Comparison Vivo TWS 2e vs Vivo TWS 2 ANC

The headphones have their own volume control. Such a regulator can be placed both on the wire and on one of the cups (the latter is typical for wireless models). Anyway, this function allows you to easily adjust the volume: for this you do not need to go into the computer settings, press the buttons on the player or smartphone, etc., just use the control at hand. On the other hand, additional equipment complicates and increases the cost of the design, and also increases the likelihood of distortion. In light of the latter, volume control is almost never found in professional headphones.

A function that allows you to automatically pause the playback track when you remove the headphones (or one headphone).

Autopause is found mainly in wireless models (see "Connection Type") true wireless format (see "Cable Type"); however, there are other types of headphones with this function — for example, with a combined connection and an overhead design. Anyway, the proximity sensor is usually responsible for the auto-pause operation, which is triggered when the earpiece moves away from the ear. This feature is especially useful in situations where, after removing the headphones, there is no time to manually pause playback — for example, you need to urgently respond to what is happening nearby. At the same time, some models are able to automatically resume playback when the earpiece is returned to its place, however, this function is not strictly required — it will not hurt to clarify its presence separately.

A system that reduces the influence of ambient noise on the audibility of sound through headphones. "Noise reduction" with the help of a separate microphone (or several micro) "listens" to external sounds and sends the same sounds to the headphones, but in antiphase. Due to this, the noise heard by the ears is attenuated almost to zero and the user can enjoy the sound of the headphones without interference even in a rather “loud” environment. For filtering in headphones, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Environment Noise Cancellation (ENC) systems are used. The first suppresses all the noise around the listener, the second - reduces the noise level of the environment. Active noise cancellation affects the purity of the sound, but the noise from the outside spoils the picture when listening to audio tracks even more.

Also in the headphones there is an adaptive active noise reduction system Adaptive ANC, aimed at automatically adjusting the sound of the headphones depending on the level of ambient noise. In a noisy environment (for example, when traveling on the subway), the Adaptive ANC system enhances the work of “noise reduction”, in the absence of loud sounds from outside, it weakens the noise reduction.

A feature that allows the user to hear the sounds of the surrounding world without removing the headphones.

This possibility is relevant mainly for models with a high degree of sound insulation; so the transparent mode can be found mainly among in-ear models, as well as overhead "ears" of the Over Ear format in a closed acoustic design. A special microphone is responsible for the operation of the function, which “listens” to the surrounding sounds and broadcasts them to the headphones. In Talk Through mode, you can, for example, listen to the interlocutor or control the environment on a busy street. And some headphones with this feature also have more advanced functions, including automatic adjustment to the situation: such models turn on on their own to transmit speech, “hearing” the loud voice of a person nearby. Individual headphones react to loud street noises in the transparent Ambient Aware mode — it means broadcasting noises through the speaker that can be potential danger signals (screams, car signals, etc.).

Note that most models with Talk through also have an active noise reduction function (see above), and the “transparent mode” in them is one of the noise reduction modes. However, exceptions to this rule are possible — technically transparent mode does not have to be combined with noise reduction.

A technology used in Bluetooth models (see "Connection") that allows the headphones to connect to multiple devices at the same time. Thanks to this, you can, for example, listen to music from a laptop, and when a call comes in on a mobile phone, switch the headphones to a conversation. This technology has its own characteristics for different manufacturers, and therefore, if the multipoint function is critical for you, you should separately clarify the details of its operation in the selected model.

Codecs and additional audio processing technologies supported by Bluetooth headphones (see “Connection”). Initially, sound transmission via Bluetooth involves fairly strong signal compression; This is not critical when transmitting speech, but can greatly spoil the impression when listening to music. To eliminate this shortcoming, various technologies are used, in particular aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, aptX Adaptive, AAC, LDAC and LHDC. Of course, to use any of the technologies, it must be supported not only by the “ears”, but also by the Bluetooth device with which they are used. Here are the main features of each option:

- aptX. A Bluetooth codec designed to significantly improve the quality of audio transmitted over Bluetooth. According to the creators, it allows you to achieve quality comparable to Audio CD (16-bits/44.1kHz). The benefits of aptX are most noticeable when listening to high-quality content (such as lossless formats), but even on regular MP3 it can provide a noticeable sound improvement.

- aptX HD. Development and improvement of the original aptX, allowing for sound purity comparable to Hi-Res audio (24-bits/48kHz). As in the original, the benefits of aptX HD are noticeable mainly on high-quality...audio, although this codec will not be out of place for MP3.

