BlueAnt Pump Air 2

Small, affordable and from an Australian company, BlueAnt’s true wireless buds sound good, but had a few issues during our testing.

The Pump Air 2 are certainly among the smallest earbuds we’ve tried, and they achieve decent sound quality despite both this and being relatively affordable for true wireless buds. They also arrive with the choice of seven different silicon ear-tips, with their sweatproofing (IP54) combining with compact and light (4g) design to lend them well to workouts.

But unfortunately they suffer in a few other areas, with that low price in evidence when it comes to the cheap-feeling charging case, its micro-USB port and relatively poor battery life. The four-hour playtime on the units themselves can be forgiven considering the challenges of achieving capacity within their diminutive dimensions, but the charging case only donates an additional 11 hours of juice in total — disappointing given it’s relatively bulky and awkward. Connectivity proved another weak point for the Pump Air 2, with drop-outs experienced all too often on one or other buds.

But as mentioned earlier, the audio is punchy and well-balanced, with solid bass and no signs of distortion at higher volumes. In fact, we’d be hard-pressed to find better fidelity in the true wireless market down at this price, although if you don’t mind a neckbanded model then there are plenty of alternatives that top their performance. So if you’re preferencing audio quality at the price above stability and battery life, the BlueAnts are worthy of your consideration, if hard to recommend as an everyday pair. Harry Domanski