The Aonic 50 Gen 2 isn’t perfect. You can look toward more notable brands if your conditions include a slice of perfection in your headphones. But it’s got loads to offer for folks looking for an alternative to the same old faces scrabbling for a space at the top of the audiophile audio pile.

Built to beat expectations

One thing a newcomer has to do is look the part. That’s something the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 manages effectively. The build, from the sturdy earcups to the stubby curve sections connecting the whole to the padded headband, doesn’t necessarily scream ‘quality’ but it’s certainly talking at the top of its lungs. Seriously, it’s all very premium, right down to the physical buttons on the right-hand earcup that will do most of the controlling for you. Or you could use the app but who’s got time to fire up a smartphone every time they need to skip a track?

The Aonic 50 Gen 2’s right cup has a USB-C port, a button for setting up Bluetooth 5.2 connections, and then a main rocker that handles everything from answering (and rejecting) calls, playing and pausing tracks, and adjusting volume. You’ll figure all of this out in minutes and we don’t have to explain it here, but it’s important to note that the Bluetooth button is multifunction too. By default, it also controls noise cancellation, if you need it physically present on your cans, but this function can be altered via Shure’s app. It’ll shunt your ANC options to the app but gives you more freedom when using the headphones in public.

Using a physical button on something mounted on your skull can be a hit-and-miss affair, especially when the button is operated via a stabbing motion. Some companies overcome this by opting instead for touch controls. Shure simply ensures that these are seriously clamped onto the top of your dome. Sure, you can tear them off but it’ll take a passing bus or a ‘roided up crossfitter in the gym to do it. On the downside, it also made the Aonic 50 Gen 2’s a little uncomfortable over long periods. This isn’t universal (the other folks at Stuff had no such complaints) but you should be aware of the possibility.

There’s one last physical annoyance to get out of the way and it’s almost personal. The Aonic 50 Gen 2’s fold flat into their hardshell case but don’t fold down as compact as we’d like them. Noise cancelling as a feature makes the most sense on an airplane and space is at a premium in cabin luggage. The case is only just too large to be properly comfortable in an airplane seat or an overhead bin. It’s not a problem everyone has but those who have it wish they didn’t. It’s not a serious issue but it’ll bulk up your laptop bag more than you’re expecting.

Cancel culture 

Speaking of noise cancelling, the ANC in the 50 Gen 2 cans is… okay. We’ve heard better. Or, rather, we haven’t. That’s sort of the point. The spectrum of noise cancelled out by the internal microphones here is fairly broad but it’s not quite broad enough. Most of the time you’ll reside in blissful silence aside from the melodious strains of Now That’s What I Call Finnish Death Metal Vol. 665 but occasionally this contemplative state will be broken by intrusions from outside.

This isn’t an occasional thing, either. This exact scenario played out on a few occasions at the Stuff offices, which are not especially raucous (usually). Okay, so there’s also a bloody great big generator outside our window that causes serious mental health damage whenever it’s load shedding (and it’s always load shedding) but the point is that noise intrudes. Turning up the volume will work but that can’t be good for your ears.

Audio ointment

The rest of the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2’s aural features most certainly are good for your ears. If you’ll let them be and are willing to fiddle. Out of the box, you’ll find that highs and lows are well-emphasised. If you’re in favour of dubstep and its descendants, you’ll be pretty well served by these over-ears. Fire up the app’s EQ and you’ll be greeted with enough options to make Tony Maserati twist a knob off in happiness. It also made resident audio nut Duncan Pike a beaming ray of sunshine for at least five minutes.

It’s not all about the electronica, of course. With the right tweaking, you’ll find yourself greeted with a soundscape wholly in keeping with the almost-R10,000 price tag. This is just as well because… well, there’s an almost R10,000 price tag.

There’s plenty of room for the highs, mids, and lows to roam around, though it’s also possible to overemphasise one over the others. Vocals, after a session with the EQ, are crisp and clear enough without drowning out the rest of the musical arrangement. This depends on what you’re listening to, but that’s on you.

There’s just one more fly in this audio ointment, however. The Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 overs are priced at R9,500 in South Africa. That’s about right, based on the features and performance found here. But there’s something else in South Africa at that price point (or lower) with better features and performance — the Sony WF-1000XM5 over-ears. You might want to give the new guy a shot but the old stalwart is a known (and better) quantity.

Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 verdict

The sum of our concerns with the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 overs are that they can get uncomfortable, they might be a teeny bit too enthusiastically priced, and the noise canceling needs work. Okay, and they might not be the best airplane headphones but that’s a design complaint. Balance that against excellent audio, a better app (which you’ll need to use for the best listening experience), and a brilliant build and Shure is on track to chew on some of the market currently going to more established brands. As long as Sonos keeps its rumoured headphones under wraps (or prices itself out of Shure’s demographic), we’re sure to see more from the American outfit in the very near future.

The trio marks a new chapter for the company’s headphone and earbud ranges as they replace the discontinued flagship Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, the QuietComfort 45, and the QuietComfort Earbuds II which were only launched around twelve months prior.

We’re kicking off with the QuietComfort Ultra headphones, the new flagship wireless over-ear active noise cancelling headphones from Bose that replace the four-year-old NCH 700. Thankfully, Bose hasn’t spent the last four years diddling about and has produced something that edges out the competition in most areas. The only problem is you’ll need deep pockets to experience it.

Room for improvement

With the QuietComfort Ultra, Bose has chosen the safe non-descript headphone look over whatever the NCH 700 was doing. Not that it matters when they’re on your head unless you’re the type of person who wants their headphones to stand out. It does matter when they need to fit in a bag and thankfully the QC Ultra have a travel-friendly folding design. Just as well because travelling is one of the major use cases for headphones like these and being able to fold them up should be required. We hope Sony is taking notes.

The design is not only a boon for travellers but office workers too – they’re supremely comfy. We have the light clamping force and generously padded headband and earcups to thank for that and at only 250g, neck strain shouldn’t be a problem. Unlike their perceived value.

While they are reasonably well-built we were expecting more for this kind of money. We don’t mean opulent diamond-crusted earcups but a bit of class wouldn’t hurt. They’re mostly made of plastic, presumably to keep the weight down, with some aluminium and synthetic leather thrown in. Again, we’re not saying they’re poorly built but lush headband and earcups aside, their design and build quality don’t match their price tag.

