The Audio-Technica ATH-CKS30TW is a new true-wireless earbuds from this audio company that just celebrated its 60th anniversary. Admittedly, while the A-T headphones like the ATH-M50xBT2 have been widely popular, its true wireless product line did not manage to establish the same kind of iconic popularity, despite producing rather good products with clear market segmentation. One of my biggest dislike for the A-T earbuds is their size: both the charging case and the earbuds are bulkier than competitors.
The CKS30TW is an entry-level earbuds that retails at S$138 in Singapore, and to celebrate the festive season, A-T has immediately slashed the launch price to S$108 for the month of December. It comes with IP55 water rating, delivers 7.5 hours of continuous play time, 20 hours with charging case. It uses a 9mm driver with 5 – 20,000 Hz frequency range, transmitted over Bluetooth 5.1 in AAC and SBC codecs. This model comes with four attractive colours: the standard white, black, and the gender-friendly metallic pink, and metallic blue.
While going through the smartphone app that connects to the earbuds, I uncover these interesting features that are worth mentioning.
5 Preset EQs with 3 Intensity Levels
The earbuds come with five preset equalizer settings and all of them has good characteristics that matches quite well with the music genres. The “Bass Boost – Deep” emphasises on the lower bass frequencies for a darker mix, the “Bass Boost – Beat” makes the kick bass more prominent with a little more emphasis on treble. The “Dynamic” is more like V-shaped tuning with slightly recessed midrange compared to no-EQ setting, the “Vocal” makes vocals sound more spatial and open with the bass less intense. Finally, the “Clear” EQ elevates the treble sparkle and best for acoustics and jazz tracks. This will be the default for listeners who love clarity.
You can see from the above screenshots that the smartphone app even shows you the equalizer balance represented in a triangle, so a novice can visually see how the various equalizer settings change the sound. The great thing about this is that you can also adjust the intensity of the EQ. Again, the different intensity tuning is also reflected in the triangle mapping. With 5 presets and 3 intensities totally 15 options, you are sure to find one that suits your listening preference.
Assign Touch Key Controls
The CKS30TW support customisation of some touch pre-defined controls, one of which is the ability to switch on the equalizer setting, which is press-hold the right earbud by default. Only the press-hold control can be customisable, compared to the CKS50TW, which allows all the controls to be customisable (toggled via the top right corner option).
You can also adjust the sensitivity of the touch sensor, disable the sensor, or to lock the sensor after startup.
Talk-Through and Hear-Through
Talk-Through is a new feature that turns on environmental sound at higher sensitivity. It functions similarly to Hear-Through but the application is meant to be slightly different. With Hear-Through, you can listen to music at the same time so that you can be aware of the surroundings. The amount of sound can also be adjusted from the app.
For Talk-Through, it functions to allow the wearer to reduce the music volume and to interact with people without removing the earbuds. There are two modes: the Natural mode emphasises on the vocal range while suppressing the other frequencies. The Strong mode bring out general sound equally and makes the earbuds sound more open compared to Hear-Through. I customised my touch controls to assign Talk-Through to the right earbud. To turn off Talk-Through, just tap any button.
There is no ANC for this model, so I would have to turn up the volume more than other ANC earbuds to listen to my music in great details.
Low Latency, Side Tone, L/R Balance Adjustment
The ATH-CKS30TW has other under-rated functions that improve the usability. Low latency reduces the sync issues between video and audio, Side Tone lets you listen to the ambient sounds (with 2 adjustable levels) while having a conversation so that you can hear yourself and not talk too loud. L/R balance adjustment allows you to rebalance the audio level for both earbuds, which is very helpful if you have a hearing deficiency with one of your ears. You can also select your preferred volume adjustment steps – the more steps, the more granular your
The CKS30TW also supports multipoint pairing, which allows you to connect to two devices at the same time and switch to either device when the earbuds detect audio activity.
Audio Quality
With 15 different EQ presets and intensity settings, the CKS30TW can easily fit the listening preferences of any consumers. Let’s start with describing the sound with the equalizer disabled. The sound is quite neutral-warm, the treble is not glaringly bright but enough to present good clarity and not sounding muffled nor dark. Vocals have a bit of weight, bass offers good resonance and intensity. Overall, the tuning is skewed a bit towards the lower frequency, slightly obscuring the upper frequency.
Here is where the EQ comes into play. Personally, I like the “Clear” EQ preset with Mild intensity, which elevates the treble. While this setting takes away a bit of the bass punch, I find this works well for me when listening at quiet locations. If you wear them outdoors, then you might want the bass to be more pompous. In any case, you have 15 presets-intensity options to choose from.
Within this price range, the Creative Sensemore Air is a strong contender. In terms of audio quality, I favour the CKS30TW for its more neutral tuning and a more compact case, while the Sensemore Air sounds more airy and roomy-spatial, offers more tech features like ANC, Sensemore mode, Super X-Fi mode, and a slightly lower entry price.
Call Quality
The call quality is average, even in a quiet environment, the voice sounded distant and echoey. It seems the mic is picking up the reflections of my voice instead of direct pickup. The side tone is of a lower intensity than Hear-Through even when I have selected “High” level.
Verdict
The Audio-Technica ATH-CKS30TW is a surprising well-rounded earbuds, offering an excellent balance of features, clean detailed sound quality, and an enticing price. The earbuds case is compact, battery life is long, and the ability to apply one of the 5×3 preset EQ makes it suitable for all types of listeners and for all genres. The festive launch price of S$108 will end on Dec 2022.
