Despite the number in the name, I’ve taken to considering the OneOdio Studio Max 2 to be more like a ‘pro’ version of the originals rather than a completely new pair of headphones. I’ve been testing them for several weeks, and the experience doesn’t feel hugely changed (even though the price is).
The originals upon which they are based were released in early 2025, and after I finished my review, I found myself using them daily. They’re always plugged into my guitar amp or keyboard for when I want to do some music practice; a few select features made them uniquely handy for making music.
The OneOdio Studio Max 2 are, mostly, a very similar proposition. They’re not designed for audiophiles so much as DJs, studio musicians and other music-makers — but they have enough of a consumer-friendly bent that they’re not just for the studio. If you’re an amateur musician or music producer, and want cans for the task in hand but also for general use, you’re the target audience.
Like their predecessors, I wouldn’t strongly recommend these for general use, though. They’re big and chunky, so I felt self-conscious wearing them in public, and the fit was unreliable, so they shook when I was walking. On top of that, the audio quality is pretty poor, and you won’t get noise cancellation. There’s a reason the old pair stayed tethered to my instruments.
That sounds like a deluge of criticism, and an odd one given the score above, but the Studio Max justify themselves with their tools for professionals or music creators.
These puppies connect to other devices in four ways: there’s both a 3.5mm jack and a 6.35mm one, so you’ve got more cable versatility than most other cans. Of course, you’ve got Bluetooth, but there’s also an audio transmitter included in the box that can connect to any analog source.
With the transmitter, you can get 9ms latency between the headphones and audio source. This is OneOdio’s pitch for why they’re great DJ headphones — with no transmission delay, you won't miss your bass-dropping cue. OneOdio isn't the only brand to offer this feature, but crucially, its headphones are the cheapest to do so.
Upgrades to this transmitter also form the main upgrades over the original Studio Max. The latency has been halved from 20ms and the bitrate has been increased, but the transmission distance has been halved to 10m. Given that the price has increased, though, it might not be a tempting upgrade for many buyers of the original.
For music producers or performers, the foldable form factor is appreciated, as is the massive 120-hour battery life over Bluetooth (and the battery life when using the transmitter has been doubled to 50 hours in this model). I can see it being particularly useful for touring musicians for this reason, who can’t charge regularly — although IEMs will still rule supreme for that.
More so than most headphones I test, the OneOdio Studio Max 2 are situational, and niche. I wouldn’t recommend them to people on the market for the best headphones for general use, nor would I suggest professionals buy them over specially-designed studio kit.
But there’s a small overlap in the Venn Diagram between those groups, in which the cans may find appreciative buyers. That's included me, as a dedicated user of the original model — but check the price of the original OneOdio Studio Max 1 before you buy, though, because if it gets price drops, it might be the better-value buy.
OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Price and release date(Image credit: Future)The OneOdio Studio Max 2 were unveiled on May 11, 2026 — that’s a year and three months on from the release of their predecessors.
The official price of the Studio Max 2 is $189 / £179 (about AU$360, but they don’t seem to have enjoyed an Australian release at the time of writing).
In the box you get the headphones, transmitter, various cables (loads of cables) and a handy carry case. It’s the complete package, and I’ve never felt the need to root around in my drawers for other wires.
For context, the original Studio Max released for $169 / £135 / AU$275, so there’s been a price hike here, which varies quite a bit by region.
OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: SpecsDrivers
45mm
Active noise cancellation
No
Battery life
120 hours
Weight
353g
Connectivity
Bluetooth 6.0, 3.5mm, 6.35mm, 2.4Ghz transmitter
Frequency response
20Hz to 40kHz
Waterproofing
NA
OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Features(Image credit: Future)Let’s address the elephant in the room, or lack thereof: there are some features missing here, which some music listeners might miss. There’s no active noise cancellation, for example, and the app is quite barebones. It has three EQ presets (normal, monitoring and bass), and a 10-band custom mode, as well as a few extras such as wear reminders, volume limiters, and a way to pan the sound to the left or right ear cup only.
What you do get is pretty rocking though. Take the battery life: 120 hours equates to five straight days of music playback. No, not five hours. Five days. That figure matches the original pair, and I can’t name another option which lasts that long.
Another key feature is the range of connection options. Naturally, you can connect them via their 3.5mm port, or the 6.35mm jack so they can connect to professional audio kit easily. The Studio Max 2 support Bluetooth 6.0, allowing for more reliable wireless connection than the old pair.
But perhaps the key selling point here is the transmitter, which comes included in the box. Using OneOdio’s RapidWill+ 3.0 technology, this transmitter lets you cut the response time between your source and the Studio Max 2 to just 9ms. It uses 2.4GHz connectivity, and all you need to do is plug it into your output device, and your headphones can pick it up.
