Audio-Technica ATH-TWX9 Wireless Headphones

Product Information

The charging case is trapezoidal and is covered in soft-touch rubber. The choice of using a soft-touch material is inspired because it makes the ATH-TWX9 feel plusher than its rivals’ plastic charging cases. It does, however, catch a lot of dust. It also stands out for having a five-level LED charging indicator on the front, which uses different colour LEDs to show the battery level of the earbuds and charging case. It can be confusing at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it once you’ve consulted the manual a couple of times. The charging case can be recharged in two ways: USB-C and wireless charging. Newly designed 5.8 mm high-resolution drivers are joined by compatibility with Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive audio, and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio to deliver a spatial audio experience alongside flexible dual- or single-ear usability. Headphone: Approx. 5.4 g (0.19 oz) (L side), approx. 5.4 g (0.19 oz) (R side); Charging case: Approx. 55.9 g (2.0 oz) Super comfortable, the Reflect Pros offer three sizes of silicone eartips and four choices of wingtips that help secure the earbuds. The My JBL Headphones app can also run a test to help you zero in on the perfect fit. Their IP68 rating means they can take on whatever dust, water, and sweat your activities can throw at them, and you can completely submerge them in water to rinse them off afterward. Speaking of the LED lights, a few moments after replacing the buds in the case, those LEDs will turn purple and start to animate in an outward pattern. That’s how you know the case is attempting to kill off any surface bacteria with UV light. Does it work? I haven’t a clue. But it sure looks cool. So comfortable Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

As you would expect from Technics, the makers of some of the most legendary audio equipment ever, the sound quality from the EAH-AZ60s is superb, making these earbuds one of the best-sounding pairs on our list. With their default EQing, the EAH-AZ60s are controlled and stable across the whole bass-mid-high spectrum, but that can all be tailored to your liking with the Audio Connect app. The Elite 7 Pros have managed to combine rich and powerful bass that make everything from guitars and synths to vocals sit where they're supposed to in the soundstage for accurate reproduction of your favorite tunes. Call quality is also superb on the Elite 7 Pros, and it's worth noting that a firmware update in January this year added a multipoint Bluetooth connection, meaning you can do things like listen to music from your phone while participating on a Zoom call on your computer at the same time.Aside from being one of if not the most comfortable pairs of earbuds we've ever tried, the Elite 7 Pro have outstanding noise cancelation, due in part to their fully closed design that provides a tight seal. The result is comfy and ultra-quiet earbuds that will bring you peace and quiet.

The XM4 and TWX9 are completely different styles of true wireless earphones. You have the circular-shaped housing and in-ear cavity of the XM4, and the stemmed design of the TWX9. I don’t think either earphone stands out aesthetically, although the XM4 does have a sleekness to it. An issue some may have with the XM4 though is its bigger shell, making the fit more cumbersome. In comparison, the TWX9 is an almost perfect fit. It sustains its comfort and support for many hours without any considerable fatigue. Design and Functionality All in all, I came in skeptical and not at all expecting a hi-fidelity sound with these to be honest… and was completely surprised to find it to be dynamic, well tuned, great timbre, great detail and a very good fit in the ear. it hard to find any criticisms really, though if being a bit strict, it’s perhaps not quite as intuitive as Airpods in an Apple ecosystem. Inside the TWX9 is a 5.8mm driver and a series of microphones for phone calls and ambient noise capture for noise-canceling. The driver boasts good volume but still runs into the common issue of only getting loud enough when it reaches the top volume on your device. Noise-canceling helps this a little, and there are tons of options here to optimize it. There are different options based on the environment you’re in. The companion app has options for planes, trains, offices, and city traffic. It goes even a step further and offers a custom option that will manually measure ambient noise around you and optimize noise-canceling to your specific space. There’s also a hear-through mode that will invite your environment into your music.

Battery life

With support for up to 24-bit/96kHz hi-res audio with aptX Adaptive Bluetooth on a compatible device (Android only), you can enjoy the best that music streaming services like Tidal and Apple Music have to offer. Most wireless earbuds give you a single control interface — a touch/squeeze sensitive area or a physical button. The TWX9 give you both: a button on each stem and a touch panel on each logo-sporting end cap. That sounds like Audio-Technica is letting you choose which style of input you prefer, but that’s not quite the case. The AZ60's ANC? Amazing. Ambient noise, hums, traffic, and nearby conversations are well and properly filtered, making for a clear, clean experience. Yet, with the new ATH-TWX9, this famous headphone brand has changed its formula significantly. It’s an entirely new design with a sleek aesthetic and a long list of bold features and claims. This isn’t so much an iterative update as a heavy-hitting shake-up of a tried-and-true recipe.

The TWX9 offers a comfortable listening experience with a generally safe but immersive tuning. Its strength is in the sound staging that presents the music in a tight room setting. The bass instruments are delivered with good intensity yet does not linger too long to sound muddy. This characteristic continues towards midrange, allowing instruments to sound full yet not too ringing. The upper frequencies sit on top of all these meat with sufficient clarity and presence but without exaggerated transparency.That’s not what sets the ATH-TWX9 apart from the crowd, however. That would be the deep-UV sterilisation system built directly into the case. Whenever you place the earbuds in the case, a 70-second sterilisation process begins, with mirrors employed to distribute the light evenly.

That may be true, but this is the first time I’ve ever encountered this particular problem when using Multipoint. Sumptuous sound Simon Cohen / Digital TrendsOne of the finest-sounding earbuds available that have sadly been let down by mediocre ANC and below-average battery life. The highs on both sets of earphones are average and get much better with adjustments. You can add more clarity and crispness to the XM4 but its timbre never reaches the heights that the TWX9 can reach. You can get the XM4 to feel more tall, but the TWX9 brings out more natural detail. Neither set of earphones will give you any harshness though. Summary