SoundPEATS TrueAir2+
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RC044
How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
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Model: Soundpeats TrueAir2+
Price: £29.99
Soundpeats Website: Here
Review Reference: RC044
Manufacturer Specification:
1 x Pair wireless earbuds
1 x Type-C USB Battery charging case
1 x Type-C USB charging cable
1 x User manual, quick guide, warranty card
Real Life Experience
Having already enjoyed the TrueAir2, which I rated as my number one semi-in-ear bud for 2020 here, I was excited to hear that SoundPEATS had released an updated version in Japan. Having landed in the UK a few weeks ago, it was good to see not too much has changed. In fact, other than wireless charging and aptx-adaptive, good luck spotting the difference.
The addition of wireless charging in particular distances them from the Air3, and indeed it appears the TrueAir2 are now unofficially out of circulation, drawing a clear line in the sand between the two products.
The Unboxing - 7/10
Again, not much to say here. SoundPEATS have added instructions on how to place the Qi charge case on a wireless charger...and that's about it.
The Case - 8/10
Some minor tweaks that earn half a mark extra. Firstly, the case is still more or less the same size. The height is around 0.5mm more, and it weighs around 4g more at 37.5g, but kudos to SoundPEATS for managing to squeeze QI in there without a drastic redesign. The screen printed specifics have been removed, and it looks a little tidier as a result.
Some comparisons:
SoundPeats Air3 - 31g
QCY T12 - 33.13g
1More Comfobuds 2 - 35g
SoundPeats TrueAir2+ - 37g (Only case to support wireless charging)
Haylou Moripods - 39.76g
Tronsmart Battle - 39.81g
Tronsmart Onyx Ace - 41.1g
FIIL CC2 - 44.39g
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 46.9g
On the face of it, bar microscopic size differences, it is very difficult to tell between the + and original version.
Removing the protective wrapper reveals one of the key differences - now you get a coloured light inside to denote charge status, with green approximate to 50% (12 hours) to 100% (25 hours), amber 10-49% and red 1-9%.
The case also takes an additional 30 minutes to charge.
The Ergonomics - 8.5/10
Spot the difference? OK...don't waste your time, there is no difference!
The buds are 3.8g, 37mm long, and if anything they could have angled the neck a little more, but overall they're pretty comfortable and still very well made.
Audio Quality - 9/10 (for the price paid), 8/10 (raw score)
While the Sonic were fatiguing, the TA2 are far more palatable. The 14.2mm drivers are no doubt a help, but it goes beyond this - many earbuds at this price point have the same driver size and sound awful. SoundPeats get it bang on with the tuning of the TrueAir2 - even the soundstage, for buds of this type and price, is in the goldilocks zone - roomy without feeling too light. In fact, it is warm compared to other semi-in ear buds, lifting the mids a shade. This prevents the lower frequencies from feeling excessively bloated, but makes sufficient room for vocals even in rock and jazz tracks - toughies for this kind of earbud.
Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz and Beautiful by James Blunt both show off the highly impressive frequency response and lucid soundstage. All of Me by John Legend shows how well vocals are represented - baritone, falsetto, counter tenor all extend beyond the orchestral elements enough to strike a good balance between breadth and warmth. Instrument separation is tougher with female voices - mezzo-soprano's like Leona Lewis see the mids recess a tad. But I'm splitting heirs here, if this is all I have to complain about then that speaks volumes. Note - this is by TWS standards, not IEM.
The TrueAir2+ are no different to the TA2, with latency improved slightly with the addition of the aptX-adaptive codec for android users.
Call Quality - Indoors - 8/10, Outdoors - 7/10
Not bad at all. On cellular they are clear, very good indoors, can suffer a little with echo in enclosed spaces as you would expect, but I had Catherine O'Hara wailing in the background on Schitt's Creek and it completely muted her on my call.
I then took the earbuds outside. The receiver didn't even hear some of the cars going past. Eventually some noises did inevitably filter through, and your voice is elevated and thins out a bit. It also dips from time to time, but is still distinguishable.
It was a similar story on Zoom calls, except my voice sounded even more natural. TrueAir2+ again exactly the same as the original.
Overall, really quite impressive for the money. Feel free to listen for yourself here:
Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7.5/10
Connectivity is, like the Sonic, absolutely rock solid. Distance was marginally shorter than the Sonic and on par with my SGBL.
