We have reviewed so many QCY earphones, most of them were high quality for an affordable price and people seem to love them, so we are here yet again with the new QCY T12 TWS smart wireless earphones, this time QCY is offering a product with a completely new design with no lid, solid features that you will find useful for everyday usage such as clear Bluetooth calling thanks to the BT5.1 integrated chip, music playback control as well as voice assistant, but also features that belong on the more pricey market such as the App and touch control customizability, all of this is packed inside earphones that cost right under 20$, check this review out to learn more and decide whether it is worth a buy.
Features
- Innovative Design & Comfortable Fit
- 13mm Drivers For High Audio Quality
- AAC HD Audio Codec
- HD Bluetooth calling
- Ultra-Low Latency
- Bluetooth 5.1 Chip
- 20h Long Playtime
- Support APP & Pop-up Window
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Design And Build Quality
Charging Case
The QCY T12 has a unique and new design for a wireless earphone, it looks so much like the Fill CC design where we find no lid, it’s just the earbuds sitting inside their case uncovered, the shape of the charging case is square but also curved on the edges so you can hold it comfortably in your hand, the small size allows you to easily slide it inside your pocket and take it with you anywhere, the body is fully made out of plastic with a glossy finish but the build quality is nice, it feels solid and well built and you won’t notice any manufacturing defects, and just like the rest of the T line, the QCY T12 looks very minimalist and elegant and even though it is a budget device, you can’t tell that just by looking at it because of the great build quality.
From above, we have a view of the earphones themselves sitting in their appropriate spot where they charge, we usually find the lid here but not on this model, the earphones are held tight magnetically, when you take them out you will simply see the two holes with the pins at the bottom, the advantage of not having a lid is easier access to the earbuds, usually, the lid gets in the way and could be inconvenient especially if it does not open all the way up and I personally find this a good choice of design since it makes it easy to put the earbuds in and out of the charging case and there is minimal risk of them falling off in the process and potentially getting damaged.
On the front side, we can see the earphone’s stem with its LED indicator at all times thanks to the cut that goes all the way down to the middle of the case with round corners which is aesthetically beautiful, and right underneath that there is the LED indicator, it lights to indicate the state of the charging case if it is red that means the case is charging but if it is white it means the case is fully charged
From the backside there is nothing to talk about, just a unicolor piece of plastic adding to the minimalist design, but from underneath, we find the USB C charging port just like most products of this line, and it is nice to have a USB C at this price range, I hope companies use it more and ditch the micro USB port and make it from the past, fortunately, the QCY T12 has a base and it can stand on it to reduce scratches on the other sides of the body.
Overall, this product has a nice build quality and feels quite premium for its price, even though the glossy finish tends to get scratches very easily so you will have to take extra care of it in order for it to look new for a longer period of time, even the Fill CC design is a great choice to stand out from the rest of the products available in the market and get something unique.
QCY T12 Earbuds
the earphones found inside the charging case are also made of plastic with a glossy finish and have a unique design while still being minimalist and simple, the part that goes inside your ear is of average size and fits all so it should stick inside your ear just fine and not hurt when used for extended periods of time, but the stem is huge, it has a shape of a cylinder and looks quite bulky which I personally don’t like, simply because smaller is better, but they are still weigh only about 4 grams and feel comfortable in your ears.
The QCY T12 has an LED indicator in the middle of the stem for charging and connectivity status when they are charging they light red when they are fully charged they light green, and right above the LED we find a small cut and that’s where the multifunction touch control area is located, I like the placement because it allows you to use it with one finger and makes it hard for you to touch it by mistake, thus it has good accuracy and it won’t start activating random commands such as launching the voice assistant when you were just trying to correct the position of the earbuds inside your ears.
All in all, these earphones will stick inside your ears very well and won’t fall off no matter how hard you shake them and is also waterproof certified, which is important for people who intend to use these to listen to music while doing sports such as running and jumping rope, or just get by your day making phone calls using your earbuds.
