Despite their convenience, TWS earphones may not be ideal for those who engage in sporting activities as they do not always provide a secure fit. Yamaha is solving this problem with its premium TW-ES5A earbuds. Marketed as sports-focused earphones, these buds promise to provide a secure and comfortable fit, allowing you to focus on your activity without worrying about the earbuds coming loose. In this review, we’ll take a closer look at the Yamaha TW-ES5A earbuds and determine whether they live up to their claims. So let’s dive in!
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- The design of the Yamaha TW-ES5A is unconventional. The case resembles a miniature briefcase, which isn’t very pocketable. The case is made of soft plastic that is prone to scratches and opens to reveal the earbuds from inside. Unfortunately, the opening and closing mechanism of the case is not very satisfactory, and the lid is also loose. Yamaha TW-ES5A comes in five color options. I got the turquoise color variant for review, which got stains easily.
- The Yamaha TW-ES5A earbuds, just like the case, sport a bulky design. However, the glossy outer shell with dual-tone finish and matte black facing ear tips add a touch of elegance. The earbuds don’t have touch controls. Instead, they sport three physical buttons, one of which is located on the left bud and the rest on the right. The right bud button allows volume control to skip to the next or previous track, while the left bud button is used to pause or play a track and enable/disable ambient listening mode. Although the controls are easy to use, the buttons themselves can be uncomfortable to press for an extended period of time or repeatedly, as they tend to dig into your skin. Furthermore, these buttons can’t be mapped to anything else via the companion headphone control app. The buds also have LED lights that switch between red and blue to indicate charge and pairing status.
- Be that as it may, the Yamaha TW-ES5A earbuds offer a solid in-ear fit that will stay put no matter what activity you indulge in. The buds come with a variety of fins and ear tips to fit most ear canals. They’re straightforward to replace and soft enough not to cause discomfort, even for first-time users of fin-style TWS earbuds. The buds are IPX7 rated, which means they can withstand heavy sweating and even rain, but not dust. All said and done, the Yamaha earbuds may not be a discrete option as they protrude quite far from the ears due to their bulky design. Additionally, some people may find the 7.9 g weight of each bud a bit taxing for prolonged wear. But, on the upside, the Yamaha earphones offer excellent battery life.
- The TW-ES5A lasted a pretty long time for me on a single charge. I primarily used the earbuds during my gym workouts and only saw a 10-12 percent battery drop after listening to music in ambient listening mode for about an hour. I believe the buds will last close to the claimed 9 hours of playtime without a charge. The case of the earbuds is rated to provide up to 25 hours of backup, and features a Type-C charging port that supports Quick Charge functionality. With just 10 minutes of charge, you can enjoy an additional hour of playback time. The front of the case houses LED lights in the lower lip for the battery indicator. They light up when you plug in the case to charge or put the earphones back in.
- Moving on, the Yamaha TW-ES5A pairing mechanism is not like any other TWS earphones as there is no pairing button on the case. To enable pairing the earbuds must be out of the case and blinking red (if they are blinking blue, press and hold the power and volume up buttons on the buds until the light turns red ). However, keep in mind that the earbuds can only be paired and connected to one device at a time. Unfortunately, there’s no multipoint Bluetooth pairing available with these earbuds, which means they can’t pair with multiple devices and automatically switch between them. TWS earbuds in this price range are expected to have multipoint functionality, but the Yamaha TW-ES5A earbuds are not your ordinary earphones. They are specially designed for fitness enthusiasts who usually do not own multiple devices. In terms of the earbuds’ Bluetooth range, it’s decent, but the occasional sound stuttered and cut out even when my iPhone was a few meters away. Also, every time I used them to answer a call the earphones would reconnect with the smartphone and this caused a delay of 3-4 seconds, which was quite frustrating.
- Answering calls on the Yamaha TW-ES5A is good, if not great. The button on the left bud can be used to answer an incoming call without reaching for the smartphone. The audio quality is good and the sound does not sound muffled. However, the earbuds’ microphones are underwhelming in slightly noisy environments, despite Qualcomm’s cVc (Clear Voice Capture) technology, which suppresses noise and cancels echoes for easier communication with callers. The bottom line is that the Yamaha TW-ES5A earbuds are a dependable option for answering and receiving calls in a quiet setting.
- Coming to the meat of the matter, the audio quality. The Yamaha TW-ES5A buds feature 6mm dynamic drivers and come with support for the popular SBC, AAC, and Qualcomm aptX codecs. The pair sounds flat out of the box as there’s no thumping bass that some may prefer. Even after adjusting the equalizer (EQ) settings through the compatible Headphone Control app, the bass remained heavy. This could be due to the small size of the earbuds’ drivers. The buds don’t have active noise cancellation (ANC), which is understandable since they’re aimed at fitness enthusiasts who need situational awareness while working out. Instead, the TW-ES5A features Ambient Sound Mode, which reduces external noise to provide a more immersive listening experience. It is quite effective and you get better sound quality from earbuds. I listened to Charlie Puth and Jung Kook’s Left and Right on medium to high volume during one of my gym workouts and felt that the vocals and guitars of the song sounded good. However, low-frequency sounds such as the sound of the drums were muffled more than they should have been. It was the same with other songs like IKKY and Shubh’s “Bowler,” Queen’s “Now I’m Here,” and Ankur Tiwari and Prateek Kuhad’s “Dil Beparwah,” where the mids and highs were balanced, but the lows weren’t that much. effective.
- The Yamaha TW-ES5A also features Advanced Listening Care, which optimizes sound for an enhanced listening experience even at low volumes, thereby promoting long-term listening health. The feature can be toggled on/off by pressing the power button on the left bud, or via the Double Headphone Control app. Coming to the app, it has a user-friendly UI and works smoothly. The only inconvenience I experienced was that on iOS devices, the app doesn’t automatically connect to the earphones, requiring a manual connection each time it’s launched.
Decision
With everything said and done, the Yamaha TW-ES5A doesn’t come cheap. The earbuds are currently selling in India with a sticker price of Rs 15,440. This puts them in direct competition with other popular options in the same price range, such as the Sony WF-1000XM4 (Review) and the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 2, both of which feature active noise cancellation (ANC). The Samsung TWS earbuds feature large 10mm drivers and a sturdy design similar to the Yamaha earbuds. Be that as it may, the Yamaha TW-ES5A offers a secure fit and solid battery life, which can be difficult to find in other TWS earbuds. Their sound quality may leave you wanting more, but otherwise, the earbuds appear to be a good buy for active users.
Editor’s rating: 3.5 / 5
pros
- sweat and water resistant
- secure fit
- impressive battery life
- call quality is good
Shortcoming
- heavy design
- fastidious connectivity
- treasured
