AUDIO TECHNICA ATH- CKS5TW
True to Audio Technica's design aesthetic, the ATHCKS5TW is a futuristic-looking pair of true wireless earbuds that feature a mix of matte plastic and shiny accents. There's a single control button on each earbud towards the top, and these handle your usual playback controls, and they're large enough to reach just by feel.
As with most headphones these days, the ATH-CKS5TW also comes with a companion app. However, the app doesn't allow you to customise controls in any way besides flipping the side they’re on. (I.e. shifting volume controls to the right and playback to the left). You can also choose to prioritise between AAC and SBC, but that’s generally well handled by leaving it on the “auto” setting.
The ATH-CKS5TW comes with four sets of replaceable ear tips of varying sizes and wingtips that you can use to adjust position once it's in your ear. The carrying/ charging case is on the long side, so you probably won't be fitting that into your pocket. What you get in return for that inconvenience though, is battery life. The ATH-CKS5TW gives you a whopping 15 hours of playback on a single charge, with the case providing two more charges for a total of 45 hours!
The first thing that stood out in our audio test was how much we had to push up the volume to get the details expected. Overall, audio has a bit more bass than Audio Technica's usual neutral sound, but this is well controlled and not bloomy. For example, on a recording of the acoustic version of Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven, we could physically feel the bass line, though this was a little leaner than we'd like.
Moving to a recording of Technologic by Daft Punk gave the earbuds a chance to show off how they handle faster moving tracks. The earbuds do well on this, bringing good energy to the performance. However, the stereo imaging left us wanting as we thought the track should envelope us more.
Finishing off with a recording of Rebecca Pidgeon’s Spanish Harlem showed off the earbuds' bias towards the upper mids, as Pidgeon's vocals are imaged forward of the backing instruments. There's good weight to vocals with these earbuds, but you won't get the widest soundstage here.
As the name implies, the Creative Outlier Gold are gold earbuds that come with a gold charging case. The aluminium case has been given a matte metallic finish, but in the hands the package feels more plastic than metal because there isn't that corresponding heft. However we must say it's very functional – you get individual indicators to which earbud is charging, if the case itself is low on charge, and if the case is charging.
Battery life is also a strong suit for the Outlier Gold; capable of up to 14 hours on a single charge, with the case bringing that total up to 39 hours. The Outlier Gold also comes with replaceable ear tips for a better fit, and that’s important because they can fit pretty deep into your ears, giving you a strong passive seal.
Creative added microphones in both earbuds, and you can use one to make calls while leaving the other in the case. Used this way, the main controls will be assigned to the active earbud, so you can still have control over playback. Perhaps the most unique feature though, is the Outlier
Gold’s support for softwarebased Super X-Fi audio. That’s Creative’s version of 3D sound, and this works fairly impressively, with the caveat that you're limited to using Creative's app for playback, and only on local files, so you’re out of luck if you listen via a streaming service like Spotify.
Because our testing was done through a single app for consistency, this meant that the following observations were based on the Outlier Gold’s base audio characteristics without Super X-Fi enhancements. On Macy Gray’s Beauty in the World, and the Outlier Gold impressed with its robust bass response. Gray’s backup singers are clapping the percussion line through this piece and the earbuds render this with good naturalness.
Johnny Frigo's I love Paris gave the Outlier Gold a chance to show off how it does on faster tracks. There's decent separation between the violin, cymbals and the various strings at play too, so you can almost picture all the instruments at play. Paradise City by the Guns N' Roses led us to conclude that the sweet spot for these earbuds is from the midrange to the upper bass. The highs lacked that bit of sparkle to be really engaging, and the performance doesn't feel as immersive as what we got from the top earbuds in this shootout.