Audio-Technica’s (A-T) presence at CES 2025 is pretty low-key this year, but it does have one clever trick up its sleeve when it comes to wireless earbuds: “Magnetic Switch” technology. The company’s new ATH-CKS50TW2 (what a mouthful) take 2022’s superb mega-bass ATH-CKS50TW earbuds and reimagine them with a new shape, a new charging case, and cool new feature — if you don’t have the charging case with you, just bring the two buds near each other and their embedded magnets will hold them together while powering them down. You can buy them right now for $149.
Not that you’ll likely have to worry much about running out of power. Improving on their predecessor’s already mammoth 20-hour-per-charge capacity, the CKS50TW2 get a claimed 25 hours per charge, with an additional 40 hours standing by in the charging case. That’s totally nuts. To put it in perspective, the ATH-CKS50TW2 can last as long on a single charge as the Apple AirPods Pro 2 can last when you include their charging case’s supply.
Other improvements include the addition of wireless charging, something the ATH-CKS50TW lacked, and better protection from water and dust with an IP55 rating (as compared to the CKS50TW’s IPX4). The earbuds have ANC and transparency modes, with dual high-performance MEMS microphones and beamforming technology for calling.
A-T says they use a set of 9mm high-definition drivers, specially made by the company, which sounds like the same units that were used on the CKS50TW. What we don’t know yet is what kind of codec support is included. The CKS50TW offered aptX Adaptive (in addition to AAC and SBC), which allowed some Android phones to deliver higher-quality audio at up to 24-bit/96kHz.
A-T hasn’t said which Bluetooth version is on board, but the CKS50TW2 maintain the Multipoint capability from their predecessors, along with customizable controls and EQ settings in the A-T Connect app.
