Klipsch is no stranger to high-end audio gear, and joins 2021’s barrage of noise-cancelling true wireless earphones with the T5 II True Wireless ANC. Whereas many of the pairs we’re seeing this year fall below the $200 mark, Klipsch shoots straight for the top with an asking price of $299. The earphones definitely have their charms, with a retro-cool look and feel, gesture controls, and sculpted but balanced audio performance. But compared with our Editors’ Choice winner, Sony’s $280 WF-1000XM4 earphones, Klipsch falls short when it comes to active noise cancellation (ANC). Ultimately, the price here is simply too high considering you can easily get better performance elsewhere for less.
A Stylish Design You Can Control With Your Head
Available in copper, gunmetal, or silver models, the T5 II True Wireless ANC Earphones feature one of the sturdier, classier charging cases on the market. A side-opening flip-top lid—like a Zippo lighter—reveals the docked earpieces, which are emblazoned with the Klipsch logo. The earpieces are on the bulkier side, but that isn’t a bad thing when it comes to fit security—the larger shape adds stability, not weight, and the in-ears ship with six total pairs of eartips.
The outer panels of each earpiece are actually buttons with various functions, but the controls aren’t mirrored. A single press of the left earpiece cycles between ANC on, ANC off, and Transparency modes. A single press of the right handles playback. During playback, the left ear controls volume (double tap to lower volume or triple tap to raise it) and the right ear handles track navigation (double tap moves back a track, while a triple tap skips forward). The right ear handles call management; a single tap answers an incoming call, and various tap or hold combinations can put a call on hold, end a call, mute the mic, or switch between calls. You can also assign different functions to the controls in the app. Generally speaking, the controls are easy to operate, and even if tapping to control volume seems a bit counterintuitive, it works.
The charging case, as mentioned, has a classy look, with a metallic exterior and a rubberized bottom that keeps it sitting steady on slick surfaces. The back panel houses a USB-C port for the included cloth-lined USB-C charging cable (Klipsch thoughtfully includes a USB-A adapter for the cable). The case can also charge wirelessly on Qi-enabled pads. Subtle white LEDs indicate how much battery life the case has during charging.
The IPX4 rating here is par for the course when it comes to noise-cancelling in-ears. Nearly every true wireless ANC model we’ve tested tops out at IPX4, and means the earpieces can withstand light splashes from any direction, so light rain and sweat should be fine. But the earpieces can’t withstand real water pressure, nor can they be submerged, so don’t clean them under a faucet. As with most of the competition, the IPX4 rating doesn’t extend to the charging case—make sure any damp earpieces are thoroughly dried before docking them.
The Klipsch Connect app for Android and iOS offers some useful features. One of the first choices it gives you is whether to keep Dirac audio enabled (it’s on by default), or turn it off. If you want an accurate listen, we recommend turning it off, but if you like the way the audio sounds when it’s enabled, there’s no harm. You can also enable or disable Bragi Moves, which are gesture controls you can use while wearing the earphones. How useful they are to you will vary, but I was able to skip a track by shaking my head three times. You might end up looking a little strange in public if you skip multiple tracks in a row, but it’s useful for when your hands aren’t free. And of course, you can turn it off.
Beyond Dirac and Bragi, you get a six-band adjustable EQ with custom presets, and easy access to ANC/Transparency modes, as well as levels for each. There are some other basic settings to fiddle with, and you can download firmware updates, as well. Unfortunately, the app has an annoying habit of “updating” every time you make a change or open it, even seconds after using it (you basically get a spinning wheel while the app thinks about its next move).
Internally, the earphones house 5.8mm dynamic drivers that deliver a frequency range of 10Hz to 19kHz. They’re compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and support AAC and SBC codecs, but not AptX.
Klipsch estimates battery life to be roughly 7 hours (or 5 hours with ANC on), with the case holding an additional 21 hours (or 15 hours with ANC enabled), but your results will also vary with your volume levels.
T5 II True Wireless Noise Cancellation and Audio Performance
The T5 II True Wireless ANC Earphones deliver relatively solid noise cancellation. The circuitry does a good job of dialing back intense low-frequency rumble like you’d hear on a plane. It seems to allow a thin layer of highs through in this scenario, but that’s not uncommon. The ANC also adds some faint hiss—in a quiet room, if you activate the ANC, you’ll hear a faint white-noise-like sound. In loud environments, it’s less obvious.
The ANC does a decent job with mids; a recording of a loud, busy restaurant played at high volume levels through near-field monitors was dialed back in the lows and mids to a significant degree, but the highs once again passed through more or less unchanged. This is common for most of the ANC we test—only the very best seems to dial back the highs, and even then there’s often a struggle.
Compared with our current top pick, the aforementioned Sony WF-1000XM4, the T5 II True Wireless ANC Earphones can’t quite keep up. Sony’s earphones dial back powerful low-frequency more effectively without adding in hiss, and are also better against mids and highs. The same goes for the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.
See How We Test Noise-Cancelling HeadphonesSee How We Test Noise-Cancelling Headphones
For audio, on tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earphones deliver an accurate sense of the deep lows without sounding like they’re being exaggerated. The high-mids and highs are also well represented, and at top, unwise listening levels, there’s no distortion. For those wanting more bass depth, the EQ in the app is certainly capable of pushing the drivers lower.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the T5 II True Wireless ANC’s general sound signature. The drums on this track can sound overly thunderous on bass-forward in-ears, while here they don’t go overboard. The drums sound full and robust, but they don’t overwhelm the mix with added bass depth. The tape hiss takes a step forward in the mix, and Callahan’s baritone vocals are given both added low-mid richness and high-mid detail. This is a sculpted mix, for sure, but it’s well balanced and can be adjusted to taste in the app.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence to retain its punchy attack, but the vinyl crackle—like the tape hiss in the previous track—seems to upstage it slightly, moving forward in the mix. The drum loop also gets a little extra thump, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with decent depth, but nothing that sounds like the subwoofer-level power we often hear in bass-forward in-ears. The vocals are delivered with solid clarity, without much added sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, are delivered with a lovely balance between highs and lows. The lower-register instrumentation is rich and full, and the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain their bright place in the spotlight. It’s a relatively natural sound—the sculpting we hear in the previous tracks seems either dialed back or more at home on orchestral recordings, and thus a little more transparent.
The six-mic array offers average intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded, but the intelligibility wasn’t top-notch. There were plenty of Bluetooth audio artifacts muddling up the sonics, and the overall signal was on the faint side. Callers should be able to hear you on a clear cell signal, regardless.
Good Earphones That Are Priced Too High
The Klipsch T5 II True Wireless ANC Earphones are undoubtedly of high quality, but their high price holds them back. The ANC performance is decent, but when the top performer in this category costs less, it’s hard to recommend a different pair simply because it has gesture controls or you might think it looks cooler. Ultimately, Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earphones are your best bet in this price range, though we’re also fans of the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds and the $250 Apple AirPods Pro. Each of these pairs has its strengths, and all are comparable with or better than the T5 11 True Wireless ANC Earhpones for less money.
