QCY T20 Ailypods Bluetooth 5.3 Wireless Earphones
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Model: QCY T20
Price: MSRP Approx $30
Website: QCY Website
Review Reference: RC076
Manufacturer Specification:
1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x Quick Guide
1 x Dustproof Protective Case Cover
YouTube Review & Unboxing:
Real Life Experience
Welcome to the @regancipher review of QCY's newest release, the T20 'Ailypods'. Yep, that's 'Ailypods' not 'Airypods' (although maybe the latter would have been more appropriate). The T20 are QCY's second semi-in-ear release of the last 18 months, superseding the surprisingly unpopular T12, which I reviewed here at headfi back in June last year. The T20 have already (almost) outsold the T12 on AliExpress, and this is no doubt down in part to their similarity to 'you-know-who's you-know-what Gen3', and partly down to QCY's growing presence as a budget brand to trust outside of their home market, as a result of several very impressive releases.
Unboxing - 7/10
Unboxing the T20 is another blast of deja-vu. Since the T12, QCY have retained a very consistent experience, with an orange and grey colour scheme at the heart of their rebranding. The front of the box denotes the product name 'Ailypods' below the three headline features - dual mics, compact design and gaming mode. The case and buds pop out of the top of the grey plastic carton-style insert, pictured below.
Once inside, you get a taste of QCY's first deviation from their normal unboxing experience - they've added a 'lid' to the back to stop the USB-C cable and user manual from falling out! The manual is no different to any other QCY manual, offering well-worded instructions (in the rare eventuality you would need them!) and tiny visuals that would be difficult to read without a magnifying glass. You're just getting English and Chinese unfortunately for non-English speakers, reflecting the solid market share they get in the UK and US.
QCY also included a dustproof case protector, branded, and pictured below on the case itself.
The Case - 7/10
A first look at the case, and it's pretty nice. The soft, matte, 'powder-coat'-effect design is similar to that of the T16, and the buds slot in the top, back to back. Inside the cockpit, you see some of the specifics just inside the lid, including ROHS compliance and the case battery capacity (220mAh, delivered by a VDL 3.7v battery). As usual, QCY have deployed overcharge and overvoltage protection courtesy of a dedicated TPS power management chip, to ensure greater product longevity.
Looking straight at the case head-on, you've got a tiny, difficult-to-see LED at the bottom (see the Unboxing section image for a better view). The LED blinks quickly whilst charging via USB, and glows solid white a few times whilst the buds are charging in the case themselves. The buds glow solid red whilst charging, and whilst topping up glow white for thirty seconds. The LED's are located as pictured above at the top of what looks like it is a touch control panel, but isn't. Unfortunately, like their flagship T18, you don't have any idea how much battery is remaining in the case - there's no red/amber/green scheme, no light configuration - a massively underrated feature that QCY inexplicably keep omitting.
There is little in the way of branding other than the back, where the QCY logo sits on the hinge - reinforced slightly with a shiny cover. I actually thought was some kind of sticker and spent a while trying to peel off - don't make the same mistake, you may damage the case (or in my case, your finger nail!). The case itself is a little flimsy, rattling in the hand, with a very precariousy-designed hinge (one of these days I will manage to break one!)
The USB-C socket is located on the bottom.
Portability is strong on the T20. The case measures just 53.8mm (width) x 48.5mm (height) x 24.4mm (depth) - only slightly larger than the tiny SoundPEATS Air3, but at 34g it feels lighter due to the weight displacement. The case is more than adequate for popping in your pocket, feeling a little more impressive than the Air3, although some way behind my favourite semi-in-ear case, that of the Yobybo X-Boat.
Battery Life - 6/10
Battery life is somewhat disappointing - whilst the single-use headline is higher than the likes of the FIIL Key and CC2, I found it closer to between 4 (with lots of calls) and 5 (with no calls). In fact, I found the FIIL Key held their battery better, and the extra 4 hours juice (the T20 charges the buds just 2.5 additional times) gives them a clear advantage. Only the Soundpeats Air3 and TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 offered worse battery life, and unlike the Yobybo X-Boat, there is no warp of quick charge - you're stuck with waiting the full 90-120 minutes, with little indication on the case of how much charge the buds have taken. This compounds a frustrating experience when it comes to battery life.
