We're giving away a pair of these absolute beauties.
Ever since Apple released their AirPods a couple of years ago, we’ve seen a serious upward trend for true wireless earbuds with a slew of brands joining the party, innovating and packing more and more features into these relatively small buds.
And now Yamaha – one of the world’s largest music instrument and home audio manufacturers – have cemented their place as a frontrunner in the wireless headphone market with their line of wireless headphones with adaptive technologies and True Sound, launched earlier this year.
With eight new models to choose from, ranging from wireless earbuds including true wireless, to active noise-cancelling over-ear headphones, we picked up the TW-E3A True Wireless In-Ear Headphones, and they did not disappoint.
Priced at $180, the quality is seriously impressive, placing them – in our eyes – as being some of the best headphones you can get for under $200, especially when they deliver numerous advantages over more expensive brands on the market.
Upon unboxing the TW-E3A, you’ll be pleased with the pocket-sized carrying case. Opting for compact and practical, the case has enough room for just the two ear-buds and doesn’t go overboard on the flashy features – simply just sculpted nests fitted with magnets that snap the buds into place with a satisfying click. This is a nice change from the generously chunky boxes other company’s offer. If you’re like me and are someone that’s always on the go, you want something petite that you can just throw in your hand bag or mini backpack without a second thought.
Looking to the design, these little babies are subtly brilliant. The buds themselves are among the smallest and the lightest I’ve used (sitting at 6.3 grams) but it’s the modest and unpretentious design that captured my attention immediately. I wouldn’t quite say you can forget you’re wearing them, but these aren’t too far away from the feathery ease of wear of other lightweight brands. Personally, I like the modesty of black headphones, but you can also get these in dusty shades of pink, blue and white.
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Usually seating earbuds into my ears is a bit of a fiddly task, due to my particularly small ears but these buds and their mindlessly simple rounded shape just slot in quite nicely, without the need to pay serious attention to getting them in and out. There are also the various sizes of in-ear tips that allow a far more customizable fit than other in-ear products on market, a feature that will be enjoyed by those that struggle keeping their earphones from falling out or fitting correctly. With no sense of lack of security, these earbuds are designed for comfort all round and trust me on this one, they deliver in spades.
The pairing was done with ease but I’ll admit the unique controls took me a little bit to figure out. Once you’ve got the hang of it though, you’re on quality earphone cloud 9. Raising the volume requires a double tap on the right ear, lowering the volume is a double tap on the left earbud and skipping a song is holding down the function key on the right for two seconds – any less and you’ll pause the track and any longer and you’ll turn it off. Its voice assistance feature makes up for any frustrations though, so Siri has your back.
Of course, it isn’t all about how they look and how they feel. While again I remind you, they look pretty snazzy, the real thing to pay attention to with these earbuds is how they sound because that is why we are here. And I can truly say they sound spot on. The sound quality is undeniably good, with a vibrant, lively character and well-balanced soundstage.
A big part of getting their sound right comes from the inclusion of Listening Care, a technology that allows listeners to hear the full-range sound – from high to low frequencies – even at low volume settings. Essentially, this overcomes a challenge faced by typical headphones, where low volume listening goes hand-in-hand with a pronounced reduction to certain frequency ranges, resulting in listeners cranking up the volume to levels that may affect hearing health, which let’s be honest, it’s great. The Listening Care feature solves for this, encouraging lower volume listening by intelligently adjusting sound frequencies to maintain the full-range sound. Pretty cool right?
While the product doesn’t offer active noise cancelling, I’m super stoked to report that these earphones offer a better experience than any others I’ve used this past year. In a year where working from home has meant working alongside housemates, these earbuds offered a full listening experience free of distractions – to the point my housemates have to tap me on the shoulder to say anything. Perhaps it’s party due to their snug fit and listening care feature, regardless, it’s definitely a win.
As someone who wears earphones all day, every day, the ability to answer calls and have a crystal clear conversation with someone without the need to apologise for my headphones has the Yamaha TW-E3A earning serious brownie points too. The battery life is another win. Designed to fulfil the needs of a music lovers’ day, the usage time has a maximum of 24 hours, with six hours and three recharges in the case. Charging time will take about two hours, but I actually found the buds lasted a little bit longer than expected anyway – and as someone who listens to music from 9-5, this was a massive relief. There really is nothing worse than that little voice screaming ‘low battery, please charge’ when you’re only halfway through your day.
TL;DR
These babies are a steal from Yamaha. They raise the bar for what can be expected of true wireless earphones, both in terms of sound quality, battery endurance and a relatively affordable price. I’d never considered Yamaha a leader in headphone manufacturing before this, but if you’re someone who can appreciate better-sounding music, listening care for your health and features like hands-free Hey Siri, then we recommend giving Yamaha a chance.
So keen to score pair? We’ve teamed up with Yamaha and we’re giving away a pair of the TW-E3A True Wireless In-Ear Headphones, worth $179.
All you need to do is fill in the form below to be in the running. You’ve got to be in it to win it.
Competition closes Monday January 4. By entering, you agree to receive marketing collateral from Forte and competition partners. For more info, check out our privacy policy.
For more information, visit Yamaha.
