Classic American audio brand Klipsch is an iconic manufacturer of some of the best loudspeakers of the vinyl era. The brand is known for leaving the expensive stuff to smaller boutique brands and instead prides itself on making products that serve up a retro design and a premium listening experience at great prices.
The company recently launched its first truly wireless earbuds, the Klipsch T5 True Wireless. The T5’s are premium wireless buds, but just other Klipsch products, they aren’t designed to be shown off as status symbols.
The combination of impressive sound, excellent 8-hour battery life, and eye-catching style makes them well worth the $40 premium you’ll pay over Apple’s AirPods.
Design
The T5’s boast an impressive design, and come with a beautiful metallic wireless charging case. The brushed metal job makes the case look like a fat Zippo lighter.
The case is quite hefty and feels as heavy as a paperweight. Snapping it open is super satisfying – it has a weighty lid that pops up to reveal the premium earbuds inside.
Although the case boasts a sturdy build, the finishing is delicate. Casual use will scratch the surface of the case, so be wary that the case will attract scratches and won’t look sterling over time.
Despite its stout characteristics and physical weight, the case is small enough to fit perfectly in most pockets.
The ergonomic rounded edges help you remain comfortable when you’re walking around.
The earbuds feature the same compact and ear-filling style you will see in other premium earbuds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds and Jabra’s Elite Active 65t earbuds.
It looks like manufacturers are forgoing bulky earpieces, and the AirPods’ golf-tee design is going out of fashion.
The Klipsch T5 are black in-ears that feature Klipsch’s signature copper accents and logo on the caps.
The logo and accents give the earbuds a unique look that differentiates itself from other models in two significant ways.
First, they feature long and slender acoustic tubes to carry the sound to your ears, which allows the outer part of the housings to sit at the very center of your ears exceptionally comfortably.
Second, the earbuds have oval-shaped tips that snap on (there are three sizes in the box), making for a great seal, especially for those that have smaller ear canals.
Features
Apart from their stylish design, the Klipsch T5’s distinguish themselves with features like the excellent battery life and waterproof design.
The earbuds deliver 8 hours of use per charge, and sport a claimed 24 hours reserve battery in the charging case. The battery life puts them up with the best on the market, including Apple’s much larger and pricier PowerBeats Pro that offers 9 hours of use per charge.
Unlike Apple’s Powerbeats Pro, the T5’s don’t come with earfins or ear hooks that keep them secure in your ears during workouts. However, the snug fit mitigates much of this need.
The IPX4 water-resistance rating makes them capable of resisting rain and sweat better than the AirPods. Having waterproof earbuds is not only great for when you hit the gym but also super helpful if you wish to take them out in bad weather.
The two physical buttons under the Klipsch logos on each side of the buds furnish intuitive controls.
When both the earbuds are in your ears, pressing the left earphone will pull up your voice assistant, and pressing the right earphone will play or pause the music.
Double presses on the left or the right earphone will skip to the previous or the next song, whereas long-pressing the left or right earphone lower or raise volume, respectively.
You can also use the earbuds independently, and the controls will change when you do.
A single press will play or pause the music, and a long press will pull up the voice assistant. To change the volume, though, you’ll either have to grab your phone or ask the voice assistant.
The designs of these earbuds are to work great on calls – they have four microphones that pick up your voice accurately and transmit them as clearly as possible.
Even if you work in a relatively noisy workspace, you shouldn’t have a problem getting through to your caller.
They may add more features and functionalities to the headsets via the Klipsch T5 Connect app in July 2020. The company claims the app will allow adjusting the equalizer on the earphones and upgrade the firmware on the earbuds.
The only minor issue that one can encounter with these earbuds is the pairing system. The T5’s do not have a very intuitive process for connecting to them via Bluetooth.
To pair to them, you must open the case and press the button on the right earbud three times. However, the issue is that the button pressing is relatively quick to activate pairing mode.
Your device may ask you to pair with both buds, but in case you only want to pair with one, you will need to disconnect the other one separately.
The good thing is that they reconnect to your phone or other devices instantly once paired, and connection issues are rare.
Sound Quality
The T5 True Wireless earbuds boast impressive sound quality and are worth the price they come for.
They don’t take the top spot, however, and the Sennheiser Momentum in-ears are far better sounding (and also much more expensive). Nonetheless, the sound is excellent.
The earbuds feature a gorgeous amount of fidelity in the lower tones. Bass-heavy music sounds fantastic on these earbuds, and they maintain a crisp thump rather than a rubbery bass response.
You can hear each lower percussion instrument or bass sound occupying its own musical space.
Sound is equally impressive in the midrange – whether its guitars, keyboards, and other rhythm instruments. They offer clarity much better than the AirPods, as well as the Jabra Elite Active 65t.
These Klipsch T5 earbuds are formidable competitors to Apple’s AirPods and the PowerBeats Pro, although the PowerBeats Pro earbuds have slightly more definition in its sound.
Bottom Line
Klipsch’s T5 True Wireless earbuds are a compelling entry into the “truly wireless” earphone market. They offer excellent sound quality, and premium looks at an excellent price, and there are very few models on the market that match up.
