We review the Tronsmart Encore S4!
A few weeks ago we received Tronsmart’s Encore S4 active noise-cancelling headphones to try out. Tronsmart is an accessory maker that sells their products through Cosmic technologies, the same company that owns Cherry Mobile. They’ve released several affordable and high-quality chargers and power cables before, but it’s the first time that we’ve used an audio product from the company. The Encore S4 is still a budget offering much like Tronsmart’s other products, but it’s a high-quality pair of active noise cancelling headphones that you’ll be able to buy soon for cheap.
Easily worn but the design is a little worrying
The overall design of the Encore S4 is similar to the other Bluetooth headphones made by other companies like LG for example. The over the neck design makes it easy and comfortable to use, and gives the headphones quite a big chassis to contain all the electronics that make it work.
Unlike those designs though that use retractable systems to keep the headphone cables nice and safe when its not in use, the Tronsmart S4 does not retract the headphones when it’s not being used. That, combined with skinnier than usual wiring means that there’s a good chance you’ll ruin the whole thing if you don’t be careful when handling it.
Aside from that, the build quality is rather good. The oversized buttons for power and volume are on the left side. The manual switch to turn the active noise cancellation system is on the same side, right on the bottom. There’s a small flap where you charge the battery of the Encore via the a regular micro USB port.
Easy to use and setup, and sound quality is pretty good for what is
The Encore S4 is pretty simple to setup to use. Just press the middle button until you hear the voice prompt, then pair your device as normal.
Like we mentioned earlier, the Encore S4 has active noise cancellation technology that you manually turn on via the switch on the bottom. The ANC is pretty good for what the device costs, capable of drowning out ambient noise so you’re left with pure audio from your tunes. It’s pretty effective in practice, as it managed to drown out engine noise while we were flying from Manila to HK a few days ago.
How’s it sound then? Pretty good actually. All the basics are there – the low end is nice and rich, you can discern the mids and highs, though it takes a little bit of a beating at the higher end of the spectrum. The Encore S4 uses 4.1 CSR chipset which promises to deliver CD-quality wireless sound as long as you have a device that has aptX.
Tronsmart promises around 20 hours of continuous run time, and they pretty much deliver on that number. We’ve been using the Tronsmart S4 for around 3 days continuously for music and general listening around the house before we had to charge it. The long legs of the headphones allow you to forget to charge it for a day or two without completely dying on you when you need it.
Verdict: It’s a great buy, but final pricing is still up in the air
The Tronsmart Encore S4 is one of those products that you didn’t think you needed until you actually try it for yourself. It’s a decent set of active noisce cancelling cans that last a while on a single charge. Tronsmart will be offering this in the Philippines, though pricing is still up in the air so we can’t tell you exactly how much this will be when it hits the market. In the US though it has an MSRP of around $50 or Php 2,500, and if the folks at Tronsmart Philippines follow global pricing, the Encore S4 is guaranteed to fly off the shelves.
