“…for the ATH TWX9, they should have focused on the Audio rather than the Technica…”

Build Quality and Design

The first thing that strikes you about these earbuds is the unique soft texture and stylish shape of the case. The soft touch reminds us a little of the Jabra active series, but it’s otherwise quite unique. The subtle Audio Technica logo and those 5 fancy LED lights make QUITE the first impression. The shape of this case reminds us of the Cleer Scene speaker we’ve reviewed on this channel. And my wife said it reminded her of a ladies’ purse. Unfortunately this purse probably needs a purse rather than a pocket, since it’s a bit big at the thickest end.

The materials do make us wonder how this case will age or deal with the elements.

In the box you get 12 different sizes of tips! No not 12 tips for width, but different widths AND different lengths for the right levels of audio immersion via insertion. We like the attention to detail – and this is rather unique. After the box and case, come the buds and these buds – there’s something EXTREMELY appealing about them. Flaunting a glossy yet understated design in this particular black variant we’ve got. They also boast something we’ve only seen on the Status Between 3ANC – a real-life pressable button! AND a touch surface. And as if that’s not enough – you can change how sensitive that touch surface is. We found ‘medium’ worked best for us. And after fitting it in the ears, if you wanna get fit and then fit into those new clothes, you can workout in these. These buds will resist some sweat at IPX4, maybe just don’t throw dust at them.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯🛒 Links For Latest Prices⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯
🎧 Buy the Audio Technica ATH-TWX9
⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯

App and Extras

Where the old world audio companies or audiophile companies usually fail is getting the basics right with true wireless earbuds. So things like performance, customizability and extra features. Let’s start with the ‘Connect’ app. Because it deserves more than a passing mention. Man have Audio Technica got their app situation right! Who’s their software provider and how can we get our apps built by them? The app lets you do anything you want. To the earbuds. Every touch and press is changeable. On the earbuds.

The advantage of having a button and a touch control surface on each of the buds is that you basically get twice as many options to control your audio. I mean there are only so many things you can do with audio. Whether it’s volume control, ANC control, media control, call controls – the options are out of control. What’s a bit lame about this app is that it kind of ties to one phone. So if you’re using two phones, you can use the app only on one phone and you get THIS error message instead. I suppose Audio Technica’s trying to pre-empt any connectivity issues. And this is only a problem if you forget that first device at home. But I actually did that – and I basically could not access the app anymore.

And except for a hearing test, there isn’t a single ‘smart feature’ we think these buds are missing. An in-ear sensor for playing and pausing music, all the assistants your heart could desire. Note that the box mentions Alexa only, but Audio Technica’s released a firmware update to include Google’s Assistant too. With Snapdragon sound, you also get a bunch of free goodies like a low latency mode. You can also change the balance of the earbuds if your left and right ear aren’t equally capable. You get battery levels of the case and each earbud. You get to see exactly which codec is active. You also get a reliable multipoint feature with simultaneous connection to upto two devices and a FULL device list in the app. You can use this list to connect and disconnect from a device or pair to a new device too. To go a step further, you can also choose if one of these devices is not used for media or calls. On the pairing though – if you wanna pair without that app, we thought the gesture was a bit convoluted. Place the buds in the case, close the case, take the buds out of the case and long press the touch control for about 4 seconds. In our testing this was hit or miss and we definitely struggled with it several times.

Comfort and Fit

These buds are also really comfortable for us using the default tips. But we’d bet that these would be comfortable for you too! Especially given the relatively small nozzle size and large collection of tips in the box. We did feel after a while that we needed a break because the seal was really good.

Microphones

Here are some microphone samples to see how these do on phone calls.

[mic samples]

All right the tests are one thing and you can take a listen to the longer samples as a YouTube member or Patron. But what we really noticed is that higher pitched sounds are a BIG problem. I remember I was chewing tomatoes when we were on a call and Rohan said it sounded like someone using a hacksaw to saw through bone. And when I used a paper bag, I got told off by someone I was speaking to about it being too loud.

In quiet conditions, these are perfectly usable, but overall, the volume of my voice was like half the volume of something like the Technics AZ80. Back to the tests, you could hear the background noises like those whooshing cars, but the mics still picked up Rohan’s voice. In windy conditions, you’re taking a gamble. There were no high pitched sounds in the samples – but like we said, those are a nightmare.

But these buds are a vakman’s dream! You can configure these buds to control volume, mute and the ability to change ANC modes. Oh and you get sidetone too – so that you can hear your own voice when speaking instead of feeling like you’re hearing it through your skull.

