Audio-Technica – maker of excellent sound gear ranging from world-class turntables to top-tier affordable headphones – has announced a pair of £79/$79 true wireless earbuds, with a cool design that stands out from all the other basic budget buds. These could definitely be some of the best cheap wireless earbuds for those with an eye for aesthetics.
Available from today, the snappily named Audio-Technica ATH-SQ1TW feature a layered square design in different textures and in really cool colours. You can get them in 'Black', 'White' and 'Popsicle' finishes from multiple retailers, while the Blueberry, Caramel and Cupcake colours are only available directly from audio-technica.com (opens in new tab).
Clockwise, from top left: Black, Popsicle, Cupcake, Blueberry, Caramel, White.
I suspect the square design for earbuds, and the mix of matte with metallic, will mean that not everyone agrees with me that these are an instant design icon, but I love them. Hiding your earbuds is boring – if you're going to wear something, it should say something about you. These offer you a big splash of colours, and mix of tones (even in ones that are a consistent overall colour) is bang on trend – they remind me of Apple's AirPods Max in that sense.
What's inside matters too, of course. There's a 5.8mm driver, which isn't huge for this kind of bud (the driver in Beats Studio Buds is 8.2mm, for comparison), but Audio-Technica's headphones are known for delivering strong, accurate sound for the price, and I'll bet it's the same here. It was only last month we were raving about the sound quality in our Audio-Technica M50xBT2 review, after all.
Also of note is that there's a low-latency mode, which will be welcome for gaming and video, since it helps avoid any delay between what's happening on-screen and when it reaches the earbuds. And the battery life is decent too: 6.5 hours per charge, with two more charges in the case.
The IPX4 rating means that they're splashproof, and should be able to survive a bit of sweat from exercise too.