Immersed in features

What it lacks in premium feel, the QuietComfort Ultra makes up for with its performance and stack of features. The headline feature here is ‘Immersive Audio’ – the company’s proprietary spatial audio tech that is supposed to add depth and immersion to your content to make it seem like you’re there. It’s similar to Dolby Atmos and Apple’s Spatial Audio but this was developed by Bose in-house… for some reason. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work in its favour. But we’ll come back to that.

Bose’s CustomTune technology is also present here in the form of a “thwomp” sound, a few internal microphones, and algorithms or mathematical trickery. The changes to the “thwomp” sound are measured as it reflects off your ears and neutralised so you end up with a sound “as close to the original recording as possible.” The headphones also use this data to personalise their ANC performance.

Then there are the usual high-end headphone features you’d expect. Bose’s active noise-cancelling tech helped define it as a major player in the headphone space and the QC Ultra continues that legacy. These have the best-performing ANC in any headphones we’ve tested to date. They edge out our previous best, Sony’s WH-1000XM5, in terms of passive isolation and active noise cancellation.

That means, if you’re switching between them, you’ll hear even less of the cars outside, the hum of the aircon, or the drone of your colleagues when you’re wearing the Bose. As is standard, they also have a transparency mode which Bose calls ‘Aware’. Its performance is on par with other top performers but the on-board mics and audio processing don’t do enough to stand out as notable.

There’s an app for that

If you want to get the most out of your QC Ultras, you’ll want to connect them with the Bose Music App. This allows you to fiddle with settings, give them a nickname, or tweak the audio via the three-band EQ or the four presets.

The app also provides some control over the headphones’ general use but you’ll probably want to familiarize yourself with the two onboard buttons and capacity strip. A single button handles power and Bluetooth, the other does almost everything else like switching listening modes and playback controls while the touch capacity strip raises and lowers the volume.

You’ll mostly use Bluetooth 5.3 to connect to the QC Ultras via the standard SBC and AAC codecs unless your source supports the aptX Adaptive codec. Sadly, that’s the highest-quality streaming available, which is a shame. It may be possible for Bose to introduce support for the new LC3plus Hi-Res codec later on but we wouldn’t hold our breath for that.

Rounding out the premium headphone features is a stellar battery life. It seems Bose was being conservative when it rated the QC Ultra for 24 hours of listening with ANC on and Immersive Audio off. We found ours lasted a while longer, around 27 hours of listening in Quiet mode (ANC on, Immersive Audio off). That dropped to just under twenty hours with both ANC and Immersive Audio enabled. A full charge takes between two and a half to three hours while a 15-minute sip will get you about two and a half hours of playback time. You’ll need to plan when you charge them because they’ll be unavailable during that time – no offline listening allowed.

Booms with the best of them

Bose has recycled the 35mm dynamic drivers from the NCH 700 for the QuietComfort Ultra so if you already have those and are looking for an upgrade, you’ll need to wait. That also means that if you liked the sound of the former, you’ll probably like these too. They have a broadly appealing sound signature that isn’t looking for any trouble.

The audiophiles might describe it as ‘dark and warm’, meaning the low end is overemphasised for extra thump and boom, the mids are flat and neutral (exquisitely so) giving vocals wonderful presence, and there’s a curious treble roll-off which made them sound dull when listening to highly detailed mixes.

Coming back to the Immersive Audio feature, like other implementations, its performance depends on what you’re listening to. However, unlike other implementations, it doesn’t matter if what you’re listening to has been mixed for spatial audio or not, Bose’s tech treats them all the same. Spatial Audio is still relatively new and therefore still a mixed bag. If you’ve got the time to hand-pick your Immersive content then go ahead. Otherwise, you’ll probably leave it off save for the few times you want to whip out your QC Ultras to flex on your poor friends.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones verdict

With the QuietComfort Ultra headphones, Bose has proved that it still knows how to make premium wireless ANC headphones (and milk money from its customers).

The return of the travel-friendly design is welcome but despite their high level of comfort, plethora of features, commendable battery life, best-in-class ANC performance, and inoffensive sound profile, they’re still a hard sell for most people at R12,500.

If they’re within your budget and you don’t mind a plain-looking headphone, you won’t regret getting these. But if you’re trying to stick to a reasonable budget and don’t need all the new bells and whistles, you’ll be better off with something else.

These, along with the Elite 8 Active, are the latest silicone-wrapped in-ear headphones from the Danish company and supplant the previous flagship, the Elite 7 Pro. This time Jabra has tweaked the design and crammed more features into these tiny earbuds.

Adding more features doesn’t always improve a product but at least it doesn’t (always) make it worse. Does that mean the Jabra Elite 10 warrants a purchase? That depends on who’s asking and what they’re looking for.

Newfound aural comfort

If it’s you who’s asking and you’re looking for earbuds with a comfortable fit, we have no problem recommending the Jabra Elite 10. These are some of the most comfortable things we’ve put in our ears. That’s due in part to their 5.7g weight, the redesigned ovular ear tips, and the fact that they don’t probe your ear canals as deep as Jabra’s other ‘buds. Whatever the cause, the result is you may forget you’re wearing them. When you eventually take them out, you don’t get that feeling of relief as your ear hole returns to its normal shape. That’s a good way to tell how comfortable earbuds are.

Jabra said it scanned over 62,000 ears to develop this design and that’s apparent. Having said that, we all have differently shaped ears so you’ll need to find the size that fits your holes best. Jabra provides four pairs of tips so you’re bound to find one that suits you.

The charging case has also changed. For one, it is better constructed – the lid doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall off in a strong breeze and delivers a satisfying snap on closing. It’s taller and thinner instead of the short, squat shape of previous iterations. It’ll still make a bulge in your pants but it’s a flatter bulge and easier to explain. The USB-C port lives on the rounded bottom and Qi wireless charging is found on the rear. That means you can forget about standing it upright unless you also happen to balance pebbles in your spare time.

What do your ears tell you?

With new 10mm drivers inside, the Jabra Elite 10 is the biggest of the company’s in-ears to date. They have a well-balanced sound profile when using the default ‘Neutral’ EQ setting meaning they’ll do fine for most music genres, although we did find this preset a little too bright for our liking. The low range sounded a little underemphasised, particularly in the low-mids – not something we’re used to from Jabra. Mixes still have punch to them but they lack warmth due to muddy low-mids and overly emphasised highs.

If you’d like a little more (or less) punch to your tracks, or maybe you can’t get enough of the mid-range and feel like boosting it even more, you can with the 5-band equaliser in the Jabra Sound+ app.

