Audio Technica ATH-TWX9 Review

When I think of Audio-Technica, it's their on-ear, closed-back designs like the classic ATH-M50x that come to mind. I know I'm not alone. With their recent release of the ATH-TWX9, this is a side of the company I haven't quite had the opportunity to experience before. Featuring ANC, built-in Alexa, and 360 spatial audio features with a $300 price tag, it seems apparent that Audio-Technica is making a daring endeavor to go head-to-head with Apple's airpods. Let's see how it fares.

What's In the Box?

-Audio-Technica ATH-TWX9 Wireless Headphones

-Charging Case

-USB to USBC cable

-4 Pairs “Short” Silicone Ear Tips

-3 Pairs “Standard” Ear Tips

-4 Pairs “Long” Ear Tips

Look, Feel and ANC

Starting with looks, I'm quite a fan of the sleek and angular charging case that seems genuinely pocket-sized. The buds themselves have a particular look that I'm fairly neutral on: the drivers are contained in a black, plastic housing that vaguely resembles the shape and size of Final Audio's ZE-3000 wireless earphones. An additional “stem” connects to the back of the housing, and contains mics that are positioned down towards the jaw and the points at which the ATH-TWX9 connects to its charger. A single button is on either stem to make smart controls possible. These controls allow you to control power, pause/play, and to cycle through ANC, pass-through, and passive modes. 

The ear tips that come included provide a unique fit, one that I would call an on-ear-in-ear: while the buds themselves sat fairly deeply in my concha, the tips isolated the outer opening of my ear canal without entering it. This doesn't seem like it will vary depending on your ear size, but rather an intended feature of the wear style. Though I found this seemingly lax approach to passive isolation on ANC earphones a bit unusual, I have to admit that it was was conducive to a very comfortable fit. It did away with the fuss that frequently comes with getting ear tips to sit correctly inside one's ears. This minimally intrusive quality coupled with its light weight left me unaware that I had ANC mode activated until I took the buds off and suddenly heard the roar of the central air system spring forward from the silence. While nearly all ANC units I've tried generally leave a firm and somewhat intense vacuum-like sensation, the ATH-TWX9 managed to block out an impressive amount of lower frequencies while keeping an airy and light feeling in my ears.

360 Audio and App

The Audio-Technica Connect app is pretty standard, though certainly useful. For one, noise cancellation can be fine-tuned by allowing the app and headphones to “listen” to your current environment and provide a custom ANC calibration. I found doing this in my office provided quite a noticeable upgrade. General ANC presets are included as well, and are specifically tailored for use on a plane, train, and so on.

The app also lets you use your phone camera to map your head and ear shape for the purposes of 360-degree audio calibration. This part of the setup was pretty easy and straightforward. Once complete, I played around a bit in Tidal's 360 music playlists. Though the soundstage was noticeably wider and more spatial, I can't really say I felt a really convincing 360 immersion. This is likely more to do with it being the early days of 360 technology than with the ATH-TWX9 itself. To be honest, I've yet to be really blown away by a 360 audio experience with any pair of headphones.

The app also features a pretty basic and limited five-band EQ, but I found it to be the most important part of the app in its own right. I'll be including a picture of the EQ settings I ended up settling on for my listens to help you get a sense of the corrections I thought the original balance necessitated.

Design and Technical Specs

The ATH-TWX9 uses Bluetooth 5.2 and Qualcomm aptX Adaptive, aptX, AAC, and SBC codecs. I had these connected to my 2019 Macbook in an indoor office setting while writing this review. I found the connection perfectly satisfactory as I walked around the office. I was able to walk approximately 30 feet away from my laptop and still experience a solid connection; it only started to give out once I entered a separately walled off space in the office, which is fair enough and pretty standard in my experience of testing other wireless units. Also worth noting is their IPX4 waterproof rating, making them sufficiently sweat resistant and a perfectly viable option for a workout pair.

-Bluetooth: 5.2

-Codecs: aptX, aptX adaptive, SBC, AAC

-Operating Time: 6 hours

-Charging Case: Holds an additional 18.5 Hours

-Microphone: Generation 8.0 Qualcomm cVc Omnidirectional Microphone

-Waterproof Rating: IPX4

-Driver: 5.8mm Dynamic

Soundstage

The ATH-TWX9 meets a pretty satisfactory standard for width as far as wireless buds in this price range are concerned. If you want to hear a genuinely impressive stage from it, try out the 360 audio. As I said earlier, it may not be properly 360 degrees, but the stage seriously opens up. So while I didn't feel drums flying from behind me like I ideally wanted, I was still left with a feeling of sitting in the room with the music – perhaps a room with a 5-speaker stereo set up rather than with 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.

I'll be getting more into the specifics below, but the default balance of the ATH-TWX9 is very neutral and a little warm, reminding me of the neutral EQ on beyerdynamic's Free Byrd 2. Take a look at the screenshot below to see what custom EQ adjustments I ended up making.

Lows

Prior to any adjustments, the lows were probably my favorite part of the ATH-TWX9's balance. Though they're not particularly deep or rumbly, the mid bass provides a satisfying soft punch and growl that seemed to be the predominant timbre of the low end. I ended up applying just a bit of boost to 80 Hz to see if I could elicit any sort of slam, though I likely would have boosted even a bit lower than that if I was given the option. Though I can't say I ended up with slam, the boost at 80 Hz gave a satisfying added body to basses and kick drums which scratched the itch I was looking for.

Mids

With the original balance, the mids profile slanted towards lower mids with slightly attenuated center mids. This resulted in snare drums having a little more thump than snap, and vocals having more fundamental than fry. While some people will like this softer balance and leave it untouched, a small boost on the 1kHz band unlocked some of the rougher, more energetic qualities in the mids that I was looking for.

Highs

For my ears, highs seemed to be pretty attenuated in the original EQ. While air still managed to find its way into vocals, I found ride cymbals needed a good highs boost to get them ringing rather than dinging. I took a fat-fingered approach to the 12kHz EQ band, and can't say I regretted doing so. This was for me the most noticeable and welcome improvement to the EQ, as it provided a great deal of lift to a sound signature that was otherwise very soft and grounded. Hi-hats took on some extra point, and the somewhat dead-sounding ride cymbals that I took issue with were permitted to ring out with their high-frequency harmonics. While my other EQ adjustments felt like preferential adjustments, this high-frequency boost felt more corrective.

Overall

I have to say, Audio-Technica's ATH-TWX9's may have its competitive sights on Apple's airpods, but reminded me of a more comfortable and stylish version of the Beyerdynamic Free Byrd 2 with its warm and neutral original EQ that seems made for tweaking. If you're not happy with the balance you get from these at first, don't sweat it: while I would've liked to see one or two more adjustable EQ bands, I was able to get quite a vast variety of overall timbres from the unit. What sets the ATH-TWX9 apart from other ANC wireless buds in this price range, however, is the way it's able to pull off an effective ANC with such a non-intrusive and lightweight fit. If you're looking for wireless ANC buds that prove their value with quality features rather than a big brand name, the ATH-TWX9 falls pretty high on the list of buds in this range that you should consider.

The Audio-Technica ATH-TWX9 is available now, click the link to browse or use the button below to Add to Cart.