In the blink of an eye, the wireless earphones space has become so crowded it’s difficult to compete. And the RHA TrueConnect 2 surely has competition, specially when it prices itself at ₹12,999.

The TrueConnect 2 have a premium look about them, going by the charging case. It’s weighty, which tells you there’s some solid battery life to come, and it’s got a slick trick of opening up in an interesting way with a slight nudge — a bit like the luggage bin in an aircraft. It’s made of a matte finish soft material that looks classy but could retain ‘finger oil’ if one is not careful. The buds have a big round disc on the outer side and a short stem, like the AirPods’ except that these look nothing like Apple’s when seen overall. The buds fit very firmly inside the case which is a good thing because, with this type of opening up, they could have otherwise fallen out.

These earphones from RHA replace a previous generation that had quite some attention but also had some flaws that reviewers complained about, including the sound quality. Now, the new model comes with many improvements, chief among them being a big battery life. The buds give you nine whole hours of play time with four additional charges possible from the case — that’s enough to take you through a short trip out of town! The case itself takes about three hours to charge. RHA means these earbuds to be used for a multitude of activities: commenting, working out, or just chilling out. So they’re IP55 water resistant and will withstand some splashes.

These buds will only be good for exercising with if you’ve taken care to get a good fit and seal. The default ear-tips may not fit everyone — they were certainly too big for me and kept popping out. There’s a nice collection of ear-tips including Comply ones that one should try and get the best fit with. Once that’s done, they have a chance of staying in. There are no wings or arches involved, so the fit has to be tried out before vigorous exercise.

The TrueConnect 2 promise significant noise isolation — not cancellation — and they do deliver, but again this is really dependent on the fit. We wouldn’t recommend buying them for this feature, however. These buds connect to only device at a time so multipoint connect is not supported. You can use one earbud at a time.

The sound quality on these earbuds may not be to everyone’s taste. ‘Light’ is the word that comes to mind. It doesn’t feel full-volume and full bodied and lacks bass of the type that users in India prefer. It sounds clear enough but the mids need to be beefed up as does the bass. Sometimes it even feels like the sound is too sharp and hiss. There’s no companion app so there would need to be some third party equaliser to tinker with the sound. The controls for these buds are distributed across both sides and are quite sensitive. They also trigger your assistant of choice. Call quality is clear.

Price: Rs 12,999

Pros: Massive battery life, premium looking case, generous number of ear-tips, touch controls

Cons: A bit expensive given the competition, too light on the bass front, doesn’t support multi point connect, at the price should have more features and codec support

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