[Tommy C]

Just came across the TW1 by PSB.
A new product from what I see with a very attractive price tag.
Impressions anyone?
Might be a great alternative to Sony and B&O true wireless earphones.
PSB has been around for a very long time and know their stuff.
Their earphones and headphones sound really good imo. Generally speaking their sound sig is very natural with lifted bass from the ones I had personally and demoed.
I’m curious if anyone seen them out in the wild?
http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/headphones/M4U-TW1-Earphones

 

[clerkpalmer]

I ordered a set. Arrive tomorrow. Will report back.

 

[tinyman392]

I received a pair of these today. They cost 150 dollars US which actually makes them one of the cheaper truly wireless IEMs on the market at (launch) MSRP. In terms of sonics, I feel they definitely are the best bang for the buck by far. They definitely set the bar high and go head to head with the likes of B&O in terms of sound quality (though I can't compare directly right now, my opinion may change with burn in or a direct A-B).

Just some short expressions, the bass is very fast, punchy, and can offer a nice strong impact without ever being too boomy. Sub-bass texturing is there, but doesn't have the largest body or presence unfortunately. The midrange offers lots of energy and clarity, but lacks the warmth and lushness that allows vocals to tug at the heart strings/emotions. Treble can be a tad bit splashy at times with a strong crunch to them. The treble, overall offers good lots of energy. In some instances it may be a little overwhelming.

Note that these are nowhere near burned in and the sound may change slightly (or heavily) and these impressions (obviously) can't capture that.

It's been a while since I listened to a pair of PSB headphones, but these remind me of them in many ways.

For a quick rundown of pros and cons:

Pros

• Sound quality is pretty high up there, even against older, wired IEMs within the price range.
• Price, for 150 dollars, and the SQ they offer, they actually a good value.
• The quoted single-charge playback time is the longest of most truly wireless buds.
• They are extremely comfortable and sit very shallowly in the ear canal, even with my tiny ears, they sit flush (the E8 don't sit flush for comparison and instead stick out a little). I'd argue that they are the most comfortable truly wireless earbuds that I've had the pleasure of using so far.
• Controls are quite intuitive, single tap to answer/hang up, double tap to play/pause, hold the left bud for 2 seconds to go to the previous track, hold the right bud for 2 seconds to skip to the next song, hold for 5 seconds to access voice control.

Annoying

• Holding for two seconds to go to the previous track may bring you back to the beginning of the track rather than go to the previous on iOS. This is due to how the previous track button works on iOS, if you're more than 4 seconds into the track, you go back to front, otherwise, you go to the beginning. You only have a 2 second grace period before it'll bring you to front. Change it to 1 second or even half a second and you're good.
• Relies on micro USB to charge, cable is proprietary in order to charge both at once.
• No volume control!

Cons

• THEY LACK A BATTERY CASE! This is a huge oversight and very annoying! One big gain with the battery case was that you basically guarantee that your buds are always charged (or partially) even if the case is empty. That means you're rarely left without music as you have a grace period to find a charging cable.

 

[MementoMori99]

Can anyone tell me how the TW1's compare with either the NAD HP20's or PSB M4U 4's? I realize that comparing it to the latter is not a fair one, but it would be interesting none the less.

 

[Tommy C]

Can anyone tell me how the TW1's compare with either the NAD HP20's or PSB M4U 4's? I realize that comparing it to the latter is not a fair one, but it would be interesting none the less.

I own the M4U4 and will be getting the TW1 in a few days so will be able to do a comparison.
I love the the M4U4 for their natural sound and the RoomFeel bass. I will be super impressed if the TW1 can give them a run for the money.

 

[infinitum4]

Looking forward to hear more reviews on this one!

 

[MementoMori99]

I own the M4U4 and will be getting the TW1 in a few days so will be able to do a comparison.
I love the the M4U4 for their natural sound and the RoomFeel bass. I will be super impressed if the TW1 can give them a run for the money.

Yes, not only do I also own the M4U 4's, but they are the "only" IEM in my collection. Looking forward to your impressions.

 

[infinitum4]

I read the specs for the TW1 but couldn't find the supported codecs. Do these support aptX?

 

[trellus]

I read the specs for the TW1 but couldn't find the supported codecs. Do these support aptX?

I couldn’t find that, either, which I took to mean that it didn’t.

 

[tinyman392]

I couldn’t find that, either, which I took to mean that it didn’t.

I'm not sure whether it does not not as they don't have any codecs listed. If they had one or two listed, I'd agree with you, but I don't see any listed.

 

[infinitum4]

I'm not sure whether it does not not as they don't have any codecs listed. If they had one or two listed, I'd agree with you, but I don't see any listed.

I hope they do support aptX, I'm really interested in these

 

[infinitum4]

Asked an official distributor right here in Singapore, they replied that the TW1 does not support aptX. Will try to audition anyway once they hit the stocks!

 

[tinyman392]

Yup, to parrot this, PR rep confirmed that the TW1 does not support the APTX or AAC codecs unfortunately.

 

[trellus]

Great investigative work, thanks, @infinitum4 and @tinyman392. Frankly, though, I've not found that SBC in modern Bluetooth (4.1 and newer) is that much different to my ears than AptX or AAC anyway. Shure also does not support AptX (or AAC, I believe) in the Bluetooth version of their SE215, so it makes me think it's less important now than it used to be when SBC was noticeably worse.

 

[clerkpalmer]

Great investigative work, thanks, @infinitum4 and @tinyman392. Frankly, though, I've not found that SBC in modern Bluetooth (4.1 and newer) is that much different to my ears than AptX or AAC anyway. Shure also does not support AptX (or AAC, I believe) in the Bluetooth version of their SE215, so it makes me think it's less important now than it used to be when SBC was noticeably worse.

Would love to understand this a bit more without going too far off topic. I use an iPhone and have multiple bt headsets none of which appear to officially support AAC. These psb sound pretty good to me. Is lack of AAC support a deal breaker or is it marketing mumbo jumbo. I just ordered some higher end bt wired headphones that support aptxhd and Sony lossless format but not AAC and I'm wondering if I wasted my money.

Also I wonder why all of these headsets do not support aptx or aac? How much more could it possibly cost them? And if the answer is because they don't improve the sq it would be nice to have more concrete information supporting that.