Controls are extensive, but sensitive. Play/Pause and Answering calls are predictably a double tap. Volume up and down is a single tap - nice to have on budget buds. Hold the buttons down for skipping tracks back and forth and rejecting calls. Triple tap for siri/hey google. This is uniform with the Sonic and seems to be their new system - and it's good.
If I try to adjust the buds, however, I will inevitably change track. Not much they can do about it, but app support to turn them on or off would solve the problem. For £29.99 I feel like an idiot for suggesting it, but these buds could sell for double easily and I would still feel like they were a bargain.
Single mode is possible, but I don't generally use it so I'm not sure how. My white set were shipped like it, and it took a reset to get them back to dual mode.
Bluetooth 5.2 and the aptX-adaptive codec are both present, which I doubt took much work since the chipset is the same as the TA2.
Battery Life - 8/10
Advertised at 25 hours total, my experience was between 3 and a half and 4 and a half hours from a single charge. This is far better in real-world tests than the 1More Comfobuds and Taotronics SoundLiberty 80, which barely gave me 2 and a half hours.
The case adds an additional 3 charges. Perfectly adequate for this form factor, and average by market standards:
Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro - 6.5 hours / 27 hours
1More Comfobuds 2 - 6 hours / 24 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
SoundPeats Air3 - 5 hours / 17.5 hours
QCY T12 - 4 hours / 20 hours
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 4 hours / 20 hours
Summary
The TrueAir2+ are a nice little re-rub of an already excellent set of earbuds. Only adding £5 to the price, they've included wireless charging, lower latency, a red/amber/green light to denote charge and, well...that's about it. A little disappointing not to see SoundPEATS take the buds a little further, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it I guess. Perhaps a TrueAir Pro would be the next logical step, but I can understand why SoundPEATS added some key features that embellish the product further without drastic redesign, and within 6 months of the already cutting-edge TrueAir2.
Since the TrueAir2 were released, FIIL added the CC2, Haylou the Moripods, and a few others added their take on the old airpod design, but SoundPEATS remain the best all-round option at the sub £30 mark. If you already have the TA2, I'd have a hard job justifying buying these as well, but if you're new to the game and looking for good value buds of this form factor, the difference in price is justified.
Price Weighted Score: 96%
Raw Score: 87%
2022 Score: 86%
SoundPEATS Review Inventory:
SoundPEATS Mini
SoundPEATS Air3
SoundPEATS TrueAir2+
SoundPEATS TrueAir 2
SoundPEATS H1
SoundPEATS T2
SoundPEATS Sonic
About SoundPEATS:
SoundPEATS seem to have become an overnight sensation, wiping up a large portion of budget TWS earbud market share with a business model that has served them (and Anker before them) exceptionally well - good distribution channels (via Amazon), good support, a catchy name and product that performs well at a very competitive price point. In reality, they have been around a long time - whilst Shenzhen SoundSOUL IT Co LTD is a different trading name to Ginto E-Commerce, they share the same business address (including room number) as them - you may know their brand name better as Dudios. With Dudios not sounding quite so cool as Soundpeats, maybe the brand transition has been instrumental in their success, but having been around since 2010 and patents in Bluetooth tech stretching back to 2015, they are not the plucky upstarts that some may think - they know their stuff, have a great network of contacts, and now a very solid brand in Europe, and deservedly so.
The thing that sets SoundPEATS apart from other vendors, and makes them my favourite budget earbud vendor, is that they are completely transparent over their components. Whether they use Realtek, Qualcomm or Airoha chips in their buds, they are totally open about it, and as a reviewer this really helps, because whilst I have, and do, dismantle buds to check the way that certain things have been implemented (such as the power management, mems mics, etc) and I really don't like having to do it with every set of earbuds, because they then become unusable.