- aptX Low Latency. A specific version of aptX described above, designed not so much to improve sound quality, but to reduce delays in signal transmission. Such delays inevitably occur when working via Bluetooth; They are not critical for listening to music, but when watching videos or playing games, there may be a noticeable desynchronization between the image and sound. The aptX LL codec eliminates this phenomenon, reducing latency to 32 ms - such a difference is imperceptible to human perception (although for serious tasks like studio audio work it is still too high). aptX LL support is found mainly in gaming headphones.

- aptX Adaptive. Further development of aptX; actually combines the capabilities of aptX HD and aptX Low Latency, but is not limited to this. One of the main features of this standard is the so-called adaptive bitrate: the codec automatically adjusts the actual data transfer rate based on the characteristics of the broadcast content (music, game audio, voice communications, etc.) and the congestion of the frequencies used. This, in particular, helps reduce energy consumption and increase communication reliability; and special algorithms allow you to broadcast sound quality comparable to aptX HD (24 bits/48 kHz), using several times less amount of transmitted data. And the minimum data transfer latency (at the aptX LL level) makes this codec excellent for games and movies.

- aptX Lossless. The next stage in the development of aptX technology, which involves transmitting CD-quality sound over a wireless Bluetooth network without loss or compression. Audio broadcasting with sampling parameters of 16 bits / 44.1 kHz is carried out with a bitrate of about 1.4 Mbit/s - this is about three times faster than it was in the aptX Adaptive edition (see above). Support for aptX Lossless began to be introduced at the end of 2021 as part of the Snapdragon Sound initiative from Qualcomm.

- A.A.C. A Bluetooth codec used primarily in portable Apple gadgets. In terms of capabilities, it is noticeably inferior to more advanced standards like aptX or LDAC: the sound quality when using AAC is comparable to an average MP3 file. However, for listening to the same MP3s, this is quite enough; the difference becomes noticeable only on more advanced formats. AAC hardware requirements are low, and its support in headphones is inexpensive.

— LDAC. Sony's proprietary Bluetooth codec. It surpasses even aptX HD in terms of bandwidth and potential sound quality, providing performance at the Hi-Res level of 24-bits/96kHz audio; there is even an opinion that this is the maximum quality that it makes sense to provide in wireless headphones - further improvement will simply be imperceptible to the human ear. On the other hand, supporting this standard is not cheap, and there are still quite a few gadgets with such support - these are, in particular, Sony smartphones, as well as mid- and high-end devices running Android 8.0 Oreo and later versions.

- LHDC. LHDC (Low latency High-Definition audio Codec) is a high-definition, low-latency codec developed by the Hi-Res Wireless Audio Alliance and Savitech. In the vast majority of cases, its support is implemented at the hardware level in Huawei and Xiaomi smartphones. The codec is also known as HWA (Hi-Res Wireless Audio). When using LHDC, signal transmission from the phone to the headphones is carried out with a bits rate of up to 900 kbps, a bits depth of up to 24 bits and a sampling frequency of up to 96 kHz. This ensures a stable and reliable communication with reduced latency. The codec is optimally suited for high-end wireless headphones and advanced digital audio formats.

The capacity of the battery installed in the headphones of the corresponding design (see "Power").

Theoretically, a higher capacity allows to achieve greater battery life, but in fact, the operating time also depends on the power consumption of the headphones — and it can be very different, depending on the characteristics and design features. So this parameter is secondary, and when choosing it is worth paying attention not so much to the battery capacity, but to the directly claimed operating time (see below).

The capacity of the battery installed in the case (case) for headphones.

This parameter is relevant only for true wireless models (see "Cable type"). Recall that these headphones are charged from a case, which is usually equipped with its own battery and actually works in standalone power bank mode. Knowing the capacity of the battery in the case and in the headphones, you can estimate how many charges of the “ears” will last for one charge of the case. However, it should be taken into account that in the process of charging the headphones, part of the energy is inevitably spent on third-party losses, and the effective capacity of the case turns out to be somewhere 1.6 times less than the claimed one. This is the starting point for calculations: for example, a 300 mAh case will actually be able to transfer 300 / 1.6 = 187 mAh of energy to the headphones, and 30 mAh “ears” from such a battery can be fully charged about 6 times (187 / 30 ≈ 6).

The declared operating time of headphones with autonomous power supply (see above) when listening to music on a single battery charge or a set of batteries.

As a rule, the characteristics indicate a certain average operating time in music listening mode, for standard conditions; in practice, it will depend on the intensity of use, volume level and other operating parameters, and in models with replaceable batteries - also on the quality of specific batteries. However, based on the stated time, you can fairly reliably assess the autonomy of the selected headphones and compare them with other models. As for specific values, relatively “short-lived” devices have a battery life of up to 8 hours, a figure of 8 – 12 hours can be called quite good, 12 – 20 hours – very good, and in the most “long-lasting” headphones the operating time can exceed 20 hours.