These translation earbuds offer a lot of functionality in one package. The setup was straightforward, and I like that they support so many languages and include features for conversations, calls, and meetings. They feel like a versatile travel companion.
One thing to keep in mind is that you'll need an internet connection for the translation features, so they're not completely independent. That's something worth knowing if you plan to use them while traveling in places with limited connectivity.
Even with that limitation, I still think they're very useful because of everything they can do. If you have access to the internet, they provide a convenient way to communicate and the extra features make them feel like more than just a pair of earbuds.
Pulsar77
★★★★★
Performed well in a real world test in South America
I got these for a three-week trip through South America and I'm glad I did. My Spanish covers the bare basics, so I wanted something that could help me have actual conversations — not just survive. These delivered.
The translation is fast and surprisingly accurate although there is a small delay between each speaker and the resulting translation, so conversations are slow. I used them in markets, at hotel desks, with tour guides, and in casual conversations with curious locals. The voice quality is clear, not tinny or robotic, and the Spanish translation sounded natural enough to locals that people didn't look at me like I was speaking nonsense. Their responses were also pretty clear in English with some odd wording.. .nothing I couldn't figure out.
You do need an internet connection for translation, so they were useless in a few remote spots with no cell signal. In cities and most tourist areas my international data plan kept them running fine, but if offline translation ever becomes possible these would jump to a five-star product overnight.
Something I appreciated is that the earbuds do a good job of "listening" only to the person directly in front of you and reject/don't respond well to everything else. In a noisy Lima restaurant, I heard the waiter's voice clearly without picking up fragments from every other table. It keeps you locked into the conversation you're actually having, which feels both more natural and more respectful — you're not eavesdropping on the world around you.
The open-ear design is comfortable for all-day wear, and they double as solid everyday earbuds for music and podcasts. Battery life gave me five to six hours of mixed use before i had to put them in the case for a recharge. The case itself is bulkier than I'd like — noticeably larger than what you'd get with standard earbuds. They are not inexpensive. Their value rests with how important translation is to you in what are likely tourist and work area where you MIGHT be able to get by without them. I do think without them there would have been interactions I would have avoided because of the language barrier. My travel experience was richer and better with these accompanying me, than it would have been without them.
They are very good, but I gave them 4 stars because there are some things they could improve to make them truly exceptional.
Customer
★★★★★
Fantastic AI Earbuds with a Huge Variety of Awesome Features
This item arrived neatly enclosed in a giftable product box that includes the earbuds, a charging case, and a user manual. Upon opening this product, I was pleased to find that this looks in person exactly as it does in the product images, and my immediate thought was, ooh, these are some fancy earbuds!
These earbuds are the bone conduction style, so they sit on the outside of your ears. I like this type for running outside, but they would also be very handy to use during a meeting when translation is required but you still need to hear everything that’s going on around you. I also like this style because they don’t irritate your inner ears at all, so it’s easy to forget you even have them on. This particular iFLYTEK version of earbuds comes in a very nice graphite-colored charging case, where the USB-C port is located on the back and an indicator light is located on the front.
The app to use these earbuds is called “Bavvo” and it is available in your phone’s app store. Once you download the app, you connect the earbuds via Bluetooth. Don’t be like me and try to do this before you peel off the stickers on each earpiece because it seems they won’t connect if those protective stickers have not been removed. After that, using the app is just a matter of experimenting with the many, many different features. The immersive translation function is a paid feature (after a 30-day free trial), but most of the other features are free.
Experimenting with these earbuds is so much fun, and I have yet to try all of the many different functions. As it relates to translation, you can connect to calls and to online meetings, you can give one person one earbud, keep the other, and have a conversation with each side translated for the other, and you can use the simultaneous interpretation feature, which allows you to, for example, say “Hello” and for the earbud to say “Bonjour”. Each of the translation functions also shows the translation in a transcript on your phone's screen, in case it is easier to read the different languages or reference an earlier part of the conversation. Also, amusingly, depending upon which of the 60 languages you are using, the translation of 23 of them includes an accent.