Like with any in-ear headphones that bypass your outer ear, you can’t expect much from their sound stage. The music sounds like it’s coming from directly inside your head, even with the ‘Spatial Sound for media’ setting enabled.

This spatial needs work

Speaking of which, that’s one of Jabra’s new draws with this year’s Elite 10 and Elite 8 Active ‘buds. Both support Dolby Spatial Sound with any kind of audio, whether it was created for it or not. But, while it does widen the sound stage a little, it’s added digitally by Jabra via the app so it can be hit-and-miss with some sources and can’t compare with the directionality of audio created using Dolby Atmos.

Luckily, unlike the Elite 8 Active, Dolby Atmos is also supported through the ‘head tracking’ feature in the Sound+ app. This feature uses sensors in each earbud to measure your head movements and then adjusts the audio as you move. When you’re listening to proper Dolby Atmos content, like streaming a compatible movie on Netflix or music from a service that supports spatial audio, it adds a noticeable depth to the mix but it does come with a drop in audio quality.

Furthermore, the ‘buds don’t know what you’re listening to so they apply their processing of whatever you’ve set to everything. If you only want head tracking enabled at certain times you’ll have to get used to toggling it on and off manually.

We like the direction Jabra is going here but the implementation needs more work before we can recommend these in-ears based on their spatial audio capabilities.

Juicing up

Luckily, the Elite 10 offers more than just a spatial audio gimmick. They also offer decent active noise cancellation (ANC) thanks to the six microphones and their new nozzle and ear-tip design. Those microphones also provide better-than-expected call quality.

An earbud’s fit can make or break its ANC performance so it’s worth the effort of trying the included tips to find your best fit. With a good fit, these were able to eliminate the drone of an aircon, the hum of aggressive laptop fans, and a chatty colleague. Add music to that and everything else fades away.

You can enjoy that solitary bliss for around six hours before the ‘buds will need a charge and up to eight hours if ANC is off. We found real-world performance lay somewhere around seven and a half hours but your results will vary. If you keep ANC off the case will provide an additional 36 hours. That drops to 27 hours with ANC enabled.

If you tend to use your devices until they’re dead, a full charge can take up to 3 hours. That’s not good for devices with lithium batteries so it’s a better idea to keep them above 20% with occasional top-ups – five minutes nets you one hour of use.

The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds use Bluetooth 5.3 for their connections between your smartphone and other devices and Bluetooth Multipoint means they can switch relatively seamlessly between them when they need to.

High-res audio fans will be happy to know that while the Elite 10 only supports SBC and AAC codecs for now, Jabra says they will support the new LC3 and LC3 Plus codecs with a future firmware update.

Jabra Elite 10 verdict

Despite its flaws, the Jabra Elite 10 still feels like a step forward for the company. These are some of the most comfortable earbuds we’ve tested. The fact that part of what makes them so comfortable is also what makes them great for workouts is ideal for people looking for their next workout buds. Although, if you don’t mind sacrificing a few features, the Elite 8 Active and their IP68 rating might suit you better.

If you don’t plan on working out much, the Elite 10 can still make an attractive purchase. For around R5,000 (depending on when and where you look) you get a durable set of ‘buds with a sound profile that probably won’t offend anyone and that you can tune to your liking.

The Dolby Atmos head-tracking feature is present but it isn’t the deal-maker Jabra makes it out to be. Other than that, they have a great set of features including decent ANC and a companion app that won’t make you pull your hair out. You should seriously consider the Jabra Elite 10 if you’re looking for in-ear headphones that you plan to wear for extended periods.

The Voyager Surround 80 UC overs are marketed as work headphones. Anyone who has worked in an open office is aware of the importance of a great set of office cans. We were expecting… well, office cans – something serviceable enough to keep the surrounding din out and optimised for Zoom meetings but nothing special otherwise. To our surprise, these might be some of our favourite over-ears of 2023. They’re not without their faults, of course, but we’re laying that at the door of Poly not having a massive amount of experience with this format.

Pretty Poly

Poly is HP’s audio division. The company is used to making the sort of headset that makes office workers look like fighter pilots ordered from Wish.com. This attractive set of headphones is a little outside their usual style but the solidly padded but still lightweight earcups, padded headband, and integrated controls make for comfortable wear.

The left earcup (they’re both marked inside the cup so you don’t mix them up) features little in the way of controls. That’s the fun ear. The right earcup does all of the work. The charge port, power button, and Bluetooth sync control are here. The outer panel of the cup also acts as a touch control. Optimised for Microsoft Teams, you can also use it to play, pause, and navigate your music when not listening to someone with a PowerPoint presentation talking about company overheads.

Charging is via USB-C but there’s a USB-C-to-3.5mm cable included in case you’d like to go old school with a little wired listening. You’re more likely to use this than you think, thanks to an error that we’ll get to now. Also included is a C-to-C charge cable and an adaptor so you can also charge via USB-A.

Actually wearing the Voyager Surround 80 UCs is comfortable enough, even if the headband seemed a little iffy at first, but there is one small problem with the headphones. It might be the only real issue with the Voyager Surround 80 UC, in fact. That would be the power button. It’s entirely and wholly manual, meaning you’ve got to turn this thing off when you stick it into its compact hardshell case. Call us spoiled but for around R8k (these cans aren’t widely available in SA yet) we’d expect them to automatically shut down when the earcups are twisted for storage. Still, HP isn’t that used to this game. We’re sure they’ll get it next time.

Time at the office

You don’t get to demand large sums of money for headphones unless they’re something special. As these are business-focused, the ‘something special’ is Poly Lens, the customisation app that lets you control most of the functions and features. Whether that is the touch controls or the vocal feedback you get when turning on and connecting the Voyager Surround 80 UC, you’ll have plenty of options. Really. The app is available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, meaning you should be able to use these with any device you own.

You’ll get better results if you use the included BT700 USB-C dongle. It offers a better Bluetooth connection and extended range if you’re the sort to get up from your desk to perform other tasks but are loathe to leave your tunes behind.

Sounds like we need a raise

Audio performance is the really surprising factor here. We didn’t expect much initially, based on the box and the fact that we’d barely heard of Poly before it turned up on our desk. If you’re an audiophile, you can put down the oscilloscope. It’s good but it’s not that good. Audio is bright and clear but it’s obviously biased toward vocals. See above, where we mentioned that these things are optimised for online meetings. But that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck, particularly if you’re fond of muddier music like the various shades of metal. It’s not over-heavy on the bass, and you can hold it against them if you’re a techno freak, but there’s decent separation in most music genres without being overbearing.

