA1 Headphone DAC/AMP

When Jade Audio contacted me asking if I would like to review their KA1 Amp/DAC I must admit to hesitating for a moment as I’m almost exclusively using bluetooth headphones but I thought ‘what the hell - let’s give it a try’.

The reason for the preamble is to give you an idea of the kind of sound profile I like and also illustrate the short of equipment I'm used to listening to.

External Design​

There's really not much to say about the external design of this dongle. It's a tiny metal box which is a lot smaller than it looks in pictures With what appears to be a fairly high quality USB lead terminating in a high quality USB type C connector. There's a small LED which shows when the unit is drawing power and also changes colour to show what format Your music is currently playing in. I've noticed that the unit does get a little warm when it's been running for a while, but it's nothing to worry about.

Sound Quality​

The first headphones I tried with the KA1 was the Sennheiser HD 598SE and I felt that the amp seemed to struggle to drive them to super high levels - but they did sound good. I then tried it out with the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10's. This appears to be a match made in heaven. The KA1 easily drives them to very high levels without any distortion at all. The character of the sound appears to be very neutral, impactful and detailed.

There's no noise floor at all with this unit and it's as easy to use as simply plugging in your headphones - just using a different socket. Aside from some high resolution tracks taken from some demo sites on the web, most of my listening was done using the standard Samsung Music player with no additional audio ‘enhancements’ from the phone. Music was primarily high-bitrate MP3’s and some FLAC files I’ve acquired.

One of the first tracks I tried was Tom Sawyer by Rush. Whilst this may not be the finest recording in the world, it is one that I’m familiar with and therefore is an excellent test subject. Everything was there in spades. Volume was great - allowing some rather tasty dynamics into the mix that typically are missing when using the regular headphone socket or bluetooth headphones. For me, the difference wasn’t ‘night and day’ but definitely there on every single track I listened to.

I FLAC files I tried demonstrated clearly the upscaling the KA1 is capable of but I have to say that what really impressed me was its ability to resolve my lower resolution files is a most satisfactory way. I was also impressed with the way it handled streaming from Google Play Music - which isn’t renowned for offering the highest resolution possible.

Conclusion​

It’s very tempting to say that the Jade Audio KA1 is a ‘solution looking for a problem’. My thinking being that if you’re an Audiophile wanting to get the best possible sound quality into your expensive in-ear monitors then you would surely use a dedicated MP3 player which already has the potential to offer better sound quality thanks to its more dedicated hardware and improved chipsets but that’s not what this device is really aimed at. The inexpensive device is simply designed to offer you clear and obvious improvements to the sound quality of your mobile phone whilst allowing you to continue to use your favourite IEM’s. I don’t think the KA1 is the best choice when using full-sized headphones but, again, I don’t think that’s what this device was designed for.

I like the neutral, detailed sound character of this device. I like the tiny form factor. I like its simplicity. Whilst I do think the unit could do with a little more output power, it’s more than capable of driving pretty much any wired IEMs out there. If you’re looking for a neat, cost effective way to improve your phone’s sound quality, don’t hesitate - in my opinion I think the Jade Audio KA1 is a real ‘gem’.

Whilst this speaker isn’t exactly state of the art being an inexpensive small bluetooth speaker, it does have a specific purpose in mind - and that is being able to listen to music, podcasts, etc, whilst taking a bath of shower.


The speaker kinda has a similar look and feel to the Google Home Mini - only a bit bigger. Obviously this is a single speaker so forget about any kind of stereo image but the sound quality isn't too bad considering. The speaker does have a good quality 'feel' to it - it certainly doesn't feel cheap. I suspect the bulk of its weight comes from the built-in battery. I haven't really had a chance to check out the battery life yet but I see no reason why it shouldn't last as long as its stated 24-hours playback time.



The speaker comes fitted with a lanyard which allows it to be hooked up pretty much anywhere you want - for obvious reasons - mine is attached to the shower. All the buttons are 'blister' type which certainly aids water resistance and they're pretty easy to press. There are buttons for Power On/Off, pairing and standard playback controls. I like the fact that the primary playback controls are on the front of the unit - useful for finding by touch when you have soap in your eyes.



Sound quality is perhaps somewhat expected for a mono speaker. In all fairness the sound is clear and there’s a reasonable amount of bass considering the size of the unit. It does go nice and loud without apparent distortion and - yup - it’s waterproof. I’ve not tried dunking it (I’m more a shower person than a bath person) but I’m sure it would stand up to it without any problems.

The Tronsmart Splash makes an an excellent poolside/beach speaker system. You can use it without worrying about water damage - I'm not sure how effective it would be in resisting sand and dirt but I suspect it would cope without problems.



I have to admit the Tronsmart Splash isn't a product I would have normally purchased as I already have the Tronsmart Force 2 bluetooth speaker serving as my bathroom speaker there (which definitely sounds better) but nonetheless the Splash 1 is currently performing sterling service attached to my shower. Enough said!

Tronsmart Onyx Prime - Giant Killer?



Well, I have to say that regancipher's rather excellent review of the Tronsmart Onyx Prime has left me feeling rather inadequate. It's definitely a hard act to follow - especially considering that my thoughts and opinions on these headphones pretty much match regancipher's findings in his review.







Case



The case pretty much looks and feels like a lot of other inexpensive Bluetooth IEM's out there - small enough to easily fit into the coin pocket of your jeans (God, it's been many years since I've worn a pair of jeans!). I do find it somewhat slippery and sometimes difficult to open though. The hinge feels like it could potentially last the lifetime of the buds. There's no wireless charging but the case does use USB C so that's good. I found charging time to be perfectly acceptable and the buds offer a reasonable 7 hours of playback time (this is thanks to the lack of active noise cancelling). The case itself offers Up to 40 hours of additional charge.

It took me a couple of goes to get used to getting the buds in and out of the case but it's actually quite easy - they go in at a kind of angle and there's magnets to help them go in. Almost, but not quite, as good as the Sony's.

Buds



Quite big but not uncomfortably so. I would describe the insertion depth as 'medium' - deeper than the Apollo Bold's but not as deep as the triple-flanged Etymotics ER4P. They're light enough to stay in whilst moving around and their passive noise insulation is actually quite impressive. The touch controls are excellent - on par with the Sony's - sensitive but with an easy to find touch surface which helps reduce accidental triggers.



I did experience a couple of drop-outs when walking around with the Prime’s but this is something that may be more to do with my phone than the headphones - it was only a couple of times during around 30 minutes of walking so not really something that bothered me that much. One thing that I did find impressive was the passive noise cancelling which was almost as effective as the ANC on some of the other TWS headphones in my collection.

Sound Quality

I have to admit that my tastes in both music and the frequency response of my headphones have changed somewhat over the last few years. I used to love the sound of the Etymotic ER4P - although I did sometimes find them a little fatiguing. Then I bought the Shure E500 IEM"s. These had a far 'darker' sound which took a little getting used to but I eventually got used to them. After that the excellent Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10's which I still own. These exhibited a far more neutral sound character but with a little more oommph in the bass when compared to the Ety's. Well, the Onyx Prime definitely shares a similar sound character to the Triple Fi's - and that's very high praise - especially for a wireless headphone. The Onyx does have even more bass to offer though. Very deep, similar to the Apollo Bold's, but with a little more control and detail. I think that this sub-bass emphasis is bordering on, but just staying south, of boomy. Truth is that I like it and it helps when listening to music at lower volume levels. I think the Apollo Bold's still take some beating when it comes to listening at really low levels though.



Mids offer a surprising amount of detail - one test track I use often for detail analysis is 'Young Lust' from Pink Floyd's The Wall album. The dialogue from the TV sets in the background came through with surprising clarity. The highs are nicely detailed without coming across as harsh. Cymbals have a nice metallic 'sheen' to them. I’m quite sensitive to harsh highs but didn’t feel that the Onyx Prime ever stepped into harsh territory at all.

I've just spent a pleasant couple of hours listening to some vintage Rush and Yes. The Onyx Prime really shines when it comes to producing a great sound from some of these older recordings - especially when it comes to bass slam.

One of my favourite IEM's for overall sound character are the Sony WF1000XM3's. Whilst they're not technically the most detailed headphones out there, they do have a nice 'big' sound to them and, in my opinion, are very musical. The Tronsmart Onyx Prime share that same 'big' sound that the Sony's offer without the active noise cancelling and 'big' price. For me, the Sony’s definitely hit that magic combination of smooth but detailed sound, decent but not ever overblown bass, excellent ANC, really nice touch controls and an overall sound character that I always find really pleasing. I know that some people find the Sony’s somewhat ‘dark’ but I really like that character. Whilst the Onyx Prime’s exhibit a slightly less ‘dark’ sound, they still have that big sound with smooth non-fatiguing delivery that works well with pretty much any genre of music. I found this very impressive considering the difference in price between the two models.

What really impressed me though was when I connected them to my Amazon Firestick HD and started watching some action movies with them. This additional sub-bass boost really added to my movie watching experience. Likewise when I connected them to my Xbox One and had a go on Forza and Call of Duty the end result was really quite excellent. The Onyx Prime features a 'Gaming Mode' which offers reduced lag at the expense of some sound quality and it works. Gunshots from Call of Duty perfectly synced up with what I was seeing on-screen and they definitely go a little louder than any of the other bluetooth headphones and earbuds I’ve tried with the Xbox. Great result!

Conclusion

I was having a conversation with someone at work the other day about some of the headphones I have owned in the past (and many that I still own) and commented about how some of the less expensive wireless headphones around now can seriously compete with some of the finest wired IEM's from a few years back. I have to say that the Tronsmart Onyx Prime is a perfect example of this - whilst I would say that they’re not technically as good as the Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi 10's, they're really not that far behind either. I'm always impressed with the overall quality that Tronsmart offers with their inexpensive products - in so many ways they make a mockery of the more expensive counterparts from the likes of Sony, Technics and the like. Whilst they lack the ultimate features of these higher-end models, they definitely put their attention into what's important - sound quality.

If you’re looking for a well specified, comfortable, nice sounding wireless IEM and don’t require active noise cancelling, then I can highly recommend the Tronsmart Onyx Prime. For their price, they’re very hard to beat. Whilst they are cheaper than the Apollo Bold model, I personally think that they sound better all round (except when listening at really low volume levels - the Apollo Bold is utterly superb when it comes to low level listening).

Whilst they’re not perfect - I personally still feel that there’s a tad too much bass (this is Tronsmart’s sound signature but can be adjusted quite nicely with the Tronsmart App) and the case is outrageously slippery and can be difficult to open, However, even with all these minor faults, and the Tronsmart Onyx Prime definitely redeem themselves when it comes to bluetooth range, battery life, excellent touch controls, excellent accompanying app, superb value and, most importantly, outstanding sound quality. For their price, I think you would be very hard to find a more complete TWS package - Well done Tronsmart.

nicked from regancipher's review (hope you don't mind)

Model: Tronsmart Onyx Prime
Price: MSRP Approx $59.99
Distributor: Aliexpress, Geekbuy
Vendor Website: Tronsmart

Tronsmart have very kindly sent me a number of their products to review over the last few months and I have to say that I’m constantly impressed with their stuff - be it bluetooth iem’s, full sized headphones or wireless speakers. Tronsmart appears to put what’s important in their stuff - good amplification, good sound quality and overall good electronics. Where they perhaps sometimes have a flaw, it’s with the materials they use. For example, their Q10 full sized bluetooth headphones have excellent range, rather good sound quality and some genuinely useful functions that are only let down slightly by the ‘feel’ of the plastic construction. However, the same cannot be said for the Tronsmart Studio bluetooth speaker which features genuinely superb build quality to match all it’s other attributes.



The Battle bluetooth IEM’s unfortunately don’t share the same build quality of the Studio speaker but rather have the build quality of the Q10’s - except they're not as good. In all fairness though, there’s certainly nothing wrong with their electronics and capabilities.




Whilst sharing a very similar look to Apple’s original Airpods, they feel a lot lighter and cheaper. One clear advantage that these do offer though is that once you’ve put them in your ears, they effectively completely disappear. Like with the Airpods though, you do have to wriggle them around a bit in order to bring out the bass.

The charging case is very unusual - shaped a bit like a hockey puck, the case uses a strange rotating lid which activates the headphones once the lid is swivelled open. Due to the nature of the case, it’s easy to hold it the wrong way round which means the left and right can get mixed up sometimes. I suspect that over time I will get used to it.