Some comparisons:
Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro - 6.5 hours / 27 hours
FIIL CC2 - 5 hours / 27 hours
SoundPeats TrueAir2+ - 5 hours / 25 hours
Haylou Moripods - 5 hours / 25 hours
Tronsmart Battle - 5 hours / 25 hours
1More Comfobuds 2 - 6 hours / 24 hours
FIIL KEY - 5 hours / 24 hours
Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe - 5 hours / 22 hours
QCY T20 - 5.5 hours / 20 hours
QCY T12 - 4 hours / 20 hours
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 4 hours / 20 hours
SoundPeats Air3 - 5 hours / 17.5 hours
Ergonomics & Design - 7/10
The T20 will, naturally, see comparisons to the Airpod Gen 3 levied, and it isn't hard to see why. Stopping just short of copying the buds totally like-for-like, they are embarrassingly close, with only the metallic panel (it's black on the Airpods) and absence of a metallic rim around the base differentiating them. The metallic panel shrouds the second MEMS mic, an ambient pickup microphone for improved noise reduction on calls, and directly below, like on the Airpod, is the touch control area. The opening on the inside is a pressure-release cavity, designed to improve the comfort and acoustic performance.
The nozzle further indicates the absence of originality in the design, mimicking the Airpod almost to the millimeter.
This thick opening, also covered by a dustproof mesh, combines with the broader neck to rest in your ears securely and deliver audio directly into the ear canal with less room for dispersion to the outside world. Whilst this is better in one sense, in that the T20 (and the Airpods, for that matter) do fit very stable and securely in your ears without the need for silicone.
The T20 are on the shorter side - the stem is 32mm long including the head - and the breadth of the neck is only comparable to the Soundcore Life Note 3S (and Airpod.....yawn). This is a stark contrast to the majority of TWS vendors, who have stuck to a simplistic design more akin to the Gen 2.
Despite being relatively lightweight at just under 4g, the sheer volume of plastic is enough to both rest securely, and eventually, be a burden on your ears, weighing simply too much on your skin.
I have to say, whilst I wanted the T20 to be better, I found them pretty uncomfortable after a while. The weight of the plastic started to ache my concha and antitragus after a short period of time in the same way the Gen 3 did - a trade-off with this kind of design, and it's unfortunate QCY didn't at least try to improve on it in the way Soundcore successfully managed with the Life Note 3S. Regardless, for short periods of time the T20 are secure and reasonably comfortable - they pass the shake test, but it is the lack of originality that is most annoying here - QCY could have taken the much maligned Airpod design and improved it, but instead we are left with a carbon copy, warts and all.
Fit is of course subjective, and I've allowed for that in my score. Quite unlike QCY, they have managed to get IPX4 sweat resistance approved for this model, so a splash of rain and a workout won't render your buds useless.
Audio - 7.5/10 (for the price paid), 7/10 (raw score)
Audio on the T20 is, like with most semi-in-ear releases, very dependent on the fit. The immediate impression is a bright, echoey sound with an extended treble response and recessed lows and mids. 'Ordinary World' by Duran Duran sees some prominent claps and shakers around the centred vocals. Subbass is more gentle, but still evident in electronic tracks - 'Sticky' by Drake has a satisfying thump to it, with Drake's decayed vocal sounding airy and clear. And that clarity is accentuated with k-pop - 'Sriracha' by The Attire has a tight instrumental delivery, lifting the vocals nicely without recessing the rest of the track.
The T20 have tried to get around the problem that the 1More Comfobuds 2 have, whereby pushing them further into your ear results in the bass being overwhelming, and they've done so quite successfully - despite the charts suggesting otherwise, there's enough lower frequency response to satisfy the average user. QCY have an uncanny knack of delivering decent tuning given the obvious driver, codec and transmission constraints. The T20 are AAC/SBC only, so no high definition codecs - perhaps they will test the market first in the same way they did the T17 before releasing the T17S.
Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors – 7/10
The T20 don't nullify background sound altogether - in fact, for a 4-mic array, they pick up background sound pretty badly, but your voice is elevated a little, certainly above those ambient sounds. When I did my outdoor test, you could hear pretty much everything - ice cream vans, car engines, wind, etc. - but your voice is still reasonably clear and coherent.
