Twelve South - AirFly Transmitter for Wireless Headphones

This product works as advertised. Was easy to pair to my air buds. Would recommend this product to anyone if you’re in the market for something like this.

The twelve south AirFly is an extremely simple but effective single-function device that I highly recommend frequently travelers or gym rats to consider. This device’s single purpose is to convert audio from a 3.5 mm headphone jack to Bluetooth headphones or speakers. The typical uses for this are in the gym – while you are using the treadmill or other cardio machines TVs - and Airplane entertainment systems. The device is extremely simple but also very effective. The device is rated for up to 8 hours of battery life but can be charged while in use which would be effective on longer flights. Knowing that battery life ratings typically are inflated I would expect this device to last 4 – 5 hours. The sound is good, but a little on the tinny side and there is a slight delay due to the analog to digital conversion and transmission time but not so long that it makes watching tv difficult. The AirFly supports Bluetooth 4.1 One can see the entire content of the box in the picture accompanying this review. The carrying case is a nice touch and will help keep the device together in your bag. Technical specs are as follows: Height: 1.8 inches (46 mm) Width: 1.3 inches (33 mm) Depth: .39 inches (10 mm) Weight: .55 ounces (15.6 g) Bluetooth Version: 4.1 Maximum Audio Range: 10 meters / 33 feet Audio Codecs/Formats Supported: aptX Low Latency, aptX, SBC Pros: does the job it was intended to do. Cons: the $39.99 retail price seems a little high, would be better at $29.99 or a steal at $24.99.

I have amassed a few Bluetooth ear buds, headphones and speakers over the past few years, however I still have some media devices that do not have wireless capability such as a couple iPods, a two-channel stereo system and flat screen televisions. The AirFly is designed to give these source devices the ability to communicate wirelessly for a very reasonable price. It is also designed to provide this same functionality in airplanes (I seldom fly so I can’t really comment on its performance in that environment). The AirFly device measures about 1.25” by 1.75” by 3/8”. It has one button and two jacks on its exterior. One jack is a micro-USB for charging it and the other is a 3.5mm mini-phone jack to connect it to the media device. It comes with a small cloth carrying bag and two cables, one to charge it from a USB port and the other is a short mini-phone plug to mini-phone plug cable to transfer audio information. The single button is surrounded by a status LED that communicates in two colors, white and amber. A small instruction booklet is also included which does a good job of outlining how to use the AirFly. Everything will fit into the carrying bag (including the instructions) for travel convenience. I found pairing the device easier to do than with some other Bluetooth devices I have used in the past. Sound quality was not affected by the AirFly. If the source file was high quality, the sound passed to the ear buds / speaker sounded excellent which was my experience when using it with the old iPods. Range was excellent as I could move throughout my house and the signal would very rarely drop, unlike another similar device I own that would drop the signal once I moved about 12 feet away from it. Using the AirFly with a TV was a little different experience. While the audio quality was excellent, the audio lagged behind the video producing a lip sync issue. While noticeable, I could live with the effect if I was captive in an environment needing entertainment like on a plane flight. The AirFly is a Bluetooth transmitter only, meaning it connects to the source device to send a signal to a wireless headphone or speaker. It cannot be used to turn a wired headphone into a wireless one so it can be used with a Bluetooth source such as a smartphone - it is not a Bluetooth receiver. The AirFly works as advertised and in my opinion is a great value for the price-point. It is well thought out, easy to use and seems well made.

Yes, I am sure that you have been thinking in get rid of the old cable headphones and definitively replace them by your new Bluetooth headphones with the advantages of not being limited by the wire, there is however, a couple of places where those old cable headphones can still save your life: in an airplane, in the gym with treadmill or stationary bike or in your old audiovisuals where a jack is your only source of sound. Airfly headphone accessory is the technical solution to your concerns and basically makes every single device with a conventional sound jack to convert into a Bluetooth device. Just connect to the jack, pair with your Bluetooth headphones and you are ready for listening to your music. Pairing es quite easy and the two headphones that I used connected very fast. Now I see the new world of options, a flight where you don’t need to stop your movie because your neighbor is going to the bathroom and you need to clear your wire from his way. One single pair of headphones when travel that serves also for the gym no matter how old the equipment is. Finally, my favorite, watching the TV in the room from the bed while you are listening the playoffs, just because the sound goes directly from the TV (see picture) to the headphones with no wires. I can not confirm how long the battery could keep without charge, my use has been sporadic, and I normally charge the device (you do it through USB) each use but the specs are talking about 8 hours It’s probably a small detail but I think that the modern and compact design and the small and attractive transport bag are also a enjoyable detail and attention to details from manufacturer.