You can get a little creative with the EQ in the Poly Lens app but we didn’t do much to alter the default sound profile. It handles most of what you can throw at it, from meetings to music to podcasts, without requiring intervention but you might feel the need to adjust the curve a little. You do you.

Adaptive active noise cancellation is a thing here and the Surround 80 UCs are good at what they do. Not as good as Sony or Bose or Jabra, perhaps, but effective enough to (mostly) cancel out the drone of a load-shedding generator.

Circling back to that power button, the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC cans support up to 24 hours of uptime. That’s an optimistic figure and it’s cut shorter if you’re using the ten-microphone array but you should get at least twenty hours on a charge. If… and that’s a big IF, at least at first… you can remember to turn the bloody things off before you return them to their case.

Voyager Surround 80 UC verdict

Sure, you can repurpose any number of excellent over-ears as office headphones. But with the Voyager Surround 80 UCs, there’s a small chance that you can convince your IT department to pay for them. They’re intended for audio clarity while in online meetings, whether that’s via Teams or Zoom or… you know what we mean. But they’re also a solid choice for all-day use. You’ll get most of a work week from a charge if you remember to turn them off when you’re done. At least they charge to full in about an hour. Plug ’em in when you go on lunch and you should be ready to tackle that mountain of TPS reports without interruption.

We’ve spent a couple of weeks with these R3,500 in-ears and the brand might well make Samsung and Sony nervous with its combination of (relative) affordability, features, and audio quality. The fact that these are designed to withstand a human body moving, sweating, and swearing is almost a bonus. We switched to the Elite 8 Active ‘buds as everyday headphones thanks to their performance but they’re really intended for the gym.

An unusual case

Which, if you get right up close, is an obvious place for them to be. The Elite 8 Active’s two headphones weigh just five grams apiece and are entirely sheathed in the textured silicone covering Jabra likes to call ShakeGrip, a term that’s usually presented with a at the end. The buds themselves are similar in design to previous outings, right down to the company’s budget lineup. The deep fit might be essential for keeping them in place but if you’ve got even a hint of ear issues they quickly become uncomfortable. A selection of different tips in the box provides for whatever shape your earhole happens to be.

Jabra’s changed up the case for the Elite 8 Active, correcting one annoyance we had but introducing another. The case’s lid feels more secure and less like it’ll be torn off but the increased size and design alteration makes it less convenient to handle. The case itself is now almost palm-sized and the base, where the charge port lives, has been rounded so that it no longer stands on its own. It’s only a minor inconvenience and many users will probably accept it in exchange for the extra couple of hours of charge time it offers.

Sounds like it’ll work out

Normally we’d dive into the various durability features that would protect the Jabra Elite 8 Active when in use but, for a change, the audio performance is more important than its other skills. Expect a detailed soundscape with a decent bass punch even without resorting to Jabra’s Sound+ app.

We stuck to the standard equaliser setting throughout, though we did fiddle. The presets do what they claim to but we wouldn’t say they improved anything we were listening to. You’ve probably got your own ideal EQ curve so start with that. Stock clarity was enough to convince us that a few favourite albums had been remastered (in one case that was actually the case) and, generally, whatever you’re listening to won’t trip over itself. If something sounds muddy, it’s the artist and not the hardware. Usually.

Unless you’ve chosen to activate the Spatial Audio option inside Jabra’s companion app. In that case, the earbuds will do their best but unless you’re working with a service or presentation designed for it, it’ll sound like you’re listening to musicians doing their thing at the end of a very long metal pipe. It’s more suited for media consumption.

Podcasts and movies benefit but those designed with spatial audio in mind will obviously leave the greatest impression. Take some advice, though. Watch an older Arnie movie on your phone with the Elite 8 Active connected. It’s not the greatest feature — your results will vary — but it’s certainly worth a listen. It’s also not bad for something that’s handled between the buds and the app.

Highs and lows

Beyond audio, there’s loads to like. There are also a few aspects that could be better. The fit is secure and comfortable and the buds themselves are grippy enough that we had no issues during workouts. The eight hours of battery life per charge isn’t an exaggeration. Nor is the additional 24 hours in the case for a total of 32 hours before you’ll charge the whole lot again. We wound up using these Jabras for so long that that length seemed shorter than usual but you’ll finish out a work day without taking them out.

The buds have an IP68 rating and the case is rated IP54. In other words, our constant desire to shower with the Elite 8 Active buds in would be fine as long as we left the case in another room. Bluetooth 5.3 makes for speedy connections and represents a substantial improvement over less capable models. Voice calls take advantage of the six internal mics for decent clarity. Those same mics are responsible for the Adaptive Hybrid ANC (another feature that’s just ‘active noise cancellation made by Jabra’) and the HearThrough (ditto) features.

Active cancelling is more than good enough but we found that, at the volume we listen to music, passive cancelling and HearThrough was enough to silence the office while leaving just enough room for emergencies to get through. Wearing the buds without anything playing and HearThrough active seemed to amplify some background noise. That was more pronounced when the noise is constant — rainfall or a large truck idling somewhere — but the effect is entirely muted when ANC is turned on, so there’s that.

Jabra Elite 8 Active verdict

Great workout headphones are essential if you’re lifting more for the effect than to silence the noise of your own inner demons. In that case, you’ll want to drown out your inner child with something that sounds great and which will also survive the bodily fluids you’ll extrude while moving lumps of metal from one spot to another and back again. Jabra’s Elite 8 Active are expressly designed for this, able to last through a marathon in a rainstorm with enough battery left for you to listen to some tunes in the doctor’s waiting room afterwards. The incremental price increase over the last model isn’t unexpected and you should give these a chance before Samsung or Sony’s efforts if you’re planning on sweating in them extensively. Just don’t be surprised if they follow you out of the gym and into the office.

Sony isn’t being coy about its new buds, even going as far as calling them “The best truly wireless noise cancelling headphones on the market.” We’ll be the judge of that. Thanks.

An earbud by any other name

If you didn’t know any better you might get the impression that the folks at the Japanese company aren’t very good at coming up with names for their products. But now we know better. While the names might be a mouthful, it kinda makes sense.