How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
Instagram: regancipher
YouTube: regancipher
Model: Soundpeats TrueAir2+
Price: £29.99
Soundpeats Website: Here
Review Reference: RC044
Manufacturer Specification:
- Brand: SoundPEATS
- Model: TrueAir2+
- Driver: 14.2mm bio-compound diaphragm
- Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3040
- Impedence: 16Ω
- Frequency Response Range: 20-20000Hz
- Mic: 4, cVc 8.0
- ANC: No
- Codecs: AptX, AptX-adaptive, SBC
- Earbud Weight: 3.89g
- Earbud Dimensions: 24-26mm wide, neck approx. 13mm, 20mm height
- Case + Earbuds Gross Weight: 37g
- Case Dimensions: 52mm (length) x 52mm (width) x 21.7mm (height)
- Case Charge Capacity: 300mAh
- Full Charge Time: 120 minutes
- Quick Charge: No
- Wireless Charging: Yes
- Input: 5V 1A
- Single Use Playtime: Up to 5 hours
- Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 25 hours
- App Support: Not currently
- Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.2
- Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
- Water Resistance: IPX4
1 x Pair wireless earbuds
1 x Type-C USB Battery charging case
1 x Type-C USB charging cable
1 x User manual, quick guide, warranty card
Real Life Experience
Having already enjoyed the TrueAir2, which I rated as my number one semi-in-ear bud for 2020 here, I was excited to hear that SoundPEATS had released an updated version in Japan. Having landed in the UK a few weeks ago, it was good to see not too much has changed. In fact, other than wireless charging and aptx-adaptive, good luck spotting the difference.
The addition of wireless charging in particular distances them from the Air3, and indeed it appears the TrueAir2 are now unofficially out of circulation, drawing a clear line in the sand between the two products.
The Unboxing - 7/10
Again, not much to say here. SoundPEATS have added instructions on how to place the Qi charge case on a wireless charger...and that's about it.
The Case - 8/10
Some minor tweaks that earn half a mark extra. Firstly, the case is still more or less the same size. The height is around 0.5mm more, and it weighs around 4g more at 37.5g, but kudos to SoundPEATS for managing to squeeze QI in there without a drastic redesign. The screen printed specifics have been removed, and it looks a little tidier as a result.
Some comparisons:
SoundPeats Air3 - 31g
QCY T12 - 33.13g
1More Comfobuds 2 - 35g
SoundPeats TrueAir2+ - 37g (Only case to support wireless charging)
Haylou Moripods - 39.76g
Tronsmart Battle - 39.81g
Tronsmart Onyx Ace - 41.1g
FIIL CC2 - 44.39g
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 46.9g
On the face of it, bar microscopic size differences, it is very difficult to tell between the + and original version.
Removing the protective wrapper reveals one of the key differences - now you get a coloured light inside to denote charge status, with green approximate to 50% (12 hours) to 100% (25 hours), amber 10-49% and red 1-9%.
The case also takes an additional 30 minutes to charge.
The Ergonomics - 8.5/10
Spot the difference? OK...don't waste your time, there is no difference!
The buds are 3.8g, 37mm long, and if anything they could have angled the neck a little more, but overall they're pretty comfortable and still very well made.
Audio Quality - 9/10 (for the price paid), 8/10 (raw score)
While the Sonic were fatiguing, the TA2 are far more palatable. The 14.2mm drivers are no doubt a help, but it goes beyond this - many earbuds at this price point have the same driver size and sound awful. SoundPeats get it bang on with the tuning of the TrueAir2 - even the soundstage, for buds of this type and price, is in the goldilocks zone - roomy without feeling too light. In fact, it is warm compared to other semi-in ear buds, lifting the mids a shade. This prevents the lower frequencies from feeling excessively bloated, but makes sufficient room for vocals even in rock and jazz tracks - toughies for this kind of earbud.
Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz and Beautiful by James Blunt both show off the highly impressive frequency response and lucid soundstage. All of Me by John Legend shows how well vocals are represented - baritone, falsetto, counter tenor all extend beyond the orchestral elements enough to strike a good balance between breadth and warmth. Instrument separation is tougher with female voices - mezzo-soprano's like Leona Lewis see the mids recess a tad. But I'm splitting heirs here, if this is all I have to complain about then that speaks volumes. Note - this is by TWS standards, not IEM.
The TrueAir2+ are no different to the TA2, with latency improved slightly with the addition of the aptX-adaptive codec for android users.
Call Quality - Indoors - 8/10, Outdoors - 7/10
Not bad at all. On cellular they are clear, very good indoors, can suffer a little with echo in enclosed spaces as you would expect, but I had Catherine O'Hara wailing in the background on Schitt's Creek and it completely muted her on my call.
