- New Magnetic Switch to turn the earbuds on and off without the case
- Up to 65 hours of battery life with ANC off
- £125 / €149 / $149
If you’re looking for earbuds to wear on a mission to space, Audio-Technica have just the things: their new ATH-CKS50TW earbuds have an extraordinary 65-hour battery life in total, which is just about long enough to fly to the moon. That makes my AirPods Pro 2 look pretty feeble.
The buds’ own batteries deliver 25 hours of continuous playback, and the charging case adds another 40. Those figures are with active noise cancelling (ANC) off, but with ANC enabled the numbers are still astounding: 15 hours from the buds and a further 25 from the case.
Again, for comparison, the AirPods Pro 2 give you six hours from the buds alone. The Sony WF-1000XM5 give you eight hours. Audio-Technica’s new earbuds absolutely crush any of the best earbuds in this measure.
Audio-Technica ATH-CKS50TW2: key features and pricing
The icing on the long-lasting cake is that the new earbuds will cost only $149 / £125 (about AU$260).
One of the more unusual new features here is a magnetic switch, which powers the buds on or off by separating or joining their built-in magnets. The idea is to be able to turn off the buds without having to pop them in the case, although I’m not sure there are many people who’ve been cursing the tyranny of charging cases. It’s nice to have the option, though.
The case is also compatible with Qi wireless chargers, which is somewhat rare among affordable earbuds – you don’t get it from the Sony WF-C710N or the Nothing Ear (a) for example.
The earbuds feature hybrid ANC with hear-through and talk-through modes, Bluetooth LE Audio with the more advanced LC3 codec, custom-designed 9mm drivers with extended low-end response, and hybrid hard and soft silicone ear tips. They’re waterproof and dustproof, rated IP55.
The specs and the battery specs in particular are impressive, but it’s worth noting that Audio-Technica has had a few issues with earbud batteries in the past: its SQ1TW2 wireless earphones had a faulty batch that overheated and even produced smoke, and there has also been a recall of the charging case for the ATH-CK3TW earbuds – again due to overheating.
So while I’m glad to see game-changing battery life, if A-T is pushing the limits of battery tech here you might want to keep an eye out for any recalls, just in case. (No pun intended.)
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