I’ve been using the Battle primarily on my Xbox One and a cheap bluetooth transmitter (which actually works really well). The Battle uses touch controls for both track navigation and volume controls. This is especially useful when using these headphones for gaming. Of course, the Battle’s real claim to fame is their low latency. This mode has to be triggered with a triple-tap on the right earbud and this appears to work well. Interestingly I get a similar result when using the Q10’s in the same way. Although there is some latency with the Q10's, they still work well as a gaming headphone.



Pairing with my inexpensive bluetooth transmitter is reasonably fast and appears to be stable once connected. Latency is kept to a minimum and the touch control for volume is reasonably subtle allowing for a reasonable degree of control.

One thing about this type of earphone is that you have to wriggle them around a little bit in your ears in order to get the best possible bass response. Having previously owned Apple's Airpods I'm used to doing this and can consistently get a good fit but your results may vary depending on your ear shape. The Tronsmart Battle is a very lightweight headphone and thís definitely helps when having longer gaming sessions.




It's only fair to point out that the sound quality of these IEM's is nothing to write home about when it comes to listening to music. When playing games though, they do come into their own and offer a number of advantages when compared to listening using loudspeakers. Firstly, you don't annoy anyone else in the house with incessant gunfire and revving virtual engines. Secondly you get much better audio cues when playing games like Call Of Duty. When wearing these headphones my game performance is significantly improved (although I'm still crap at most games).



I haven't really had the chance to test out things ike battery life and connection range. After all, my Xbox is right in front of me so it's not really a struggle to maintain good signal strength - this is also helped by the comparatively low bit rate transmission needed with these headphones.

In conclusion, I think that these headphones do what they’re supposed to do - offer low latency gaming capabilities - in this mode they work pretty good. I personally don’t like them for music but I suspect that most people purchasing these headphones are going to use them primarily for gaming. I do kinda like the unusual charging case but do find it a little fiddly to use. Recommended for gaming - not so much for music though.

Tronsmart are currently offering special offers of some of their products. This information is listed below:-

Force 2 Bluetooth speaker
Discount: 40% off
Code: HFGGPTAH
List price: $59.99
Deal price: $35.99
End date: 9/5/2021
https://amzn.to/2WHtnOQ

Studio Bluetooth speaker
Discount: 30% offa
Code: 79LOD889
List price: $69.99
Deal price: $48.99
End date: 9/5/2021
https://amzn.to/3BqR3Wx

Apollo Air earbuds
Discount: 40% off
Code: ZXN3A7PY
List price: $65.99
Deal price: $39.59
End date: 9/5/2021
https://amzn.to/3yyiw6V

Tronsmart have a really impressive array of inexpensive wireless audio products in their catalogue right now. I'm very grateful to them for supplying a range of products to me for review - with absolutely no pressure on me to post a good review. In all honesty I rate their products very highly - especially regarding their performance/value for money.





The Studio feature set includes:-

• Rubberised buttons on top of the unit that offer full controls.
• Line input.
• Micro Sd Card slot.
• Tronsmart App control which offers alternative EQ settings and the ability to power off the unit remotely.
• A full loudspeaker set - single bass driver, dual Mid/HF drivers and four passive radiators.
• Excellent battery life.
• USB C charging.
• Comes supplied with both a USB C charging cable and a stereo to stereo cable.

Tronsmart's packaging is first rate. Whilst I’m not overly interested in the packaging (after all, they all end up either in the bin or the back of the cupboard once the goodies are unpacked).



Once paired to your phone, the speaker connects very quickly thereafter. All the controls are responsive but, obviously once you're connected, you can control all the speakers functions using your connected device. The buttons are rubberised - I suppose this gives the speaker an additional degree of environmental protection but it does also result in them being slightly more difficult to press. I also struggle to find the correct buttons as the symbols on the buttons can be a little hard to see.



Sound Quality

My first reaction on hearing this speaker was "Wow! This is from the future!". The sound is very full sounding and detailed. What really surprised me though was how effortlessly loud it could get without distortion or rattling. Whilst the stereo effect was pretty minimal, it certainly sounds like a much bigger speaker and I felt there was a definite 'front to back' effect. Tronsmart offers a sound enhancement technology called SoundPulse which definitely offers a 'fuller' and more pleasing sound quality - perhaps at the expense of a little clarity.

The Studio's sound quality is not just down to the electronics though - the rigid structure of the case plays an important part in my opinion. You can definitely push this speaker a lot harder than you would think when you take its size into account. I watched a 'tear down' video of the Studios' on YouTube and was impressed to see that it's properly assembled using screws - not just hot-glued together. This really is a high quality product which can comfortably compete with the likes of Sony, JBL, Bose, etc when it comes to both sound quality and features - but at a fraction of their prices.

I haven’t had the chance to check out the battery life of the unit yet but if their previous portable speakers are anything to go by, battery life really shouldn’t be an issue. The Tronsmart Studio also features USB Type C for charging, a line input (short cable supplied in the box - nice touch Tronsmart) and, interestingly, a micro SD slot. Whilst I can’t see me using this function much (can’t see the point with the other connections so easily available) but I suppose it does allow you to use it completely stand alone.



Conclusion

I’m not really a big fan of single speaker systems. I personally prefer a definite stereo sound when listening to music. However, in recent years I have favoured headphones over loudspeakers so I am getting more used to a narrower sound field (I'm not keen on the kind of 'artificial wide stereo effect' which to me sounds too 'phasey' and muddled sounding. The Tronsmart Studio doesn’t suffer with this phenomenon - the sound is fairly well focussed and direct. The Tronsmart Studios offer an extremely impressive sound quality which definitely exceeds its size. This remarkable little speaker will definitely annoy lots more people when you take to the beach or on a picnic. Highly recommended.

I have to admit, I have far too many headphones! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one on these forums to have this problem but it's something that I'm getting used to. I embraced the concept of wireless headphones quite early on in their evolution and have definitely welcomed the improvements in performance and sound quality the last couple of years have brought.

Amongst my collection are the following:-

Sone WF1000XM3 - Sony WH1000XM2 - Tronsmart Apollo Bold - Tronsmart Apollo Air + - Mavin Air-X - Lypertek Tevi - iBasso CF01/IT00 - Tronsmart Q10 - the list goes on…..

I'm now starting to look at the new Sony WF1000XM4 IEM's - but the combination of excessive price coupled with the fact that I already have the rather excellent XM3's, I'm not rushing to buy these at this time.

As you can see from the list above, there's quite a lot of Tronsmart stuff in there. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the overall quality of Tronsmart products. The combination of nice design touches, overall build quality and sound performance make them a serious player in the wireless audio marketplace - and their pricing is extremely competitive on top of that. Whilst you might think that the gap between their cheapest product and their most expensive equivalent product is too narrow, it's always good business to offer an upgrade to their cheapest products - lots of people shop with a "Ah what the hell, it's only a tenner more and I can just about afford that!".

One thing that their products all share is the sound character. Their headphones tend to favour a fairly strong 'v' shape to their sound - with some definite emphasis on the bass frequences. Whilst this can sometimes spoil the overall sound quality, they do definitely sound great when listening at lower volumes - mostly thanks to their enhanced bass.

In recent times I have started to come to the conclusion that I'm becoming something of a 'basshead' - for a long time I tended to favour the sound characteristics of the Etymotic ER4P - detailed rather than deep bass and a ruler-flat frequency response. However the sheer number of TWS headphones that exhibit boosted bass has slowly changed the way I listen to music and I am definitely starting to enjoy the boosted bass sound character. Don't get me wrong, I still like an accurate sound but now with an added degree of oomph when appropriate. I also now listen at lower volume levels than I used to (although still too loud according to my wife).



Like the rest of the Tronsmart range of TWS headphones, the Onyx offers full control of all the functions via their rich controls - including volume. This is always a welcome feature and one that should be mandatory for all wireless headphones. It's very clear that the Onyx are aimed at potential purchasers of the Apple Airpods Pro - having tried the Airpods Pro, I think it's fair to say that these definitely offer an alternative - at a significant price saving to boot. It's a shame that the latest Sony ANC earbuds still can't offer the same level of control that you get with all of Tronsmart's products.

The charging case doesn't feature wireless charging - after all this is designed to be the basic model in their ANC range. The buds fit into the case in a similar way to their Apollo Air models and it does take a little getting used to. The case uses USB Type C and charges the headphones an additional 3 times.



Pairing is pretty foolproof thanks to the use of bluetooth 5.2 typically automatically pairing to your phone by the time you've got them out of the case and put in your ears. Touch controls work really well and remind me of the Sony WF1000XM3's regarding touch sensitivity and response time whilst actually offering more functionality.



The sound quality and character are typical Tronsmart - v shaped with some additional bass 'bloom'. Not unpleasant by any stretch. Tronsmart consider these to be their entry level TWS headphones and this is reflected in both the price and the reduced effectiveness of their ANC which is perhaps a little less effective than that found on their Apollo Bold and Apollo Air + models. It still works though and, like their others does change the character of the sound - increasing the bass. To be honest this function can be quite beneficial as when you're in a genuinely noisy environment you can lose a lot of bass frequency so there are times that this bass boost works well. Having said that, I would still prefer a flatter sound profile that could be adjusted using EQ when required. The overall sound quality is pretty good - once you get used to the enhanced bass. At moderate volumes the sound is nicely full bodied - definitely giving the impression that you're listening to something 'bigger'.



One interesting aspect I've found with their Air, Air + and Onyx models is they're extremely convenient and easy to put in your ears 'on the fly'. This is something that they share with Apple Airpods and Airpods Pro earbuds.

For the price these are definitely worth considering. They're not perfect but do bring a lot to the table for their asking price. Differences between the Onyx and the Air/Air + and Bold models are definitely noticeable but also share a common sound profile. Highly recommended.

I have become a big fan of Tronsmart's products over the past few months. I have reviewed the Apollo Bold, Q10, Air and their Force 2 bluetooth speaker - all these products were of high quality, worked flawlessly and offered superb value for money.









Tronsmart recently sent me their Air + model to review. Having experienced their Air model to good effect, I was curious to see what differences there were. Interestingly, although the Air + model is being advertised as being capable of wireless charging, I found that I could wirelessly charge their previous Air model so apart from the larger packaging used on this new Air + model, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the two models.




The Air + comes in a glossy black finish and is extremely lightweight. They are clearly modelled after Apple's Airpod Pro's - having a similar finish and a similarly sized case.

Removing and replacing the headphones in the case does take a little getting used to as they don't fit in the same way that the Airpods do - and I think that this is a shame as they're definitely a lot more fiddly in this respect. Perhaps over time I shall get used to it but I honestly think that Apple really nailed it with their design.



The Air + features touch controls for pretty much all the functions - including volume. This is always welcome as it allows you to really Stow away your player and the touch controls work really very well indeed - reminiscent of the Sony WF1000XM3's. That's very high praise as I personally feel that the Sony's have the very best touch controls out there at the moment.



Tronsmart have updated their app to support this latest model and this app allows you to change sound profiles to 6 different presets as well as reconfigure the touch controls to suit your needs. Whilst this app definitely offers some nice touches to the headphones, it would have been nice to have fully configurable EQ settings - hopefully this is something that Tronsmart may introduce with later updates to the software.



Connection to your phone is really quick and easy thanks to the use of Bluetooth 5.1. Range appears to be more than acceptable - easily passing the famous 'bathroom test'. I haven't experienced any drop outs at all and each earphone can be used independently - thereby potentially doubling the available battery life. Speaking of battery life, the Air + is rated to 5 hours playback with the case providing an additional 20 hours. Whilst this compares favourably with the Apple Airpod Pro's, it's not quite up to the standard set by the Apollo Bold's
.
Sound Quality

The Air + tends to veer towards the bass end of the spectrum - much like the Bold's. Playing around with the sound presets on their app doesn't really help tame this as the presets are configured differently on the Air + from the Bold's - even though they're both using exactly the same software. I found that the 'Jazz' setting worked quite well with the Bold's to help tame the bass but the presets on the Air + seem to mess around with the sound profile too much - resulting in me sticking with the Default setting. This is a bit of a shame but something that could be easily remedied with an update to the software.

