The Twelve South AirFly Pro 2 is a tiny plug-in dongle that mostly solves the rather specific problem of getting Bluetooth headphones working with in-flight entertainment on a plane. But it does something else (arguably equally as specific) too, and that’s how I’ve fallen for this clever little gadget.
What is the AirFly Pro 2?
The original AirFly came out in 2018 and was initially designed to add Bluetooth connectivity to old in-flight entertainment systems, so you can use your own wireless headphones on an airplane instead of the poor quality wired ones supplied by the airline. It has since grown to also enable Bluetooth connectivity to other devices like car stereos and games consoles, and even connect more than one pair of headphones.
The AirFly Pro 2 takes the AirFly Pro and improves the audio, speeds up the Bluetooth connection, and makes the unit easier to use. Inside is Qualcomm’s QCC3056 audio chip and its cVc Echo Cancelling and Noise Suppression technology. Twelve South says the combination will reduce latency, improve quality, and cut down on unwanted background noise.
The AirFly Pro 2 supports two Bluetooth devices, so both you and another person can connect wireless headphones to it and watch or listen to the same thing. The tiny unit has a volume up and down button on the front, and a pair of separate buttons to pair two different Bluetooth devices. There’s a slider to change between Tx and Rx — receive or transmit — functionality, and another to turn the unit on and off.
At one end is a 3.5mm headphone jack, and at the other is a USB-C port to charge the AirFly Pro 2 up. Once the battery is full, then it should last for 25 hours. The Qualcomm QCC3056 gives the AirFly Pro 2 AptX Adaptive audio, a step up from the standard AptX and AptX Low Latency on the AirFly Pro. It’s a compact, simple device that has that typical “could have been made by Apple” look we often associate with Twelve South’s products.
Incredibly easy to use
The AirFly Pro 2 is most at home onboard a plane, but I don’t have any flights booked, and I have Bluetooth connectivity in my cars, so how would I test it out? I turned to my old CD player. It is a Sony HCD-EH15 without speakers attached, which I use to play my CDs and listen to using a pair of Focal Elegia wired headphones. I love the sound of CDs, especially with wired headphones. However, the short cable supplied with the Elegia headphones can be a pain, as I do have to sit right next to the player to listen. It’s part of the appeal — I’m forced to listen and relax — in a way, but sometimes I’d like a bit of freedom.
Would the AirFly Pro 2 be the tiny device that came to my rescue? I flicked the side switch on and put it in Tx mode, which the manual states is what you use to connect wireless headphones. The Rx mode is for the AirFly Pro 2 to receive Bluetooth audio from your phone, and designed for in-car use, or a home stereo with speakers attached to it. If speakers were linked to my Sony CD player, the AirFly Pro 2 could be used to play music from my phone through them.
I put my Sony WH-1000XM4‘s into pairing mode, and they instantly connected to the AirFly Pro 2 without any further prompting from me. This was the total amount of interaction required, as the CD audio played through my wireless headphones immediately. There was sufficient range to keep the headphones connected throughout my two-story home, but of course you need to return to the unit to adjust the volume and track.
Convenience over sound quality
The sound is decent but not spectacular. There’s enough volume and no obvious latency problems, but the bass isn’t very pronounced, and there’s a little bacground distortion when you listen closely. The Sony headphones sound great when they’re connected to my iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the Sony CD player sounds brilliant with the Focal Elegia’s, so it’s almost certainly caused by the AirFly Pro 2. But it didn’t put me off or make me want to just use my iPhone, and you shouldn’t let it put you off either.
Remember, this is not a DAC or a gadget made for critical listening. It adds modern Bluetooth functionality to systems without it — which it does really well — and makes long flights more comfortable. Lets face it, no-one is listening out for sound quality issues on a plane, and the small distortion I can hear won’t be picked up in a noisy car either. You’ll be too busy enjoying the convenience to care that it’s not the ultimate in sound quality. Equally, but more positively, no-one would want to use the AirFly Pro 2 on a plane if it made connecting headphones a pain, or if it was unreliable. There good news is it’s one of the simplest gadgets you’ll use.
I’ve connected the Sony headphones, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Max without a problem, and none of them needed anything more than simply putting the headphones into pairing mode. It’s exactly what you want on a plane, where troubleshooting connection problems would likely be very frustrating, if not entirely impossible. The little unit itself will slip into your bag where it will take up less room than your AirPods Pro 2’s case. There isn’t a reason not to use it, and I can now see why the old AirFly Pro is on Digital Trends’ writer Nirave Gondhia’s list of tech he never travels without.
Where can you get an AirFly Pro 2?
Twelve South hasn’t attached a high price tag to the AirFly Pro 2, which means even if you don’t intend to use it all that often, it’s still a justifiable purchase. It costs $60 (up from $55 for the old Pro), will be released on March 25, and sold through Twelve South’s own website and Amazon. Like me, you may find other uses for it outside of an airplane.
It’s worth being aware of other AirFly models too. If you only care about connecting to in-flight entertainment systems and one pair of Bluetooth headphones, the regular AirFly is $35 and will do the job. Twelve South did offer a Deluxe version of the AirFly Pro with a two-pronged airline adaptor included, which doesn’t come with the new AirFly Pro 2. These are available elsewhere if you want to make sure you’re fully covered for any upcoming flight.
The AirFly Pro 2 worked perfectly with my very old CD player, and added functionality that wasn’t available when it was originally released. It’s a more modern, more versatile unit because of it. I have no doubt it’ll do its job just as well when I connect it to an in-flight entertainment system in the future. The AirFly Pro 2 is a clever little gadget that solves a genuine pain point, which you may not even know can be cured at all, and all without a high financial outlay.