The ‘WF’ here stands for ‘wireless free’ while the ‘WH’ of their WH-1000XM5 over-ear headphones stands for ‘wireless headphones’. Go figure. Sony uses a numbering system for its product tiers so that ‘1000X’ in the middle signifies that these are the flagship of its WF range, with the ‘M5’ (short for Mark 5) telling you they’re Sony’s fifth attempt to make the perfect set of ‘buds. The M4 set the bar rather high but they’re not long for this world. Is the M5 a worthy replacement? Should you upgrade if you’ve got the M4? In that order – yes, and probably not.

The immediately noticeable difference between the M4 and the M5 is size. Sony’s taken a significant step in the right direction with the small, lightweight construction of the WF-1000XM5. Its engineers have also shaved down the bulbous-shaped M4, making the M5 more ergonomic and comfier to wear. Each bud only weighs around 6g with the case adding another 39g.

As you’d expect from a premium product, the plastic feels adequately classy. Perhaps Sony thought adding a glossy sheen would elevate the M5’s classy look. Unfortunately, while some people might agree with that, this decision is the source of our biggest complaint.

It makes the buds so slippery that removing them from the case can be hazardous. We opted to squeeze each bud towards the sides of the case instead of trying (and repeatedly failing) to pinch them out. Their IPX4 rating might mean they won’t drown in workout-induced ear sweat but we’d strongly advise against handling them near a toilet bowl or swimming pool. This really shouldn’t be an issue for a premium product but the fact that it’s our biggest gripe with the M5 says a lot.

Juiced up in a jiffy

With all the shrinking and reducing Sony carried out on the WF-1000XM5, we were impressed to find battery life remained the same as the M4. The company reckons you’ll get eight hours of music playback from the buds with ANC enabled or 12 without it. There are two extra charges from the case for a total of 24-36 hours before you need to plug them in via the USB-C port or plop them down on a wireless charger. The former happens a bit quicker too, with a 3-minute charge providing an hour of playback.

Read More: Sony WF-C700N in-ear buds review – Little green monster

The new ergonomic shape, lightweight construction, and Sony’s proprietary foam tips all add to the M5’s comfy fit which we had no problem keeping in for six to eight hours a day. Sony has included an additional pair of super small tips in the box for a total of four sizes, making a good fit possible for a wide range of ears. We’d recommend taking the time to try them all, using the ‘Optimal Earbud Tip’ feature in the app to find the one that fits best. It can make a big difference.

One man’s noise is another’s music

The combination of a comfy fit with the tip’s foam material makes for really good isolation. That’s not generally something most people pay attention to but when it’s done poorly, it’s noticeable. Not here. These do it well, and give whatever you’re listening to the best chance of sounding great. It also means you won’t often miss the other end of your phone call in a noisy environment.

Although, most of the heavy lifting in that department is handled by Sony’s excellent active noise cancelling system. It’s comprised of six microphones in total, three per bud, and a second dedicated processor which Sony calls the HD Noise Canceling Processor QN2e. These work together to monitor and lower the volume of the world around you whether you’re commuting on noisy public transport, walking through a busy shopping centre, loitering around a construction site, or standing in a windy field. The improved mics and new processor garner better results than the outgoing M4 and certainly place the WF-1000XM5 among the best buds available but don’t yield the generational leap you might expect.

The same is true for the WF-1000XM5’s sound quality. They feature a generously warm consumer-friendly sound signature that we’ve come to expect from Sony. They have a downsloping response, meaning the low-end is emphasised the most – which gives extra thump to kick drums and bass synths, great for fans of EDM and hip-hop – followed by the mids, with the highs being relatively recessed. That’s not to say they’re especially dark, the mids and highs are still present with enough clarity and detail for the average listener but these weren’t made for critical studio listening.

Similarly, the new 8.4mm dynamic drivers are 2.4mm larger than those in the M4 which should theoretically result in a wider sound stage, making it easier to pick out specific instruments or sounds. We thought they fell short of being discernably different in that regard, even if you have Sony’s LDAC Hi-Res Bluetooth codec enabled (which you can now do over a multipoint connection). Luckily, if there’s something you don’t like about the sound, you can modify it to your taste with the equaliser settings in the companion app.

Feature-rich

The Sony Headphones Connect app is packed full of the same features as seen with the WF-1000XM4 and the WH-1000XM5 that we reviewed last year. You can create custom EQ profiles, pick from a few presets, and use the recently added third option called ‘Find your equaliser’ that attempts to do the same thing but without the sliders.

Adaptive sound control returns as does 360 Reality Audio, Sony’s in-house paid-for spatial audio solution. Android owners get access to a new head-tracking feature in supported video apps – something the previous buds lacked. Although, there are a lot of toggles and steps involved to get this to work properly. Slightly related are the head gestures for accepting and rejecting incoming calls or triggering an autoplay feature.

Controlling the buds is done via touch sensors behind the matte part of the bud. While the app does allow for minor customization, it was too limited for our liking – our second biggest gripe.

Read More: Sony WF-1000XM4 review – The best there is at what they do

By default, the left bud controls ambient sound modes. A single tap switches modes, two- and three-taps do whatever you’ve set in the quick access menu, repeated taps lowers the volume, and a sustained hold enables a quick attention mode so you can listen to an announcement or pretend you’re a not-so-secret government agent. The right bud defaults to playback control offering play/pause, next track, previous track, volume increase, and summoning your preferred voice assistant.

If you don’t like the defaults you can swap them to the other bud but that’s about all the customisation you get. Would it be too much to ask for some choice? Want play/pause to be a two-tap action? Too bad, says Sony.

Sony WF-1000XM5 verdict

All things considered, Sony’s made another stellar set of noise-cancelling buds with the WF-1000XM5. They are the logical next step for the company’s flagship range with improvements, however slight, made in all the right places.

Are they “The best truly wireless noise cancelling headphones on the market”? It turns out the answer to that isn’t as straightforward as we thought it’d be. They certainly aren’t bad, by any means. But they don’t stand out from the competition as much as the M4 did when they were released two years ago. Admittedly, that probably isn’t Sony’s fault. The competition also wants a piece of the premium in-ear headphone pie and has improved their products to compete with Sony.

Should you buy a pair? Maybe. If you’re coming from the M3 then yes, Sony’s in-ear buds have come a long way in the four years since they launched. You could even make the argument that these warrant an upgrade over the M4s. But, considering the price of R8,500, that’s only if your M4s are broken or you’re not one to care about prices.

Sony’s WF-1000XM5 in-ear headphones will be available in South Africa from September 2023.