As with many other Bluetooth TWS headphones, the very top end has been curtailed - resulting in a nice relaxing 'smooth' sound which I found both pleasing and non-fatiguing. These are comfortable headphones - not designed for really deep insertion in the ear canal and, as a result, the ANC isn't quite as effective as the Bold's - although it's fair to say that they're fairly close. Again, like with the Bold's, the ANC and Ambient modes tend to boost the bass but this also offers a nice rounded sound when listening at lower volumes (which for many people is what ANC is all about - enabling listening at lower volume levels without having to compete with outside noise). Obviously switching off the noise cancelling effects improves battery life and offers a flatter sound profile.

From a pure sound quality perspective, the Apollo Bold's do sound slightly better than the Air + model - having a slightly clearer top-end and, for me at least, a better fit. Both headphones do lend themselves quite nicely to low late night listening sessions - thanks to their boosted bass. Interestingly I had to reconfigure the touch controls on the Bold model to get rid of accidental touches when I was listening to them in bed but I haven't had to do this with the Air + model as so far I haven't experienced any accidental touches - strange!

Conclusion

The Air + brings a lot to the table - decent ANC, powerful sound, excellent connectivity, cool tiny form factor (these really can be carried around with you all the time without a problem) and offer excellent value for money - they're far cheaper than the Apple Airpod Pro's - that's for sure. I'm giving these headphones a 3.5 rating because of the excessive bass but I'm really hoping that Tronsmart updates their app to include more advanced EQ settings.

Pros
Lightweight. Good inoffensive sound quality. Pretty good ANC. Excellent touch controls including volume control. Wireless charging.

Cons
Too much bass when listening loud. Battery life could be better. Unusual way the headphones fit in the case. Shallow insertion depth (that's a personal thing though).

Introduction​

I have had the opportunity to review a number of Tronsmart products recently - they very kindly sent me the Apollo Bolds, Apollo Q10 full sized ANC headphones and their recently released Force 2 bluetooth speaker and now their very new Apollo Air ANC buds. Note that I haven't felt any obligation to rate them higher than they're worth - the truth is I think their products are very good quality and excellent value for money.

Description​

The case reminds me of the Apple Airpods Pro - although the headphones fit inside the case differently. Brilliant white in colour - it's almost certain that they're not going to remain this way. The lid features a magnetic latch and appears to be fairly strong - not as strong as the AirPods though. The case features wireless charging and uses USB Type C (which is nice). The LED on the front is multicoloured - blue shows 11 - 100% charge and red 1 - 10%. Simple and useful. I have to be honest here - I would have much rather seen something like the Airpod way of storing the buds in the case - my ham fingers always struggle with stuff like this and I can definitely see me dropping them in the street more than once. That's a personal thing for me though - functionally the case works just fine.



The earbuds themselves feel a little bit cheap. Having said that, they're incredibly lightweight - I'm not sure what a single earbud weighs but the whole package weighs 40g according to the packaging. The plastic has a subtle matt finish - unlike the Airpods - the stems are used to help bring the mics slightly closer to your mouth.

Functions and Features​

The Apollo Air's feature Bluetooth 5.2. Once they're paired to your device, they automatically connect the moment you open the case which effectively means that they're ready to use the moment you put them in your ears. I really like the touch controls - one tap for volume, two taps for Play/Skip and three taps for selecting the different sound modes. Speaking of sound modes the Air's feature both active noise cancelling and ambient mode. The ambient mode is rather impressive - producing a fairly natural effect. The ANC works quite well at reducing the traffic noise (front bedroom windows open next to a busy road). I personally found the ANC to be as good as the Apollo Bold's but not quite up to the standard set by the Sony WF1000XM3's and the Soundpeats T2.



Pairing is done but simply opening the case and pressing the button on the back for a couple of seconds. The Air's feature APtX which is always welcome and this means that I can use them with my Sony Walkman MW A55 and get good sound. The touch controls operate pretty much like all other touch-controlled wireless IEM's - and I have to say that they work really nicely. All the functions are there. The touch functions work easily as well as those found on the Sony WF1000XM3's - with the added advantage of volume control. I can't comment on battery life yet - I see no reason why you wouldn't achieve what they claim on the box though. The 'Plus' version features wireless charging which is a feature I'm using quite frequently as more and more of my equipment makes use of this feature. I wasn't able to install the latest update for the app which I’m hoping will offer configurable touch-controls. I’ve set the Apollo Bold’s up so that I can wear them in bed without accidentally activating the touch controls when I lay on my side. I would love to see this feature on these as they’re so light and comfortable.

Sound Quality​

Well, this is what it's all about as far as I'm concerned. The good news is that they sound really good. The ANC does have an effect on sound quality - the bass has a bit of a boost when activated - in a similar way to the Apollo Bold's. When ANC is switched off the sound character considerably flatter - although I have to admit I kinda like the boosted bass.



The top end sounds really nice though. I'm sensitive to harsh treble and the Air's thankfully have a really nice sweet top-end. Mids are slightly recessed - making them somewhat V shaped in their sound character. Like the Bold's they sound really nice when listening at lower volume and this is where the ANC really comes into its own - you're not fighting against ambient noise all the time. This, coupled with the boosted bass really helps making low-level listening a real pleasure.



The Air's have a nice punchy sound. Bass notes can be a little 'lumpy' sometimes when ANC is active but to be honest I really like this setting - it makes them fun to listen to. However some genres of music (chillstep for example) produce too much bass. Switching off the ANC and Ambient Mode results in a far more balanced sound. ANC does produce a noticeable noise floor but this disappears once the music starts playing. With ANC off this noise floor effectively disappears. I think it’s fair to say that the Air’s share a similar sound characteristic with the Apollo Bold’s. For my ears, the Bold’s sound better when listening to them at lower volumes. In fact, I rate the Apollo Bold’s as one of the finest headphones out there for low level listening. Where the Air’s appear to have the edge is a more accurate and better balanced sound character.



I have to be honest I'm not a big fan on this Airpod style shape but I must admit they are very comfortable. The more I look at their shape, the more I feel that these headphones aren’t designed for deep insertion in your ears. Rather a more shallow fit. This would normally result in a definite reduction in bass, but thanks to the combination of active noise cancelling and their slightly boosted bass has resulted in a really nice wireless headphone.

Conclusion​

If you like a low profile, ANC enabled TWS headphone with a massive amount of presence and superb low-level listening capabilities, then get the Apollo Bold’s. If you like an Airpod-like experience, with a fairly balanced sound (with ANC off at least) and a superb level of comfort, then the Apollo Air’s might be right up your street. Very highly recommended.

============

Tronsmart asked if I would include this information at the end of my review - didn't see the harm.


Tronsmart Celebrates the 8th Birthday

LONDON 15th Jun 2021: Consumer technology expert, Tronsmart, today celebrates its 8th birthday. They are also giving away a number of prizes, including a gift box worth $500, newly launched Apollo Air and Air+ earbuds, and 15% off coupon for geekbuying. The gift box includes a Tronsmart Element T2 Plus Portable Bluetooth Speaker, a pair of Tronsmart Onyx Ace TWS earbuds, as well as customized pen and notebook. Anyone can click her to win them.

• First prize: Gift Box valued over $500*30pcs
• Second Prize: $99 ANC earbuds Apollo Air+*30pcs
• Third Prize: $69 ANC earbuds Apollo Air *50pcs
• Lucky prize: 15% OFF coupon for geekbuying

Established in 2013 and celebrating its 8th Anniversary today, Tronsmart is a tech brand that designs and manufactures world-class tech accessories which has been recommended by Qualcomm, Forbes, Yahoo, and many other big companies and media. It also signed Luis Suarez as the official ambassador in 2018. The company has rapidly expanded and sell its products to over 70 countries in many regions including North America, South America, Europe, The Middle East and Asia and has over 40 patents including its SoundPulse® technology. The core value of Tronsmart is to make life easier by providing customers with high-tech, high-quality and high-performance products.

Hope all you can win the gift you want in this competition.



All links you may need:

Link to 8th anniversary landing page:
https://bit.ly/3p99Pgd

Link to patent SoundPulse®:
https://bit.ly/3vEdyF5

Link to Geekbuying:
https://www.geekbuying.com/

Tronsmart Element T2 Plus Portable Bluetooth Speaker
https://bit.ly/3g4Vj4T

Link to Tronsmart Apollo Air and Air+:
https://bit.ly/2RTdwL0

Link to Tronsmart Onyx Ace TWS earbuds:
https://bit.ly/3pe11pC

Introduction


Anyone who has looked at my profile or read my previous reviews will know that I'm a big fan of bluetooth headphones - both full sized and iems. I've had the opportunity to try out quite a few and am comfortable in saying that there's now quite a few inexpensive models on the market now that can compete with the more expensive models on the market now. In my opinion, the Soundpeats P2 definitely falls into this camp.



I have a policy when reviewing the less expensive headphones out there. I don't think it's generally fair to compare them with the more expensive models and when awarding marks out of ten I do like to take their price into account.

Features

The Soundpeats P2 is a very unassuming pair of TWS earbuds - it's fair to say that they kinda look pretty generic and unimpressive all in all. Completely black in colour, they give off the impression that most muggers would let you keep them and just be happy taking your wallet. Well that would be their loss as these are bloody excellent. They're unashamedly plastic in construction, very light and unfortunately, like many other wireless IEM's, slippery and sometimes difficult to get out of the case if you have dry fingers.



Manufacturers specifications (nicked from their website):

Core Specs
Bluetooth Chip: Airoha AB1562A
Waterproof Level: IPX5
Bluetooth: 5.1
Audio Codec: SBC, AAC, MP3
Working Range: 33 feet(10m)
Technology: BT5.0, HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP

Battery
Battery Capacity: 370mAH (Case)
Battery Capacity:55*2mAH(Earbuds)
Charging Time: 2 hours
Standby Time: 150 hours
Playtime Time: ANC ON 7.5 hours, ANC OFF 10 hours

Package
Product Dimensions:0.8 * 0.84 * 1.03 inches
Item Weight:1.72 ounces
Shipping Weight: 4.19 ounces

What is in the Box
1 x SOUNDPEATS T2 Wireless Earbuds
1 x Charging Cable
1 x Charging Case
6 xInterchangeable Ear Tips
1 x User Manual

The T2’s feature Bluetooth - 5.1. Whilst this doesn't appear to directly affect the sound quality the rock solid connection definitely helps with the stability of the sound and they have a decent range (easily passing the upstairs bathroom test).



The charging case is a rather neat affair. Pretty much as small as that found on the Airpods, it offers around 3 full charges. It uses USB Type C (which is always welcome) and charged pretty quickly. I really liked the way SoundPeats have configured their LED indicators to externally show that each earbud is charging properly as well as the overall charge level of the case itself. I really liked the magnetic lid as well. Easy to open and features a subtle two-stage element when opening and closing.



The T2’s offer pretty much every feature you really need in a pair of wireless headphones - including volume control on the buds themselves. What they don’t have are features like in-ear detection, touch to hear (I think this is unique to Sony) or wireless charging. This has helped to keep the cost of the unit down without sacrificing anything too important.



The touch controls work pretty well but unfortunately there’s no app so therefore no way to change the controls (or disable the controls for use in bed). With this in mind, they’re not going to replace the Tronsmart Apollo’s for bedtime use). Interestingly there’s no facility to go back a track but you can still skip forward so it’s not the end of the world. As with many other wireless headphones, the volume steps are a little too coarse for fine tuning which is a shame (not sure if this is a limitation of Bluetooth but the Sony WH1000XM2’s (and probably XM3 and XM4 models too) offer much finer control over the volume. One touch I really do like is that when you pause the music it’s a two-step process - in other words the volume dips down before completely going silent - so there’s no sudden silence.

Sound Quality

Up front it has to be said that, although these headphones sound really good, they’re not what I would call hi-fi - the very top-end is curtailed and the bass, although slightly boosted, tends to lack a degree of detail although this slight bass boost does help reduce the need for an air-tight seal - they remind me somewhat of the Apple Airpods Pro in this respect in that you don’t have to get that ‘bunged up’ seal in order to get a nice full sound out of the units.

One thing I really liked about these headphones is that default to ‘Normal’ mode when first powered up. Long pressing for about 1.5 seconds on the left hand bud cycles through the three available modes - Normal, Pass-Through Sound and ANC on. There is a very small amount of additional ‘line-noise’ when using the ANC but all in all, it doesn't particularly have an effect on the sound quality.