Indoors, it nullifies background sound slightly better, again still picking up something, but muddling music playing in a cafe and incoherent chatter even further. Again, your voice still sounds relatively clear and natural - whilst it's certainly not market-leading stuff, it's good enough considering the price.
Features
I'll update the review with images from the app once the T20 is fully supported - currently, you don't get a lot. Log into the app and you'll see 'Bluetooth 5.3' above the remaining battery life of the buds (Case is not shown). Connectivity is reasonably good, although there's no hall-switch mode, and there's quite a delay from when you remove the buds to when you can start to use them. I experienced no dropouts during the testing Window.
The 'Sound' tab includes several EQ's, all of which are dreadful, and a 10-bar customisable equaliser. I prefer Wavelet for tuning over any proprietary app, and QCY is no different there, but for iOS users this is no doubt rather useful.
The 'Settings' tab offers customisation to the double and triple click, sadly you can't change the 'disabled' single tap, and that means no volume control out of the box. By default, double tap is play/pause, triple left is voice assistant and triple right gaming mode. Latency is pretty good with gaming mode on - not quite synchronized, but performance is certainly good enough for videos, although you'll experience a minor delay on your first-person shooters.
Sleep Mode allows you, like on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, to block touch controls. Sadly, they may as well already be blocked - I thought they were broken at first, but after some prodding I discovered they do respond, albeit delayed, to continued pressure, but this does nothing for the already compromised comfort.
Finally, firmware updates are possible, but I received continued errors every time I tried.
Final Comments
I really wanted to like the T20, despite their lack of originality, and in some respects the Ailypods do deliver, with IPX4 sweat resistance, good sound and fair call quality at an attractive price. Sadly, they also fail in so many other areas, with usability hampered by the lack of battery level indication, short battery life and absence of quick charge, as well as poor comfort when used for long periods, and awful touch controls.
The T20 are a good enough option at the price, but fall some way behind the SoundPEATS Air3, FIIL Key and 1More Comfobuds 2 in the battle of the 'semi-in-ears'.
Not bad, but I'd like to see QCY's take on the Airpod next time, as opposed to Apple's take on the Airpod with a QCY badge.
Price Weighted Score: 76%
Raw Score: 73%
QCY Review Inventory:
HT07 Arcbuds
HT05 Melobuds ANC
T20 Ailypods
T18
G1
T17
T16
T13
HT03
T12
T11
About QCY:
Whilst not quite a household name outside of China yet, QCY are well-renowned in the budget TWS space for developing extraordinarily low cost earbuds that, whilst perhaps lacking some of the bells and whistles of the more expensive brands, deliver to the segment of the market where 'good enough is good enough', with solid reliability and tremendous value for money.
Part of the Hele Electronics Group, as well as designing their own products, they also OEM product for other vendors (Aukey, for example rebrand the T5), with three of their major customers being brands you will certainly recognise and in the global top 10 of the TWS market in 2019. In 2020, market research indicated they were the 4th biggest TWS vendor worldwide - no mean feat.
Despite a close relationship with SoC manufactuer Zhuhai Jieli, QCY are not afraid to mix and match components to suit their target market. This often sees a number of releases in quick succession - their T17S are an example of this, released subsequent to the T17, and differentiating with the use of the Qualcomm QCC3040 SoC, to support customers who require the added lower latency enabled by the aptX codecs that the Qualcomm chips support. They did a similar thing with the very popular T5, T8 and T9 - nice to see a vendor using an easy to follow naming convention! The G1 use the newest Pixart chip in order to reduce latency - horses for courses!
The QCY mission seems to be bringing music to the masses at a very affordable price - they are unlikely to top the charts for sound quality or features any time soon, but I think that's how they prefer it - their bang for buck is often unparalleled, with customers knowing they are getting value from a brand they can trust.
