2020/10/23

Mi Air 2S

This is definitely a Xiaomi product, though not available from the Mi UK store. The earphones are very similar to the Xiaomi True Wireless Earphones 2(TWE2) that were previously reviews. The main difference is a larger battery in the case (440mW compared to 300mW), the case supports wireless charging and play time is longer (the ear buds last 5 hours compared to 4 hours and with the case 24 hours compared to 14 hours).

Both support Bluetooth 5.0 and LHDC/SBC/AAC coding and BLE/HFP/HSP/A2DP/AVRCP though some are LHDC may only supported with Xiaomi phones or using the Xiaomi  MUIU app.

In terms of looks, they are virtually identical, except on the Air 2S's the side stub doesn't extend beyond the top of the earbud while on the older model they do.

The Air 2S do support a new dual core chip which in conjunction with the dual mics (per ear bud) improves latency considerably when noise cancelling.

There is a USB-C socket in the base of the case, which also supports the Qi wireless charging standard (the case needs to lie on its back).

Pairing is easy, just press the button the side for about 5 seconds and the white LED on the front of the case will start blinking and is then connectable from a phone/PC/etc. Once paired, opening the case (or clicking the button) should allow a previously paired unit to connect again (you may need to press the side button, opening the case doesn't always connect the buds).

The earbuds sit just outside the ear canal and can fall out if your heads moves violently, but they generally are comfortable and the sound quality is pretty good.

Tapping the earbuds will do the normal pause music, answer a call etc.

They are nice ear buds though maybe not worth the additional price compared to the TWE2 unless paired with a Xiaomi phone using the MUIU app and getting the enhanced latency.

Including the silicon case, available for about £50 from your Chines import site (and cheaper than the TWE2 from the UK site).

Now that the Bluetooth SIG have released the LC3 codec, which is better quality than the SBC, maybe manufacturers will issue a firmware update to support it.