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MagyarUGREEN HiTune T2 TWS hands-on: Nothing out of this world, but good value for the price
When it comes to value products that get the job done properly even for some picky consumers, UGREEN is one of those brands that often hits the spot. Today, the time has come for the brand-new HiTune T2 TWS. I've been using these buds for more than a week and now anyone interested can grab the HiTune T2 for a mere US$26.99. The regular retail price of US$39.99 goes down thanks to the 20% discount code HITUNET2D1 and the US$5 Amazon coupon provided by UGREEN. The exclusive discount code will be valid until 23:59 on April 13.
These being said, I will move to the review itself, which will be shorter than usual, but honest as always.
Packaging and looks
The retail box that protects the UGREEN HiTune T2 is just the way I was expecting from this brand: physically solid, with a simple design that accommodates all the essential information on the back, and with (almost) everything needed to fully enjoy the product inside. I must highlight the "almost" part because the charging case supports wireless charging, but there is no wireless charger included.
The box contains the UGREEN HiTune T2 TWS earbuds and their charging case, a quick start guide, as well as a USB Type-C charging cable that unfortunately doesn't match the color of the buds and the case. I know this is not a problem, but it would have been nice to have a white charging cable to go with the white buds and case.
Given the design of the earbuds, there is no need for silicone tips. While this can be considered a plus, the design itself can be a problem because I think the "one size fits all" approach is not the best when it comes to earbuds. However, we will get to the ergonomics part in the next section.
Specs, features, real-life usage
The highlights of the specs list include environmental noise cancellation, 14.2 mm Titanium-coated dynamic driver, 60 ms ultra-low latency, normal and game audio modes, but only support for the AAC and SBC audio codecs. To me, a larger and better driver is not enough without aptX support, but I will get to that a bit later. To finish the part about the essential specs and features, I should also mention the 1.5 hours needed to charge the buds and the case, as well as the 4 hours of autonomy on a single charge (the case holds roughly four more charges, so it can provide 20 hours more).
My real-life experience with the HiTune T2 TWS was a nice one, but the design simply doesn't get the job done for me. The truth is that the buds fit quite nicely, but I always feel like they're going to fall off. I moved around a lot, I did pushups, I rolled around, I ate and I even shaved while wearing the HiTune T2. In all these scenarios, the buds refused to fall off.
Regarding the audio experience, I think that the gaming mode is a waste of resources and I'd rather have aptX even for a slight increase in price. I went back and forth between the two audio modes and I wasn't able to find any scenario where the gaming mode could provide better sound. Overall, listening to music on the HiTune T2 is a bearable experience that can be quite pleasant with less intense genres (vocal, pop, dance), but listening to intricate orchestral works or anything that involves a lot of cymbals and blast beats is a no-go for me. Pushing the volume all the way up when listening to music is not recommended, but it can be helpful in calls or when enjoying podcasts or audiobooks.
Strange enough, it looks like the microphones are not doing their job well enough. Obviously, there is also the chance that the people I talk to on the phone should have their hearing checked, but until proven otherwise, I have to believe them. On my end, the call quality was good. Even when walking on a crowded street, the HiTune T2 can get the job done properly.
For me, the controls are too sensitive and I often found myself closing calls or pausing music while trying to adjust the buds. As I said earlier, getting used to wearing them could be a matter of luck.
In various scenarios — most of them involving listening to music and podcasts — battery life got very close to the advertised value of 4 hours, so no problems here. I am still using the original HiTune TWS from time to time and, after more than 8 months of use, both buds still hold the charge very well, so I can assume that this time it will be the same.
The good, the bad, and the truth
The UGREEN HiTune T2 TWS sports a very good build quality accompanied by good looks, four color choices (black, white, blue, and pink), wireless case charging support, a comfortable ergonomic design (as I highlighted, luck is involved here as well), and "massive" 14.2 mm drivers.
In practice, the aforementioned drivers fail to impress. However, I am sure that adding aptX support to the existing hardware design could improve things drastically. The right earbud generated some crackling noises more than once and it had nothing to do with the volume level. Fortunately, the problem disappeared after less than a minute and it only occurred once or twice for a full charge. Most likely a hardware problem with my unit, or even a Bluetooth reception issue.
If the case with wireless charging support is not your thing and you are not sure about the earbud design either, you should go with the HiTune or HiTune T1. Otherwise, feel free to grab the HiTune T2. It might not blow your mind, but it will surely get the job done for the price.
Disclaimer: The author of this review received the UGREEN HiTune T2 TWS from UGREEN free of charge for the purpose of testing.
Source(s)
UGREEN (official product page)