Speaking of sound quality. The SoundPeats T2 sounds pretty good for their asking price. They go loud. Although there is a definite ‘V’ shape to the sound, it’s not as pronounced as that found on the Tronsmart Apollo’s. There was a degree of ‘hardness’ to the upper mids when they’re pushed too hard but at normal listening levels this effectively disappeared and the overall sound character remained fairly flat.

The SoundPEATS real ace up their sleeve though is their active noise cancelling which is actually remarkably good - very VERY close to the Sony WF1000XM3's. That's one hell of a compliment because the Sony's are amongst the very best anc TWS earbuds out there at the moment. I tried them out on a trip to my local supermarket and found that the ANC does a very good job of eliminating excessive outside noise. Whilst it could still be heard (just like with all other ANC headphones I’ve tried), once the music started playing - even at low levels - the outside noises effectively vanished. One problem I did experience though was a considerable amount of wind noise with the ANC on. Many ANC headphones suffer with this problem - so the SoundPeats aren’t on their own here.

The audio pass through works extremely effectively but the end result can't really be described as 'natural sounding'. Outside sounds come through pretty clearly but both amplifier and compressed. Don't get me wrong, it serves its purpose but Sony and Apple's definitely do it better. To be honest, it's actually not a feature I use all that often.

Conclusion

There's no doubt in my mind that the technology that Sony, Apple, Bose and Sennheiser employed in their leading edge products from the last couple of years have now filtered down into the budget market. I'm a big user of wireless headphones - both iem and full sized. Whilst I recognise that from a technical perspective, the sound quality of wireless will always play second fiddle to their wired counterparts. For me, the differences and both fairly subtle and certainly tolerable. Whilst I can still appreciate the purer sound quality from a really good player coupled with a set of really good wired headphones (Sony NW A55 Walkman and Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10's for example) - for much of my music listening I tend to veer towards wireless simply for the convenience.

In conclusion. I'm really impressed with these headphones. They offer better active noise cancellation and have a flatter sound profile than the Apollo Bold's, are a fraction of the price of the Sony WF1000XM3’s and yet offer a comparable degree of noise cancelling, almost match the Lypertek Tevi’s with regard to the earbud battery life and offer a really good balance of sound quality and value for money. Highly recommended for their price.

Introduction​

For various reasons I appear to have rather a lot of bluetooth headphones in my collection - in fact, nearly all of my headphones are either bluetooth or often run with additional bluetooth hardware. Amongst my collection I have the Sony WH1000XM2, WF1000 XM3, Mavin Air-X, Lypertek Tevi, iBasso CF01/IT00 combination and the Tronsmart Apollo Bold’s.



My first experience with Tronsmart products were the Bold’s - which I initially found way too bassy for my liking. However, a combination of continual use coupled with an Android application which has enabled some changes to the EQ and a discovery that they sound utterly superb at low volume has very much changed my opinion of these headphones and they’re now amongst my favourites - especially for use in bed at night. Their software application allows you to change the touch controls and this has enabled me to eliminate one of the things that really bugged me about the Apollo’s - their way to sensitive touch controls.



Subsequently, Tronsmart sent me their rather impressive bluetooth speaker which I also found very impressive for their size and price. Now I have their Q10 in my collection and I have to say that Tronsmart are producing some really impressive hardware for an excellent price. I must admit my first impressions of the Apollo Bold's were that they were too bassy. However, thanks to a combination of burn-in an alternative EQ from their Android application, their sound quality improved significantly. Interestingly their Q10's didn't exhibit the excessive bass that the Bold's had at first. This was most welcome and, to be honest, not what I expected.

Physical Description​

Right up front I have to say that the Q10's feel a little cheap. The plastic feels thinner than, say, the Sony WH1000XM2’s or even my Sennheiser HD598SR (which also does feel quite plasticy). As a result of this they are light though. The pads are pretty soft - which certainly helps with additional passive noise cancellation. Personally I would have liked the pads to be slightly firmer - I changed the pads on my WH1000XM2’s to the excellent Dekoni pads which definitely improved the feel of my Sony's - the pads on the Q10's kinda remind me of the original Sony pads. The headband also features some padding.



Fit is obviously a personal thing. I would rate the comfort level of the Q10's at about the same as the Sony's - that's a good thing. The cups do qualify for 'over ear' status rather than 'on-ear' for most people. I would say the cups are slightly smaller than the Bose QC-35's for example.They are lighter than the Sony's and feature a similar touch control layout to the Sony's. Swipe up/down for volume, left/right for track skip and double tap for play/pause. Again, this doesn't quite feel as nice as the Sony's but the feature does work - although the 'dimple' where the touch sensor is does take a little getting used to. - and let's not forget that these cost a fraction of the Sony's price. Really the only thing that’s significantly different is the palm over the earcup to listen immediately to what’s going on around you which I think is unique to Sony.

Battery life is allegedly excellent - perhaps the very best out of all the currently available full-sized Bluetooth headphones. Tronsmart claim up to 100 hours (this will almost certainly be based on using low volume and low resolution codecs. I certainly haven't had the chance to test the battery life out for myself yet but I see no reason why the Q10's wouldn't produce exceptional results.



Interestingly, there's no sound input socket - the Q10's are Bluetooth only. I don't have a problem with this as I have never really used the audio cable on my Sony's - after all, what's the point in having Bluetooth wireless headphones if you're going to use a cable.



Pairing mode is activated by double tapping on the Power button - this works great and effectively means that the headphones can very quickly be used with any bluetooth device very easily.

Sound Quality​

I must admit, being something of a headphone snob, I wasn't expecting too much but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised.The Q10's use the AAC codec. It would have been nice for them to have APtX but AAC is more than acceptable. As with pretty much all other headphones which feature active noise cancelling, the Q10's to generate a small amount of noise-floor when activated but when it's switched off, it's nicely silent.

The Q10's feature three sound modes - active noise cancelling, ambient mode and noise cancelling off. These modes are activated by simply pressing and holding for a couple of seconds. Works well enough. The active noise cancelling isn't quite as good as that found on the Sony's or Bose QC models. It does work though and appears to cancel out some of the higher frequencies (more like the Sony's than the Bose's ANC). The ANC does have an effect on the sound quality - making the sound slightly thinner. Generally though, the sound exhibits the same 'fullness' that you find with their Apollo Bold ANC IEM's. It takes a little getting used to.

The overall sound character is fairly flat. Bass has some decent slam and the top-end is pretty sweet sounding. Mids are slightly recessed but still fairly detailed. The one thing I did find somewhat disappointing was the volume - the Q10's definitely don't go as loud as the Sony's. Don't get me wrong, they do go loud but I find that I'm nearly at maximum volume most of the time - especially for music listening. All in all though these really are a pair of nice-sounding headphones and represent excellent value for money in my opinion.

One thing about the Q10's which I really REALLY like is that they pair up nicely with both my Amazon Fire HD and an inexpensive Bluetooth transmitter without showing any signs of lag. This means that they make excellent wireless gaming headphones. The sound effects on Call of Duty Modern Warfare is absolutely awesome with these headphones - - lots of dynamics and bass slam - and no lag. Love it!

Conclusion​

I have to admit I'm stunned at the superb value for money these headphones represent. Tronsmart have focussed on pretty much all the things that make up a good pair of wireless, Active Noise Cancelling Headphones without sacrificing much. Perhaps Tronsmart are now at the stage as a company that they would produce a 'flagship' full-size ANC headphone which would compete with Sony, Apple, Bose, etc - with no compromise on build-quality. If the Q10's are anything to go by, they would thrash the competition. High praise indeed.

Tronsmart Bluetooth Speaker

I have to be honest up front - when Tronsmart contacted me asking if I would be interested in reviewing their latest bluetooth speaker I was somewhat hesitant. The reason why is that I tend to use headphones for most of my listening and, being a bit of an audio snob, was very doubtful that I would actually like the sound that something like this produces. I'm really glad I did agree in the end though because this little speaker really is surprisingly good.



My first impression was that the speaker is remarkably small - a lot smaller than I expected it to be when looking at pictures on line. It has a good solid feel and there's no denying that this is a very well made unit. Add to this the excellent water resistance, battery life and fast USB C charging and this makes for a very impressive small speaker.



Thanks to its water resistance, I set the speaker up in my bathroom and linked it up to my phone to play some Peter Gabriel whilst taking a shower. I was quite surprised with the sound quality that comes out of this little unit. Bass wasn't overblown and yet showed some real presence - likewise the mids had enough satisfying detail and the top end didn't annoy either. All in all, definitely an improvement over the previous bluetooth speaker I was using in the bathroom.



Pairing with my phone was easy - pretty much like most modern Bluetooth headphones. Simply power up the speaker and it automatically goes into pairing mode. Once you have connected, it will always connect to that device by default. If you wish to pair the speaker to another device, simply hold down the relevant button for a few seconds and the speaker will go back into pairing mode - easy peasy.



All the buttons and sockets on the speaker have rubberised flaps which helps with the water resistance but this does make the buttons slightly hard to find - especially considering the buttons are at the rear of the unit - but that's the price of improved water resistance.

Don't get me wrong, this speaker isn't going to replace your Naim Muso - God how cool would that be? Rather this is a picnic/bbq speaker - small enough to fit in a handbag or coat pocket (easily) and has enough output power to help overcome it's small size - to a certain extent. What I was really surprised (and pleased) to see is that Tronsmart hasn't simply produced a bass monster but rather something that offers a nice balanced sound. The 4.5 Star rating is to reflect the excellent value for money, performance and sound quality.

There's really not much more to say about this remarkable little speaker. It's sound quality is excellent for its size, decent battery life (not yet tested), water resistance, can go loud and nice overall design. What's not to like?

Well made, inexpensive and sounds great.

Well I have to admit that this is the first completely unjustifiable purchase I have made in quite some time. Firstly, I tend to do a lot of my listening with bluetooth headphones which really don’t offer any sound quality differences between different players - assuming they’re using the same codec of course. Secondly, I spend more and more time listening to streamed content (usually Google Play Music) and am pretty much satisfied with its sound quality. Thirdly, I pretty much always carry my phone around with me (kinda like everyone else on the planet) and so always have access to not only my personal music collection on Micro SD card but also the before mentioned streamed content. So why the hell would I want to drop nearly £200 on a dedicated MP3 player which, apart from its small size, brings almost nothing to the table when compared to my smartphone?

Well…..if I’m going to be utterly and completely honest - because I wanted to. Secondly though I recently got sent a pair of Fiio’s rather excellent FD-1 wired IEMs and suddenly became ‘woke’ again to the joys of higher resolution music. My phone is the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 which is not renowned for sound quality through the headphone jack. Strangely I recently changed it from the LG V20 which is the complete opposite - having superb wired headphone output. The truth is that Samsung has much MUCH better bluetooth capabilities and I have an external wired DAC/AMP which I can connect to the phone for that ‘high-res’ experience.

In my defence, there were some other reasonably effective rationalisations that I employed in order to mentally justify the expense. The player has excellent battery life (unlike the NW-A105 which I was very tempted to get), and can act as an external wired DAC and wireless bluetooth ‘amplifier’ - with the ability to control the streamed content with the players own external media controls. This effectively means that I don’t have to worry about not being able to stream Google Play Music from the device directly (no wifi) but rather tether it to my phone’s LDAC bluetooth output and really have the best of both worlds. Excellent battery life in a very small package but also capable of replicating many of the features found in the NW-A105.

So how is the Sony NW-A55? There’s plenty of YouTube videos showing the unit off so there’s not much point in going into too much detail regarding the externals - I really want to focus on the features and sound quality elements.

Useful Features

There were a couple of features I read about on this player which effectively tipped my hand - the external DAC/AMP function and the Bluetooth receiver. I think I will definitely make use of both these features. The bluetooth receiver function works brilliantly with my Galaxy Note 8. It connects using the LDAC codec to the sound quality is excellent. I have the Axium Aqua + bluetooth amp and this sounds better. LDAC really does make a difference.



The NW-A55 also offers LDAC bluetooth output to compatible headphones - and this sounds really good. My WH1000XM2’s connected using the NFC function seamlessly and the connection was rock solid with much better range than what I get on my phone - and…..I really don't want to say it but they actually sound better as well. There’s significantly more volume available when using bluetooth headphones. Unfortunately the same cannot be said when pairing up Sony’s latest WF1000XM3 bluetooth noise cancelling earbuds as the A55 doesn’t support AAC - only SBC and APtX/APtX HD and LDAC - so the WF’s only connect via SBC. Whilst they don’t sound too bad, they definitely sound better when connected to my phone.

