Twelve South announces AirFly Pro Deluxe Edition Bluetooth transmitter gadget

Twelve South has announced an expansion to its AirFly product line of Bluetooth audio transmitters with the introduction of the AirFly Pro Deluxe Edition.

The device facilitates the use of wireless headphones in contexts where wired jacks are prevalent but lack Bluetooth connectivity.

The original AirFly devices plugged into either a 3.5mm audio jack or a USB-C port, and beamed audio to Bluetooth headphones or earbuds. They can also act as a transmitter to beam audio from a phone to a car’s sound system via an AUX port (3.5mm audio jack) if there’s one on the stereo). This is potentially useful with hire cars where syncing your phone has potential privacy implications.

Pro and Duo versions allow two Bluetooth devices to be connected simultaneously so, theoretically, two people (including kids) can listen to YouTube on an iPad without irritating the heck out of parents, hypothetically.

The new Deluxe version comes with a ‘vegan suede’ travel pouch, a two-pronged airline audio adapter (there must be an official name for those, right? But, you know what we mean) plus a USB-C charging cable. Twelve South says that it can be used on planes, on gym machines, in cars and on tablets but it will also work with Bluetooth speakers and, naturally, laptops.

The AirFly Pro Deluxe Edition has over 25 hours of battery life and is charged via a USB-C cable.

We hope (and expect) it works better than the original Belkin versions of this sort of device, which we tested over 10 years ago, but Bluetooth has come a very long way since then and so, we have no real concerns.

The main unit comes with a keyring attachment but we’re not sure we’d trust that. If we had it, it would get smashed or lost pretty quickly. But, that’s not a deal breaker.

The AirFly Pro Deluxe Edition will be available (soon, apparently) from Twelve South for $109. You can currently buy the bog-standard, non-luxury, peasant versions here.

Last Updated on 4 October 2023 by Nick Ross