Inventive Outlier Air V2 Overview

Once we reviewed Inventive’s unique Outlier Air earbuds, we gave them respectable marks, with our primary lawsuits being a severely sculpted, bass-boosted sound signature and poorly applied on-ear controls. The brand new Outlier Air V2 true wi-fi earphones in particular cope with the controls, and come with new drivers for a brand new sound signature, taken with $10 lower than the unique style, at $69.99. Sonically, the earphones ship a bass-forward, crisp sound signature, for a undeniable development within the audio division. In addition they be offering beautiful just right battery lifestyles. However the on-ear controls nonetheless really feel rather less than sleek, and there are in the end extra compelling choices to be had at equivalent costs.

Outlier Air V2 Design and Controls

To be had in a nighttime blue design, the Outlier Air V2 earpieces are slightly chunky when compared with many fashions we take a look at, however this does appear to assist in a extra protected have compatibility. The earphones send with 5 pairs of silicone eartips in quite a lot of sizes, however there aren’t any fins for additonal enhance.

An IPX5 water-resistance ranking is relatively higher than you get with many fashions, but it surely must nonetheless be considered as somewhat modest. The earphones can resist light-to-moderate spray, and the charging case should not get rainy, ever. You don’t need to submerge the earphones in water or position them underneath a working tap, however they must be high-quality for the fitness center or to put on in mild rain.

The charging case has a slide-out tray and is at the cumbersome facet, which most likely aids within the Outlier Air V2’s forged battery lifestyles. A USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable ships with the earphones and connects to an aspect panel at the tray, the place there also are battery standing LEDs.

The outer panels of the earpieces are delicate to the touch, and each keep an eye on calls for a couple of faucets. The panels don’t all the time check in each faucet, then again, so it’s simple to misfire. Two faucets at the left or proper ear performs, pauses, or solutions or ends a telephone name. 3 faucets at the left ear skips backward a observe, whilst at the proper it skips ahead. Touching and protecting the left ear lowers quantity, whilst the suitable ear raises it. Most often talking, the controls are specified by a rather good means, however it may be tense when the controls don’t reply. In the end, you be told simply the suitable power, finger placement, and spacing between faucets, but it surely’s no longer all the time a certain factor. 

The Inventive Tremendous X-Fi app for Android and iOS asks on your electronic mail and so that you can arrange an account, prior to going one step additional and asking you to take footage of your ears and face to create your profile, which is atypical. So is Inventive promise that the app’s generation will seize the enjoy of a “high-end multi-speaker gadget in a qualified studio.” There may be an EQ segment hidden within the app, but it surely does not do a lot to switch the enjoy, so that is an example the place skipping the app totally is OK—it’s no longer crucial to the operation of those earphones, and it feels somewhat like bloatware, or an app extra fitted to a special product.

Internally, the earpieces area 5.6mm graphene drivers turning in a frequency vary of 20Hz to 20kHz. The earphones fit with Bluetooth 5.0 and enhance AAC, AptX, and SBC Bluetooth formats.

Inventive estimates the Outlier Air V2’s battery lifestyles to be kind of 12 hours, which is very good for true wi-fi in-ears. The charging case holds about 22 hours by itself, however your effects will range along with your quantity ranges.

Outlier Air V2 Efficiency

On tracks with intense sub-bass content material, just like the Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earphones ship some palpable thump that can attraction to bass fans. At peak, unwise listening ranges, the bass doesn’t distort, and at extra reasonable quantity ranges, the lows nonetheless sound complete and heavy.

Invoice Callahan’s “Drover,” a observe with some distance much less deep bass within the combine, offers us a greater sense of the Outlier Air V2’s basic sound signature. The drums in this observe sound heavy, however no longer overly thunderous, and the tape hiss takes a step ahead within the combine—so we all know there’s quite a lot of boosting and sculpting going down within the lows and highs. Callahan’s baritone vocals get quite a lot of low-mid richness, however can use a smidge extra high-mid crispness—there is a brilliant top-end right here, however the high-mids and highs are uniformly boosted. Regardless, issues by no means sound muddy. Total, it’s a decently balanced, bass-forward sound signature that’s sculpted however doesn’t veer too some distance into overly boosted territory.

See How We Take a look at Headphones

On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church within the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives sufficient high-mid presence for its assault to retain its punchiness, whilst the vinyl hiss and crackle that’s typically relegated to background standing strikes ahead significantly within the combine. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with forged low-frequency intensity—they don’t crush the combination, however they do sound boosted. The vocals in this observe are delivered with forged readability and the slightest trace of added sibilance.

Orchestral tracks, like the hole scene from John Adams’ The Gospel In keeping with the Different Mary, be offering a forged stability between lows and highs—the lower-register instrumentation steps ahead within the combine a bit of, however to not an unnatural level. It’s the brighter high-register instrumentation that takes heart degree within the combine. 

The mic provides sturdy intelligibility. The use of the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, shall we perceive each phrase we recorded obviously, with handiest minimum Bluetooth distortion within the combine. Caller should not have any problems figuring out you on a transparent connection.

Just right for the Value

There’s no wow issue right here, nor will we actually be expecting one for $70. Inventive’s Outlier Air V2 are completely serviceable true wi-fi earphones. The app asks for an excessive amount of non-public information, and on-ear controls are nonetheless relatively tense every now and then, however the audio efficiency is forged, and the in-ear have compatibility is slightly protected. That mentioned, there are some extra compelling choices within the budget-friendly realm. Take the $35 Tribit FlyBuds 3, as an example, that have even higher battery lifestyles, a better water-resistance ranking, and in a similar fashion just right audio efficiency. Or for $80, the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air earphones ship a extra delicate audio and person enjoy throughout.