When Tranya offered to send us the T2 in exchange of a review, I was pretty game to take it on myself. I’m an amateur runner and have been running with different types of headphones. A pair of true wireless earbuds that are designed for sports, like the Tranya T2, is always welcome in my collection.
It’s predecessor, Tranya T1, was a success on Amazon. But with so many true wireless earbuds brands from China flooding Amazon nowadays, it’s hard to differentiate if a winning product is legitimate. I was excited to give the Tranya T2 a try!
For the regular readers of Headphonesty, this will be a different review format. Instead of the usual of “sit-down audiophilic” review, we will be reviewing it from the viewpoint of a runner.
- Sleek Design
- Comfortable and Snug Fit
- Great user experience design
- Did not have to worry about battery life
- V-shaped sound signature
- Good amount of noise isolation
- Auto-pairing is fast
- The glossy exterior of the charging case scratches easily
- Connecting to a new device might take 1 -2 tries before it succeeds
- Volume control support can be better
- Unable to pair with multiple audio devices at the same time.
Technical Specifications:
- Bluetooth Specification: 5.0
- Waterproof Rating: IPX5
- Range: 10m
- Earbuds Battery Capacity: 60mAh each
- Charging Case Battery Capacity: 500mAh
- Playing Time: 6 – 8 hours for one charge
- Total Playing Time: ~ 40hrs. Charging case can charge an additional 4 times.
- Voice Assistant Support: Siri
Before The Run
Build Quality
The main two components of true wireless earbuds are the charging case and the earbuds.
The design of the charging case is very pleasant to my eyes. The pill-shaped charging case (there’s something about rounded corners that appeals to me) comes with a translucent glossy cover. It feels light but not in a cheap kind of way.
The earbuds are perfectly balanced between the size and weight for me. Silicon ear tips are provided and I found that the stock ear tips (M-sized) have the best fit for me.
User Experience
There are several design factors that I take note of while using the true wireless earbuds. They are gathered together in this section.
Magnetic Lock
Earbuds are magnetically secured into position within the charging case. The magnetic force is strong enough to hold them into position tightly but yet easy enough for the earbuds to be taken out.
Audio Device Pairing
When the earbuds are taken out of the charging case and had not paired with any device before, it will automatically be in pairing mode.
First-time Pairing
Look for the “T2-R” in the list of Bluetooth devices in range and connect to it. My first pair wasn’t successful. I had to turn my iPhone’s Bluetooth off and on it again before the pairing succeeds. Anyone with basic troubleshooting skill should be able to get it paired.
Fast Auto Pairing
Once my iPhone was paired, the T2 will auto pair and connect to it whenever it is out of the charging case. The pairing speed is quite fast, roughly around 2 – 3 seconds.
No Multipoint Connection
The T2 does not offer multiple audio source pairing like the Airpods. So if I have to connect to my MacBook, I have to either
- make sure my iPhone is not range (which is impossible)
- or I have to unpair it manually from my iPhone before pairing it with my laptop.
I can foresee this being cumbersome for anyone who depends on only one pair of earbuds for both home and outdoor use. But since I already have a dedicated pair for home use, this wasn’t an issue for me.
Controls
The controls are found on both earbuds. I mainly use one function – pressing once to play or pause my soundtracks.
Volume control is available on T2 – double pressing on the right earbuds to increase volume and on the left earbuds to decrease volume – but the gain I get from each double press is so little, I find myself pressing the earbuds a lot to get any significant volume change.
Software Support
There is no software support for the T2.
Indicators
There are two types of LED light indicators – one for the charging case and another for the earbuds.
Charging Case
On the front of the charging case, there are three white LED lights. Each white light displays the level of battery juice within the charging case:
- 1 indicator: 0 – 33%
- 2 indicator: 34% – 66%
- 3 indicator: 67% – 100%
When you charge your case, the white lights will blink. If the battery is full, the white lights will stop blinking and stay on while charging.
Earbuds
At the bottom of the earbuds, there is a red indicator light. These red lights are on when it is inside the charging case. Once it is fully charged, the red light will be off.
I like the translucent cover of the charging case. You can’t see the earbuds but it allows enough light to come through so you can see if the earbuds are fully charged.
The Run
Since this is a running + earbuds review, let’s include some running statistics here too:
Audio Device: iPhone 6S
Playlist: Spotify’s Fun Run 150 – 165 BPM playlist
Comfort and Fit
Before I began my run, I started off with some warmup to get myself going. I normally do some pull-ups, push-ups, and light stretching of my unusually tight calves (I blame it on my desk job). At this point, the earbuds stay snug with no signs of it falling off.
Then I began my run. As I started to perspire more, the earbuds still show no signs of falling off. I did not remember having to adjust the earbuds at all during the run.
Midway through the run, I was getting into the runner’s flow.
The weight of the earbuds starts to disappear and my focus was on my running stride and the path itself, with the music playing in the background.
I’m really impressed with the T2. The comfort and fit were top-notch for me throughout the run.
Noise Isolation
With the correct ear tips, the T2 was able to isolate out most external noises. This was impressive and scary to me at the same time.
I was able to focus on my running and music without being disrupted by traffic noises and human conversations. Sometimes, the noise isolation did too good of a job. I can barely notice the trailing bikes creeping up beside me and it does give me a light scare from time to time.
Sound Quality
My preferred sound signature for workout earbuds is V-shaped and the T2 has this exact sound signature. The bass and treble emphasis get my adrenaline pumping. It also fits most of the sound on my running playlist.
Overall, the sound quality is reasonably good. I didn’t notice sibilance in the upper treble but it can sound slightly bright for some songs like Midnight City by M83. The bass sounded punchy enough for what you expect from earbuds at this price range. It is present but nothing thumping like the SE846.
