Real-time (near) speech translation from and to any language is no longer science fiction – translation headsets that cost seven euros are already capable of it. We tested how the YD03 headsets purchased from Temu and the free TransKit app cope with practical conversations.

Near-real-time speech translation between two languages ​​has long been the stuff of science fiction, but advances in artificial intelligence have brought it to a practical level. Last year, we tested translation headsets priced at 130 euros, which translate speech directly into a voice in another language. And they even work reasonably well.

Interest in the topic was rekindled when we did a report from the 2025 IFA trade fair. There, Chinese translation headphones were presented as a “big novelty”. Well, these are not new, and as a result, we decided to check out what the situation on the market might be. And where else but Temu, of course.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&hl=fi

And come on, there were so many of these AI translation headsets. And at what price? The cheapest translation headsets are available for less than ten euros!! We ordered the YD03 headsets for the test, which cost just over six euros, and which are promised to be able to speak up to 144 languages ​​and translate speech automatically and in real time into any language.

The quality surprised me.

The quality and construction of the headphones and charging case are actually incredibly good considering the price. The mirror-like cover of the charging case has a handsome LED display that visually visualizes the charge status of both the charging case and the headphones' batteries. However, the charging case is quite large and does not fit very comfortably in your pocket.

The headphones themselves are also of high quality, compact and lightweight, and fit most ears without any problems. However, only one eartip is included, so the fit may be problematic for those with small and large ears. The headphones have touch controls and they work well. The listening time is promised to be about four hours, and the charging case's battery (800 mAh) should be able to fully charge the headphones eight times. The charging case can also be used as a small power bank via its USB-A output. So it seems pretty good.

The translation is also smooth.

The translation function, which is the selling point of the headphones, does not take place in the headphones but in the app that is downloaded to the phone. In the TransKit application. (In Chinese, of course, and of course, here it immediately comes to mind that the whole idea is to get people to buy these almost free headphones and then China gets access to people's speech and information from all over the world - Well, you know him?).

“Real-time language translation will inevitably change the way people can interact across language boundaries.”

In any case, the app offers several ways to translate. Speaker Mode, where the phone's microphone listens to speech and translates it into voice or text. Free Talk Mode, where the headphones are shared between both parties and the app automatically handles two-way translation. Touch Mode connects the headphones and the phone so that one person uses the headphones and the other the phone, and translation is activated by touch.

In Voice Note mode, the app converts speech into text and, if necessary, into translation in real time. In addition, the app has a separate mode for voice and video calls, where the app translates the conversation in real time between two parties speaking different languages. This worked strangely through What's Up, though. In addition, the Photo Translation function recognizes text captured with the camera and translates it into the selected language.

The translation works surprisingly well. The speech recognition responded quickly and the translations were understandable and generally correct, if the speech was only understandable. The translation was tested with Finnish/English/Swedish/German exchanges and at least the translation seemed to work well with them, and why not with other languages ​​as well, up to 144!

Real-time conversation flows fairly naturally when the environment is not too noisy and the speech rhythm is calm. Delays do occur occasionally, but they seem to be caused by the load on the application's server side or the network connection, not the application itself or at least not the headphones. With a stable connection, the translation is transmitted to the ear quickly enough in most cases.

The app is straightforward and, after a little practice, fairly intuitive to use. Select the languages, start translating, and let the app do the rest. The app performed consistently in our test.
The app works with any headset, and you don't even need a headset. The intelligence itself is in the app, or rather, in the server it's connected to. Bluetooth-enabled headsets are just a way to easily use real-time speech translation between two users.

Classless voice

The cheap price of the headphones was revealed in their very unfortunate sound reproduction. The sound is mid-range-heavy, the bass sounds thin, the treble sounds dull. Simply a pretty bad sound. You can't really enjoy listening to music with the YD03. The sound can be improved with an equalizer, but there is no dedicated equalizer application for the headphones.

Everything has a price, right?

Overall, the quality of the YD03 headphones is high-quality, even suspiciously high-quality, considering the price, and the translation based on the TransKit application works mostly smoothly. On the other hand, the sound quality of the headphones is not enough for enjoyable music listening. All in all, a strange case.

And how can these be sold so cheaply? Information security and everything else easily come to mind, because the translation is done from Chinese in a cloud service and the speech and who knows what else goes through the app. Or should we just take off the tinfoil hat?