Here is another audio product from GoldTouch Asia, the third product I have reviewed after the Leprechaun and Goliath wireless speakers. This is a wireless earphones that is similarly fashioned in gold tones. The parts that are made of real gold is the wire insulator braided in gold polymer granules (the electrical wires is copper). The external cable is coated with transparent silicone, so there is no way to actually touch the gold for this product.
Design
Wearing the GTA Gold Wireless (GTA-M26) is akin to wearing gold jewellery, so the colour might appeal to fashion-conscious consumers who love to colour coordinate their outfits to accessories. The plastic earbud modules and in-line remote is translucent to reveal the hardware. My wife commented it looked like hearing aid, but I guess because the colour blends with my skin tone. It does resemble custom-mould IEM worn often by stage musicians. What’s missing and should be included is a carrying case.
The GTA Gold is designed for sports use and hence it is sweatproof and the wires go behind the ears instead of hanging down. Shape-conforming wires near the earbuds allow you to shape the wires to stay in place. An S-shaped clip allows you to adjust the length of the cable so that it rests behind the head instead of hanging loose behind the neck. I took it for a run and was pleased that the earbuds stayed on my ears securely.
The GTA Gold supports connecting to 2 smartphones simultaneously, but only one device can stream audio at a time. This is useful when say you have 2 smartphones, and you can listen music and answer calls on either device.
Audio Quality
Compared to the wireless speaker, the wireless earphones deliver much better audio quality. The treble is bright, transparent and detailed, while the sub-bass is booming effortlessly even at moderate levels, which is great for EDM, dubstep genres, movie soundtracks and even gaming. The GTA Gold Wireless is the most boomy wireless earphones I have encountered! But beware: if the original soundtrack is already mixed to sound already boomy, this earphones will boom it further and could make it sound uncomfortable. Moderate level listening is recommended, you don’t need high volume to experience the boomz!
To keep the treble clear, the mids is toned down like a typical V-shaped equalizer tuning. The lows and highs seem to drive independently from the earbuds, as if there are 2 separate amplifiers, in order to achieve pretty good efficiency in their respective frequency range. When I probed the company rep, he confirmed that there are 2 dynamic drivers, this information was not documented anywhere in the website or the packaging.
The bass does not quite extend upwards towards the lower mids, hence the impression of 2 separate drivers. As a result, the bass might not offer as much musicality as demanded by audiophiles – basically you feel the boom effects more than hearing the bass notes. The bass decay felt rather slow, so at quick music sections, the booms can sound muddy. Stereo imaging is uninspiring, where the music appears to come from next to my ears rather than around my head.
The Bluetooth audio quality was generally spectacular when pairing with Sony NWZ-A15, ASUS Zenfone 3 Max and HTC One M8. The audio delivery so sensitive I can even hear the hiss noise, almost like wired, except the occasional transmission imperfection detected only by the keen-eared.
But strangely, I found the quality over LG G5 was sub-par, the highs were cracking with poor compression artifacts. Then I found out that once I stopped all other Bluetooth devices from connecting to the LG G5, the quality improved a little. Such is the challenge of Bluetooth technology: the quality may be affected if the smartphone connects to multiple Bluetooth devices. When the Bluetooth audio is not clean, the entire listening experience will crumble.
Battery Life
The GTA Gold has a rated battery life of 6 hours, but I can clock almost 7 hours of play. Charging takes less than 2 hours, the charging indicator turns from orange to white once charging completes. When battery is low, there will be voice prompts to remind you to charge, and the blinking LED changes from white to orange. The charging port is located at the in-line remote.
Verdict
The GTA Gold Wireless Bluetooth Earpiece is the least sport-looking sport earphones in the market. I am impressed with the ability for the earphones to deliver deep boomy bass without affecting the bright transparent treble. In most earphones, heavy bass will veil the treble range. Product designers at GTA solve the problem by putting 2 drivers on each earbud. I have never experienced both strong boomy bass and clear highs on an in-ear wireless headphones. I am not a deep bass lover, but for the sake of this review, I am just enjoying the vibrations on my ear drums. This earphones does not deliver neutral audio, so purists please look away. For the deep bass lovers out there, this is what you are looking for.
Retailing at S$189, visit the GoldTouch Asia Facebook page for the latest retail outlets, or from Lazada.
GTA-M26 Specs
Material: Gold Polymer Granules and Plastic
Bluetooth version: 4.1
Frequency range: 20 – 20,000 Hz
Driver type: dual dynamic drivers
Diaphragm size: 10mm
Battery type: Polymer lithium
Battery Capacity: Up to 6 hrs
Battery Capacity: 80 mAh
Full Charging Time: Up to 2 hrs
Standby Time: 300Hrs
Distance: Up to 10m
Supported Features: A2DP, HFP, HSP, AVRCP, battery display, voice prompt, connect to two phones concurrently
Charging Plug/Socket Type: Micro USB
Product website: http://www.goldtouchasia.com/our-products-1
