Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro review: Discomfort is the downfall of these earbuds

A new pair of earbuds hits the market on the daily, making it very hard to distinguish the good from the bad. Of course, price segments help us break down the convoluted space into digestible and easily comparable bits, but the sheer number of products out there still makes it a daunting task to settle on a single model.

Thankfully, many affordable brands make excellent buds at compelling prices. That being said, trade-offs have to be made whether you're gunning for flagship TWS earbuds or cheerfully cheap wireless buds that appeal to more frugal audiences.

Tronsmart offers an array of audio tech for both price tiers, and I have reviewed many of their gadgets before. The Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro earbuds don't look like anything I have seen from the brand before. Perhaps someone was paying attention when I complained about the Apollo Air+'s boring design. While these buds resemble Apple's Airpods, the case has a distinctive design language. Let's see how the bold Tronsmart earbuds held up during my testing.

Price and availability

Tronsmart launched the upgraded Onyx Ace Pro as a follow-up to the Onyx Ace earbuds in May 2022. The buds come in either white or black color variants. You can purchase a pair of the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro wireless earbuds for $30 from Geekbuying or Ali Express.

Tronsmart has plans for an Amazon launch in the future, but we don't have an exact release date just yet.

What's likeable

The Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro earbuds sport the stick-shaped design popularized by Apple's Airpods. The buds themselves don't have any silicone tips like 90% of the Bluetooth earbuds out there. As for the charging case itself, it also differentiates itself from the masses.

Tronsmart opted for a very unusual look with the appearance of the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro's case. It has a silver patch running through the middle in the white variant and a golden patch in the black model. Four white LEDs are housed within this little metallic element, making it look like the case is wearing a suit or a tuxedo.

The four LED lights indicate the battery percentage of each earbud. Meanwhile, the USB-C port and physical button to check the battery level are located at the base of the case. As with any Tronsmart accessory, the setup process is smooth, and the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro wireless earbuds offer a seamless connection.

The Onyx Ace Pro earbuds aren't here to blow anyone away; they get the job done. I was very pleased with the playback time, as the buds live up to their official 27-hour battery life at medium volume levels. Even when you push them, you still get around 23 to 24 hours which is fantastic. You also get IPX5 splash resistance and voice assistant integration.

Tronsmart supports the Qualcomm AptX Adaptive in addition to AAC and SBC audio codecs, enabling a low-latency gaming mode. The connection is very stable thanks to Bluetooth 5.2 and a 10m range. You can use the Onyx Ace Pro buds in mono mode if needed, which is as simple as popping a single bud back in the case. Alternatively, you can also manually turn off an individual bud by touching and holding the head for two seconds.

The Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro's 13mm drivers produce decent sound quality with just the right amount of treble and bass. The high notes are superb, well-pronounced, and crystal clear. You may not be very happy if you favor booming bass, but the vast majority will be pleased with the mids and lows. The call quality, in particular, is really good, making them ideal for taking a lot of phone calls or teleconferencing.

What's unlikeable

Although I admire the unique getup of the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro's case, the earbuds themselves aren't winning any awards for their design. On the contrary, they are supremely uncomfortable, and your ears actually start to hurt after wearing them for a while. Since I run the risk of being biased, I should mention that I have really tiny earholes.

To gauge the comfort and ergonomics of the Tronsmart true wireless earbuds, I had two of my family members trial them for a week each. Neither of them had a better wear experience. Considering how this poor design decision played out, Tronsmart should've opted for silicone ear tips at the very least. I believe it would have significantly improved the ergonomics of these buds.

Although the painful nature of the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro Bluetooth buds overshadows almost everything else, there's another shortcoming to consider. These sub-$50 wireless headphones do not feature app support, and Tronsmart has a great companion app, so I see this as a missed opportunity on the company's part.

Competition

This marketplace is overflowing with vendors offering every manner of Bluetooth headphones imaginable. Where do I even begin? There is no shortage of spectacular Bluetooth earbuds in any price segment, and one can even say that the budget tier is far more competitive than the flagship sector.

With $30 to $40 in your pocket, you can get a lot of great earbuds. The UGREEN HiTune T3 true wireless earbuds cost about five bucks more than the Onyx Ace Pro, but the difference in what you get is a game changer. UGREEN's earbuds deliver unbeatable ANC and a comfortable fit in a budget-friendly package.

Aker's Soundcore Life P2 Bluetooth earbuds bring a whopping 32-hour battery life to the table for the same price as the UGREEN HiTune T3. Alternatively, you can also purchase the TOZO NC2 wireless buds that sport hybrid noise cancellation and robust IPX6 waterproofing for a little over $40.

Should you buy it?

You should buy this if...

• You want earbuds without tips
• You're looking for something unique
• You need Qualcomm AptX sound on a budget
• You make a lot of calls with earbuds

You shouldn't buy this if...

• Comfort is very high up in your list of priorities
• You want a companion app

The Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro wireless earbuds are suitable for office use or school but not so much for everything else. If you have large ear openings, perhaps your wear experience won't be as terrible as mine. However, I can't vouch for these buds myself, as I faced a lot of discomforts while testing them.

On the upside, the Onyx Ace Pro buds are lightweight, easy to carry, and they sound great. IPX5 is a reasonably durable splash-proof rating, and the connection is smooth and reliable. The Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro earbuds boast a different look that really makes a statement. Not much is missing here, but the painfully awkward shape is the Achilles' heel of these TWS buds.