ANC and Transparency

What about preventing noises getting into your skull? Well we’ll start with a downer – switching between ANC and Transparency modes takes a good 3.5 seconds with your audio pausing for that length of time. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but even el cheapo earbuds from 3 years ago could do this better.

And that ANC… for the ATH TWX9, they should have focused on the Audio rather than the Technica. First off – they’ve tried to do too much, but it almost feels like they’re compensating for something because they couldn’t get the basics right. Let us explain. Instead of a mild, moderate, strong setting or a slider, you get a bunch of different profiles that you manually have to choose from for noise cancelling. So things like: Airplane, Office, Home and an ‘optimised’ setting. It’s not clear which ones are doing what. You’d think that optimised would you know… optimise for the situation you’re in. What most other buds call ‘adaptive’ or ‘smart’ ANC.

But you would be wrong! You optimise by running a calibration that takes a good 17 seconds of your valuable life. And don’t you dare change location – because you’ve optimised for one place and one type of condition. So for example – if you’ve optimised when you’re at home, that same optimisation will be used when you’re in a crowded street. We can see why they didn’t call it ‘smart’. It’s all quite dumb.

And remember we said they should have focused on the Audio rather than the Technica? Well – the performance of the ANC itself is quite middle of the road. We put it at Tier C. Which ain’t great if you want to eliminate the most sound. And the transparency fares a bit better at Tier B. You get 5 levels of transparency and thankfully you don’t need to wait 4 seconds to switch between them. But we found that although the levels were ok, the quality of the sound being let in was very muffled and missed the sparkle to give you that sense of not wearing earbuds at all.

Charging and Battery Life

Also these might be the only buds here that don’t have quick charging. You get USB C type and wireless charging, which is nice. And while on charging. The battery life. Sigh. We got a measly 5 hours and 14 minutes with ANC on our BRAND new unit. As opposed to the advertised 6 hours. That degradation isn’t going to look good over time. You’ll get just about two additional charges from the case.

Sound Quality

You know with Audio being the first thing in your brand name, you better make sure your technica is upto it. And on paper. Yes. The AGTXWIZH9 covers all the basics. You get SBC, AAC, APTX and APTX Adaptive. So you’re covered on most devices. And not only inspiration from Sony’s brand name strategy, Audio Technica also uses Sony’s 360 audio tech. Not Sony’s LDAC though. Hmm…

One of the best things we like about these buds is that you can change how granular your volume control is. We don’t understand why audiophiles talk about little peaks and dips in the frequency response, but not fine grained volume control. That killer Audio Technica app can configure the volume control range between 16, 32 and 64 steps. The only catch? You’re going to have to do it from the buds or the app itself. Using volume keys on your phone will still use the system volume jumps.

And when it comes to sound – well we said these are pretty good, but there are a couple of butts. The stock tuning is actually two tunings – one with ANC off and one with ANC enabled. Enabling ANC gives you a bit of a V shape. And going to ‘off’ gives you a bit of a flat shape. Overall – as you’d expect from Audio Technica – these buds sound pretty GREAT. For me, I had to boost the treble a bit, starting with the EQ Treble boost and that sounded lovely to my ears. John Mayer’s ‘Gravity’ sounded fantastic. Especially John’s voice and opening licks are on point. The timbre’s on point as well, there’s no weird metallic element to his voice. If anything I think these lack a little bit of sub-bass. And while the treble isn’t a planar kinda treble, I find that it can go far enough without breaking down into a fizzy mess using the EQ. At lower volumes, it doesn’t really stand out in terms of sound. We won’t put it in Tier S for sound due to the edge it loses with sub-bass, but other than that – there’s really not much we can fault about these buds for sound. An easy Tier A.

Future-proofing and repairability

In terms of sustainability, Audio Technica as a company does have policies around its processes. The box mentions reduced plastic packaging and you do notice a lot of paper being used. But other than that we couldn’t really find anything specific about these buds in terms of sustainability. If you do know anything let us know in the comments down below?

Conclusion

So who’s the Audio Technica ATH TWX9 for? For the audiotechnica-ophiles. Someone looking for unique but subtle looking buds that sound great and can be customized till the cows come home. But are they really worth all that money? Well – depends – what do you really value?

To see how these stack up to other premium buds, stay subscribed. We have a video coming up on that very soon!

And thanks to our YouTube members and Patrons that help us afford expensive true wireless earbuds like these. Buying these products costs us a lot of money, and as a policy, we don’t accept money from brands whose products we review. So thank YOU for being our real sponsors.

You’ve been ACHOO TWX9… Bless you TWX9!…and we’ve been DHRME…Namaste!