Briefly, these are an affordable (for Sony) pair of in-ears that don’t sacrifice much audio quality in the quest for more money for the Japanese company. There are a few sacrifices made elsewhere, most notably the battery, but overall there’s plenty to like from these R2,500 in-ears.

Light of your life

The Sony WF-C700N in-ears can be summed up in one word: light. The buds themselves are, at less than five grams a piece, lightweight enough that you’ll forget they’re there. The case is similarly feathery. It’ll slip into a pocket or bag with only a slight bulge to remind you that it’s even in there. This could work for or against you, depending on how easily you lose small items.

The earbuds, as the weight suggests, are compact. They’re made from a lightweight plastic that doesn’t have much presence in your ear canals. Indeed, the bud sits almost entirely inside your ear, with the circular button protruding enough to let you get your play/pause or noise cancellation levels on. But the fit isn’t perfect. If your silicon tips are too small, you’ll know about it as natural mouth movement will dislodge the WF-C700N buds from their ideal placement. They should withstand more jarring movements, however. Workouts shouldn’t cause any losses.

The pill-shaped case features a single indicator light and a USB-C port for charging. The lightweight nature of the whole thing is such that you’ll almost never get it to lie down flat while charging if the cable decides it wants to do something else. Just accept it. There are more important things to worry about.

At the high end

When it comes to audio quality, these obviously aren’t going to sound quite as good as Sony’s WF-1000XM4s but they’ll surprise you with their detail, clarity, and range. The CN700s use one of Sony’s own 5mm drivers. That’s how they achieve their size and weight but it’s also responsible for the excellent audio you’re jamming into your ears.

Without any sort of tweaks, you’ll experience a solid range across music genres, from synthwave to metal to classic rock. Even audiobooks come across as sounding rich and full, though your mileage varies according to whoever’s doing the narration. The Witcher‘s Doug Cockle (who narrates a certain set of Judge Dredd novels) will sound better than, say, Police Academy‘s Bobcat Goldthwaite. Again, though, that’s a matter of personal taste.

While the hardware is a step down from the top shelf, the software… isn’t. Sony’s Headphones app, which controls all of its wireless kits, does the same work for the C700Ns. Expect adaptive sound, ear-canal analysis, support for 360 Reality Audio (or Spatial Audio, depending on where you park your mobile phone), a full equaliser, and digital sound enhancement. You really don’t need to use any of it for an impressive audio experience, but you’ve got the choice.

Going low

You can’t have affordable tech without making a few sacrifices and that’s also the case here. Sony isn’t staffed by actual wizards, after all. 7.5-hour battery life is what Sony claims for the CN700 buds and that’s… mostly accurate. We found it closer to seven hours but that’s a single marathon session with active noise cancelling enabled. Bud performance is great. It’s the case that’s the issue. There’s enough room inside the lightweight pill to completely top Sony’s in-ears once. You get a total of around fifteen hours of uptime from the buds and case before everything needs to be charged. It’s not awful, but it’s lower than you might expect at this price point.

Noise cancellation also wasn’t foremost on Sony’s mind. It’s present but the buds’ build and the limitations imposed by their size mean that cancellation isn’t as excellent as you might be used to from the high-end lineup. It’s no reason to disregard the CN700 in-ears as a possible purchase but it’s something to keep in mind. If you’re intent on blocking a noisy office, you might opt for over-ears or a pricier set of buds instead.

Sony WF-C700N in-ear buds verdict

You’ll certainly get your money’s worth from Sony’s WF-C700N earbuds but you’ll have to be prepared to make a few sacrifices. The important stuff — audio quality, software features, and other smart functions — stick around. The battery, at least as far as the case is concerned, takes a knock but you can wear them uninterrupted for an entire workday. That’s not a small achievement. And the noise cancelling? That’s as much a victim of the lightweight build as it is of the reduced price point.

As with the VolkanoX Silenzo headphones, this Bluetooth speaker combines some budget and higher-end features with a solidly budget price point to produce something that’s worth checking out. If you’re an audiophile, you can check out now. We haven’t discovered a unicorn or anything. But if you’re a fan of portable tunes, you might want to listen a little longer.

No need to swallow this pill

The Python Series speaker from VolkanoX doesn’t ship with much in the box. When we get to the price, it’ll immediately be clear why this is. There’s the speaker itself, which offers bulk but doesn’t overdo the weight. Then there’s a packet containing a small user manual, the strap that connects to the two anchor points at the top of the Python, and a USB-A to USB-C charge cable.

The pill-shaped audio box — it shares a shape with the pricier JBL Flip 6 — features a power button up top, and an array of buttons moving down the front face to the battery charge indicator, which sits just about the VolkanoX logo. Users can activate TWS, if they have two speakers, access the microphone, play, pause, switch tracks, control the volume, and also control the LED lights embedded in the sides of the unit. There are only two options there: On and off.

What it lacks is a visual indicator of which of the various input methods you’re using. There’s Bluetooth, an aux option (and a cable in case you plan to use it), and then plain ol’ FM radio. But you’re left guessing which of these you’ve selected until a) FM static kicks in, b) the speaker wirelessly connects, or c) nothing happens.

Light on sound

But a VolkanoX speaker, even if it’s the brand’s ‘high-end’ line, isn’t expected to be up to much in the audio stakes. At least, that’s what we thought going in. After all, if they’re going to drop the ball on the connection options, what else have they messed up? Turns out, not that much.

You won’t get a decent 360° spread of sound but that’s fine because you’re not paying for that. The Python will cost you about a thousand bucks (give or take a few hundred) so, despite its shape, you can expect the audio to sound best when the speaker is facing your ugly mug and is somewhere on your level (more or less). If you’re somewhere off to the sides or behind the speaker, audio quality drops off fairly quickly. That said, the volume controls can take up some of the slack. Seriously, the VolkanoX Python can get loud.

But volume and quality aren’t really in the same ballpark. Yes, you’ll hear this one from several rooms away (and through walls) but there’s not much warmth to the output. It’ll handle conventional stuff fairly well — blast some 90s skatepark punk or even modern-day synthwave and you can be sure that the music will hold together for quite a while. Stick on something more challenging — like Cradle of Filth’s Crawling King Chaos — and you’ll immediately see the speaker lose detail. It’s also how you’ll see just how dependent the Python is on positioning.

Extras (not optional)

In other words, you can be certain of volume but your music quality might not always hold up. At that point, you should consider if the price is right for you. Since it probably is, let’s sweeten the pot a little. There are a couple of other features you should know about.

