Audiofly AFT2: Sound as Aussie as it comes

YOU don’t get any more Aussie than home-made earpieces that come in gum leaf green, sunset red, sand or granite. But do they sound any good?

Audiofly AFT2 in-ear headphones comes in a range of very Aussie colours.

YOU don't get any more Aussie than home-made earpieces that come in gum leaf green, sunset red, sand or granite.

But do they sound any good? Do they do justice to Midnight Oil's First Nation, INXS classics like Never Tear Us Apart or Devil Inside or or a little of Adelaide's Sia vocal magic?

The short answer is yes.

At under $200 and with up to 35 hours of total playtime, Audiofly's AFT 2 wireless in-ear headphones are good value and sound great.

But they are not for everyone.

They are not the loudest audio you will find, nor do they have booming bass.

And if you have smaller ears, they may be a little too large and chunky for you.

But for me, whether listening to some Australian classics, or watching a movie, they more than delivered across the sound spectrum.

My initial experience, however, was not great.

Connecting them to my Android on a Bluetooth device took forever. I tried all sorts of different things. I even read the instructions, went on their support site and watched a video.

But nothing worked.

The earpieces can operate independently of one another, so you can have one in working while monitoring other stuff around you.

When you put them both in your ears they are meant to sync and then you connect them to your device.
While I could get the right piece to work straight away, the left one just didn't work.

Thinking they may not be fully charged, I recharged them and put them back in. I knew something was wrong when the left earpiece started to warm up.

I arranged for another set to be sent out. Problems solved.

The devices connected easily - and the stereo sound was music to my ears.

Anyone for gumleaf green?

Perth-based Audiofly have a pretty good name for sound quality so my experience was probably a rare one.

The AFT2s are built based on the designs Audiofly normally deliver for in-ear monitors for professional musicians.

To be honest, I prefer my in-ear headphones to be smaller and a little softer with the latest Apple Airpods Pro probably the most comfortable for longer use. But they also cost more than $320.

I had the AFT2s in for more than three hours in one stretch and didn't find them uncomfortable.

  Going for a walk or run, they are snug enough that they won't fall out, though the range of silicon tips provided could be expanded.

I did suffer a few dropouts in audio on one of my walks, or audio going from one ear to the other when it shouldn't.

But overall, the experience was good.

The AFT2's use a 6mm dynamic driver which delivers a lot of nuances in musical range well - something that is very difficult to do in a small device.

The controls are easy to use. You tap to play or pause, tap a couple of times to skip songs and you can answer calls with a single tap to the earpiece.

Audio quality in calls was solid thanks to decent noise cancellation technology from Qualcomm.

Each earpiece promises about 10 hours of play time while the magnetic carry and charging case holds another 25 hours.

The slide out case is certainly larger than most but looks great and makes it easy to drop the earpieces back in for charging.

IPX-5 protection offers decent resistance to sweat and light splashes or rainfall.

Audiofly managing director Ranae Chen said the company first started out to enable musicians to perform at their best.

"It is an expertise we have honed over many years and bring with pride to our consumer range,'' Chen said.

"To be able to deliver a truly immersive, wireless sound experience while also being able to offer Australians industry-leading play time all for under $200 speaks volume to our Australian design and engineering teams.''

Key Features At A Glance

• 35 Hours of Battery life (10h + 25h with charging case)
• Qualcomm cVc Noise Cancelling Technology
• Qualcomm Bluetooth 5.0 Dual Mode for better connectivity
• 6mm Dynamic Driver
• Ergonomic design delivers for sound attenuation to further reduce outside noise
• IPX-5 water resistance rating
• 90 minute charge time each for earpieces and charge case with 200 hours standby time
• Available in Gum Leaf, Sunset, Sand and Granite
• Australian Owned, Designed and Engineered
   

Originally published as Audiofly AFT2: Sound as Aussie as it comes