Yamaha adds ‘care’ to true wireless

The launch of Yamaha’s new TW-E5B true wireless earbuds on World Hearing Day was no coincidence, rather an opportunity to highlight the ‘listening care’ technology built in. A WHO report published in 2019 estimates that more than a billion young people are at risk of developing avoidable permanent hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices. Yamaha notes that many earbud users turn up the volume excessively to compensate for a perceived lack of high and low frequencies when listening to music at low volumes. So, “Yamaha Listening Care balances the difficult-to-hear high and low frequencies,” says the company, “so that the original balance of the music is maintained... even at a lower volume without having to turn up the volume excessively.” This ‘intelligent equalisation’ at any volume supports safer listening, it says.

But there’s more to the

TW-E5B than smart sound; the earbuds aim to improve midrange and high-frequency performance by having the

7mm driver unit and nozzle placed on the same axis as the sound conduit into the ear, while to improve low frequencies Yamaha has ported the back chamber to control the back pressure generated from the driver. The result, says the company, is a rich low range with a three-dimensional feel.

The all-essential elements of fitting and comfort have also been addressed by a housing design with an ‘edge’ to better fit the ear canal, while the oval shape of the earbuds allows the user to rotate them. Four sizes of ear-tips are provided, and the earbuds are IPX5 water- and sweat-resistant.

Their controls handle music playback, Siri/ Google Assistant activation, and phone calls, for which they feature Qualcomm cVc and highperformance MEMS microphones in both earbuds. Battery life is quoted at 8.5 hours for the buds alone, another 21.5 hours from the case. An app provides custom EQ and other functionality.

All this at an attractive price: the TW-E5Bs have an RRP of $199, in a choice of these four colours.

More info: au.yamaha.com