Another really useful feature is the external playback controls. Basically this allows you to operate the device without having to take it out of your pocket. Another useful advantage to these is that you don't have to activate the screen every time you want to switch tracks or increase/decrease the volume - this can really help increase battery life.

It can act as an external DAC/AMP for laptop/desktop computer use. This has effectively given the A55 most of the advantages that the A110 would offer without the disadvantages (crap battery life and limited headphone output). I can use my Galaxy Note 8 to stream from Google Play Music to the A55 via bluetooth using the LDAC codec. Although this may sound like a bit of a faff it’s really not that difficult and only takes a few seconds to set up. The end result definitely sounds better than the headphone output from my phone’s headphone socket. You can’t use bluetooth headphones when doing this - in all fairness you would simply connect your headphones to the phone instead of the player under these circumstances.

Sound Quality

This is always a subjective thing in my opinion - bear in mind that I'm an old dude and my taste in music is somewhat varied. First things first - the volume issue.

My player is (or was) EU volume capped which limited the output. I do like my music fairly loud a lot of the time and I have to say that I really didn't have any problems in getting the volume levels I wanted. Headphones used include the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10, Fiio FD1, Sennheiser HD598SR, Sony WH1000XM2, Mavin Air-X and the Sony WF1000XM3's. Even the Sennheiser's got pretty loud - admittedly I could have coped with a little more. However, after un-capping the EU Volume restriction the 598's can be driven uncomfortably loud now. The most impressive results I got were with the IEM's (except the Sony WF's) and the WH1000XM2's. The pairing of this player with the Sony WH's is a match made in heaven. They really open up nicely and wow - they go really REALLY loud! I like the Sony 'house' sound. It's not afraid of showing a little grunt in the low end whilst still being polite and controlled. Whilst the various EQ/Sound Shaping functions are quite impressive, I tend to always listen with all these bells and whistles switched off. I feel this offers more resolution in the mids and highs too. Even when pushed hard, these headphones remain in control and rock out.

Bluetooth range and stability are first rate too. I am able to travel much further away from this little MP3 player than I ever could with my phone. Gardening (with lovely active noise cancelling) is going to be a lot easier without having my bulky phone sticking out of my pocket. I love it!
The more I think about this the more I feel that this is the last of Sony's sensible players. All their players further up in their price range all tend to have some serious shortcomings - typically battery life, limited headphone output and/or excessively bulky/stupidly expensive. Whilst it would have been nice to have Wi-Fi - this would require the Android operating system in order to make the Wi-Fi worthwhile by allowing you to run your own favourite music applications. The end result is appalling battery life. The A55's solution through Bluetooth pairing to your phone is a really nice touch - definitely a smart way of overcoming this limitation.

In case you haven't guessed it by now, I really like this player. It's the best sounding player I've ever heard - here's a list of some of the players I've had in the past:-

• Sony Discman 555
• Sony Discman D350
• Sony Minidisc - MD1, MD900 MD R35
• Creative Nomad Jukebox 3
• Apple Ipod 1, 7
• LG V20

Trust me when I say that the list is embarrassingly incomplete - I've spent bloody thousands of pounds over the years on music playback. Wow - I could have bought a bloody Jag.

This player ticks an impressive amount of boxes - one that's perhaps overlooked by many though is how long this player could theoretically last - the rather excellent battery life means that you don't need to charge it very often which will result in the player lasting a good time longer. To give you an idea of just how impressed I am with it, I'm seriously thinking of buying a very large Micro Sd card and storing all my music on it.

For a player which has a reputation for being low powered, the NW-A55 hasn't had any problem driving all the wired and wireless headphones in my collection. Whilst the Sennheiser HD598SR requires nearly full volume, it still sounds powerful and effortless - and absolute full volume is actually uncomfortably loud. The sound character is detailed and full sounding. I'm reminded of the first time I heard the Etymotics ER4P - the amount of detail and the rock solid imagery was unique. It was easy to choose a specific instrument for example, and follow it throughout a track without even having to concentrate. The NW-A55 definitely has this characteristic. It's a player that's easy to listen to and tends to make the most of any headphone that you connect to it. There is one exception though and that is the Sony WF1000XM3's. As it is I have paired my rather excellent Lypertek Tevi's to the Sony and, again I have to say it, they sound better than through my phone. So now I have (in my opinion) a really nice ultra-portable (Tevi's), portable (WH1000XM2's) and at-home (Sennheiser HD598SR).

I love this little player. Sony have gone and got so many things right with it. No distractions with other apps, superb connectivity options (we all have Bluetooth enabled smartphones don't we?), really REALLY good sound quality, excellent battery life (which ensures genuine longevity) - the list can go on. I'm so glad I got the A55 instead of the A110.

Update

Thanks to the magic of Mr Walkman - the A55 can be 'flashed' with a kind of firmware update which brings some of the sound character and quality from Sony's top MP3 player (to call it that really doesn't do it justice) - the legendary DMP-Z1. This has elevated the sound quality to another level altogether. Highly recommended.

Introduction
Carrie from Dudios kindly sent me the T8 Wireless Earbuds for review. These are comparatively inexpensive Bluetooth 5.0 TWS headphones with touch controls. There is very little to set it apart from the multitudes of other TWS headphones which are currently available on Amazon - let’s see if there’s something special about these.



Case
The case is made of plastic (no surprises there) and appears to be somewhat more rugged feeling than the lightweight case supplied with the Tronsmart Bold’s for example. The outside of the case has a soft touch which gives it a slightly more premium feel than the typical shiny cases that’s found on many others. The case charges using USB C and features one LED to display the various charge states. Both the sockets for the headphones and the case lid feature magnets and, whilst not being the strongest I’ve come across, basically do the job. One nice touch is the slight ‘bump’ at the front of the lid which helps when opening the case up. Dudios claims that the battery life on the earbuds themselves is rated at 5.5 hours and the case offers up to 35 additional charge hours.
Earbuds
The T8’s have a definite Airpod Pro look to them. Unfortunately they don’t offer the same active noise cancellation that you would find with the Airpods - but at this price it would almost certainly sound appalling. As it is, the earbuds feature touch-controls and, rather surprisingly considering their price point, they offer remote volume controls. I found the touch controls to work really well - easily as good as the Sony WF1000XM3’s. Unfortunately this type of touch sensitive control also kinda stops you being able to wear them in bed.



Although they're made of plastic, they don't feel particularly cheap. I haven't really had the chance to test out the battery life as I rarely get the chance to listen for that long. Signal appears to be pretty good and they do go loud. They're lightweight which definitely helps maintain a good fit and, most importantly, they sound good,
Sound Quality
The Dudios T8's sound surprisingly neutral. I expected them to be overly bassy (as this often seems to be the case with many of the inexpensive TWS headphones out there. The T8's have a somewhat mellow character - offering a nice non-fatiguing listening experience. I couldn't detect any significant noise floor and the headphones connected quite quickly to my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 8). All in all, a not-bad pair of headphones.



One thing that really did surprise me when I started looking at the settings on my phone was that the T8's are SBC only - no APtX - no AAC. I have to admit that I found this really surprising when you take into account the pretty good sound quality they're capable of.
Conclusion
I like these. They're a capable, inoffensive sounding pair of well designed headphones. They are definitely an improvement on my last pair of 30 quid headphones and for their price I'm quite happy to recommend them.

Pros:
Surprisingly good sound quality.
Appear to be well made
Case seems to be sturdy
Good wireless range
Remote Volume Controls

Cons:
No high-res codec support
Magnets could be a little stronger.

Introduction

I reviewed the Tronsmart Apollo Bold active noise cancelling TWS a while back and the conclusion to my review was that I couldn’t recommend them due to their excessive bass in my opinion. Well, it’s time to eat some humble pie - After a combination of software update and burning in (I guess) they sound good - really REALLY GOOD!



What’s Changed
Much of my original review still counts - if you want the minute details on these headphones, check out the following link for some truly excellent reviews.

The recent software update has enabled some basic EQ controls (which are retained by the headphones themselves so they’re still in place when you use the Bold’s with other DAP’s). Although it would be nice to have finer controls, the Jazz setting seems to calm that bass down somewhat without overly affecting the other frequencies.

Even without the EQ though, the Bold’s had started to calm down somewhat - they’re a surprisingly detailed TWS and yet they’re not bright - just nicely detailed in the treble region. There’s still some additional noise generated when using either the active noise cancelling or ambient sound mode but then if you’re in an environment where you’re going to need these features, you probably won’t notice. In truth, the Sony WF1000XM3’s do offer better noise cancelling - but not by much.



The sound character does change when ANC/Ambient is switched off. The noise floor effectively disappears and the bass is reduced slightly. Truth be told, all the modes sound pretty good when used according to your environment.

Future Features

One feature I really would like to see in a future update is the ability to switch off the touch controls so that they can be used in bed. At the moment I find it virtually impossible to use these in bed because of the constant triggering from the touch controls. Strangely Sony uses a very similar touch-system on their WF models and yet don’t suffer with this problem. This is a shame because the additional bass from the Bold’s work really well when listening at lower volumes.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Comfortable
• Good wireless range
• Good battery life
• Very light weight
• Volume
• Full range sound
• Active noise cancelling

Cons

• Touch controls too sensitive
• Bass boosted (but not too bad with Jazz EQ applied)
• Case feels flimsy

Conclusion

I feel that I can now easily recommend these headphones. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still not perfect but are definitely a step up from the usual budget offerings. They have a ‘big’ sound which kinda sounds like full-sized headphones. Whilst perhaps not accurate in the usual sense of the word, they do have a ‘fun’ or even ‘musical’ sound which I really like.

Tronsmart contacted me and asked if I could add this promotional info to my review :-

Tronsmart Celebrates the 8th Birthday

LONDON 15th Jun 2021: Consumer technology expert, Tronsmart, today celebrates its 8th birthday. They are also giving away a number of prizes, including a gift box worth $500, newly launched Apollo Air and Air+ earbuds, and 15% off coupon for geekbuying. The gift box includes a Tronsmart Element T2 Plus Portable Bluetooth Speaker, a pair of Tronsmart Onyx Ace TWS earbuds, as well as customized pen and notebook. Anyone can click her to win them.

• First prize: Gift Box valued over $500*30pcs
• Second Prize: $99 ANC earbuds Apollo Air+*30pcs
• Third Prize: $69 ANC earbuds Apollo Air *50pcs
• Lucky prize: 15% OFF coupon for geekbuying

Established in 2013 and celebrating its 8th Anniversary today, Tronsmart is a tech brand that designs and manufactures world-class tech accessories which has been recommended by Qualcomm, Forbes, Yahoo, and many other big companies and media. It also signed Luis Suarez as the official ambassador in 2018. The company has rapidly expanded and sell its products to over 70 countries in many regions including North America, South America, Europe, The Middle East and Asia and has over 40 patents including its SoundPulse® technology. The core value of Tronsmart is to make life easier by providing customers with high-tech, high-quality and high-performance products.

Hope all you can win the gift you want in this competition.



All links you may need:

Link to 8th anniversary landing page:
https://bit.ly/3p99Pgd

Link to patent SoundPulse®:
https://bit.ly/3vEdyF5

Link to Geekbuying:
https://www.geekbuying.com/

Tronsmart Element T2 Plus Portable Bluetooth Speaker
https://bit.ly/3g4Vj4T

Link to Tronsmart Apollo Air and Air+:
https://bit.ly/2RTdwL0

Link to Tronsmart Onyx Ace TWS earbuds:
https://bit.ly/3pe11pC

This is going to be a very difficult review for me to do.The reason why is that the IT00 has very little ‘character’ of its own. To my ears they’re ruler flat, detailed throughout the frequency range, fit really well, are pretty efficient and appear to be very well made. Perhaps you can see why I’m struggling. What I have basically described is the perfect in ear monitor.



Obviously there are better IEM’s out there - it would be foolish to describe these as the best you can possibly get as this simply isn’t the case. However, once you take their price into account, it’s not hard to see just why the iBasso IT00 is such a good headphone and, in my opinion, you would have to spend considerably more money before you would see any appreciable return on your investment.

