This Lypertek Pureplay Z5 review will help you decide whether these wireless earbuds are right for you, or not.
To sum things up, these are some of the best cheap headphones you can buy because they give you lots of manual control over the sound and they even let you adjust the touch controls.
As well as being the first true wireless earbuds by Lypertek with noise-cancelling, these are the first that use the PureControl ANC smartphone app.
Not only does it let you switch between noise-cancelling modes but PureControl ANC also gives you a 7-band equaliser, 9 preset sound modes and Lypertek’s own LDX sound profile. You don’t always get this much control, even when it comes to the best true wireless earbuds.
Lypertek Pureplay Z5 review: price and availability
You can buy the Lypertek Pureplay Z5 now for $129 in the US and £119 in the UK, they're not currently on sale in Australia. Take a look at the widgets on this page to see where.
Lypertek Pureplay Z5 review: design and fit
The Lypertek Pureplay Z5 wireless earbuds are discreet with a short danging stem and a small silver circle with a Lypertek logo on the outside of each bud. You can only buy them in black but they look smart, the design isn't that different to Apple AirPods Pro.
Because they’re made entirely from plastic, these wireless earbuds don’t look as premium as some others do at this price, but they do seem to be quite durable and I’d imagine they won’t be easily damaged. They’re also IPX4 rated so they’ll withstand light splashes of rain but I wouldn’t wear them in a storm.
They come in a matching pill-box shaped charging case that has a tiny LED light on the front to show you their connection status.
Comfort-wise, these will stay put and you’ll forget they’re in even there because they’re so light. To find the right fit they come with eight different silicone tips and three sizes of foam ear tips, which gives you a lot more options than most other wireless earbuds do.
You can adjust the music using the touch controls on the surface of each earbud. Tap once to pause or play the music, twice to skip through tracks and hold them down to switch between ANC modes. When you tap and hold the touchpad you can call upon your smartphone's voice assistant as well. If those gestures aren’t what you’d expect you can change them through the PureControl ANC smartphone app, available for both iOS and Android.
The only downfall is how sensitive the controls are, I could brush my hand past them and the music would stop, something that could get annoying, especially during workouts. Luckily, you can switch to the Safe control layout which makes this less likely to happen.
From a single charge, the earbuds will last for about 7 hours of music with ANC switched off or 4 hours with it switched on. That's fine but there are definitely earbuds out there that do it better like the Philips Fidelio T1 which can go for up to 13 hours.
Thanks to the charging case, you’ll get about 35 hours of music in total, as long as you keep the noise-cancelling turned off. When it does run out, you can recharge the case wirelessly, or if you plug them in, a quick 15-minute charge will give you about 2 hours of music.
Lypertek Pureplay Z5 review: sound and features
The sound quality on the Lypertek Pureplay Z5 is great - it’s powered by 10mm dynamic drivers. Whichever type of music I played, it came out clear and crisp although it does lack bass on the default settings which in turn makes the treble sound a little overemphasised. Luckily though, there are manual equaliser settings in the app to adjust it, as well as loads of presets including Bass Boost, Podcast, Gaming and Movies.
There’s also an LDX sound profile that switches off your manual equaliser and boosts the audio in a way that best suits the Lypertek Pureplay Z5 earbuds. For the most part, I thought it sounded better than the majority of the ready-made presets so I stuck to that when I was using them.
When you switch the ANC on, the audio becomes much more focused and clear, although admittedly it doesn’t do a great job of cutting out distracting noise from the outside world. I could still hear the wind from a storm and my keyboard taps very clearly.
You’ll also get an Ambient mode which lets you hear the world around you, like if someone starts chatting to you in a shop or if you need to hear traffic noise while out on a walk. It automatically gets switched on when you pause the music.
Anyone who is prone to misplacing their headphones will be pleased to hear that these have a Find My Earbuds feature which shows you on a map where they were last connected to your phone. Handy!
Each earbud has three microphones with echo cancellation and noise suppression. I made a few calls with these in and the people on the other end had no problem understanding me but they did find that my voice was slightly muffled and the levels were quite up and down.
You can rely on these to deliver a strong connection thanks to Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity with SBC, aptX, aptX Adaptive and AAC codes.
Lypertek Pureplay Z5 review: verdict
If you want good sound and lots of manual control then I’d recommend the Lypertek Pureplay Z5. Not only can you adjust the audio to suit your own style but you can also adjust the touch controls according to what feels natural to you.
One of the best features here is the fact that they come with so many ear tips in the box, you'll easily be able to find the right fit for you, which means you'll be able to wear them for hours, at any time of day and for most types of activity.
The only major downside is the ANC which isn’t particularly effective, but in saying that, these earbuds still manage to block out some noise from the world around you so you can stay focused on the music to some extent.
Lypertek Pureplay Z5 review: also consider
If you're on a budget the best wireless earbuds are the Panasonic RZ-S500W because they sound incredible, the noise-cancelling is super effective and there are loads of extra features to try out.
Another feature-heavy pair of wireless earbuds to consider are the Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen) - if you use Alexa at home then they'll give you another way to speak to her hands-free. Control your smart home, ask for the weather or change the song just by using the wake word 'Alexa'.
