AIAIAI TMA-2 DJ Wireless Headphones Review

Video Review

First Impressions / Setting up

AIAIAI’s new TMA-2 DJ Wireless headphones join the company’s existing wired and entry-level DJ headphones to offer a third option for DJs, in much the same way as their TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones joined the existing studio and entry-level studio headphones in that range during their own launch.

AIAIAI’s philosophy is about selling modular headphones where you can mix and match ear cups, pads, headbands, and so on to make your perfect headphones (or to upgrade the ones you already have). At heart, all new models are simply combinations of parts that are available separately. In this case, the combination of the brand new S11 speaker units and highly isolating memory foam pads gives these headphones a very different feel to the studio version and makes them far more suitable for DJing.

Traditional wireless headphones aren’t suitable for DJing, and these headphones aim to fix that problem. By wireless, of course, we mean Bluetooth, that ubiquitous technology that powers pretty much all of our wireless devices. The problem with Bluetooth is that the latency or delay can be up to a quarter of a second, and the audio quality isn’t guaranteed, whereas AIAIAI’s Wireless Plus (W+ for short) technology (as implemented here) gives you 9ms latency, which is indistinguishable from zero to the human ear, along with 48kHz 24-bit audio.

Again, another notable difference from the studio headphones is that in this case, the audio is compressed to 320 kbps, which is how AIAIAI gets the latency below the magic 10ms where it becomes unnoticeable. With 20 hours of battery life and up to a 20m range, if you’re a DJ who enjoys not having a cable between your headphones and your DJ gear, on the face of it, these do look like a good option. In this review, we’ll take a closer look to find out.

First impressions

These are classic AIAIAI headphones to look at. You’ll either love or be completely unimpressed with the styling: matte black, with no logos except subtly hidden inside the ear cups. It’s a modernist, minimal design that I personally love.

The left-hand speaker unit has a socket with a locking groove on it for the supplied straight cable. Should you choose to use these with a cable, either out of preference in certain circumstances or should your battery be flat, this is where it plugs in.

The right-hand unit has a USB-C socket in that bottom position instead, with a small joystick at the back of the earcup that can be pushed in or pushed up, down, left, or right to control things like volume, pairing, switching from Bluetooth to W+ and back, and so on. There is a small LED beneath the joystick that flashes or changes colour to show you things like pairing mode, battery life, and so on. A small microphone is just above it for taking calls and such in Bluetooth mode.

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The review sample that we were sent comes with a really nice round case with room for the headphones, the small transmitter that you plug into your gear, and all the leads: a very short USB-C lead for charging and connecting the transmitter to a digital music source, an equally short minijack-to-minijack lead with a 1/4″ headphone adapter for plugging analogue into the transmitter, and the aforementioned headphone cable, again with a minijack to 1/4″ adapter should you need it.

The two short transmitter leads are in a fluorescent yellow colour, which adds a nice splash of excitement to the package. However, the case I mentioned is sold separately, and I presume when you buy these headphones as a completed set from the AIAIAI website, you will receive the standard soft bag.

Setting up

Again, unlike the review pair we were sent, which were fully assembled, you’ll have to assemble it yourself. Thankfully it’s quite easy. The parts are provided separately, and you just push them together. The only mistake you could possibly make is pushing one of the earcups on upside down, and the trick is with that particular earcup (the left one) to push it onto the headband so that the locking minijack socket is facing downwards.

(I suspect that they have been provided assembled because of time-poor reviewers like me who just throw them together, get it wrong, and then make whole videos without even noticing! So smart thinking there, AIAIAI!)

Worth pointing out at this stage that these aren’t only W+ wireless headphones: The new S11 speaker units have Bluetooth and wired options too. You’re going to want to start by engaging Bluetooth so that you can install the AIAIAI app (there’s a new one just for these and the newer Unit 4 speakers). The app lets you adjust the EQ by quickly pairing with the app and then throwing a song across Bluetooth from your phone onto them.

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You can choose from five EQ settings: Flat, Bass, Focused, Listening and Custom, the latter letting you take over the five-band EQ. I actually found the Listening setting to be the best all-round one (DJing included), because it emphasised the high-end slightly, which made mixing by matching hi-hats easier and didn’t overblow the bass like the Bass setting did for me. But you’ll have your own preference.

Once that’s done, and you’ve checked the transmitter and headphones are fully charged (I have heard you can actually plug the transmitter into the headphones to charge the headphones that way, although we didn’t test this and it’s not mentioned in the manual), you hold down the On button on both units’ to W+ pair them, and you’re good to go. All that’s left is to plug the transmitter into your DJ unit’s Headphones Out (or indeed into a digital source with the USB-C cable) and start DJing.

In Use

There’s very little to say here, which is exactly how it should be. Ultimately, once you’ve done all the above, you have a pair of headphones on, and headphones do what headphones do: provide you with reliable audio so you can get on with DJing!

In this instance, I can report that the sound quality is fantastic – loud and punchy with enough variation in the EQ for you to find a setting that works for you.

As DJ headphones should, they clamp quite tightly onto your ears, and memory foam under those conditions is extremely isolating: You can test this with any headphones by playing music loud through them and just putting your hands over the earcups; the music should practically disappear.

I do love a headphone that isolates well – not only can I cue up and beatmix the next track, but I can also give it a good listen to see if I want to play it. For me, it’s part of the creative process, and I am glad to say these headphones pass the test. For DJing in loud clubs, headphones like this are much easier than leakier, quieter headphones (such as AIAIAI’s own TMA-2 Studio Wireless+).

We should talk about the other ways of using them, though, because I think AIAIAI is expecting people to use these for more than just DJing. The Bluetooth implementation includes a microphone, so you can take calls on them, and the joystick allows you to do the usual (such as changing volume, muting when you’re on a call, skipping tracks, calling your assistant, and so on). It ticks all the right boxes.

Finally, as I mentioned above, the fact that the TMA-2s default to passive standard headphones when you plug the cable in (should you run out of battery) covers all your bases. If you had to own just one pair of headphones, these would do the job.

Conclusion

If you want wireless headphones in the DJ booth, these are very good. They’re much better than the company’s own TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones, which, to be fair, weren’t designed for DJ use. And this model’s combination of even lower latency, more isolating ear pads, and punchier drivers does make them a great choice for DJs.

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You might find the tightness of the headphones a little bit uncomfortable for long-term day-to-day use, but that’s the trade-off for headphones that work well in the DJ booth.

I would’ve preferred a coiled cable, as I think that’s more suitable for the DJ booth, but that’s a personal choice. The one they provided is high-quality, and the fact that it works without power is excellent.

The competition

There are other headphones out there that do this. I’ve just mentioned AIAIAI’s own studio wireless headphones, which would be a better choice if you’re primarily going to use them in your home studio.

If you use AlphaTheta DJ gear, you might choose to take a punt on that company’s HDJ-F10 headphones, which currently work with their flagship XDJ-AZ DJ system without the need for any transmitter and presumably in the future will work with more equipment from this brand in the same way.

Also, there is another wireless audio protocol called SKAA for which headphones are available (Dillinger Helix+), although for DJs this isn’t as good a choice, not least because it’s harder to set up for this use case.

Ultimately, the AIAIAI TMA-2 DJ Wireless headphones are a good design; they fix the issues with the company’s previous wireless headphones when DJs tried to use them, and in a currently slim market, for this type of product, they will win lots of fans. Thus we see no reason why they won’t do very well indeed.