Physical Description

Slick packaging seems to be all the rage at the moment. I think that iBasso is definitely one of the up and coming brands who are desperately trying to compete with the likes of Sony and Apple - and they're succeeding. The IT00’s come in a nicely printed box and also comes supplied with a large array of replacement tips, a rather nice branded round zippered carry case and a couple of replacement filters (really nice touch iBasso). The IEM's are supplied with a rather nice black coated, braided cable that's just the right length for portable use. The jack is high quality and right angled for strain relief. This is a really nice overall package and certainly wouldn't be out of place for headphones costing several times the price of the IT00's. After a bit of tip rolling, I found the right size to ensure a nice seal and was good to go.



Whilst I’m not overly keen on white earphones although I have to say that these do look good. If they were made by Samsung the colour would be described as something like Pacific Pearl White or perhaps Arctic Wind Grey - basically they’re white. They feel very solid and look like they could survive a fair amount of abuse. The MMCX connection is nice and tight - I haven’t had the cables accidentally disconnect on me yet. The stem goes a little deeper into the ear canal than some (which for me is always a welcome feature and definitely helps ensure you get a good seal) and the IEM’s feature a replaceable filter (also supplied with a spare set). The glossy finish will help with keeping the IEM’s clean. With most of my IEM’s I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time faffing around trying to get the perfect seal - I kinda got used to the triple flanges used with the Etymotics - and they go deeeeeep! My experience with the IT00’s is very positive and I have no problems pretty much just ‘plopping’ them into my ears, a quick wiggle and I’m sorted. Nice touch iBasso. The cable is nice and flexible and doesn’t appear to easily get tangled.

Sound Quality

I have to say it. These remind me of the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10’s. This is one hell of a compliment because I rate those headphones very highly indeed. To my ears, the IT00's are essentially flat - perhaps a slight bass ‘bloom’ over the UE’s but not enough to describe them as ‘bassy’. I’ve been driving them from my Sony NW-A55 Walkman (uncapped) and there’s no problems driving these headphones to very high levels with this player. They actually make a really good combination although you shouldn’t have any problems driving these from most portable devices.



I suppose if compared to the Etymotic ER4P, the sound character of these could be described as ‘V’ shaped although this certainly doesn’t come across as exaggerated. Mids come through clearly - perhaps not quite in your face mids. The sound stage is perhaps ‘medium-sized’, but there’s nothing in that sound stage that appears overly artificial - it stays nicely focussed. There’s a wonderful amount of micro detail to the sound and the imagery remains nicely rock solid - I feel that this is always the sign of good quality headphone/earphones as it shows that their drivers are well matched. Whilst I have been listening to the IT00’s for a good few days now, I very much doubt that they have ‘broken in’ yet. To be honest I wasn’t much of a believer until I tried the Tronsmart Apollo Bold’s - they really changed their character over the first couple of days usage. So now, I’m a semi-believer - I’m certainly willing to be receptive to the concept - let’s put it that way.



I’m very sensitive to harsh highs and I’m very pleased to say that you won’t find any of that here. The highs on the IT00’s are perhaps what reminds me the most of the UE TF10’s. Super impressive when you consider that these are using a single dynamic driver rather than multiple driver balanced armatures. Cymbals have a nice ‘shimmer’ to their sound but the top end isn’t overly bright and doesn't fatigue you after long listening sessions. There’s could perhaps be just a tad more detail on the highs - but I personally really like their fatigue free sound character.

I did notice some significant ‘driver flex’ in both of these earphones but it only shows itself when you’re pushing the headphones into your ears - the rest of the time it’s fine. Many in-ear monitors in my collection suffer this phenomenon - especially the bluetooth ones however this has never appeared to have a negative effect on the sound quality.

Conclusion

What the IT00’s clearly show to me is just how far high-quality IEM’s have come. The original retail price for the Triple Fi 10’s was significantly more than the IT00's but both sound remarkably close to each other in my opinion. In comparing the IT00's to perhaps their closest rival, the Fiio FD1's I think they're very close. For me, the Fiio's sounded very slightly more mellow with slightly more forward mids and slightly recessed treble whereas the IT00's sound more engaging and appear to offer a deeper bass as well as slightly more detail in the top end. Both can be highly recommended as their differences really boil down to your own personal preferences. I personally would choose the ibasso IT00's but I still do enjoy the FD1’s (how’s that for sitting on the fence). Great sound. Great Fit. Great value. Very highly recommended.

Introduction

In my opinion bluetooth has come a long way in the last couple of years and I really feel that we have reached a point where it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between a wired and a wireless connection.

Through a combination of review units being sent out and my own purchases I really shouldn't have, I appear to have amassed a rather embarrassing amount of wireless headphones. Here's the list (mostly based on my personal preferences from best downwards):-

Sony WH1000xm2
Without a doubt these are my favourite full sized bluetooth headphones. Now I come to think of it, it's the only full sized bluetooth headphone I have in my collection currently. I love their sound character and they can go loud, feature excellent controls and go for a long time on a single charge.

Sony WF1000XM3
Sonically to my ears they share a similar sound signature to the larger Sony counterparts. I love the active noise cancelling and I think they sound superb. It's fair to say that these are my favourite true wireless earphones at this point in time.

Lypertek Tevi
A very pure set of true wireless in-ear monitors which focus completely on sound quality and battery life. These sound great and have an excellent feel in the ears - the only thing that lets them down is the very stiff buttons.

Mavin Air-X
Another brand which definitely focusses on what’s important in a set of bluetooth earphones - sound quality, range and battery life. The Air-X definitely hits the spot for me. The only criticism I could level at them is the tips fall off too easily because the stems are too smooth.

Apple Airpods
I know, I know, I’ve just lost some cred but to be truthful I think that they sound excellent and are ideal for listening to music in bed as you can lie on your side quite comfortably with these in.



The CF01 is a Bluetooth Adaptor which is designed to connect directly with your favourite set of mmcx enabled earphones. The electronics then simply wrap around the back of your ears pretty much out of sight. You might think that this would become somewhat cumbersome but in actual fact they feel great and are no more visible than a regular set of earphones.

CF-01 - Initial Impressions

The CF-01’s are made from a combination of metal and plastic which gives them a really cool futuristic - almost industrial look to them. I could easily imagine someone mistaking them for hearing aids - just really cool hearing aids that give you special powers. They feature just one multi-control button on each bud which offers the usual set of controls - nothing special there. Unfortunately you cannot control the volume from the device - that’s a shame. A short braided cable comes from the top which terminates in a really tightly fitting MMCX plug. That’s it. Just add your own favourite compatible tips and you’re good to go.



The adaptors come with a USB Type C charging case - just like you would get on many sets of TWS type earphones. The case is significantly bigger than any of those though - but for good reason - it stores your buds along with the electronics - excellent touch. To make things even better though, the lid is held in place with a button so it can resist being sprung open when attempting to hold some of the larger IEM’s out there. That’s a real nice touch. I did expect it to be somewhat fiddly getting these devices back in the case but it’s actually just as easy as any other TWS headphone out there - the magnets just help them find their place - easy peasy.



Functions and Bluetooth

There’s really not much to say about these headphone adaptors - they just work. Bluetooth range is excellent - easily coping with the upstairs bathroom test. Connection is also rock solid - I’ve yet to experience any break ups at all and the power output is very impressive indeed. The singly button controls are reasonably easy to find and what’s nice is that you don’t affect the fit when you use them. The headphones power on and off when you remove and replace them in the case.



Battery life appears good - although I’ve not really had the chance to test this out properly yet. iBasso lists the following on the rather nice packaging:-

• Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.0
• Bluetooth Coding: SBC AAC aptX
• Wireless Range: 1 0 m
• Speaker Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz
• Output Power: 9mW@32ohm
• SNR: ?98dB
• Audio decoding: 24bit 192kHz
• THD+N: <1% (20Hz-lOkHz ImW)
• Playtime: 4.5h (adapter) + 20h (charging case)
• Charging time; 1 .5h (adapter) + 2.5h (charging case)
• Waterproof level: IPX5

Sound Quality and Fit

A quick qualifier. Whilst I do consider myself to have reasonably good hearing - I’m also 57 years old and can’t kid myself that I have the ears of a 19-year old. With this in mind, I do like a flat, fairly uncoloured sound signature when critically listening (think Etymotic ER4P) but when I’m more active I do like a smidge of extra bass. I avoid using any form of EQ - not because I’m a snob or a ‘flat Earther’ - it’s just that I use both my phone and my Sony Walkman A55 MP3 player. The Sony doesn’t support eq function when using bluetooth. I tend to focus on getting the right tips - always happy to try the ones supplied with the units first but also not afraid to tip roll when necessary.



I naturally paired the CF01 with their IT00 iems and tried them out for a couple of hours. This combination sounds superb. Utterly flat and indistinguishable from a wired connection (at least from my poor, tired old ears). I then wanted to test the IT00’s using the supplied cable so I then fitted my trusty Magaosi K3 Pro IEMs to the CF01 and I haven’t looked back since. The sound quality on these adaptors is utterly remarkable. There’s no hiss, no colouration to the sound and the volume in buckets. I have to say that this pairing is like a match made in heaven - without a doubt this is one of the best sounding bluetooth headphone system I’ve ever heard.



Now don’t get me wrong. I still love my Sony’s and my Tevi’s and my Mavin’s - I suspect that I always will. The Sony’s offer much better external noise cancellation than the CF01/Magaosi Combo (from now on just referred to as the CF01). The Mavin’s and the Tevi’s are far more convenient to carry around and feature proper waterproofing and the WH1000xm2’s are just fabulous. But from a pure sound quality perspective, the CF01’s are utterly sublime. The fit is good but I wish there was a half centimeter more length to the cable which connects the electronics to the earbuds. With the IT00’s the fit is perfect but with the Magaosi’s, the cable felt just slightly too short.

I think the Magaosi K3 Pro add a slight bass ‘bloom’ to the sound - not enough to spoil the overall neutrality, just enough to give them a bit of ‘zing’. In other words, this combination isn’t ruler-flat but this is because of the buds I’m using - not the CF01’s themselves.

To be honest, there’s really nothing major to criticise with this device. There are some things I would like to have seen - for example LDAC codec support, a slightly longer cable, remote volume controls, but in many ways this is just nitpicking because they sound so damned good just as they are.



Conclusion

I would normally break the sound character down and discuss in detail the bass, mids and treble - but with this device it’s really pointless - it appears to be ruler flat, has great power output and basically will sound as good as whatever headphones you decide to connect to them. If you have a set of wired IEM’s which use the MMCX connector, don’t hesitate if you want to experience bluetooth sound at its best. Very highly recommended.

Initial Impressions
I’ve had the opportunity to review a number of wireless headphones over the last couple of years - Tronsmart very kindly sent me a set of their latest active noise cancelling TWS earbuds to review - the Apollo. Packaging for the Apollo’s is extremely impressive - definitely comparable to the packaging used on my Sony WF1000XM3’s. Unfolding the magnetically secured box reveals the charging case and headphones embedded in some surprisingly difficult to remove packaging. Overall the packaging shouts out that you’re getting a good quality product.








You get the usual accessories - short charging cable, a couple of instruction manuals, two additional pairs of silicone tips in different sizes (no foamies here) and a pleather drawstring carry case (which is a nice touch). Note that all three pairs of tips appear to be quite small (to me at least) so those of you with larger ear holes may need to raid their eartip collection - the good news is that, even with their unusual oval stem, you shouldn’t have any problems finding alternatives.



As with many true wireless headphones, the case uses magnets to secure the buds in place when charging and assists in keeping the lid closed. Whilst it works perfectly well, the case does feel somewhat flimsy and doesn’t give the impression that it could cope with a lot of rough and tumble. The case uses USB Type C for charging but doesn’t feature wireless charging. Unfortunately there’s only one LED on the case to indicate charge - it would have been nice to have a row of LEDS to help more accurately show remaining battery life.



The headphones themselves really do look nice with the gold trim around the touch sensor. To my eyes, they look as premium as anything from Sennheiser or Sony. Nice touch there. One of the first things I noticed was just how light they are - way lighter than I expected. These headphones have a reasonable IP rating so there shouldn’t be any problems with encountering water. Unusually, the stems are oval shaped but I’ve found that this actually helps keep the tips nice and secure. In all fairness I have to say that their lightness greatly helps when it comes to maintaining a good fit.

