Earholes and villains
True wireless earbuds in the style of anime cyborgs tasked with saving Tokyo from the bad guys? Makes perfect sense to us…
God only glows
Audio kit always claims to let you “hear the music as the artist intended”, but here you get to see it too, with the designs using the colours of the Evangelions: the purple Unit-01 (above), red Unit-02 and blue/orange Unit-06.
Serves up
The case contains a chunky 950mah battery that can refuel each bud eight times. Combined with 9hrs of wireless playback that means a total of 63hrs, long enough to watch all 26 episodes plus both movie spinoffs. £199 / stuff.tv/eva2020
■ The EVA2020 x Finals could be the nerdiest earphone collaboration ever, bringing together Japanese personal audio gurus Final and legendary animators Studio Khara to produce a trio of wireless buds based on EVAS – the giant cyborg battle-thingies from anime classic Neon Genesis Evangelion.
■ Final has done an impressive job of translating the EVA styles and colours into earbud form, and we’re delighted not to have to test more boring black blobs of audio. The case looks cool too, if huge, but then it is hiding an absolutely massive battery (see below left).
■ The case might be the size of a cyborg’s gonad but the buds are small, light and delightfully comfortable. We wore them for hours on end without fatigue, something the competition needs to consider more, plus they come with five tip sizes to choose from.
■ Each earbud houses a single dynamic driver serving up precision and scale we’d typically associate with pro in-ear monitors. They’re clean too, with superb instrument separation and detail, but compared to the similar-priced Sony WF-1000XM3S they are lacking in the fun department.
■ Setup and connectivity are solid, and we love that First Lieutenant Maya Ibuki talks us through the pairing process. It’s a sweet touch, even if our early sample was still in Japanese. Control comes from a single button, which needs quite a firm prod to wake up.
Tech specs
Connectivity Bluetooth 5 aptx, USB-C Battery life Up to 9hrs, up to 63hrs with case
Weight 2x 5g, case 78g