All the cables you need are included in the box, so it's a plug-and-play style situation. The transmitter needs to be charged via USB-C, and lasts for 50 hours per charge.
OneOdio has used a 45mm driver in each Studio Max 2 cup, and the headphones are certified for Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless, with LDAC compatibility too. Unfortunately it's not quite the recipe for success it would appear to be on first glance.
The Max 2 sound muddy and muffled, with rumbly and ill-defined bass stomping over over lines of a song. Any semblance of a soundstage is forgotten, instead presenting your music as one amorphous sonic boulder.
Glorious by The Hoosiers is presented like a confused mush of synths, and the bass in Charlie Mars' She Ain't Coming Back veers between drowning out everything else, and being inaudible.
They also offer a sound that's tinnier than anything else at this price point, with noticeably compressed hi-hats and distorted guitars that really shouldn't be distorted. I'd usually cite a song here as an example, but you can basically insert any song that has instruments here.
Usually I'd turn to an equalizer to try to fix problems like this, but you've got three options: the default, a Bass Mode (that's not going to fix the problem), a custom EQ and Monitoring Mode. Those latter two both gave music a crunchier feel, so I stayed far away.
It's worth noting that criticism I levelled here, I also put against the Studio Max 1. As far as I can tell, the sound hasn't changed much.
Don’t buy the Studio Max 2 if you’re looking for svelte, lightweight or fashionable over-ear headphones. They’re bulky and large, with a design that’s quite industrial. You’ve seen the pictures, you know what they look like, and I felt self-conscious wearing them outside the house.
The cups and headband are pretty soft, yet they weren't too comfy to wear, perhaps because of their 353g weight. At least they're good at at catering for different shapes of head, thanks to how versatile they are: the cups rotate around different angles. This also makes them easily-foldable for bags, and handy to form for review pictures.
However, and likely as a natural side-effect of the size, they didn't stick in place reliably. If I was walking, they'd sway a tiny bit, and I imagine they'll wobble if you're an active DJ enjoying your own set.
Adorning each Studio Max 2 cup is a range of buttons and ports. The left cup has a 6.35mm port, while on the right you're getting volume up, volume down and power buttons, a 3.5mm jack, a slider to toggle between Bluetooth and ultra-low latency, and a USB-C port for charging too.
Two things to point out that images don't convey. Firstly, these things creak quite a bit; I'm used to this being a symptom of cheap plastic used in the design, but it doesn't feel like the case here. I think the many moving parts are to blame. Secondly, the back of the cups are grooved to resemble vinyl records; a neat touch, but if my previous pair are any indication, they can be huge dust magnets.
If you’re looking at the OneOdio Studio Max 2 as consumer-friendly headphones, it’s hard to argue that they offer you good value for money. There are great cans for music fans at a third of the price — from OneOdio itself, as well as other brands.
That’s also true if you’re looking for general studio headphones, for that matter.
What you’re paying for is the transmitter, to allow for low-latency wireless music from any source, including instruments. If you need a gadget like it, the Studio Max 2 undercuts its rivals — if not, then these aren’t the cans for you.
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Features
The app may be barebones, but the fantastic battery life and useful connection modes are a winner.
4 / 5
Sound quality
Don't buy them if you want good-sounding headphones.
2.5 / 5
Design
It's not a look that'll appeal to many, and it's not very comfy, but at least it's versatile.
3 / 5
Value
The affordable transmitter makes these good value (if that's a feature you need).
3.5 / 5
Buy them if…You need low wireless latency
If you need headphones that connect wirelessly with minimum delay, there are few rivals, and none this cheap.
You can't charge frequently
That 120-hour battery life is hard to beat, and these things will keeping going for literal days at a time.
You need 6.35mm connection
How many headphones offer a 6.35mm port? Very few, that's how many, yet it's still useful in some music production situations.
You want music that sounds good
Just want cans to connect to your phone and play music? These aren't the ones.
You want something lightweight
These cans are heavy, and you can really feel them on your head. I can see some people finding them uncomfortable to wear.
OneOdio Studio Max 2
AIAIAI TMA-2
AlphaTheta HDJ-F10
Drivers
45mm
40mm
40mm
Active noise cancellation
No
No
Yes
Battery life (ANC on)
120 hours
40 hours
30 hours
Weight
353g
217g
356g
Connectivity
Bluetooth 6.0
Bluetooth 5.3
Bluetooth 5.2
Waterproofing
NA
NA
NA
AlphaTheta HDJ-F10
The AlphaTheta HDJ-F10 are a real premium alternative to the OneOdio, costing roughly twice as much, but they dramatically reduce latency and sound pretty good.
AIAIAI TMA-2 Wireless
These cans are much more lightweight than the alternatives, perfect if you want something easier to wear. They're pricier than the OneOdio, but not the AlphaTheta — here's our full AIAIAI TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ review.
I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 for roughly a month before writing this review.
