With brands updating their lineup of wireless earbuds left and right (*ba-dum-tss*), new companies are jumping in on the market as well. And now, Xiaomi has unveiled its latest TWS earbuds – the Mi Air 2S. I didn’t mean to lead you on implying it’s Xiaomi’s first venture on the TWS industry, not at all. In fact, the Mi Air 2S is the successor to Mi True Wireless Earphones. It brings a longer battery life, better audio quality, and more. Moreover, the Mi Air 2S has a reasonable asking price in China and when & if it launches in Nepal, we hope it comes at a decent price as well.
[Update: Mi Air 2S is also known as Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 in India. It carries a price of INR. 4499]
Mi Air 2S TWS Earbuds Overview
Starting off, the Mi Air 2S has a distinctive yet familiar design. It borrows the awful “stem”-y look with a semi-in-ear fit. However, the stem (which also functions as the control panel) is a lot wider than what we’re used to seeing in other company’s products with a similar look. For example, the Huawei Freebuds 3, OPPO Enco Free comes with the same AirPods looking design, though with a narrower stem.
I would’ve liked to see a full-on in-ear fit with silicone/rubber tips. Besides providing a better passive noise isolation, it also makes for a tighter fit in the ears. However, it does come with ENC (Environment Noise Cancelation), which uses a dual-mic array for noise suppression when making calls or just listening to the music in a fairly noisy environment. Now, it’s nowhere near comparable to ANC (Active Noise Cancelation), but still – something is better than nothing.
Better audio quality
In terms of the audio quality itself, the Mi Air 2S has a binaural synchronous signal transmission technology. This means that audio signals get simultaneously distributed to both left & right earbud, resulting in reduced latency. Additionally, it uses the LHDC (Low latency High-Definition audio Codec) on top of the standard AAC & SBC codec, though it doesn’t come with Qualcomm’s superior aptX-HD. LHDC is in-built on Android 10 devices, though it can be easily integrated by OEMs on their device or via an app.
The audio driver on Mi Air 2S is a couple of 14.2mm drivers with a large diaphragm, which should, in theory, deliver a much studio-like sound quality. For connectivity, the Mi Air 2S has Bluetooth 5.0 technology and also IR sensors, which can detect whenever you take them off your ear(s), or put it back in.
Getting to the battery, Xiaomi promises up to 5 hours of continuous playback on a full charge. However, when paired with the case, endurance can go as high as 24 hours which is quite impressive. Talking about the case, it supports Qi Wireless charging or wired charging via USB Type-C. You can charge up the case under 1 hour using a wired charger.
Finally, it’s almost tradition that popular OEMs integrate their earbuds to work better with their ecosystem of products. Here, the Mi Air 2S is also integrated into Xiaomi’s MIUI for faster connection and other functionalities.
Mi Air 2S TWS Earbuds Specifications:
- Weight: 52gram (with earbuds & case)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C
- Speaker impedance: 32Ω
- Battery: 5-hour playback (24 hours with case), 1 hour charging time
- Working distance: 10m
- Audio codecs: LHDC/SBC/AAC
- Bluetooth protocols: BLE/HSP/HFP/A2DP/AVRCP
Mi Air 2S Price in Nepal, Availability
Talking about the price, the Mi Air 2S TWS Earbuds is priced at ¥399 (~NRs. 6,825) and is already up for pre-order in China. Its actual sale, on the other hand, will start from April 9, 2020. There is no news on its Nepal availability yet. However, if the Mi Air 2S does arrive in Nepal, we expect it to come at a very competitive price at around NRs. 7,000 – 7,500.
| Earbuds Model name | Price in Nepal (Expected) | Availability (Expected) |
| Xiaomi Mi Air 2S TWS | NRS. 7,000 – 7,500 | June 2020 |
