Audio brand Tranya specialises in wireless earphones, and its latest TWS offering comes in the form of the Nova. The Tranya Nova’s design and specs look quite intriguing overall, but given that India’s TWS segment is chock-a-block with options scattered across different price points, the new offering has quite a few rivals to contend with. Let’s get a bird’s eye view of how the Tranya Nova fares.
Table of Contents
Design
Right from the get-go, the Tranya Nova impresses with its design. The glossy case of the Tranya Nova comes in a midnight blue hue — a shade so dark that it almost looks black. The smooth, pebble-shaped case is quite compact, and super easy to slip into a pocket. The shiny case does look quite good, and overall, the Tranya Nova seems well-made, giving off a premium vibe. That said, I’m not sure how long its sheen would last, and it might be a bit prone to scratches as well. Not that I faced any such issue during my review period — though I must confess I treated the device quite carefully. It does pick up smudges quite easily though.
The front of the case has a tiny LED to indicate battery status, while the back bears Tranya branding along with a pairing button. The USB Type-C port is located at the bottom. The pair of buds sits inside, with dedicated cavities for each earbud. The buds themselves are smooth and glossy as well, with short wide stems. The stems sport a small Tranya logo and carry branding as well. Worth mentioning that the buds are IPX5-rated, so sweat or a drizzle shouldn’t really pose any problems.
The buds are quite lightweight, don’t cause any discomfort while wearing for long periods, and fit the ear well. A good fit is important for ANC to work effectively, so Tranya includes differently-sized rubber tips in the box, along with a small Type-C cable for charging.
Features and app
Featuring 12mm drivers, Qualcomm’s QCC3072 chip and aptX support, the Nova boasts Tranya’s proprietary SonicMax tech which promises to enhance clarity and separation. You also get hybrid noise cancellation, multipoint connection, 40ms low latency for gaming, and six mics.
The Tranya Audio app, available on both iOS and Android, can be used to update firmware and customise the settings. You can view battery levels of the buds and the case, toggle game mode, switch between noise cancelling, ambient and normal modes, set equaliser and customise the tap controls. For the latter, the options include the ability to set actions for single tap, double taps, triple taps, quadruple taps, quintuple taps, and long press, for each of the two buds. By default, quadruple and quintuple taps are disabled, and that’s okay since that could be a bit of an overkill anyway. But you do have the option if you need it.
Sound quality, ANC and battery
Coming to the meat of the matter, the Tranya Nova sound quite good, with balanced sound that should work well with different music genres, and even for podcasts etc. Even at high volumes, the sound doesn’t get distorted, and the instrument separation is pretty good. The bass has decent punch and it doesn’t get too overwhelming at high volumes or even the bass boost EQ preset is used. The transparency mode works well, but I wish I could say the same for ANC — I think it does eliminate some of the ambient noise but could do a better job of it. The call quality is good, no complaints there.
Coming to the battery life, each bud contains a 45mAh cell which the case comes with a 400mAh pack. It promises up to 9 hours of usage on a single charge (with ANC off), and that goes up to 36 hours with the case. In real-world usage, the Tranya Nova’s battery life is pretty good as well and not very far from what’s claimed. A 10-minute charge promises 2 hours of listening time, and since Tranya seemed intent on loading the Nova up to the brim with features, wireless charging is supported as well.
Verdict
Listed at $99 on the official website, the Tranya Nova is a well-rounded offering overall. It does need a little bit of improvement in the ANC department, but that apart, offers a slew of features that make it worth considering. Aspects like the QCC3072 chip, aptX support, multipoint connectivity, ANC, wireless charging and more, topped off by good battery life and clean sound, the Tranya Nova do leave a good impression overall.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros
- Compact design, comfy fit
- Feature-rich
- Clean sound
- Decent battery life
Cons
- ANC could have been better
- Shiny case prone to smudges