Functions
The touch sensors on the Apollo’s work in a similar way to the Sony WF1000XM3’s - kinda. I must admit it’s taking some time getting used to the unusual control logic on these buds but it’s nice to have the remote volume option - something that the Sony’s lack (unless you’re prepared to sacrifice other functions). Like many of the other TWS headphones out there that feature touch controls, the Apollo’s suffer from sometimes being too sensitive - usually resulting in unwanted changes to the volume. The controls operate like this:-

L/R 1 Tap - Change volume

L/R 2 Taps - Play/Pause/Answer/Hang Up

L/R 3 Taps - Cycle through the various noise cancelling modes

L/R Tap and hold - Skip Track

You can perhaps see just how easy it is to find yourself increasing the volume rather than pausing the music for example. Sony’s touch controls are definitely better - even if they don’t have the same degree of fine control.



Battery life appears good - although I’ve not really had the chance to test this out properly yet. Tronsmart claim the Apollos’ have up to 10 hours playback from a single charge and 30 hours before you have to recharge the case - I suspect that these figures would be measured with active noise cancelling switched off, a fairly low volume setting and the SBC codec employed.



Unlike the Sony’s, the Apollo’s feature a reasonable degree of water resistance - always a welcome feature on portable stuff. I can’t imagine just how difficult it would be to get these buds out of their case with wet hands, it’s bloody hard enough with dry hands. This is also a real problem with the Lypertek Tevi’s - it’s a good job they’re both water resistant because the moment you attempt to take either of them out when you’re outside in the rain - you’re practically guaranteed to drop them in the nearest puddle. Apart from the somewhat flimsy construction and the surprisingly light weight of the earbuds, the Apollo’s look like a decent package.

Bluetooth Performance is better than average and the Apollos easily pass the upstairs bathroom test with flying colours. They pair well with my Sony NW-A55 and can go more than loud enough for me.

Active Noise Cancelling
The active noise cancelling isn’t as effective as the Sony’s but in all fairness they don’t cost the same as the Sony’s either. The ambient sound is definitely muffled but it’s still there. The Sony’s can be uncanny sometimes with their noise cancelling but the Apollo’s do share one thing with the Sony’s and that is that the active noise cancelling doesn’t overly affect the sound quality.

Sound Quality
Right. Up front I have to say that these are ‘bass monster’ headphones. They’re not flat. They’re not audiophile - but they can sound fun. I’m not normally a big believer in ‘breaking in’ headphones - perhaps the first few minutes of playback allow the drivers to form their natural shape - microscopically speaking, but that’s about it as far as I’m concerned. I have given these headphones a good few hours playback at both low and fairly loud volumes and their sound character has changed slightly - but the bass just overpowers the other frequencies.

Bass
Definitely the dominant frequency. This boosted bass makes these headphones ideal for listening at very low volume.

Mids
Fairly recessed and perhaps lacking in some of the finer details but unfortunately just overpowered by the bass.

Treble
Treble is nicely detailed and falls just below my personal 'harsh' zone.

Due to the overall shape of the headphones and the fairly small tips/shallow insertion depth, this results in what I feel is a less than ideal fit. However, taking into account both the active noise cancellation and the excessive 'V' shape to the sound means that the actual overall sound quality is pretty good - as long as you’re listening at low volume and/or avoiding bass-rich genres. I've really enjoyed listening to some of the 70's rock in my collection. Rush, Floyd, Genesis, Wakeman, Yes and so on. These old recordings sound pretty nice with this massive bass boost.

One effective way of overcoming this massive amount of bass is to avoid deep insertion or even bothering to get an effective seal. Just simply ‘popping’ the headphones in - and not making any attempt at fit or seal, resulted in the excessive bass simply bleeding away - producing a ‘flatter’ sound profile. The downside is of course greatly redacted noise cancellation and loss of volume. All said and done though - wayyyyyyyy too much bass.

Conclusion
I really wanted to like these headphones. They’re well specced, look good and are comfortable. Unfortunately the excessive bass simply spoils them for me. On the plus side, they do make an excellent IEM for late night listening in bed at super low volumes - the excessive bass sounds really nice then. I’m hoping that one possible future feature the Apollo’s may have when they release the software is the ability to store EQ settings on the IEM’s themselves - then, after cranking the bass well down, you will end up with a really nice sounding pair of TWS headphones. Let's hope that this happens! As they stand right now, I can't recommend them. However I shall definitely keep my eye out for their application which is due out shortly.


Amazon Link
Tronsmart Website

=====================================================
Amendments to the original review.
=====================================================
I felt compelled to re-evaluate my thoughts on the Apollo's and, rather than re-writing the review I thought it might be more appropriate to leave it in so as to illustrate how first impressions can change. I've never been much of a believer in 'burn in' - especially with the tiny drivers in IEM's. My experience with these has made me rethink this. Whilst I accept that 'brain burn in' is as likely a phenomenon, there's no doubt in my mind that the Apollo Bolds' have definitely improved over time.

Whilst they're still a little too bassy for my liking, they really have begun to shine in their sound quality. Whilst at the louder volumes I normally listen to music at I still find them a bit too much but at significantly lower volumes (i.e. at night, in bed), they sound bloody fantastic.

At low volumes the extra bass humphhh really works well with pretty much all genres of music - and the soundstage really comes alive.

One criticism is that the touch controls are too sensitive making them a bit difficult to use in bed without occasionally triggering volume changes or track skipping. Sony's touch controls seem to be pretty good at rejecting accidental touches - I wonder if they use the accelerometer as well as the touch sensitive controller?

These may well turn out to be my new bedtime headphones.

Introduction
Firstly, before anything else, I have to apologise for my excessive wordiness. I can assure you that in person I’m a man of few words - in fact I’m positively antisocial! I have been an enthusiastic headphone user now for many many years and have seen some remarkable advances in this field as time has gone on. In the last couple of years I have kinda focussed on bluetooth audio and have ended up with some very impressive hardware - the Sony WH1000XM2 and WF1000XM3’s, the Lypertek Tevi, the Apple Airpods and the Mavin Air-X in particular. All of these bluetooth headphones impress me with their sound quality and features - so it’s going to be an interesting experience going back to wired IEM’s after using wireless so often recently.



Background
My current wired IEM’s consist of the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 and Magaosi K3 Pro’s. Playback electronics include the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, AgpTek H1, Acer Chromebook and occasionally the Benjie S5. Additionally I also have the Topping NX2 DAC/Amp and the Nexum Aqua + Bluetooth amplifier. In the past I have owned the Etymotic ER4P, Shure E500 and 1More Triple Driver IEM’s. Most of my music is high-bitrate MP3’s and occasionally some FLAC files. I’m 58 years old - so please take this into account when I talk about sound quality.

Introducing the Fiio FD1
Fiio has a reputation for producing some truly excellent audio equipment. Their MP3 players have an enthusiastic following and their multi-driver IEM’s get a lot of positive comments on this site. I personally haven’t had the chance to try out any of Fiio’s products up to now so I was very keen on trying out the FD1’s. When I first read about the specifications for the FD1 I was somewhat dubious about the single driver - when compared against the might of multiple balanced armature drivers and the many hybrid BA/DD models that are now available within this price point. However my recent experience with the Lypertek Tevis and Sony WF1000XM3’s have made me realise just how good a single dynamic driver can be. I was also somewhat concerned about them using a 10mm driver - having expectations of excessive bass (the Lypertek’s and Sony’s drivers are only 6mm and sound superb). Needless to say, my concerns on both the use of a single dynamic driver and its size turned out to be completely unwarranted.



Externals
The FD1’s are made of an acrylic material - with an opaque backplate (black or blue) and a semi-transparent front which shows some of the inner workings of the headphone. The soundtube has a fairly large bore but appears to be pretty much compatible with most tips. The soundtube itself is a metallic gold and features an impressive looking mesh filter at the tip. The supplied tips fit very tightly - I struggled at first but they’re certainly secure once fitted correctly. These headphones appear to be quite thick but don't really look it once they're in your ears. You can comfortably lay on your side whilst wearing them - this is always something that's welcome as I do a lot of my listening in bed.



The cable is really nice - slightly thicker than those found on most other IEM's but they’re really flexible and don't feel sticky. The braiding is tight and it terminates in a really neat right angled gold-plated jackplug. You are left with the impression that the cable is going to go the distance.



One really cool touch was the supplied Fiio branded Pelican-style case - much nicer than the typical pleather pouches normally offered with headphones in this price range. The Fiio’s also come with a range of different tips.



Sound Quality
Before going into the sound quality of these headphones - I feel that it's important to go through something of a preamble first.

Insertion Depth
As a previous owner of the Etymotics ER4P, I was kinda used to somewhat severe insertion depths. Most IEM's don't go as deep as the Ety's and the FD1 is no exception. However, one thing about the Ety's was that it wasn't just about how deep you have to insert them but also ensuring that you equalised the pressure behind them. Failing to do this with the Ety's (and quite a few other IEM's on the market as well), resulted in a thin, somewhat harsh sound character. Once you got the correct degree of 'insertion' the sound really opened up and sounded so much better. The FD1's feature a pressure release valve which pretty much eliminates the need to 'fiddle' around with the earphone in order to get the 'sweet spot'. The only other headphone that I'm aware of that has this feature are the Apple Airpods Pro. With the Fiio FD1 - you just 'plop' them into your ears and that's it - jiggling them around won't make any significant changes to the sound quality (assuming you have a good seal of course).



The Fiio FD1 offer something that I’ve only found on a couple of in ear monitors - rock solid image stability. The Etymotics offered this - clearly Fiio have done a good job matching drivers. Up front, I have to say, these IEM's sound really REALLY nice. My initial concerns about the potential for excessive bass was completely unfounded. Bass goes really deep and yet maintains resolution - textures from lower notes is resolved just as nicely as the other frequencies. I did notice that the FD1’s sounded slightly ‘bright’ on older recordings - but I suspect this is simply a case of the headphones accurately reproducing the recording without adding any artificial ‘bloom’ to the sound.



Another thing I noticed almost immediately was the frequency range from extreme bass to extreme treble was remarkably smooth - no apparent gaps in the frequencies and, for my ears at least, no significant boosting of bass or treble. This is a feature that is always welcome on IEM’s - my Magaosi K3 Pro’s definitely appear to have ‘gaps’ which kinda sound like small satellite speakers paired with a massive subwoofer.

Bass
It’s tempting to say that the FD1’s lack the very lowest bass registers but when I tried some of my darker ‘trance’ tracks they deliver bass in spades. The bass is really nice and tight though. They sort of remind me of the fast bass you get on some balanced armature headphones. To sum up - deep, not flabby, detailed and fast.

Mids
When I first tried the FD1’s, they were a little ‘shouty’ in the upper mids. This seemed to calm down a little after a couple of hours of listening (although it’s possible my brain did all the burning). The FD1’s certainly can pull details out of my recordings though - I’m genuinely able to hear tiny details (vocallists breathing, additional echos, track layering). They’re perhaps a little ‘strident’ still in the upper mids - this is something I’m normally very sensitive to - but they still sound great to me.

Highs
Perhaps slightly reduced compared to the 1More Triple Drivers for example, but they don’t suffer with this. Cymbals perhaps lack some of the metallic ‘sheen’ that can be found with balanced armature drivers, the high details still shine through. I think the best description I can give is that they’re slightly more ‘mellow’ than 1More or Magaosi K3 Pro’s - but this is a sound character I really like.

Dynamics
The Fiio FD1’s are surprisingly dynamic. To me, they share a very similar sound character with the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10’s - that’s high praise in my opinion as I rate them very highly. Faster than I expected, sufficiently sensitive to be driven to very high levels with basic players and phones and not so sensitive that you continually hear line noise either.



Conclusion
I'm really impressed with these headphones. They offer a taste of the high-end at a budget price. They're comfortable, sound great and don't require any esoteric hardware to drive them to high levels. Whilst they're not the best for external isolation, they also don't have too much 'thud' when you're walking around with them. Very highly recommended.

Postscript
The reason why I've given these headphones 4.5 out of 5 is that, whilst representing an excellent way of getting a taste of the high-end of In Ear Monitors, they really do require a player with a strong output to work at their best. I spend most of the time listening to these through either the AgpTEK H1 MP3 player, Topping NX-2 portable DAC/AMP or the rather excellent Nexium AQUA + bluetooth headphone amplifier. All three of these devices feature a much stronger headphone output than what you would normally find on a typical smartphone.