The Python charges via USB-C, if that’s something you’re interested in (you are). It’s also packing an IPx6 rating. Technically, you could spray it with a hose and it would still keep working. Don’t leave it in a urinal, though. It won’t survive that. And when it comes to the battery – it’ll run for hours. Up to ten, if you believe Volkano. In this case, we do. You’ll squeeze more time out if you turn off the RGB. Which is fine. It doesn’t do anything besides look vaguely cool.

Finally, it’s actually packing a microphone. There’s a dedicated button that lets you summon the digital assistant on a connected mobile device if that’s your thing. And you can actually receive and complete calls on this speaker, though the mic isn’t sensitive enough to let you do so from across the room. You’ll find yourself standing close to this hulking big pill-shaped speaker when chatting with whoever is calling you.

VolkanoX Python Series verdict

Could you buy a better speaker? Sure. Could you buy a better one for the same amount of money? Maybe (and that’s a big ‘maybe’) but it’ll be far smaller. Can you buy a better one, at this size, for this money? We’d honestly be surprised if you could. As with the VolkanoX Silenzo headphones, this offers surprising audio quality for the money. And since you don’t have to wear this on your head, it’s far easier to forgive the compromises in build quality. There’s only one aspect of the speaker we weren’t thrilled with — the lack of even a small LCD — but at just over R1,000 for something this loud, it’s an aspect we’re willing to overlook. We weren’t planning on using the aux function or FM radio anyway.

That’s partly because they’re still relatively new to the audio game, being founded in 2011 by industrial designer Antonio Meze, and partly because they only make one kind of product – high-end headphones and earphones.

By ‘high-end’ we don’t just mean expensive. Although, compared to what most South Africans are used to, these headphones definitely are. With Meze, we’re talking about the kind of headphones you’d plug into a good amplifier and Digital-to-Analogue Converter (DAC) to listen to your vinyl collection. The kind of headphones that feature a frequency response graph on their webpage. Those kinds of headphones.

Meze was kind enough to send us a set of their 99 Neo headphones for review all the way from Romania. The 99 Neo, launched in 2017, is the slightly more modest version of the company’s 99 Classics, the widely praised walnut wood-carved headphones launched in 2015 which first garnered the company recognition in the audiophile market.

Built to last

The 99 Neo, like the 99 Classics, is a closed-back headphone featuring a pair of 40mm dynamic drivers. Like its other products, Meze focused on audio quality, comfort, and durability with the 99 Neo while swapping out the walnut wood earcups for a composite plastic to reduce the cost.

The high-quality materials used in its construction mean it should last longer than your average headphones. Adding to its durability, Meze has made the 99 series to be fully serviceable, meaning you won’t have to throw the whole thing away should something break.

Like its predecessor, the 99 Neo has a simple yet elegant design. The two earcups are joined at centre points by a springy metal headband. Beneath that and attached with stylish, branded metal connectors, is a PU Leather-wrapped suspension-style headband. This is the part that caresses your head and distributes the 260g weight of the headphone evenly over your dome. No need to remember your size or have to constantly adjust it, it will easily adapt every time you (or anyone else for that matter) put them on.

A pair of PU Leather-wrapped medium-density memory foam pads cushion the earcups against your head and over your ears. Unless you have abnormally large ears, then maybe not. They’re plenty comfortable although they aren’t all that deep so you might find your ears making contact with the inside of the cup. Thankfully that’s also padded so it shouldn’t cause any discomfort.

The stock pads provide decent sound isolation meaning they’ll help keep your music in and external noise out. This should help you avoid irksome stares from colleagues while you’re blasting My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion in the office. We would know.

The pads, the design, and the lightweight construction of the 99 Neo result in a very comfortable headphone that we could (and did) wear for hours while working, gaming, or listening to music on a flight.

Fault-finding

If we had to nitpick, there are only two small things we can complain about. The earcups are symmetrical so you won’t find any indication showing which is left and right. Instead, that’s printed in white on the silver 3.5mm connectors of the included cable that plug into the cups. The white paint on the silver connector can be a little hard to read meaning you’ll have to get used to identifying which way to put them on by remembering the inline controls are on the left.

Secondly, like all closed-back headphones with leather pads, your ears could get a little hot after a while. As we say, small things – and definitely far from being deal-breakers.

Like we keep mentioning, the 99 Neo is a high-end analogue headphone aimed mostly at audiophiles. While Meze does include a few extras with the cans, don’t expect much in the way of extra features.

There’s no companion app to let you adjust settings or connect to more than one device. If you want to do that, you’ll need to do it further up the signal chain. But if you’re considering buying a pair of these, you’ll likely already have dedicated equipment for that.

However, where the 99 Neo differs from other high-end headphones is their portability. You don’t strictly need any other audiophile equipment to use them because they’re so easy to ‘drive’. We’re not talking about going to the shops, we’re talking about their low impedance.

In audio equipment, impedance (measured in ohms) means the same as it does in any electrical application – the resistance to an applied electric current. We’re simplifying things a bit, but generally, the higher the impedance, the better the sound quality. The trade-off is that headphones with a high impedance will require more power to achieve a reasonable volume.

Sennheiser’s HD 800 S, for example, is widely regarded as one of the best neutrally-tuned open-back headphones available. Locally, they retail for around R32,000. Seriously. But their 300-ohm impedance means you’ll need to cough up a few extra thousand rand for an adequate amplifier and external DAC before you can enjoy their excellent clarity or enormous sound stage. You can forget about plugging them straight into your smartphone or laptop.

By comparison, the 99 Neo and its 26-ohm resistance will happily provide more than enough volume when plugged into just about anything. While they can’t contort themselves into a smaller package, they fair much better on the go than a lot of other high-end headphones. The hard-shell carrying case and aeroplane headphone adapter that our review unit came with make that an even more viable option.

The last of the ‘extras’ are the in-line controls found down the left side of the Y-cable we mentioned earlier. There is but a single play/pause button and a microphone inside but we found both to be hit and miss. The mic is passable for when you need to take a surprise call and have nothing else nearby and the play/pause button only really worked when plugged into a smartphone.

Warm yourself up, starting with the ears

Thankfully, any faults, downsides, or drawbacks we’ve mentioned are easily overshadowed by the 99 Neo’s audio quality. Not only is the overall quality great but they also have a rather particular sound signature.

