Got the Mavin Air-XR Qi today. It's hard to believe how tiny the case is! See my pic below.
As many of you know I love the previous Mavin TWS model, the Air-X, but had some nitpicks with the materials used. The good news is the quality of the plastic used for both the XR's case and earpieces is much nicer and not the ugly glossy plastic used on the X. My one complaint about the build is the hinge on the case is just a tad loose.
Qi charging works like a charm, although the bottom of the case gets a bit warmer than when I use my Qi charging pad with the L2P.
The earpieces are also tiny being ever so slightly smaller than the Air-X, but they're small enough where I could probably sleep with them in my ears. They're incredibly light and very comfortable.
The touch controls are full-featured but aren't the most consistent in registering touches, but there's probably a learning curve. They lean towards "less sensitive" which I actually prefer as they're harder to accidentally activate.
Like the Air-X, these have the quietest noise floor I've heard from any brand. It's virtually inaudible. I wonder what Mavin is doing differently with these Qualcomm chips as literally every other model I've heard has a noise floor that's detectable right off the bat.
Noise isolation is really good with aftermarket Comply SmartCore Sport Pro tips. The stock silicones don't isolate quite as well, and add a bit of sibilance. Incidentally, the nozzles have a rather large bore size so the Comply tips really took some wrangling to get them on.
In terms of sound, my initial impressions are favorable. They sound a lot like the Air-X but are a hair warmer with slightly less separation as they're more intimate in presentation than the X. They're lacking any obvious audible distortion or artifacts in the frequency range outside of a bit of sibilance compared to the X, but that seems to be fit-related as I don't have that problem with the Comply tips versus the stock silicone tips. They're warm in absolute frequency response and sound like they're probably designed close to the Harman curve.
I do think the Air-X is the better sounding of the 2 models, but they're not worlds apart in that regard.
Compared to the L2P, they're a lot less bassy with a much more even treble response. The treble in general is less forward, not as sharp and more relaxed than the L2P, but doesn't suffer from a lack of air. The Comply foam tips I stuck on there definitely reduce the treble a bit too much for my taste compared to the stock silicone tips that came with the XR. The L2P also has a bigger soundstage, but the Mavin is much clearer and tonally even from top to bottom. The L2P sounds a little thick in the bass and lower mids in comparison.
I'm really loving the XR so far! They're better than the X than and addressed most of my complaints with that previous model in terms of build quality and feel without mucking around with the excellent sound quality. The addition of Qi charging is awesome. Hopefully Mavin can help me out by getting me a pair that doesn't have the voice notifications in Japanese (see the nitpicks below).
Some nitpicks:
- They barely fit in the case with the large Comply smart core premium tips. I really have to cram them in and compress the foam tips to get them to fit with the lid closed.
- They don't fit in the case with the sport stabilizers, but I've found that on both the X and XR that they're not necessary for a comfortable fit. This seems like a weird design decision, but clearly the case size was the main priority.
- The case still has a microUSB charging port, although Qi charging sorta negates this being a problem for me, but it'd still be nice to only have to bring a single USB-C cable for my phone and TWS when I travel.
- For some reason the pair I got from Amazon sold directly by Mavin has the voice notifications in Japanese. I contacted the seller through Amazon to see if they can remedy this.