Touch Control Panel
The touch control panel on the qcy t12s is now located at the top of the stem, right above the LED indicator, you can easily spot its placement since there is a cut indicating it, this position allows you to use the multifunction touch control with one finger instead of two in other models and makes more convenient and easy to use, it will allow you to reduce the usage of your phone, by performing certain tasks such as accepting or rejecting calls, launching the voice assistant and talk directly to your earphones, as well audio playback and volume control.
The actions performed by each gesture can be easily modified in the app and that’s a feature we have seen only in flagship earphones so far, but I personally prefer the original layout which is as follows:
- Answer/end call: Double touch
- Ignore call: Keep touching 1.5s
- Pause/resume playing: Double touch
- track forward: Keep touching the right earbud for 1.5s
- track backward: Keep touching the left earbud for 1.5s
- Voice assistant: Triple touch left earbud
- Low-latency mode: Triple touch right earbud
Waterproof
The QCY T12 wireless headphones are IPX4 waterproof certified and they were able to pass the water spraying test and remained intact, which indicates that they will be able to function properly under rain and even sweat during sports which will allow you to practice sports without worrying about the earphones getting damaged, but you should never submerge them under water or rinse them because they will get damaged.
How To Pair QCY T12 with Smartphone
Even though it is preferred to pair the device using the app since it gives you tremendous features, you can still do that just from the Bluetooth menu without the need of the QCY app if you are using windows or MAC OS, you simply have to turn on Bluetooth on your an put it in discovery mode, next take the QCY T12s out of the charging case to put them in pairing mode, you will see a device under the name QCY-T12 pop on your screen, click on connect and it will pair seamlessly, you can now use the wireless earphone to listen to your favorite podcast or watch movies on Netflix with high audio quality, but you can also pass calls with them since they offer a decent microphone quality. Once the pairing is done once, the process from that point on is as easy as turning Bluetooth on and putting the earphones inside your ear, one additional feature is that the QCY T12 is capable of working with only one earbud so if one earphone gets low on battery, you can keep using the second to listen to content and pass calls while the first is charging inside the case.
BT5.1 Connectivity of the QCY T12
Thanks to the new and improved Bluetooth 5.1 technology chip integrated inside the QCY T12, it is compatible with most Bluetooth-enabled devices and on a variety of platforms such as Android, iPhone, Windows, and MAC OS, it provides the most seamless and hustle-free pairing experience you can get on a device of this price range just as if you were using a mid-range device, the Bluetooth 5.1 is power efficient and plays a major role in the long battery life this device provides.
The QCY APP
The QCY T12 AirPods clone works better when you use it with the app, it is called QCY and is available to download on the Play Store and The App Store, it is compatible with devices that run Android 6.0 and IOS 12 and above only, the app allows you to use the T12s to their full potential, in order to do that you will have to download and install the app on your smartphone, accept the terms and allow the permissions such as Bluetooth and GPS so the app can function properly, Login in or create an account then pull your earphones out of the case to make them visible, on the home screen activate GPS and Bluetooth and put it in discovery mode and it will start looking for nearby QCY earphones, once it finds your specific model which is under the name of QCY-T12, click on it to connect them together, and with that, you are good to start using the T12s for your needs.
The app’s first column is the status, it will show you the earphone model in addition to the battery level of each one of the earphones separately, the Bluetooth connection established between your smartphone and the earphones whether it is BT5.3 or BT5.2, etc. Second, we find the sound control where we can play with the audio effects such as the Equalization and choose one of the many available preconfigured sound effects such as Default, Pop, Bass, Rock, Soft, Classic and you can even create a new profile where you personalize sound effects to match your preference.