Instagram: regancipher
YouTube: regancipher
Reddit: u/regancipher
Socials: Biolink
Model: QCY T20
Price: MSRP Approx $30
Website: QCY Website
Review Reference: RC076
Manufacturer Specification:
- Brand: QCY
- Model: T20
- Driver: 13mm Dynamic Driver
- Chipset: Jieli AD6973D
- Mic: 4
- ANC: No
- Codecs: AAC, SBC
- App Support: Yes, limited
- Volume Control: Yes (not by default, requires app)
- Gaming Mode: Yes
- Earbud Weight: 3.83g
- Earbud Dimensions: 32mm stem length, 20mm depth
- Gross Case & Buds Weight: 34.41g
- Case Dimensions: 53.8mm (width) x 48.5mm (height) x 24.4mm (depth)
- Quick Charge: No
- Wireless Charging: No
- Single Use Playtime: Up to 7 hours
- Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 32 hours
- Charge Capacity: 220mAh/3.7v
- Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.3
- Bluetooth Protocols: HFP 1.7/ A2DP 1.3/ AVRCP 1.5
- Water Resistance: IPX4
1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x Quick Guide
1 x Dustproof Protective Case Cover
YouTube Review & Unboxing:
Real Life Experience
Welcome to the @regancipher review of QCY's newest release, the T20 'Ailypods'. Yep, that's 'Ailypods' not 'Airypods' (although maybe the latter would have been more appropriate). The T20 are QCY's second semi-in-ear release of the last 18 months, superseding the surprisingly unpopular T12, which I reviewed here at headfi back in June last year. The T20 have already (almost) outsold the T12 on AliExpress, and this is no doubt down in part to their similarity to 'you-know-who's you-know-what Gen3', and partly down to QCY's growing presence as a budget brand to trust outside of their home market, as a result of several very impressive releases.
Unboxing - 7/10
Unboxing the T20 is another blast of deja-vu. Since the T12, QCY have retained a very consistent experience, with an orange and grey colour scheme at the heart of their rebranding. The front of the box denotes the product name 'Ailypods' below the three headline features - dual mics, compact design and gaming mode. The case and buds pop out of the top of the grey plastic carton-style insert, pictured below.
Once inside, you get a taste of QCY's first deviation from their normal unboxing experience - they've added a 'lid' to the back to stop the USB-C cable and user manual from falling out! The manual is no different to any other QCY manual, offering well-worded instructions (in the rare eventuality you would need them!) and tiny visuals that would be difficult to read without a magnifying glass. You're just getting English and Chinese unfortunately for non-English speakers, reflecting the solid market share they get in the UK and US.
QCY also included a dustproof case protector, branded, and pictured below on the case itself.
The Case - 7/10
A first look at the case, and it's pretty nice. The soft, matte, 'powder-coat'-effect design is similar to that of the T16, and the buds slot in the top, back to back. Inside the cockpit, you see some of the specifics just inside the lid, including ROHS compliance and the case battery capacity (220mAh, delivered by a VDL 3.7v battery). As usual, QCY have deployed overcharge and overvoltage protection courtesy of a dedicated TPS power management chip, to ensure greater product longevity.
Looking straight at the case head-on, you've got a tiny, difficult-to-see LED at the bottom (see the Unboxing section image for a better view). The LED blinks quickly whilst charging via USB, and glows solid white a few times whilst the buds are charging in the case themselves. The buds glow solid red whilst charging, and whilst topping up glow white for thirty seconds. The LED's are located as pictured above at the top of what looks like it is a touch control panel, but isn't. Unfortunately, like their flagship T18, you don't have any idea how much battery is remaining in the case - there's no red/amber/green scheme, no light configuration - a massively underrated feature that QCY inexplicably keep omitting.
There is little in the way of branding other than the back, where the QCY logo sits on the hinge - reinforced slightly with a shiny cover. I actually thought was some kind of sticker and spent a while trying to peel off - don't make the same mistake, you may damage the case (or in my case, your finger nail!). The case itself is a little flimsy, rattling in the hand, with a very precariousy-designed hinge (one of these days I will manage to break one!)
The USB-C socket is located on the bottom.
Portability is strong on the T20. The case measures just 53.8mm (width) x 48.5mm (height) x 24.4mm (depth) - only slightly larger than the tiny SoundPEATS Air3, but at 34g it feels lighter due to the weight displacement. The case is more than adequate for popping in your pocket, feeling a little more impressive than the Air3, although some way behind my favourite semi-in-ear case, that of the Yobybo X-Boat.
