Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video

Give your head a shake: Klipsch’s new earbuds use head gestures as controls

Simon Cohen
By

Today, Klipsch launched its latest true wireless earbuds, the $299 Klipsch T5 II ANC. As the name suggests, these are Klipsch’s first true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC). But what makes these earbuds unique is their ability to sense head movements and use them to control phone functions like accepting or rejecting calls.

These gestures are enabled through Klipsch’s partnership with Bragi, a company you may have heard about before. Bragi was an early innovator in the true wireless space and launched the $299 Bragi Dash in 2016. Those earbuds were loaded with sensors and onboard memory that enabled a host of features like fitness tracking. At the time, we felt Bragi had focussed too much on features and not enough on simplicity. In 2021, Bragi is using the lessons it learned with the Dash and Dash Pro to develop its Bragi OS — a customizable, gesture-sensing software that Klipsch has incorporated into the T5 II ANC and the Klipsch Connect app.

Klipsch T5 II ANC true wireless earbuds.
Klipsch

Within the Connect app, you’ll find a section that lets you assign “Bragi Moves” which, for now, consists of head nodding and head shaking. When you receive a call, you can nod your head to accept it or shake your head to reject it. While music is playing, you can shake your head to skip to the next track.

Recommended Videos

Is this better than simply tapping on the earbuds? I guess it depends on how often you tend to find your hands occupied. It’s certainly no substitute for earbuds that let you speak hands-free to a voice assistant like the Amazon Echo Buds, Google Pixel Buds A-Series, or Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro, but it’s more discrete: Not everyone wants to bark at Siri to answer a call in the middle of a busy gym. Klipsch expects to update the app over time to allow even more gestures and controls.

Related

The Bragi OS also enables something called Bragi Sidekicks — handy functions like automatically engaging transparency mode when you pause your music — that you can customize and turn on and off within the app. Transparency mode is an increasingly common feature on wireless earbuds, but Klipsch thinks it has found a way to make it better. Its Noise Shield technology monitors outside sounds while you’re using transparency mode and tries to automatically cancel especially loud sounds while keeping you aware of your surroundings.

When it comes to the T5 II ANC’s sound quality, Klipsch has reached out to another third party for a helping hand. It has tuned the earbuds’ acoustics using Dirac’s HD Sound technology. Dirac says its HD Sound can help compensate for the many ways that earbud components “color” the sound you hear, and thus possibly introducing changes from the original recordings. Another potential benefit to Dirac’s technology is that it could help you hear more of your music at lower volume levels, thus reducing your chances of developing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).

I’ve tried Dirac’s technology on other headphones like the Beats Solo 3 and found that I preferred the way the Beats factory tuning sounds. If you find the same thing is true for the T5 II ANC, you can always turn HD Sound off using the Connect app.

Getting a good fit is also key to sound quality, ANC performance, and the ability to listen at lower volume levels. Klipsch includes six sizes of silicone ear tips to help you maximize your chances of getting a good seal and a comfortable fit. You get IPX4 protection on the earbuds, but don’t expose the charging case to moisture.

The T5 II ANC’s claimed battery life is comparable to the AirPods Pro when ANC is on: Five hours per charge in the earbuds and a total of 20 hours when you include the charging case’s capacity. But it gets significantly better when you disable ANC: Seven hours per charge and 28 hours in total with the case. Speaking of the charging case, Klipsch has preserved its iconic metal Zippo lighter-inspired design but has now added wireless charging through a rubber membrane on the bottom.

Klipsch T5 II ANC McLaren Edition true wireless earbuds.
Klipsch

Along with the introduction of the T5 II ANC, Klipsch is continuing its partnership with British racing marque McLaren: The $349 T5 II ANC McLaren Edition’s overall features are identical to the regular T5 II ANC, but it brings McLaren’s distinctive papaya orange color scheme along with a racing-inspired treatment to the charging case. A tire-tread pattern rubber strip runs around the outer edges while the body is crafted using carbon fiber — the same material that is used to keep a Formula 1 car chassis as light and stiff as possible.

The extra $50 for the McLaren Edition is for more than just cosmetics. They come with their own dual-position Qi charging mat and their charging case uses NuCurrent wireless charging technology. Klipsch claims that the combination means the McLaren Edition will charge twice as fast as any other wirelessly charging earbuds case.

Both the standard T5 II ANC and the T5 II ANC McLaren Edition are available today from Klipsch.com.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Nothing might launch new hi-res earbuds at CES under the XO brand
Particles by XO leaked render.

With two models under its belt -- the Ear 1 and the Ear Stick -- Carl Pei's Nothing brand is no stranger to wireless earbuds. But the maverick smartphone company might be planning something a little different for 2023. It seems as though it's readying its third model of wireless earbuds, according to a tweet from developer Kuba Wojciechowski that was reported by 91mobiles.com. Wojciechowski claims to have found references within Nothing's firmware and also managed to unearth what are claimed to be renders of the as-yet-unannounced product.

Known as "Particles by XO," the wireless earbuds have a unique, peanut-like shape reminiscent of the Sony LinkBuds. Though unlike the LinkBuds, which use a doughnut-shaped driver that allows external sounds to be heard clearly, the Particles use a traditional ear canal-sealing design. The report suggests that these will be active noise-canceling buds, which is consistent with the silicone-tipped design.

Read more
Audio-Technica’s new flagship earbuds sanitize themselves after every use
Audio-Technica ATH-TWX9 earbuds in charging case.

Audio-Technica has been in the personal audio game for 60 years, but that doesn't mean it can't learn a thing or two from newer competitors. The company's newest wireless earbuds -- the $299 ATH-TWX9 -- borrow a feature that LG first debuted on its own line of earbuds: sterilization of bacteria and viruses using UV light. They're available from Amazon and other retailers.

When you pop the ATH-TWX9 back in their charging case, a UV light system engages, and with a little help from something called "mirror processing," the company says bacteria and viruses will be eliminated from the surface of the earbuds. It's not entirely clear whether that means just the eartips, or the whole earbud, but the fine print is careful to point out that while the system is more than 99% effective against E. coli and bacteriophage viruses, and more than 90% effective against Staphylococcus aureus, it won't kill all bacteria and viruses, and Audio-Technica doesn't know how well it protects against the virus that causes COVID-19.

Read more
Klipsch and Ear Micro’s custom wireless earbuds are wildly expensive at up to $5,000
Close-up of Klipsch/Ear Micro T10 Bespoke Ear Computer.

Klipsch has joined forces with Ear Micro, a company that creates bespoke wearable tech, to release the T10 Bespoke Ear Computers -- a set of noise-canceling wireless earbuds that can be customized by buyers with a huge array of colors, finishes, and materials. Depending on the choices made, a set of T10 earbuds could set you back a whopping $5,000. They can be ordered starting August 17, at t10bespoke.com and can be delivered within a few weeks, according to Ear Micro, which is overseeing the production of the T10.

The T10 are tiny by wireless earbud standards, and their unusually shaped charging case, which features gull-wing access doors on each side, can be worn as a pendant, completing the jewelry vibe the T10 are meant to possess. This is actually not the first time we've laid eyes on the T10. Klipsch introduced the earbuds at CES 2020, where they made quite a splash for both their tech and their price.

Read more