Libratone has just announced its latest products: the Track Air and Air+, two new true wireless earbuds to hit our shores

Libratone is renowned for its stylish take on products, and there’s no mistaking the company’s imprint on its latest offerings: two pairs of new true wireless earbuds, the Track Air and Track Air+. These mark the company’s first attempt at cracking the true wireless headphones market, which has been inundated with products for the last two years. That said, both complement the company’s neckband wireless earbuds, the Track and Track+.

At the launch event in Berlin, the Danish manufacturer also announced a wireless charging pad, the Coil, which aims to simplify the charging process of said buds.

Libratone Track Air: What you need to know

The two new true wireless products are aimed at consumers that live an active lifestyle. The Track Air is the least expensive option out of the two, dropping support for Libratone’s active noise-cancelling technology as well as Qualcomm’s aptX codec; both key features for the pricier Track Air+.

Both earbuds are IPX4-certified and come with a charging cradle that can itself be charged wirelessly using the Coil. Once charged, this provides three full charges to the earbuds. The Track Air has a quoted battery life of six hours on a single charge, while the Track Air+ will run for eight hours. Along with the case, this tots up to a total of 32 hours and 24 hours of playback, respectively.

Libratone Track Air: UK price and release date

The Track Air are priced at £139 and will be available in August. The Track Air+ is set to come out on 15 July at £179. The Coil will also be available in July for £34. Libratone will be running a special bundle on the day of the release of the Air+, where the latter will be available on Amazon with a free Coil wireless charger.

Competition is fierce. You’ll find the incredible-sounding Creative Outlier Air for £75 and the IPX7-certified, waterproof E’NOD Mini Ring Pros for £70. It’s also worth considering the stylish RHA TrueConnect at £150 and Mobvoi TicPods Free at £120, and the audiophile-grade the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless for £229. If wireless charging is of paramount importance, there’s the Samsung Galaxy Buds at £139 and of course, the Apple AirPods (2019) at £199.

Libratone Track Air: Design and features

Both the Track Air and Air+ have a near-identical design and can only be differentiated through the finish on the earbuds’ housing. The Track Air+ has a shiny Libratone bird, while the regular Track Air has an all-matte finish, instead. As for colour options, while the Track Air is available in black, white and pink, the Track Air+ is available in the former two colours, only.

The Track Air are ultra light in-ears that weigh just 5.5g, where the Track Air+ are a smidge heavier at 5.6g. With my short time with them, I found both sets to be extremely comfortable; they don’t stick out like the JBL Under Armour Flash True Wireless and remind me of the now discontinued Audeo Phonak PFE 232, which were highly sought after among audiophiles for their sound and lightweight design characteristics. The Libratone in-ears are also IPX4-certified, which means they’re sweat and water resistant.

The earbuds’ case is itself ultra-portable, weighing just 36g without the earbuds and featuring a small cocoon-shaped design that’ll easily fit in one’s pocket. The case has two methods of charging too, either through a USB Type-C connection with fast-charging or wirelessly via any Qi-certified charging pad, including Libratone’s new Coil. Of course, wireless charging will take slightly longer, as its limited by the 5W output.

To operate the earbuds, Libratone includes an intuitive app and integrates touch-based controls on either side, though I found the touch controls finicky, with taps or double taps not responding as fluidly as I’d have liked. The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless still lead the pack here. On the plus side, you can customise the double tap function through the Libratone app, which is available on Android and iOS. You can customise media controls, such as previous/next, and, on the Track Air+ , set it to toggle through the ANC modes.

It’s a rarity to see ANC included on any true wireless earbuds, especially at this price point; What’s more, Libratone has integrated ‘smart noise cancelling’, where the earbuds automatically adapt to your surroundings. Of course, if you’d prefer to set it yourself, the Track Air+ can be set to cancel up to 30dB of noise. I found the ANC to be effective at Libratone’s launch event, where the earbuds managed to successfully screen out both background noise and music.

The earbuds are also smart enough to detect when they’re in or out of your ears, so they’ll automatically play or pause media, accordingly. The feature, which Libratone coins as ‘Wear Detect,’ works without fault, though, you’ll need to have both buds either in or out to trigger it.

Moving onto connectivity, it’s here the earbuds really differ. The Track Air uses Qualcomm’s QCC3026 chipset, which operates with the SBC and AAC codecs. The Track Air+, however, utilise Qualcomm’s brand new chipset, the QCC5121, which on paper, has a more stable connection between buds and source device along with support for the higher-fidelity aptX codec.

Libratone Track Air: Sound quality

Both the Track Air and Air+ house a single 5.3mm dynamic driver and are sonically identical. My initial impressions are positive; these have the same sound characteristics as the neckband-based Libratone Track+.

The earbuds have an emphasis on the mids, which brings vocals to the foreground. The bass tones in YG’s ‘Go Loko’ sound tight and controlled; the highs provided plenty of energy at the top-end without turning overly bright. My only concern is the somewhat closed soundstage, especially when compared to the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless and Creative Outlier Air. The Libratone Track Air and Air+ just don’t have that airy, open sound, at least, not on first impressions.

Libratone Track Air: Early Verdict

All the same, Libratone’s first crack at true wireless earbuds is extremely impressive. In fact, my early analysis leads me to think that these will become the go-to wireless earbuds to beat, especially with active noise-cancelling technology – a feature most competitors can’t shout about. ANC aside, both the Track Air and Air+ are feature packed and seem almost ideally positioned for commuters. And with both coming in at such an alluring price, Libratone might just be onto two winners.

Source: expertreviews.co.uk