Battery Life - 6/10
Battery life is somewhat disappointing - whilst the single-use headline is higher than the likes of the FIIL Key and CC2, I found it closer to between 4 (with lots of calls) and 5 (with no calls). In fact, I found the FIIL Key held their battery better, and the extra 4 hours juice (the T20 charges the buds just 2.5 additional times) gives them a clear advantage. Only the Soundpeats Air3 and TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 offered worse battery life, and unlike the Yobybo X-Boat, there is no warp of quick charge - you're stuck with waiting the full 90-120 minutes, with little indication on the case of how much charge the buds have taken. This compounds a frustrating experience when it comes to battery life.
Some comparisons:
Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro - 6.5 hours / 27 hours
FIIL CC2 - 5 hours / 27 hours
SoundPeats TrueAir2+ - 5 hours / 25 hours
Haylou Moripods - 5 hours / 25 hours
Tronsmart Battle - 5 hours / 25 hours
1More Comfobuds 2 - 6 hours / 24 hours
FIIL KEY - 5 hours / 24 hours
Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe - 5 hours / 22 hours
QCY T20 - 5.5 hours / 20 hours
QCY T12 - 4 hours / 20 hours
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 4 hours / 20 hours
SoundPeats Air3 - 5 hours / 17.5 hours
Ergonomics & Design - 7/10
The T20 will, naturally, see comparisons to the Airpod Gen 3 levied, and it isn't hard to see why. Stopping just short of copying the buds totally like-for-like, they are embarrassingly close, with only the metallic panel (it's black on the Airpods) and absence of a metallic rim around the base differentiating them. The metallic panel shrouds the second MEMS mic, an ambient pickup microphone for improved noise reduction on calls, and directly below, like on the Airpod, is the touch control area. The opening on the inside is a pressure-release cavity, designed to improve the comfort and acoustic performance.
The nozzle further indicates the absence of originality in the design, mimicking the Airpod almost to the millimeter.
This thick opening, also covered by a dustproof mesh, combines with the broader neck to rest in your ears securely and deliver audio directly into the ear canal with less room for dispersion to the outside world. Whilst this is better in one sense, in that the T20 (and the Airpods, for that matter) do fit very stable and securely in your ears without the need for silicone.
The T20 are on the shorter side - the stem is 32mm long including the head - and the breadth of the neck is only comparable to the Soundcore Life Note 3S (and Airpod.....yawn). This is a stark contrast to the majority of TWS vendors, who have stuck to a simplistic design more akin to the Gen 2.
Despite being relatively lightweight at just under 4g, the sheer volume of plastic is enough to both rest securely, and eventually, be a burden on your ears, weighing simply too much on your skin.
I have to say, whilst I wanted the T20 to be better, I found them pretty uncomfortable after a while. The weight of the plastic started to ache my concha and antitragus after a short period of time in the same way the Gen 3 did - a trade-off with this kind of design, and it's unfortunate QCY didn't at least try to improve on it in the way Soundcore successfully managed with the Life Note 3S. Regardless, for short periods of time the T20 are secure and reasonably comfortable - they pass the shake test, but it is the lack of originality that is most annoying here - QCY could have taken the much maligned Airpod design and improved it, but instead we are left with a carbon copy, warts and all.
Fit is of course subjective, and I've allowed for that in my score. Quite unlike QCY, they have managed to get IPX4 sweat resistance approved for this model, so a splash of rain and a workout won't render your buds useless.
Audio - 7.5/10 (for the price paid), 7/10 (raw score)
Audio on the T20 is, like with most semi-in-ear releases, very dependent on the fit. The immediate impression is a bright, echoey sound with an extended treble response and recessed lows and mids. 'Ordinary World' by Duran Duran sees some prominent claps and shakers around the centred vocals. Subbass is more gentle, but still evident in electronic tracks - 'Sticky' by Drake has a satisfying thump to it, with Drake's decayed vocal sounding airy and clear. And that clarity is accentuated with k-pop - 'Sriracha' by The Attire has a tight instrumental delivery, lifting the vocals nicely without recessing the rest of the track.
The T20 have tried to get around the problem that the 1More Comfobuds 2 have, whereby pushing them further into your ear results in the bass being overwhelming, and they've done so quite successfully - despite the charts suggesting otherwise, there's enough lower frequency response to satisfy the average user. QCY have an uncanny knack of delivering decent tuning given the obvious driver, codec and transmission constraints. The T20 are AAC/SBC only, so no high definition codecs - perhaps they will test the market first in the same way they did the T17 before releasing the T17S.
Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors – 7/10
The T20 don't nullify background sound altogether - in fact, for a 4-mic array, they pick up background sound pretty badly, but your voice is elevated a little, certainly above those ambient sounds. When I did my outdoor test, you could hear pretty much everything - ice cream vans, car engines, wind, etc. - but your voice is still reasonably clear and coherent.
Indoors, it nullifies background sound slightly better, again still picking up something, but muddling music playing in a cafe and incoherent chatter even further. Again, your voice still sounds relatively clear and natural - whilst it's certainly not market-leading stuff, it's good enough considering the price.
Features
I'll update the review with images from the app once the T20 is fully supported - currently, you don't get a lot. Log into the app and you'll see 'Bluetooth 5.3' above the remaining battery life of the buds (Case is not shown). Connectivity is reasonably good, although there's no hall-switch mode, and there's quite a delay from when you remove the buds to when you can start to use them. I experienced no dropouts during the testing Window.
The 'Sound' tab includes several EQ's, all of which are dreadful, and a 10-bar customisable equaliser. I prefer Wavelet for tuning over any proprietary app, and QCY is no different there, but for iOS users this is no doubt rather useful.
The 'Settings' tab offers customisation to the double and triple click, sadly you can't change the 'disabled' single tap, and that means no volume control out of the box. By default, double tap is play/pause, triple left is voice assistant and triple right gaming mode. Latency is pretty good with gaming mode on - not quite synchronized, but performance is certainly good enough for videos, although you'll experience a minor delay on your first-person shooters.
Sleep Mode allows you, like on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, to block touch controls. Sadly, they may as well already be blocked - I thought they were broken at first, but after some prodding I discovered they do respond, albeit delayed, to continued pressure, but this does nothing for the already compromised comfort.
Finally, firmware updates are possible, but I received continued errors every time I tried.
Final Comments
I really wanted to like the T20, despite their lack of originality, and in some respects the Ailypods do deliver, with IPX4 sweat resistance, good sound and fair call quality at an attractive price. Sadly, they also fail in so many other areas, with usability hampered by the lack of battery level indication, short battery life and absence of quick charge, as well as poor comfort when used for long periods, and awful touch controls.
The T20 are a good enough option at the price, but fall some way behind the SoundPEATS Air3, FIIL Key and 1More Comfobuds 2 in the battle of the 'semi-in-ears'.
Not bad, but I'd like to see QCY's take on the Airpod next time, as opposed to Apple's take on the Airpod with a QCY badge.
Price Weighted Score: 76%
Raw Score: 73%
QCY Review Inventory:
HT07 Arcbuds
HT05 Melobuds ANC
T20 Ailypods
T18
G1
T17
T16
T13
HT03
T12
T11
About QCY:
Whilst not quite a household name outside of China yet, QCY are well-renowned in the budget TWS space for developing extraordinarily low cost earbuds that, whilst perhaps lacking some of the bells and whistles of the more expensive brands, deliver to the segment of the market where 'good enough is good enough', with solid reliability and tremendous value for money.
Part of the Hele Electronics Group, as well as designing their own products, they also OEM product for other vendors (Aukey, for example rebrand the T5), with three of their major customers being brands you will certainly recognise and in the global top 10 of the TWS market in 2019. In 2020, market research indicated they were the 4th biggest TWS vendor worldwide - no mean feat.
Despite a close relationship with SoC manufactuer Zhuhai Jieli, QCY are not afraid to mix and match components to suit their target market. This often sees a number of releases in quick succession - their T17S are an example of this, released subsequent to the T17, and differentiating with the use of the Qualcomm QCC3040 SoC, to support customers who require the added lower latency enabled by the aptX codecs that the Qualcomm chips support. They did a similar thing with the very popular T5, T8 and T9 - nice to see a vendor using an easy to follow naming convention! The G1 use the newest Pixart chip in order to reduce latency - horses for courses!
The QCY mission seems to be bringing music to the masses at a very affordable price - they are unlikely to top the charts for sound quality or features any time soon, but I think that's how they prefer it - their bang for buck is often unparalleled, with customers knowing they are getting value from a brand they can trust.