I didn’t initially realize that these were not just translation earbuds, but that the AI feature lets you have all kinds of fun conversations about almost anything with the AI agent, Fayla. For example, today I had it tell me the top news stories, and after that got depressing, I decided to learn some French. Initially, Fayla started speaking to me in French; however, I found out how adaptable the AI is when I very clumsily asked it to teach me French, while speaking English. The program immediately understood what I meant, and I have yet to phrase a question in a way that the AI hasn’t been able to figure out. Also, these work as regular old earbuds too, so if you happen to feel like watching a video or playing some music, these are entirely effective for very boring purposes as well.
After having a ridiculously good time playing with the huge amount of features on these earbuds, I can confidently say that they are definitely an investment worth their price. If you routinely speak with people using any of the 60 different languages available on this device, this would be an excellent purchase. If, though, you are like me and you just like learning fun new things, this will give you hours of enjoyment and allow you to gain an enormous amount of new knowledge in a diverse array of topics. Either way, these are awesome, and I am ridiculously excited to be able to continue to use them in the future.
Natalie Bauta
★★★★★
Great features and reliable translation
These have been really impressive overall. The features are well thought out and everything works smoothly once set up.
Sound quality is clear, and the translation works well — at least for Spanish, it’s accurate enough to be useful in real conversations. That’s where these really stand out.
The only downside is the earbuds are a bit heavy, which can be noticeable over longer use.
Overall, a strong option if translation is the main goal, with solid performance across the board.
S
Scoliosaurus
★★★★★
Great Translation Decent Audio
Decent AI Translation ear buds. It needs an app before you can start any of its AI translation features. However, it’s relatively quick and easy to set up. The face to face translation works very well. It’s quick and delivers translation at advertised “real-time” speed. It also supports many more languages than even Apples AirPods live translation features. There is also a handy smart voice assistant that you can wake with your voice, kind of like a Siri for these buds. These earbuds are well constructed. The case is a large rectangular rounded shape. It feels extremely premium all around with a sleek metal design. The battery is pretty decent, lasting 12H of music and 6H of translation. It has an open ear design which I’m not too fond of. I find that it doesn’t sit cleanly on my ear. It feels loose but doesn’t budge when I shake my head. But it still feels very weird on me. The sound, which is “comparable to AirPods”, has truth to it. It has better sound that most other branded earbuds and it goes the distance. However, it isn’t quite there yet with AirPod sound and would recommend you still use AirPods for music and listening purposes. Overall, I rate these earbuds 4 stars. These handle translation VERY well with a multitude of different languages. The open design is desired by some but still subjective. And the sound quality is good, close to AirPods, but not quite there. I recommend it.
KingTy
★★★★★
!!! UPDATE - Superb AI Translation w/Features in Real-Time Conversations !!!
The iflytek AI Translation Earbuds, I had extremely high hopes for. The technology related to AI to translate in Real-Time, various languages. Build quality, packaging and presentation are all exceptional. Bluetooth pairing was instant without delay but that's where it all come to a STOP! What drives the heart of these earbuds are the companion app which allows you to configure the translation. However, when I went to the Android play store to download, I was met with a, "Your device isn't compatible with this App"!?!?!!? I tried this on 2 of the latest and greatest Android devices running the latest Android version but it was a HUGE NO-GO. I reached out to the iFLYTEK store via AMZ to inform them. It's been several days and NO response. PFA, STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE AN ANDROID DEVICE!!! I can't speak for iOS but doesn't work for Android whatsoever. Horrible Failure of a product.
!!!!! UPDATE...........after contacting iflytek support. The app issue has been remedied. They were very quick to respond and kept me up-to-date on the progress of the issue I was facing with the app in the Google Playstore. Now I can gladly report that the iflytek AI Translation Earbuds are absolutely incredible. The AI translation is very quick in Real-Time to transcribe a multitude of languages. The Bavvo app is feature packed with various formats of translation. There are options of Simultaneous Interpretation and my favorite, the Immersive translation. This fix from the iflytek team has come in handy, since I will be taking a trip abroad and will solely utilize the iflytek AI earbuds. I am very happy to increase my 1-star review, to a full 5 stars and I applaud the iflytek team for their fast turnaround time in providing resolution !!!!!
