In the box: AIAIAI have a modular  come in clearly labelled pouches containing:

– Speaker units [S11]
– Transmitter [X03]
– Earpads [E02] (PU leather, so vegan friendly)
– Headband [H02]
– Cable [C05]
– 2 (Two!) 3.5mm to 1/4″ adapters (No serious DJ is properly equipped without an excess of these, all of which will inevitably go missing)
– And a nifty little travel pouch for the headphones and all accessories

AIAIAI’s website offers the ability to build a custom set of headphones, with these parts coming to £250 for the complete package. All of the pouches containing parts feature a great to see “This bag is made from 100% recycled plastic.” tag, and have a really satisfying tear to open design. The overall modular nature of AIAIAI products means that rather than replacing a whole set of headphones when the earcups wear, it means you can swap out whatever part you need, whenever you need, saving both money and waste. This even means that owners of the previous TMA-2 wired can easily upgrade to this model themselves simply by buying the new speaker units and transmitter.

Build and design: Building on from their packaging, the actual transmitter and speakers themselves are made from over 80% recycled plastic (and the headphones are recyclable themselves). The materials themselves feel high quality and robust, being very sturdy and durable, while retaining enough flexibility to be comfortable and adjustable. Piecing together the headphones was incredibly simple, just make sure the headband is plugged in properly to the speakers and clip them in suitably for a comfortable experience, pop in the earpads and you’re good to go!

Unlike the TMA-2 Wireless+ model (check out our review here), these units are powered from the speaker units themselves, as opposed to the headband, making them much smaller and more lightweight than their Studio counterpart, therefore better suited for quickly taking on or off. They also come with AIAIAI’s E02 High Isolation on-ear earpads, which offer a surprisingly decent level of noise reduction considering their size, letting you clearly hear your cue send over any outside noise. And even then, if on-ear isn’t your cup of tea, the modular design of AIAIAI headphones allows you to swap them out easily with any set of AIAIAI earpads of your choice. For me, the on-ear design does prove uncomfortable for long production sessions, but in a DJ set where they’re on and off they’re as comfortable and easy to use as any others.

Connectivity: Connecting the headphones is really easy, literally simply turning the headphones on and the transmitter on and that was that, with the two automatically connecting to each other essentially instantly. Switching to Bluetooth is as simple as double tapping the joystick, and then pairing like any other Bluetooth device, and USB-C mode also worked as expected, with the device appearing as a selectable audio output in my system settings.

Similarly to their previous models, plugging in the aux cable doesn’t disable any wireless connection, meaning that the right speaker is still waiting for a wireless signal while the left is getting wired signal, with just the one playing audio. It isn’t until you switch the headphones off that you’ll get your audio back in both on wired connection.

Performance: I did a couple of tests to measure the latency compared to my wired studio headphones, and the difference measured in at around 10ms, which accurately matches AIAIAI’s advertised 9.5ms, and thereabouts below the perceivable latency threshold. It’s the equivalent to being stood just over 3 metres away from a sound source, which is essentially barely noticeable. I even took the headphones for a Fossil Radio Residents b2b, giving multiple DJs and skeptics alike a chance to try the headphones, with everyone who used them thoroughly impressed.

Beatmatching feels as natural and easy as with any pair of wired headphones I’ve used, and the sound quality is really great. Out of habit, they feel so much like any other headphones that you can easily forget that you aren’t tied down by a cable and have the freedom to move around while performing.

I found that the range of the Wireless+ mode works at it’s best within around a 10 metre range of the transmitter (obviously the closer the better, and safer). When you start to teeter on the edge of that range you’ll get a stutter in the audio as you fall out of the lowest latency range, and then again as you get closer and it catches back up. So essentially, as long as you aren’t somehow mixing from 20 metres away from your setup and transmitter, the latency should always be minimal when actually on the decks. I never once had a connection loss unless I was trying to get one.

The transmitter does introduce an audible level of electrical noise, which is particularly obvious as soon as you put the headphones on in a quiet environment. There’s two, one static noise that can be negated with careful levelling (for example, if I turned my headphones down and my audio interface up, the sound became negligible). However, there’s also a very low level high-frequency electrical buzzing too, that seems to be constant no matter the volume, but both of these are essentially invisible as soon as you have anything coming through the headphones, or are in a loud environment (which are both exactly what these headphones are designed for anyway).

With extensive use in both W+ Link and Bluetooth mode, I’ve hardly even been able to drain the battery when trying. 

Sound: There’s a slight bit of compression introduced to the signal with the TMA-2 DJ Wireless to minimise the latency, versus the studio equivalent’s focus on the highest audio quality, which is where the new ~6ms of latency reduction comes from, but W+ Link’s 48kHz 24-bit audio still really shines with these headphones.

I’ve been involving these headphones in both my DJ and production workflows to properly test them out (in wireless mode, at that), and the sound is so high quality and detailed that, despite not being designed for it, I’ve been using them a lot more than I expected in my music production, even managing to finish a couple of songs on them (which is a feat for me). AIAIAI also provide a really easy to use app allowing you to customise the EQ curve of the speaker units sound profile, giving a level of personalisation suited to your taste. I personally felt the headphones were lacking a bit of clarity in the high end compared to what I’m used to, so I added a gentle 1db shelf to the upper-mids and treble, but overall, the S11 speaker units offer a really balanced sound that provide really clean low end, punchy mids and a crisp, bright high end.

Final Thoughts: Thanks to the practicality and freedom these headphones offer, and the incredibly transparent latency, these have become my go to DJ headphones. They’re also really viable in other situations too, be it music production, casual listening or even playing video games. AIAIAI have yet again released a game changer, proving wireless DJing to not only be possible, but easy and fun. Any risks for live performance posed by the limitations of Bluetooth are irrelevant with their fantastic W+ Link connectivity. My few criticisms in this review are so minor and massively outweighed by the positives that I really can’t recommend these enough if you’re in the market for a new set of DJ headphones or want to experience what wireless performance can really be like. This was my first experience with AIAIAI but after this I’m incredibly excited to see (and hear) what they come up with next!