I then took the earbuds outside. The receiver didn't even hear some of the cars going past. Eventually some noises did inevitably filter through, and your voice is elevated and thins out a bit. It also dips from time to time, but is still distinguishable.
It was a similar story on Zoom calls, except my voice sounded even more natural. TrueAir2+ again exactly the same as the original.
Overall, really quite impressive for the money. Feel free to listen for yourself here:
Connectivity, Controls and Other Features - 7.5/10
Connectivity is, like the Sonic, absolutely rock solid. Distance was marginally shorter than the Sonic and on par with my SGBL.
Controls are extensive, but sensitive. Play/Pause and Answering calls are predictably a double tap. Volume up and down is a single tap - nice to have on budget buds. Hold the buttons down for skipping tracks back and forth and rejecting calls. Triple tap for siri/hey google. This is uniform with the Sonic and seems to be their new system - and it's good.
If I try to adjust the buds, however, I will inevitably change track. Not much they can do about it, but app support to turn them on or off would solve the problem. For £29.99 I feel like an idiot for suggesting it, but these buds could sell for double easily and I would still feel like they were a bargain.
Single mode is possible, but I don't generally use it so I'm not sure how. My white set were shipped like it, and it took a reset to get them back to dual mode.
Bluetooth 5.2 and the aptX-adaptive codec are both present, which I doubt took much work since the chipset is the same as the TA2.
Battery Life - 8/10
Advertised at 25 hours total, my experience was between 3 and a half and 4 and a half hours from a single charge. This is far better in real-world tests than the 1More Comfobuds and Taotronics SoundLiberty 80, which barely gave me 2 and a half hours.
The case adds an additional 3 charges. Perfectly adequate for this form factor, and average by market standards:
Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro - 6.5 hours / 27 hours
1More Comfobuds 2 - 6 hours / 24 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
SoundPeats Air3 - 5 hours / 17.5 hours
QCY T12 - 4 hours / 20 hours
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 4 hours / 20 hours
Summary
The TrueAir2+ are a nice little re-rub of an already excellent set of earbuds. Only adding £5 to the price, they've included wireless charging, lower latency, a red/amber/green light to denote charge and, well...that's about it. A little disappointing not to see SoundPEATS take the buds a little further, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it I guess. Perhaps a TrueAir Pro would be the next logical step, but I can understand why SoundPEATS added some key features that embellish the product further without drastic redesign, and within 6 months of the already cutting-edge TrueAir2.
Since the TrueAir2 were released, FIIL added the CC2, Haylou the Moripods, and a few others added their take on the old airpod design, but SoundPEATS remain the best all-round option at the sub £30 mark. If you already have the TA2, I'd have a hard job justifying buying these as well, but if you're new to the game and looking for good value buds of this form factor, the difference in price is justified.
Price Weighted Score: 96%
Raw Score: 87%
2022 Score: 86%
SoundPEATS Review Inventory:
SoundPEATS Mini
SoundPEATS Air3
SoundPEATS TrueAir2+
SoundPEATS TrueAir 2
SoundPEATS H1
SoundPEATS T2
SoundPEATS Sonic
About SoundPEATS:
SoundPEATS seem to have become an overnight sensation, wiping up a large portion of budget TWS earbud market share with a business model that has served them (and Anker before them) exceptionally well - good distribution channels (via Amazon), good support, a catchy name and product that performs well at a very competitive price point. In reality, they have been around a long time - whilst Shenzhen SoundSOUL IT Co LTD is a different trading name to Ginto E-Commerce, they share the same business address (including room number) as them - you may know their brand name better as Dudios. With Dudios not sounding quite so cool as Soundpeats, maybe the brand transition has been instrumental in their success, but having been around since 2010 and patents in Bluetooth tech stretching back to 2015, they are not the plucky upstarts that some may think - they know their stuff, have a great network of contacts, and now a very solid brand in Europe, and deservedly so.
The thing that sets SoundPEATS apart from other vendors, and makes them my favourite budget earbud vendor, is that they are completely transparent over their components. Whether they use Realtek, Qualcomm or Airoha chips in their buds, they are totally open about it, and as a reviewer this really helps, because whilst I have, and do, dismantle buds to check the way that certain things have been implemented (such as the power management, mems mics, etc) and I really don't like having to do it with every set of earbuds, because they then become unusable.
