JOIN USVivo TWS 2 ANC review: Decent budget earbuds
Besides camera-centric phones, Vivo is steadily adding a good number of TWS (True Wireless Stereo) audio devices to its product portfolio in India.
The latest Vivo TWS 2 ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) model costs Rs 5,999 and finds itself in the highly competitive budget segment of its class. Does it live up to the hype? Let's check it out.
Design and build quality
The new Vivo TWS 2 ANC's case sports a pebble-like design with a smooth and curvaceous capsule. The case and the earbuds are really glossy, they are prone to fingerprint smudges. Unlike phones, they are small and thankfully, less noticeable.
The company is offering the earphones in two colors-- starry blue and moonlight white. Our review unit is the former. It is dark blue in colour, but looked at from a certain angle, it turns light blue. It is the same with earbuds inside too.
A notable aspect of the earbuds is, that they come with an IP54 rating and are capable of sustaining accidental water splashes, and are capable of repelling sweat, and protecting the tiny internal components.
Also, each earbud comes with a short stem and is touch-sensitive. It supports swipes and long-press gestures to control the volume, take calls, change tracks, and switch between ambient transparent and noise cancellation features.
And, each earbud weighs just 4.3g and you can barely notice the weight. However, the glossy texture of the earbuds induced anxiety in me. while traveling on the bus in the rush, I felt, one of them slip and drop from my ear. But, have to say the silicone ear tip ensured they remain tightly lodged in the ear and also did a decent job of blocking the outside noise (more on that later). By the way, the company also offers two more pairs of ear tips in sizes - small and large in addition to medium, which come pre-applied to the earbuds out of the case.
User-interface and performance
Setting up the earbuds is quite easy, be it an Android or an iPhone. You just have to open the lid of the case and look up the devices in the Bluetooth section on the phone. It will instantly appear on the list and you just have to tap the connect button on the screen.
If you own a Vivo phone, the company has ensured the TWS 2 ANC works seamlessly and offers better customisation in terms of assigning functions to the touch and slide gestures.
For Android, there is also the Vivo Earphones app on the Google Play store. There, it offers similar options to device owners. But, there is no app for iPhones.
Users can use gestures like one touch to pause a video or answer a call. Double pressing the top of the stem of the earbuds will reject the call and switch between tracks.
And long-pressing the stem can let the switch to transparent or ANC. Swiping up or down on the stem will help control the volume of the audio.
The earbuds feature a 12.2mm driver with a carbon fiber composite-based diaphragm and a new magnetic circuit to offer good audio delivery. During the testing period, it did live up to the expectations. I listened to various genres of music including Carnatic, hip-hop, rock, and others. Overall, the listening experience was good.
It features a three-mic system-- two external dual-beam forming microphones and an internal microphone. This comes in handy for noise cancellation and it works only to an extent.
If you are stuck in a traffic jam, despite the usage of soft silicon tips, the horn sounds manage to creep in, but are not overwhelming. I have to note that, it works fine in the chatty newsroom space and I was able to attend a virtual product briefing without much disturbance.
Also, the company is honest enough to admit, that the ANC will be able to control up to 40bl of the outside noise and the earphones live up to the expectations of budget earphones.
It has 88ms low latency in terms of the connection between the earphones and the companion phone. This comes in handy while playing such as BGMI or other similar battle royale games.
As far as the user's voice pick up by the mics of the Vivo TWS 2 ANC is again hit and miss. In a moving bus, my voice on the other side was said to be low. But, during a call, while walking, the earphones were able to pick the audio pretty well and deliver distortion-less output on the other side of the call.
The wireless connectivity between the phone and earphones within a house with two floors (ground + one) was quite good. It can maintain strong wireless connectivity up to around 10 meters.
As far as the battery life is concerned, it is capable of delivering up to 7.3 hours of playback with ANC off. And with the noise cancellation on, it can last for 4.3 hours. And, in this case, it can last for around 29 hours. It takes close to two hours to fully charge the case and the earphones and around an hour fully charge just the earphones.
Each earbud houses a 43mAh battery and the case is incorporated with a 485 capacity cell.
During our test, I never had to worry about earphones dying out in the middle of the conversation, as I would be able to know the green light of the case indicating it is fully charged. And, if it is flashing orange, the case needs recharging. This is enough to know when to charge the device.
Final thoughts
ANC feature of the Vivo TWS 2 earphones does a decent job of suppressing the outside noise, but only to an extent. However, the sound quality is on par with any of the budget audio devices. The battery life is pretty good and actually, it is better than most competitors in its class.
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