The mids are slightly recessed but vocal performance is still quite decent. If your songs have complex layers, it will sound a tad messy in T2. The sound separation is not that great.
After The Run
Sweatproof
The earbuds were soaked in sweat after the run. I dry it with a cloth and placed it on an open surface for around 15 mins before I placed it back to the charging case. The IPX5 rating works as advertised! No sign of water damage.
Battery Life
I’m impressed with the T2’s battery life. I have only charged it once on the day that it was unboxed. Since then, I have brought it out for 3 runs and use it at work for a total of ~6 hours of playback, the charging case still shows 2 white indicator light.
A good indicator of battery life for me is not the length of the playback time but rather, the frequency of me worrying about the battery life. I mean, who’s really counting the time. For the Tranya T2, I rarely had to worry about it.
Conclusion
Overall, I’m really impressed with the Tranya T2. My initial thought that this was going to be another run-of-the-mill wireless earbud that are cheaply mass-produced. But after my running experiments, my opinions had totally turned on its head.
The build quality, user experience, sound quality, and battery life had proven to be very worthy of its price point. In fact, it has become my daily driver for my workout. My only downside of the T2 is the lack of support for multiple audio sources. Hopefully, Tranya will include that feature in their future model.
I tried the promotion code at the end for the 10% discount from Amazon (6SSMAMOE) for the Tranya T2 earbuds and it was invalid. Can you please advise me if the code is no longer valid or not?
Thanks
Shawn
Hi Shawn,
I just tried it and the code is still valid. Please try again.
I have a T3. Having trouble switching from mono to stereo. Need the step by step directions on switching from mono to stereo. Thank you
Lower casing on email address.
Need help switching from mono to stereo on my T3
Thank you.
Sorry mate.. Haven’t got a chance to try out the T3
Dear Marvin,
Thanks for choosing Tranya headphones.
About the right earbud and the left earbud won’t pair with each other. Please follow the below steps to resolve it:
Step 1: Clear up“T3-L” and “T3-R” on the Bluetooth list of your cell phones;
Step 2: Turn off the Bluetooth in your cell phones;
Step 3: Pick up both the left and right earbuds and long press the power keys up to 5 seconds to turn off the earbuds;
Step 4: Press and hold the power keys up to 15 seconds until you hear the voice prompt of “RESET” from BOTH earbuds;
Step 5: Put both earbuds into the charging case and wait 10 seconds. (long enough for it to power down)
Step 6: Take both earbuds out from the charging case and keep the two earbuds “within 5 cm” during the whole process – the most important key to back to stereo mode;
Step 7: Turn on the Bluetooth of your smartphones, then select the “T3-R” to pair with your smartphone, it would be RESET successfully. (If there are shows T3-R and T3-L, please do not pair and repeat the step 5 and 7 again and search again, until there is only shows T3-R on the Bluetooth list of your smartphone).
If the problem still happens, please contact our customer service for help directly. Our customer service email is [email protected].
Looking forward to your contacting.
Best Regards,
Ida from Tranya
Yes i have lg stlyo 4 and I can’t get my ear buds to pair together they keep coming on my screen ad separate ones and can’t get no thing out of the left side.
You have to delete them from your Bluetooth, put them in the case and take them out at the same time. Then you have to put them into pairing mode and connect to the right one as it is the main one.
They will sync up automatically when not paired up to anything and put them on so you can hear DU coming from the earbuds then it will say pairing mode (also shown by blue and red blinking lights).
It was slightly confusing for me as well.
I really like these a lot as for the price and for the use, they do a good job.
CRITICISM.
My main issue would be sometimes at random, the sound turns strange with a slight hiss/whine/echo and would need to put it back in the case to get rid of it (rare but can happen).
Other criticism could be that the sound could definitely be better and won’t stack well against good IEMs but considering that this is a true wireless pair and the price, it does a good job for their category. I don’t know what they did to the sound signature but there is a certain part in the frequency that sounds horribly off, like a muffled voice in the low mids (not sure on placement but it is definitely there). Everywhere else sounds fine but that part could certainly use some tuning.
It also does have latency on Android phones and the button prompts are too loud/shrill for my tastes, not exactly pleasant to hear so I take them off before using them. They use micro usb but not a big deal.
POSITIVE
On the hand, they have a lot of positives.
They stay in my ear, look good, the case packs a lot of battery along with being small and looks good, earbuds rarely need to be charged, it tells you the percentage when paired, magnetic case and cover is a plus, bass is audible and enjoyable (a little dull but better than other Chinese brands at the same price), relatively cheap, buttons works well without much issue (two fingers pinching earbud and a third pressing the button worked best for me), etc.
I prefer the design of these compared to the T3 and the features work well. You can even use them independently and after getting use to them, are easy to use.
TLDR:
I agree with the review. I was very skeptical at first but it won me over. They turned into my main driver for running and do well for general use.
These are fucking garbage as far as I am concerned. I have spent numerous hours to restset and pair. The volume is beyond low and the quality is worthless. This was a gift from my hubby who thought he was doing me a favour and all I can say is I love the feel in my ears. This is by far the worst piece of garbage for ear buds and I always bought gas station quality. Never ever have I been so disappointed and would never recommend them for anyone ever. Currently looking into sending back if that is a thing from the reviews I saw posted. Waste of my hubbies money and waste of my fucking time. Can’t believe this awful experience is what it is. You deserve nothing but the worst review. I telling everyone I know to never bit this product. So frustrating and so done.
Hi Nicole, thanks for the insights. A common problem with cheap earbuds is the build QC. It is totally possible that you can get a garbage unit while someone else gets a unit with no issues. That’s where the return policy of whatever store you bought the earbuds from comes into play. I hope you are able to get your refund.