Xiaomi Mi Air 2S Review - Best TWS HEADPHONES (if you have MIUI)
The TWS headphones market is really a jungle, each company offers us its solution which according to the brand should be the definitive one. But if for the Apple world, there seems to be no doubt that the best solution is the Airpods for Xiaomi devices and / or in any case with MIUI ROMs, the same certainty could come with the Xiaomi Mi Air 2S, which improve the characteristics and the performance of the previous model. We will talk to you about it after quite some time, having therefore had the opportunity to mature through software updates (however one arrived right now and we talked about it here) and we are now ready to tell you about them in our complete review .
This type of products generally does not offer a valuable unboxing experience, on the other hand no accessories are needed and the Mi Air 2S are no less offering the following equipment in the sales package:
- Xiaomi Mi Air 2S;
- Charging sleeve;
- Type-C charging cable (very short);
- instruction manual in Chinese language.
Compared to the past generation, the new Xiaomi Mi Air 2S do not seem to differ much on the design side, re-proposing a rather chubby and slightly squared shape. On the front of the charging case we find a small status LED, while on the right side there is the button for pairing with the smartphone, to be used only with devices that do not mount MIUI ROM and finally on the bottom we have the entrance for the Type-C battery charging.
But there is a difference compared to the previous model and it is found on the back of the compass, where a small flash has been drawn that suggests the area used for wireless charging. Oh yes, now we also have the possibility to recharge our TWS headphones, in their case, even wirelessly in addition to the classic wired solution.
Recharge that takes place in about 1 hour, for both modes and that offers an autonomy of up to 22 hours, considering that the case is able to recharge the earphones for 4 times, which in turn at maximum listening volume obtain a autonomy of about 4,5 hours, with a single charge.
Pulling the Mi Air 2S out of the box, we immediately notice a semi in-ear design, thus resulting less invasive than the traditional in-ear, as well as objectively offering greater comfort. Accomplice of the excellent comfort is also the contained weight of the earphones of only 4,5 grams while the case with inserted earphones weighs only 52 grams, allowing it to be kept in the jeans pocket without any discomfort, despite the not properly softened shape of the curves of the box.
The materials used are naturally plastic, but of excellent workmanship and matte finish, thus rejecting any fingerprints that could remain imprinted on a glossy surface. If on the one hand we could say that the Mi Air 2S are inspired by Apple's Airpods, in reality the solution proposed by Xiaomi offers a more chubby stem, which I personally find more comfortable and above all offers a greater surface for the touch to be imparted for the commands. touch.
So we come to a sore point of these headphones, or the touch controls. If on the one hand the touches imparted were always precise and reactive, the basic functions offered are really minimal and in part poco functional, in fact basic are configured in this way:
- Double tap, both on the right and left earphones, during the call I can answer or end the same;
- Double tap on the right earphone, I can put the audio content in Play / Pause;
- Double tap on the left earphone, I can activate the voice assistant of the smartphone.
We therefore do not have the possibility to control the volume, except by acting from the smartphone, just as there is no command to reject an incoming call. Actually I can change these parameters, but to do so I have to resort to the companion app XiaoAI, downloadable via QR Code, located on the back of the sales package. The first obstacle of this app is that it is only in Chinese language, so you will have to equip yourself with Google Translate to understand the functions on which you can act, moreover the app is only available for Android devices, so for all iOS users the touch commands of base are those listed above. Although it is a Chinese product and not a global one, we have no voices in that language but only sounds that warn us about pairing or too low a residual charge.
In any case, through XiaoAI you can change the management of the touch commands, but can only benefit from the addition of the previous or next song command. You can also perform firmware updates and act on other functions that I personally find poco useful, such as creating usage scenarios based on time. Another negative peculiarity of the app is that the command for calling up the voice assistant will in this case recall the native one of the app, that is, in Chinese. Therefore, the advice is to download the app, make any firmware updates, set the touch controls you prefer and then uninstall it in order to have a better user experience.
I underline the speech of setting the touch controls according to your needs, as that of Play / Pause is a repetition since the Xiaomi Mi Air 2S offer as a feature the presence of the proximity sensor, through which you can precisely put in Play / Pause automatically the music track simply by removing or inserting the earphones from inside your ear.
However, I would have preferred the presence of a pressure sensor more, as it could create the occasion in which we remove a headset from our ear and place it on a desk, whose surface will be recognized and therefore will automatically restart the music track. I would also have preferred the possibility of having more touch gestures, such as a single or triple tap, but apart from that we come to the positive things instead, starting from the fact that it will be possible to use only one of the two headphones since there is no master and that the microphones are on both, one positioned in the upper part of the stem and the other in the lower one where we also find the magnets for recharging, also really performing results in terms of stability.
The Xiaomi Mi Air 2S enjoy Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity with a range of up to 10 meters and which I personally found very stable in the connection with the smartphone, as well as offering almost zero latency. But with devices equipped with MIUI the yield is even more satisfying, since the LHDC technology is used, which allows you to have an even lower latency and effective synchronization between sound and video In addition to this the company has equipped these headphones an upgraded dual-core chip and support for binaural synchronous transmission technology, which allows for simultaneous audio transmission to both earphones rather than bouncing sound from one earphone to another.
All this means that even in the gaming field, the delay is not so excessive as to compromise the gaming experience, but it is with listening to music tracks that all the quality of the 14,2 mm drivers with dynamic composite coil comes out. impedance of 32 Ohm. The sound that comes out is nice full-bodied, with marked bass but without predominating over the other frequencies and above all at maximum listening volume there are no traces of distortions. But the audio quality is also reflected in the call, thanks to the two microphones for each headset, which use ENC technology for noise reduction. Since we are dealing with semi in-ear headphones, it is normal that high intensity environmental noises are not totally filtered, but overall the call was always clean.
PROJECTED IMPACT
For the price at which the Mi Air 2S are sold, I could not have asked for better in this area, also enjoying a fairly high maximum listening volume and above all good performance of the microphones in all conditions of daily use. The improvements compared to the previous generations are therefore tangible, functional and substantial, without impacting much on the final sale price, which is around 63 euros from the Banggood store.
Net of what we told each other, I found the Mi Air 2S an exceptional product from a qualitative point of view in the construction and in the audio performance, things that all in all make you turn a blind eye to the smudging of the touch controls, hoping that maybe a next update will improve. the situation.