During the testing process, they were connected to a wide variety of devices including my guitar amp, my keyboard, my PC and my smartphone. Across this board, I used every connection option possible.
Mostly, the testing was done for music playback, but I also used it for a variety of other tasks including audio mixing, video editing, playing my own music and, for one weekend, audio recording alongside a field recorder and boom mic.
I've been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar since early 2019, and in that time have tested plenty of audio products including the original Studio Max 1 (the number is in the name, I've not added it!).
Because of his former job, Todd Lyons cannot engage with the Department of Homeland Security for a year, per federal law.
(Image credit: Samuel Corum)
Three years after the release of the Cheetah Pro smartwatch, Amazfit has finally released its successor, the aptly named Cheetah 2 Pro. Designed for serious road runners who rely on structured training plans, the smartwatch is a solid offering that competes admirably with the best running watches on the market right now. It doesn't hit the dizzying heights of Garmin's top-range alternatives, but Amazfit has definitely closed the gap. The Cheetah 2 Pro has a bigger sibling, the Cheetah 2 Ultra, which is slightly larger, more expensive and comes with trail running profiles with gradient and terrain features not present here.
The high price tag for a watch without trail features will put a lot of people off, especially considering Amazfit is still an unknown brand to many and a budget brand to those in the know. On closer inspection, the cost is mostly justified. The bright 1.32-inch AMOLED display is super-sharp and covered with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass.
The display is housed in a high-end grade 5 titanium alloy case, which looks and feels premium, but the 15.6 mm thickness and large sensor bump make the watch uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.
The Cheetah 2 Pro includes an impressive set of features, including structured training plans and AI-driven adaptive workouts. It also tracks comprehensive health data, including 24/7 heart rate, blood oxygen, and skin temperature, all making it possible to generate a daily "Readiness Score" for monitoring fatigue. The watch reaches a high level of accuracy across most tested metrics.
As you’d expect for a watch at this price, the Cheetah 2 Pro boasts offline color maps and navigation tools such as automatic rerouting and point-to-point route planning. It’s an extensive set of features, but the implementation is lacking finesse. Due to limited hardware, panning and zooming maps is laggy.
When it comes to running smartwatches, Amazfit is closing the gap on Garmin, but they’ve still got a long way to go, especially when it comes to dedicated running tools.
(Image credit: Future / Paul Hatton)Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: SpecificationsComponent
Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro
Price
$499.99 USD / £449.90 UK / $729 AUS
Dimensions
48mm wide, 15.6mm thick (inc. heart sensor)
Weight
45.6g without strap
Case/bezel
Titanium case, plastic bezel
Display
1.32-inch AMOLED Screen, 466 x 466 px resolution
GPS
Dual-band, 6 satellite systems
Battery life
Up to 10 days of heavy use, or 20 days typical
Connection
Bluetooth, BLE 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz
Water resistance
5 ATM
Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Price and availabilityThe Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro costs $499.99 USD / £449.90 UK, which represents a significant 50% increase over the price of the original Cheetah Pro. Amazfit justifies this huge jump by offering high-end hardware, including a titanium bezel, sapphire crystal lens, and up to 20 days of battery life.
Its position in the market is as a budget-friendly alternative to Garmin's flagship elite tier, specifically the Garmin Forerunner 970. While both watches boast premium titanium bezels and crisp AMOLED screens, the more expensive Garmin boasts superior features, especially when it comes to offline maps and ECG functionality.
The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro boasts a gorgeous premium grade-5 titanium alloy case finished off with a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass. The 1.32-inch AMOLED display is brilliantly sharp, with an impressive 3,000 nits of peak brightness which guarantees clarity even on sunny days.
If you were wondering why the watch costs so much, the material make-up and AMOLED display are two of the reasons. Compared to the cheap, plastic feel of a lot of sports trackers, the Cheetah 2 Pro is a high-end piece of hardware, only let down by the bundled silicone strap, which feels like an ill-considered afterthought.
(Image credit: Future / Paul Hatton)Alongside the touchscreen interface, the watch features a four-button layout with tactile aluminum buttons. The presence of physical buttons proved valuable, in my experience, especially when using the watch with sweaty hands or in the rain.
As much as I love the design of the Cheetah 2 Pro, it's let down by its over-large 15.6mm thickness. It absolutely dwarfed my wife's smaller wrist, and due to the size and weight I found it uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. If Amazfit could work out a way to reduce the thickness of the underside sensor bump, then a lot of these problems would go away.
At the heart of the Cheetah 2 Pro are the structured training plans and purpose-driven workouts. It's like having your own personal running coach or using a platform such as Runna, but without the ongoing cost. There are workouts and plans for half marathons, full marathons, and Fartlek runs, and every session helps extend endurance, build strength, and ensure appropriate recovery, all done via Zepp Coach AI.