Dudios Tic Bluetooth Earbuds

Preamble

I've had a fair amount of experience with different Bluetooth headphones over the past couple of years - from full size, through Bluetooth buds which connect to each other with a cable to the true wireless headphones which have now become so popular. Although I do still have a few wired headphones still in my collection - the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10, Sennheiser HD598 Sr and the 1More Triple Driver IEMs, I find myself listening through Bluetooth headphones most of the time these days. I love the convenience and, for most of the time, I don't feel that there's too much reduction in sound quality when going wireless.

The Dudios Tic TWS headphones follow a slightly different form factor than many of the other TWS headphones out there. These are more like the Apple Airpods in design - except they use an In-Ear style rather than the conventional Airpod/Earpod design used by Apple. This definitely helps when it comes to improved bass response and higher volume. Unfortunately due to the shape of my ears, the stalks on these headphones tend to move around a little but whilst they're in my ears so I find I have to make small adjustments from time to time.



The Tic's come with a really small charger case which uses Micro USB rather than USB Type C. Whilst this can bother some people, I'm not one of them as I always seem to have access to this type of connector lead available. The buds fit in the case in a somewhat unusual way which I personally find every counter-intuitive as you basically have to kind of rotate the earphones in your hand before inserting them in the case - likewise when removing them from the case. That's definitely going to take some getting used to. Both the buds and the case are of typical plastic construction and so are a little slippery to handle. This, coupled with the way they fit in the case, makes it almost inevitable that I'm going to drop them sooner or later. The Tic's come with a couple of extra sets of tips in different sizes and the inevitable super-short charging cable. One thing I would like the point out is that they packing on these is super minimal - I applaud this wholeheartedly and genuinely wish that all manufacturers of these products would follow suit. After all, it's just stuff that's going to end up in the bin.

The Tic's feature the latest Bluetooth 5.0 and use the AAC code so they certainly have the potential for good sound quality. Whilst not having the best wireless range for a TWS type headphone (that honour definitely goes to the Mavin Air-X and Apple Airpods) they do just about pass the upstairs bathroom test.



Clearly one of the main selling points with these headphones is their remarkably compact size. The Tic's can be carried around with you pretty much all the time without any problems. I can see headphones like these becoming very popular with younger people due to their compact size, form factor and the cheap price. These cost considerably less than the Apple Airpods but offer a similar trendy style.

Sound Quality

I feel that it's only fair to point out a couple of things before I continue. Firstly, I'm 56 years old and have come to terms with the fact that my hearing isn't as good as it was when I was in my teens. Having said that, I do feel that my hearing is pretty good all things considered. Secondly I must confess that I'm constantly surprised at just how good sounding these inexpensive bluetooth earbuds have become. It's getting increasingly difficult to justify spending more than £100 on a set when there's so many excellent ones now on the market.



The Tic's are surprisingly nice sounding earbuds. I say surprising because of their lightweight construction they don't give the impression of being particularly powerful sounding and yet they can rock with the best of them. I can confirm that these go nice and loud - far louder than I would be comfortable listening to. What's more they remain clean sounding at higher volumes. There's not much soundstage compared to say the Sony WF1000XM3's but it's not really any worse than many others earbuds of this type that's out there.

One thing that they are though is comfortable. With the right tips these definitely feel more secure than the Apple Airpods for example. They fit in your ear in much the same way as the Airpods as well so they're a little easier to use casually than earbuds that rely on deeper insertion. One problem I always have with earphones with touch controls is continually triggering playback and other functions whilst trying to adjust the fit - I personally prefer Sony's way of operating touch controls - where there's a beep and a short delay before the function is triggered.

Bass
Slightly boosted but actually surprisingly effective given the fact that their insertion depth isn't as deep as others on the market. Bass is slightly soft and lacking detail but certainly not bad - especially given their price. These headphones have a fairly shallow insertion depth due to their fundamental design so it's important that you choose your tips carefully to ensure the best possible fit and bass response.

Midrange
Slightly veiled so vocals are a little further back in the mix. This does however help stop the headphones from becoming 'shouty' in the higher mid frequencies which in turn helps to reduce listening fatigue.

Treble
The treble sounds a little 'brittle' but in all fairness I haven't run them in yet and I often find that the high end can be somewhat tamed after a little time. The detail is there but I would describe these as detail monsters.

The overall sound character is pleasantly boosted. At the same time there's clearly some cutoff at both frequency ends. This works well when listening to music at lower volumes and I can't help thinking that the form factor of these headphones make them an ideal candidate for bedtime use. It's a shame that there's no volume control via the touch panels - this would have been a really nice feature to have when you want to fall asleep listening to music. Another nice touch with the Tic's is that they don't leak sound too much - again very useful for bedtime listening.



Conclusion

The Dudios Tic is an honest pair of bluetooth earbuds. The sound quality is really very good, their wireless performance is perhaps slightly better than average and the battery life is comparable to others which follow a similar form factor. The case is nice and compact but I honestly don't like the way the headphones are stored in the case. Dudios should have copied Apple's way of storing buds and the touch controls are far too easy to accidentally trigger- but apart from that I'm really impressed with them. I'm going to knock off one star for the case design but if this doesn't bother you then you can buy with confidence - they're a really nice set of bluetooth 'cans'.

Physical Description

The Lypertek Tevi are a fairly plain looking pair of true wireless headphones - definitely reminiscent of the Sennheiser TWS headphones but at a fraction of their price. I managed to pick these up at a discount price from Amazon. The Tevi's feature a single push button on each earphone (which I personally found quite hard to find and press when I had them in my ears) but the good news is that all your necessary functions can be accessed from these buttons - including volume up and down. This is always a nice feature on TWS headphones.



The charger case looks very similar to the one supplied with the Sennheiser headphones as it's covered in a rather attractive material. The case also features USB type C which again is always a nice feature. Charging is nice and fast and the case offers a crazy number of hours to the headphones.

Whilst the headphones are made of high impact plastic, they don't feel at all cheap and their fit is excellent for me. The Tevi's come with the usual shirt recharge cable, an assortment of different tips including some Comply type foams and an instruction sheet.

Bluetooth range isn't overly impressive but I didn't experience any problems when keeping my phone in my pocket. It just about passed the upstairs toilet test (just a couple of dropouts when I washed my hands) - both the Mavin's and the original Airpods perform better as far as bluetooth range is concerned but generally there's not a problem.

Sound Quality

When it comes to headphones, sound quality is king as far as I'm concerned. If doesn't make any difference to me if they feature the finest noise cancelling, fantastic smart features or battery life that's out of this world if the sound quality is lacking. Luckily, the Tevi's definitely deliver when it comes to sound quality.



I contacted Lypertek about trying out their beta software and firmware update for the Tev's and they kindly sent me a link. The headphones have to be updated before the software recognises the headphones and the firmware update does definitely effect the sound characteristics - bass is slightly boosted and the slightly 'shouty' upper mids are slightly reduced. The headphones still retain their wonderful sense of detail thankfully

.

One of the other pairs of TWS headphones which I use regularly and rate very highly are the Mavin Air X which I have previously described as wireless Etymotics. Well I'm afraid that description wasn't truly accurate as the Tevi's really have them beat when it comes to reproducing the sound quality that you can get from the Etymotics. They definitely share the same sound characteristics - having a really nice detailed and punchy sound - they are very dynamic sounding and yet also balanced. In fact it's this balanced sound quality which really sets them apart from many of their peers as many bluetooth headphones tend to have too much boost in the bass frequencies and can get rather muddy sounding.

They also have some impressive volume to them as well. There's no way I could listen to them at full volume - that's not something I could say about many of the other TWS headphones out there.

I must admit that our off the box when I first got them I found the sound to be somewhat bright and lacking slightly in bass however after having them for a couple of weeks I contacted Lypertek about a software update and new Android application which has subtly improved the bass and is most welcome. Unfortunately the Lypertek application is currently still in beta and not yet generally available. However there's no doubt in my mind that this is definitely worth doing once it does become available. With the update in place the sound quality has changed character - especially in the bass. Even with the eq settings set to flat this character has been changed to offer a fuller bass and slightly lower the upper mids/lower treble to help reduce long term listening fatigue. I have noticed a slight veil that covers some of the details but in my opinion it's still worth doing.

The thing that really makes these headphones stand out though is their impressive resolution. In genuinely hearing things in some of my familiar tracks that I've not noticed before - definitely not bad for a pair of fairly inexpensive set of bluetooth headphones. Both mids and highs are truly superb - these are the 'flattest' bluetooth headphones I've come across so far. They use either APtX or AAC (depending on your phone I suppose) and connect without any problems. There's virtually no noise floor with these headphones - sometimes you have to press the button just to make sure they're still powered on.

Unfortunately the Tevi's do have a couple of 'issues' which prevent me from describing them as perfect. The Bluetooth range leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to comparing them to their competition. They pretty much fail the upstairs toilet test - dropping connection to the phone before I've even reached the top of the stairs. Other Bluetooth 5.0 headphones in my collection can do this with ease. In all fairness though I don't experience dropouts when using them normally (ie with the phone nearby or in my pocket). The other problem that I have with them may well be a software issue which may get resolved when the software update comes out of beta. More than once the headphones have temporarily lost connection on the right hand earbud. A quick press of the button restores the connection but it's not ideal.

Conclusion

My recent experience with active noise cancelling from the likes of Sony and Apple have made me realise a couple of things. Firstly no matter which way you try to rationalise it, additional features such as active noise cancelling and sophisticated touch controls all cost money to produce and that has to come from money that could be spent on improving sound quality. Secondly active noise cancelling really isn't very useful in these types of in-ear headphone as they already provide sufficient passive noise isolation (unless you're one of those people who listen to music at very low volumes). I would much rather have a headphone product that's designed around providing the very best sound quality without compromise. The Lypertek Tevi is definitely designed around sound quality. All of its features that make it stand out from its competitors are genuinely useful - great battery life, great sound quality, excellent volume range, easy and comfortable fit and firmware upgradable makes these the ideal TWS headphones for anyone who is looking for the best possible sound quality for the price - who doesn't mind being close to their phone when in use.

I personally feel that these are the best TWS earphones I have tried so far (and yes that includes the Apple Airpods Pro and the Sony WF1000XM3's). I was impressed with both those noise cancelling and expensive headphones but ultimately I felt that the Airpod Pro's were simply too expensive and their overall design ethos was based around features rather than sound quality. Whilst they sounded pretty impressive - especially when taking into account their active noise cancelling, ultimately I'm always going to be more interested in sound quality.

The Sony's on the other hand really did impress me with regard to their sound quality. They exhibited a really nice fulsome sound and shared pretty much the same sound characteristic as their larger counterparts. Unfortunately I felt that they simply didn't go loud enough and that, for me is a deal breaker as it's something that typically can't be sorted out with a software fix.

What the Tevi's offered for me was a nice combination of sound quality without any significant compromises, excellent battery life and comfortable fit. The other thing they offer (from my point of view) is that they're inexpensive which means I'm not suffering the guilt that I almost certainly would suffer if I'd bought the Airpod Pros.

Postscript

Tonight I tried a quick comparison with my beloved Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10's and I have to be perfectly honest here - I preferred the sound character of the Tevi's. Don't get me wrong, the Triple Fi's were capable of reproducing a greater resolution and perhaps even are more faithful to the original recording but the Tevi's offered slightly more boost to the bass and generally sounded fuller.

I was slightly concerned about the apparent loss of presence in the upper mids since the firmware update but to be honest, I still really like the sound characteristics that the Tevi's offer. I must admit I was somewhat surprised at just how close these are to my Ultimate Ears - I've always considered these to be the very best headphones in my collection. Perhaps they still are but the gap in both performance and excellent pricing is definitely closing.

I also feel that it's only fair to point out that I'm 56 years old. Whilst I still think my hearing is generally OK, I have to be honest and admit to my age. Obviously I can't hear what an 18 year old will hear. For me, tone and overall frequency balance (to my ears) is easily as important as information retrieval. I am sensitive to 'bright' sounding headphones but also appreciate treble detail. For example, I love the sound characteristics of my Sony WH1000XM2's. Whilst the treble detail may be slightly laid back in the mix and the bass may be slightly overblown when compared to more accurate headphones, I nonetheless find them very musical. I just wish they were a little more comfortable.