Unlike mainstream headphones that come with an app, it’ll take a bit more work to adjust the sound of the 99 Neo. While it’s still possible, doing that is kinda missing the point. Part of their charm is their distinct sound which Meze has spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours designing, testing, and tuning. With the 99 Neo, that signature is warm – maybe a little too warm for some people – offers a balance of detail and musicality that we really enjoyed.

A warm sound emphasises the low and low midrange frequencies, where the bass and vocals live. This emphasis results in making those sounds that go doef doef stand out a little more. However, in pursuit of a warm sound, it’s very easy to overdo it where the low frequencies lose definition and become muddy or the highs are overly recessed to make room for more bass. Thankfully that isn’t the case here.

Across the rest of the spectrum, the 99 Neo sounds relatively flat albeit with a subtle recess somewhere in the upper midrange and a roll-off towards the top of the highs. Neither of these are negative qualities.

In fact, we suspect that recess in the upper midrange is a large contributor to the 99 Neo’s surprisingly wide sound stage. Having said that the sound stage is still pretty narrow compared to open-back headphones but it was definitely wider than we excepted.

Similarly, the highs tend to roll off, perhaps to assist in emphasising the lows, giving them a slightly dark sound. We’d wager most people would probably prefer this to overly present highs with a harsh, edgy sound.

Meze Audio 99 Neo verdict

We enjoyed our time with the 99 Neo and wholeheartedly recommend them to folks looking for relatively inexpensive high-end portable closed-back headphones. They’re well-designed and won’t make you stick out in public. The high-quality materials and construction mean they should last you a good few years and if something breaks you don’t have to chuck the whole thing away. And they have a warm, inoffensive sound signature that we think most people will enjoy.

They also make surprisingly good gaming cans, although we’re pretty sure that wasn’t what Meze was aiming for. They’re comfortable, the crisp bass response makes gunshots and explosions more impactful and cinematic, and their warm sound signature means they won’t be fatiguing over long sessions. You’ll probably want to buy a separate microphone if you plan on playing multiplayer, though.

If you want a pair for yourself, you can get them here for R5,000. Alternatively, you could order from Meze’s international store directly where the 99 Neo is currently listed for $200 (R3,800). But you’ll also have to fork out for import tax and shipping which could very well work out more expensive.

We’ll get to all that in a moment, however. What you’re looking at here is a set of really quite affordable in-ears with active noise cancelling. You don’t need to be a gamer to consider a pair. In fact, it might be better if you’re just a regular person. There’s little reason for a gamer to stick the Cetra True Wireless buds into their ears (for gaming) unless it’s required to keep their Twitch sponsorship package going. Regular people, though? That’s another story.

A box of buds

As with most in-ear buds, the Cetra True Wireless buds are extremely simple to operate. Inside the box is the shaped charge case which contains the earbuds. If you poke further into the cardboard receptacle, you’ll also come across a USB-C charge cable and a couple of extra pairs of silicone tips to make sure the buds sit securely in your lugs.

The charge case, visually, is the most striking piece of the whole kit. It’s a bulky but contoured clamshell design, perfectly in keeping with ROG’s gaming aesthetic. Open it and you’ll see a little ROG logo flashing between the angular buds. An RGB strip also lights up along the earbuds. This is in action while you’re using them but that feature is for other people. Unless you’re gaming while looking in a mirror, you young Narcissus, you.

A career in stem

If you’re being a regular person, you’ll never see these in-ears unless you’re a) taking them out, b) putting them in, or c) admiring them in your hands. You could be forgiven for that last one, too. These R2,000 in-ears are surprisingly attractive, given their price tag. And they’re also touch-enabled on both sides, right over the Republic of Gamers logo next to your ear.

In practice, we found them to be a little hit-and-miss but at least the active area is properly set apart from the rest of the extended stem. You’ll know that you’re just not hitting the slanty bit right when it fails to pause or skip a song as intended or when the left ‘bud doesn’t switch between noise-cancelling modes when you firmly double-tap. At least you’re not fumbling around looking for the activation point.

The main catch? Installing the Asus Armoury Crate app is a requirement if you’d like to perform any customisation. This covers the touch controls (some of them) but it’s also possible to adjust the equaliser to suit a variety of video games. Why you’d do this is a mystery. The sound quality is decent but if you’ve got a moderate-to-good set of gaming over-ears, you’ll never put these on to play. Unless, of course, you’re using a Switch and don’t want the added weight. Or see above, about keeping your sponsorship going.

More than a game

The ROG Cetra True Wireless buds offer good enough performance when playing games but it could be better. Used just as a semi-budget set of general-purpose in-ears, though, Asus’ product really starts to become more attractive. There are several levels of noise cancelling and, while the highest level won’t quite shut out a load shedding generator, they’ll do the job to mute a rowdy office. There’s also decent passive noise cancelling, if you turn the feature off to get more battery life, and a hear-through mode in case you want to eavesdrop on co-workers while looking productive.

Battery life is impressively high — in the case. If you’ve got ANC enabled, you’ll need to return them to the case at least once a day. A few minutes inside will see you till home time. A fully charged set of buds plus the case will give you around 27 hours, according to the company, but that’s without the benefit of ANC masking your distractions.

But it’s the audio where you’ll be most impressed. The Cetra True Wireless, without the EQ enabled, offers decent sound reproduction out of the box — better than we were expecting for a R2k set of buds. Pair them up with an Android phone, fiddle with the custom EQ setting in the buds’ app, and you’re potentially looking at a bargain with regards to audio quality. None of the sound is overdone but bass remains present without being muted and most of the range is acceptable.

Again, we’re talking about music usage here. If you’re playing, particularly online, you’ll find that even the low-latency Gaming Mode struggles to keep up with the action. Bluetooth isn’t the best way to go about this. Wired is first place, then other options in a headset large enough to feature better hardware. Wireless buds, in gaming terms, are like a South African internet connection. Sure, you can play, but things are bound to teleport a little from time to time.

ROG Cetra True Wireless Verdict

Those drawbacks don’t stop these from being a better-than-average set of budget in-ears. It’s less rare to find USB-C-powered wireless buds around the R2,000 mark but ones with varying levels of active noise cancellation, acceptable audio performance, and a wireless charging case? Those are still tougher to find. Even fewer will ship with Asus’ ROG branding, letting you convince onlookers that you’re a gaming pro even if you’re not. And if you’re being asked uncomfortable questions about games you don’t know, you can always pretend that the Cetra True Wireless’ ANC is enabled and you never heard anything.