In addition to dedicated training plans, the Cheetah 2 Pro boasts an extensive set of navigation features which help keep you on track, however hard you're pushing. I was pleased to see the presence of offline maps and turn guidance, and it's even possible to import courses so you can confidently navigate through routes you're not familiar with. Beyond this, the watch includes automatic rerouting, points of interest search, and point-to-point route planning.
(Image credit: Future / Paul Hatton)The upgraded optical sensors comprise 5 photodiodes and 2 LEDs, providing continuous 24/7 monitoring for heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and stress levels. All of these sensors, and more, feed the data so the watch can provide a daily Readiness Score for evaluating training fatigue and overall status. Additional environmental sensors include a skin temperature sensor, barometric altimeter, gyroscope, accelerometer, and geomagnetic compass.
In comparison to the Forerunner 970, the Cheetah comes up short in most areas. The Garmin features a more comprehensive set of tools, including its localized crowd-sourced popularity routing database, granular analytics, and ECG functionality. If you want the very best, Garmin is still the brand to turn to.
Serious runners require accurate on-board GPS, and the Cheetah 2 Pro provides exactly that. Courtesy of its advanced positioning systems, the watch is able to deliver accurate tracking and pacing even when the signal appears to weaken. I compared it with the same route run with my accuracy benchmark, the Garmin Tactix 8, and the Huawei Watch Ultimate 2. It tracked these runs to within one or two per cent accuracy and was able to cope with varying surroundings, including high-rise buildings and forests.
Map functionality is extensive enough for most runners, although the subjective experience wasn’t perfect. Any amount of panning and zooming resulted in a stutter, and if I were cycling, the map wouldn’t update particularly smoothly. These problems are not game-changers, but if you’re after the smoothest map interactions, then the Cheetah 2 Pro doesn’t have the hardware to deliver that.
The Cheetah 2 Pro is a solid running coach on the wrist. It is able to provide specific metrics such as ground contact time, stride length, and cadence. The ability to track in real-time my VO2 Max level and running power is super-helpful to know if I am doing well (or not, as the case may be).
(Image credit: Future / Paul Hatton)An extensive set of health metrics is available, including heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate, lactate threshold, VO2, and more. The heart rate was an exact match to a dedicated heart rate monitor band. The heart rate zone feature is a nice addition for knowing when you’re building endurance, improving speed, or pushing too hard.
Amazfit positions the watch as a long-distance runner's dream, and that requires outstanding battery performance with every feature and setting turned on. They claim up to 31 hours with accurate GPS mode enabled, which is more than enough to perform a long-distance run, assuming it doesn't span multiple days. When you're using the watch in between trainings, you can expect up to 20 days of battery life with typical use.
The Cheetah 2 Pro is much more than a running watch, though. Its general smartwatch features are comparable with the very best from Apple, Google, and Samsung. You can make and receive Bluetooth calls, read and reply to texts, and utilize Zepp Pay for NFC contactless payments. All in, it’s a very useful watch for day-to-day living.
Category
Comment
Score
Value
It’s far from cheap but is more affordable than similar alternatives from Garmin.
4/5
Design
A high-end smartwatch with premium materials. Only let down by the uncomfortable thickness.
4/5
Features
An all-round feature-rich smartwatch with unashamedly runner-centric features.
4/5
Performance
Accurate activity and health tracking with solid GPS. Only let down by the map's navigation.
4.5/5
(Image credit: Future / Paul Hatton)Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro: Should I buy?Buy it if...You're training for a marathon or similar
With structured training plans and Zepp Flow AI, runners can confidently work towards their goals.
You need a watch that can last a marathon
Offers up to 31 hours of continuous, accurate dual-band GPS tracking and up to 20 days of typical daily use.
Don't buy it if...You want the very best running smartwatch
For that you’ll need a Garmin like the Forerunner 970.
You have a small wrist
Its thick and bulky design means it’ll dwarf users with small wrists.
You're a trail runner
Dedicated features covering terrain and gradient can be found in the more expensive Amazfit Cheetah 2 Ultra.
Also considerGarmin Forerunner 970
It’s expensive and not particularly attractive, but the Forerunner 970 is "an outstanding running watch". It delivers depth and precision and excels in GPS performance.
Read our Garmin Forerunner 970 reviewView Deal
Coros Pace 4
If you’re looking for a seriously good value smartwatch for road and light trails, then the Coros Pace 4 is a great option. In our review we said, “This light running watch is better value than many Garmins.”
Read our Coros Pace 4 reviewView Deal
How I testedI’ve been wearing the Cheetah 2 Pro for the better part of six weeks. In this time I have used it while running, cycling, walking, relaxing, and more. I tested it against a Coros heart rate monitor as well as competitor devices for accuracy. It has also acted as a companion device to my smartphone, keeping me up-to-date with everything going on in my world.
First reviewed: June 2026