Pros: * Compact size and light weight. * Easy to use. * Long battery life. Cons: * Sound quality is average and volume is very low. * Single-button control is a bit tricky. This product fills a particular need where you have Bluetooth headphones but want to listen to something that only has a wired headphone jack. Some examples are a Nintendo Switch console, an airplane’s in-flight entertainment system or the audio on a cardio machine at a gym. Unless your Bluetooth headphones have a wired input jack (most don’t), you’re out of luck. That’s where the AirFly comes in. You pair your BT headphones to it and plug it into the headphone jack of the thing you want to listen to. The AirFly has a built-in battery and converts the analog audio from the headphone jack to Bluetooth for your wireless headphones or speaker. It has a single button to turn it on or off and put it in pairing mode to pair with your headphones and a multi-color LED to indicate status. While it’s a tad tricky to use the single button for all that; it generally works well enough. My only real complaint is that the volume of the transmitted audio is quite low. I paired my new AirPods to the AirFly and first tried it with my Nintendo Switch. The Switch’s volume was at max but the sound in my AirPods was just normal (mid-sounding). I next tried it on my Mac which has both a headphone jack and Bluetooth. I plugged the AirFly into my Mac’s headphone jack and started some music. The sound in my AirPods was barely audible until I maxed out the Mac’s volume. With the AirFly still connected to the Mac’s headphone jack, I told the Mac to connect to the same AirPods via Bluetooth. The sound level instantly jumped by a LOT. I’m sure that on a plane, the sound level would not be enough to overcome the engine noise and thus render the AirFly useless. While this could be a limitation of transforming analog audio to Bluetooth audio, it still means that the AirFly doesn’t work well in a lot of situations where you might need to use it. In short- the AirFly works as advertised, but is only suitable when listening in a quiet environment.

I love my wireless headphones, especially my airpods, but sometimes I wish I could use it with all my devices. Now I finally can with this 3.5mm adaptor. Pros: • Very tiny • Great construction • No audio lag Cons: • Status lights can be a little confusing My wireless ear buds works great with my phone and this device allows me to use the same Bluetooth ear buds with any device that has a 3.5mm audio jack. Now I can use my apple airpods with my Nintendo Switch! I have a flight coming up and I can’t wait to use this Twelve South adapter for the headrest screen too. No sound quality issues and no noticeable lag watching videos or playing games. The Airfly comes with a carry pouch and 2 cables to charge and hook up to a 3.5mm jack. Im impressed with the build quality. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a Bluetooth to 3.5mm adapter.

I'll start off by mentioning this is a very specific device for a very specific purpose. You must own a pair of Apple AirPods and you must use this with a receiver device that supports 35mm male plug you wish to use your AirPods with. If you own AirPods and wish you could use them on an audio receiver, Aux port in your car, Aux port on an airplane, etc... this if the device for you. There is nothing to the setup. Simply plug the AirFly into the device, press the sync button (twelve south logo) to pair your AirPods to them, and that's pretty much it. This product comes with a nice carrying case, USB (convenient to power the AirFly to something like a TV with aux port not powerful enough to power, though my TV powered it just fine. Overall, I don't have a whole lot of use cases for this device personally, I tend to use my AirPods with iPhone, iPad, etc... so I don't see much need for this day to day. Where this does shine however, is on a plane! If you want to enjoy in-flight TV or movie, and you don't want to use the crappy headphones the airline provides, or, you don't have wired headphones available, just plug this guy into the headphone port and you can use you much nicer, and wireless AirPods. Even hand the second to a friend so both can watch.

I am so grateful Twelve South created the the AirFly Transmitter. My last few flights have been disappointing because I forgot all of my headphones are wireless now. The AirFly is super easy to pair and just works. Sound quality will vary with the source, but that’s the case with any headphones.