Review on 🎧 Black KZ S2 True Wireless TWS Earphones – Bluetooth v5.0, Hybrid 1DD+1BA, Game Earbuds, Touch Control, Noise Cancelling Sport Headset by Todd Phillips

I wanted to love these things. I have many bluetooth audio devices of all kinds because I was looking for the right one for the job. I travel a lot, use GPS a lot, and listen to a lot of audio books, documentaries, podcasts, music and the like. This is compliant. Nearly. It's the perfect form factor, I wanted something with an IEM style earhook so I could pull the IEM out of my ear if needed and have nowhere else to hang it but right next to my ear and the mic on my head. instead of a Bluetooth dongle in your pocket. I'm not a fan of "regular" TWS IEMs because when you need to hear something, you need to get it out of your ear and then figure out what to do with it. With them, I can just take it out of my ear and leave it there. The audio production is excellent. I use my CCA C12 headphones with them and they basically go together perfectly, everything just sounds great with this combo. There are no complaints at all. They're super comfy, I don't even realize they're there. The earbuds are the perfect size for my ear. I wear glasses and they don't bother me at all. One small thing is handling masks, it's pretty easy to get caught on the mask's ear loop and accidentally pull it out of your ear. However, it's okay. Unfortunately, that's all the praise I can give them. Problem #1 – Battery life. (Note: I don't use high-performance mode.) That's perhaps the most frustrating thing about them. It is ubiquitous and inconsistent between left and right from day to day. Some days it works quite well, I can get through a full shift at work and still have some energy to drive home. Some days one side dries out very quickly and dies after a few hours. One day the other side will do the same. Some days both will do it. I think it has something to do with how the charging case is made. If you wear the IEM for a long time, the cable will be close to your ear and this shape will not fit properly in the case, causing the charging ports to not fit properly. It's a tight fit in the case even if they go in right, if the wire is even slightly bent it won't seat properly. My "solution" is to put it in the case, close it, then give it a light shake a few times and repeat later. Always wait a few seconds and open the case to make sure both work as if they are charging. It seems to work sometimes, but it might just be a placebo as it's already inconsistent. The LED on the charging case does not always work either. It worked for the first few days, then stopped working for more than a month and recently it started working again. In this case, you only need to roughly determine how much battery is in the charging case. Problem #2 - Controls. The controls are okay for the most part, but sometimes they aren't. From time to time I press the right side button to pause or play or double tap to skip a track/video and the device turns off as if I had held the button down for a few seconds. The button doesn't stick, I can clearly feel it being pushed in and out, so I'm not sure how that happens. It doesn't happen often, but enough to be annoying. Problem #3 - Communication quality. It's 50/50 whether the person on the other side can hear me or not. I've had several calls where I had to deselect the device on my phone so I could talk to someone. Problem #4 – BT Connection Issues. It's one of those devices that takes a while to "sync" after you turn it on and start hearing something. Things seem to get out of phase and choppy, but it eventually clears up within a minute or two. I've had other TWS devices do this so I'm used to it. What is unacceptable is the inability to maintain a stable connection when my phone is in my pocket. I've heard of other devices having this problem, but this is the first time I've encountered it myself. In other situations it holds the connection relatively well, I can walk 30 feet from my phone with walls in between and it still works, but once my phone is in my pocket it behaves like it's right on the edge of connection range. I want to keep using them because they're so comfortable, it's the perfect form factor for what I need, but these issues have made me almost throw them in the trash a few times. In fact, I carry a backup Bluetooth device with me at work in case they decide to go into super battery drain mode, forcing me to put them in a charging box. Another company, ChiFi, will soon be releasing a very similar device (but with more connectivity options for use with all types of IEMs). I think once it comes out the KZ AZ09 will have a very short life with me.