The brand new Tronsmart Onyx Neo. It is a pretty stylish yet small-sized true wireless earbuds and comes with an affordable price tag. We have the Tronsmart Onyx Neo for quite some time but today, we’re finally taking a look at it.
For the price of RM139 (right now), is the Tronsmart Onyx Neo worth its price over the myriad of other true wireless earbuds?
Unboxing
It comes in a rather tiny box. At the front, we have a few brief points regarding the Onyx Neo. Tronsmart claims it to have great battery life – which we’ll try.
Digging out everything, we have the basics included:
- The charging case
- The wireless earbuds
- Two more sets of eartip sizes
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- User manual (not pictured)
Design
There’s something about the Tronsmart Onyx Neo that makes it look particularly mesmerizing yet inviting. The charging case is made out of matte black plastic with an unassuming “Tronsmart” logo debossed at the top. There’s a USB-C charging port at the back, and also a battery indicator LED at the front.
Opening up the case, the top lid pivots to a 90° angle and there is no lock on the hinge. That means the lid can flop around while it’s opened, which is something that Tronsmart can improve.
And oh yes – the earbuds themselves. It has this oval-shaped ring of light which makes it look like a gemstone or some sort. Within this ring of light is also where the touch-sensitive panels are located.
The buds themselves are rather simple in terms of shape and construction, though. It sits in the ear and its lightweight construction allows it to stay in place – most of the time. It does sit well in my ears, but it might vary from person to person.
Because of how rounded the earbud is shaped, I find it rather difficult to hold. Whenever I tried to take them out of my ears, I always accidentally touch the panel and pause my music.
Features
The gestures that can be performed by the earbuds’ touch panels are pretty simple.
| Gesture | Left | Right |
| Turn on | Hold for 3 seconds | |
| Turn off | Hold for 5 seconds | |
| Play/pause | Tap once | |
| Voice assistant | Hold for 2 seconds | |
| Answer/end call | Tap once | |
| Reject phone call | Hold for 2 seconds | |
| Next track | Tap 3 times quickly | |
| Previous track | Tap 3 times quickly | |
| Volume increase | Tap twice quickly | |
| Volume decrease | Tap twice quickly | |
The ability to manually turn the earbuds on or off via the touch panel reminds me of the Sudio Fem, whereby its touch panels are also emulating a physical button.
The pairing process is a little weird, though. Like any wireless devices, it will ask for confirmation before pairing the true wireless earbuds. But when pairing with the Tronsmart Onyx Neo, it will pair both L and R sides. Nothing major – just something to take note of.
Using the Tronsmart Onyx Neo
Like I said – the case’s hinge is not locked and it flops around. At least the lid opens at a wide 90°, though. The earbuds themselves are a little too rounded for my liking – but that’s a small issue.
Anyway, wearing the Tronsmart Onyx Neo – for me – is very easy and comfortable. Just placed then in my ear and gave them a little push, and it’s in place. This also creates a tight seal around my ear – which offers great noise isolation.
Overall sound quality is also good. It is definitely heavy on bass, which is common for most true wireless earbuds that we’ve tried. Its bass is punchy and tight but not overwhelming.
The mids and vocals are decent enough to get by. The highs are definitely there but not sparkly enough. It has a pretty generic frequency response, honestly.
Battery life?
Remember that Tronsmart advertised that the Onyx Neo has up to 24 hours of battery life? Upon further inspection, Tronsmart claims that each charge can play for about 7 hours at 50% volume – which means the case can charge slightly more than 3 times.
From our test, we had to pump it up to about 80% volume and we got about 5 hours of playtime. Curiously the left earbud ran out of battery first while the right side still has about 50% battery left. No idea what happened, though.
The case can indeed charge it for about 3 times – which is great.
Wrapping up the Tronsmart Onyx Neo review
Honestly, the Onyx Neo felt very generic to me. It does have its unique points – like the beautiful yet comfortable earbud shape. But its sound quality is pretty genetic to me. Compared to the Tronsmart Spunky Beat (review here), I actually like that a lot more because of the hidden USB-A cable that’s integrated into the case itself.
If you can find it for RM139 – then hey, it’s actually quite an okay deal. Perhaps if you’re looking for alternatives, then take a look at the Tronsmart Spunky Beat, the Redmi AirDots, or the Ugreen True Wireless Earbuds.
Where to buy?
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