The third section is what i found really mind blowing for a budget device, it is labeled configuration and it allows you to change the functions of gestures of the multifunction touch control area, i find the original setup quite convenient and practical but if you wish to change it to a setup that fits you more you can do that with utter ease just by going in the configuration and clicking on one of the gestures a menu of action will slide up, so you can choose a corresponding action for it, such as volume up or down, the voice assistant, previous/ next track and more, you can also activate the sleep mode which will deactivate the touch control so you don’t accidentally raise the volume all the way up when you wear during sleep for example, next up we have the firmware update option which you can click on every now and then to make sure that the firmware running your earbuds is up to date not to miss on any new features QCY might bring to you, the app in itself has customizable skin that you can change so you are presented with the screen you like most when you connect with your T12s.
It is worth noting that the app has some bugs that may be bothersome and we hope the company fixes them to provide a better experience for the users.
QCY T12 Audio Quality
The QCY T12 has a Bluetooth 5.1 chip that delivers high audio quality, especially when combined with the 13mm driver which is the biggest one in QCY’s collection, this means it is loud and clear and you won’t be alarmed by any distortion even at high volume, it supports AAC decoding which provides better audio quality than the SBC, but I wouldn’t advise activating it on android devices since it drains the battery, but if you have an iPhone, they are optimized to be battery efficient even with AAC decoding and I would advise you use to benefit from it, additionally, the frequencies supported by this earphone range from 20hz to 20k hertz, so you it has good bass and mids, on the other hand, the tuning is not the best thing but at the end, it all depends on your preference, so at this price point, I would say they sound good enough for chill and content consumption.
On the QCY app, you can customize the sound profile by choosing one of the preset ones, or create a new one and play with the levels until you get the sound that matches your taste, the earphones have proven to keep a clean sound even at high volume with no distortion and also provide good bass for all you bass enjoyers out there.
Microphone Quality & Bluetooth Calling
The microphones on the QCY T12 earphone perform very well, their audio quality is clear and the recipient won’t have a problem hearing what you say without any issues, even though they make you sound like you are talking from inside a fish bowl, especially when if are in a complex environment where there is a lot of noise, now even though these do not have electronic noise canceling, when tried in noisy places they prioritize the closer sound over the ones far away, nevertheless they are optimal in quiet spaces, these microphones in combination with the touch control will help you reduce the phone usage and the need to pull your phone out in public.
Latency In QCY T12 And Gaming
As for the Latency on this earphone, I would say they are just fine for media consumption so you don’t notice lag or delay between the video and the audio, also, with a triple touch on the right earbud you can activate the gaming mode which reduces the latency to about 110ms, but that generally is not merely enough to give you advantage in competitive gaming, but neither does most of the wireless earbuds of the same price range, but, if you are really trying to get something with low latency, you should take a look at the QCY T20 earphone, with a 68ms low latency gaming mode.
Battery And Charging Time of the QCY T12
The QCY T12 has one of the largest batteries offered in this category of wireless earphones, with a capacity of 380mah, it is capable of delivering 20 hours of total usage, with a single earbud lasting up to 4 hours of music playback and calls, the amazing thing is that earbuds can work alone so if one dies out, you can still use the other separately while the first one is charging, additionally, it charges through the USB C port with the USB C cable that comes included in the box in about 2 hours, and it takes the same time charge an earbud by placing it inside the charging case.
Price And Where To Buy
The QCY T12s are available for purchase on the AliExpress Store for a very good price, check it out, and don’t miss out on this amazing deal.
What’s in The Box?
- QCY T12 Bluetooth Earphones
- Charging Box
- USB-C Charging Cable
- Manual
QCY T12 Specification
| Color | Black, White |
| Wearing Type | Half-in-ear |
| Material | Plastic |
| Bluetooth Version | V5.1 |
| App | QCY (play store, app store) |
| Transmission Distance | 39.3 feet (12m) |
| Frequency Response | 20-20kHz |
| Battery Capacity | Charging Box: 380mAh |
| Charging Time (h) | Around 2h |
| Music Time | 4h, 20h Total |
| Waterproof | IPX4 |
| Charging Port | Type-C |
