Klipsch T5 True Wireless Headphones Review

The Klipsch T5 are decent-looking headphones, but their design makes them protrude quite a bit out of the ears, which some may not like. On the upside, they have a copper accent that gives off a nice high-end feel.

The Klipsch T5 are typical in-ears that go very deep inside the ear canal. They come with a few different tips to help you find a more comfortable and stable fit. However, since they have a tactile control scheme, pushing the control buttons pushes the earbuds even further inside your ears, which hurts a bit. If you want a much more comfortable pair of truly wireless in-ears, check out the JBL LIVE 300TWS Truly Wireless or the Google Pixel Buds 2020 Truly Wireless.

The Klipsch T5 True Wireless' control scheme is rather intuitive and easy to use. The right bud is for raising the volume and skipping tracks, while the left one reduces the volume and goes backward. You can obviously play/pause your music with either bud and manage calls as well. You can also mute your microphone when using the headphones for calls, which is nice.

Like most in-ears, they don't trap heat inside or around the ears. You won't sweat more than usual when using these, and they make a decent option for sports, although they aren't designed for this use.

Like all truly wireless headphones, the Klipsch T5 don't take a lot of space, and their footprint is very small. You'll easily be able to fit them inside your pants pockets or a bag. You can also put them inside their charging case.

The Klispch T5 True Wireless come with a good metal case that protects the headphones well. It's small enough to fit in most pockets, although some people might think it's a bit too heavy for a truly wireless case. The lid is also a bit loose, but this shouldn't bother most people. Also, when taking the buds out of the case, the tips stay stuck and turn themselves inside out, which gets frustrating since you need to adjust them every time you take the buds out of the case.

The Klipsch T5 True Wireless' build quality is good. They should survive accidental drops without too much damage, especially if they're protected by the metal-feeling, heavy charging case. The buds feel dense and are rated IPX4 for water resistance. With head movement, you can easily hear the buttons moving around because they're loose.

These headphones are decently stable but not the best option for sports. If you don't have a good seal, they fall off with head movement.

• Klipsch T5 True Wireless headphones
• 3x silicone tip sizes
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable
• USB-C to USB adapter
• Manuals

We had trouble measuring the Klipsch T5 True Wireless with our testing rig due to fit issues, which explains the lack of bass. We couldn't get an airtight seal. However, when listening to them, the ones that get a good fit hear an exciting, V-shaped sound profile, while the one who doesn't get a seal hears something similar to the test results, meaning it can be representative of use for someone that can't get a good seal.

The frequency response consistency was amazing on our dummy head, but only because we couldn't get a good fit every time we tried testing them. However, this is different with humans, as we tested with employees. A few people could get a decent seal, while another one could barely fit them inside his ears, even with the smallest tips. Therefore, they perform quite differently depending on the seal you can achieve.

In our testing procedure, we couldn't get the Klipsch T5 to fit appropriately in our measurement rig, resulting in a drastic loss of bass. These results seem to be accurate for people who can't get a good seal with these, but if you can, we experienced a lot of low-end thump and pretty good bass performance. We don't think the bass is neutral, but it sounds better than what the graph shows.

With the fit issues we had during testing, the Klipsch T5 show overdone mid-range accuracy, which results in forward-sounding vocals and lead instruments. However, when subjectively listening to these headphones, we thought the bass was slightly overpowering the mid-range, although voices were still accurately reproduced and clear enough for most people.

The treble performance of the Klipsch T5 True Wireless is sub-par. Although we didn't get a good fit, we think these results are pretty close to reality when we gave them a listen. However, they should sound a bit overly sharp and piercing on high frequencies like vocals and cymbals.

Due to the poor fit, the Klipsch T5's peaks/dips performance is okay. However, we don't think this reflects an accurate user experience. They do sound a bit excited with an overemphasis in bass and treble, but they aren't uncomfortable to listen to.

The Klipsch T5's imaging is excellent. The group delay is under the audibility threshold, which results in a tight bass and transparent treble range. Our unit also has well-matched L/R drivers, which is important for the reproduction of sounds in the stereo image. Note that these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

Due to the in-ear design, these headphones don't interact with the pinna, which doesn't result in a very wide or natural sounding soundstage.

The Klipsch T5's weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. The amount in the bass is within good limits, but it's slightly elevated for the treble range, making these frequencies a bit impure and harsh. On the upside, there's no big jump under heavier loads, which is good.

The noise isolation performance is disappointing. However, this was measured with the same fit issue that we were getting with our sound measurements. They aren't the greatest for blocking noise, but we couldn't hear near conversations when using the headphones with some music, meaning they'll be good for the office. However, they don't block much noise in the bass range, so they might not be the ideal option for your daily commute.

These headphones have excellent leakage performance. They practically don't leak unless you crank up the volume to its maximum in a quiet environment. The leakage volume isn't loud, but when audible, it's thin-sounding.

The integrated microphone's recording quality is sub-par. People on the other end of the line will understand you in very quiet environments, but the audio quality won't be the best. Recorded speech sounds muffled and lacks detail and brightness.

Like most truly wireless Bluetooth headphones, the noise handling of this microphone is mediocre. It will only be suitable for quiet environments and can't separate ambient noise from your voice in moderately loud situations like a busy street.

These headphones offer about 8 hours of continuous playback time, which is quite good for truly wireless headphones and can last you for a full day at work. Their case also holds three additional charges for when you're on the move. Unfortunately, you can't use only one bud at a time while the other is charging.

These headphones don't have a dedicated companion app for customization options. If you're looking for Klipsch headphones with a companion app, try the Klipsch T5 II True Wireless ANC.

The Klipsch T5 are Bluetooth-only truly wireless headphones. They only have a decent line of sight range, but you shouldn't have any issues if you keep your source near you. Unfortunately, their latency is very high, and even with app or device compensation, people should notice a delay when watching video content.

These headphones are Bluetooth-only.

As expected, you can't use these truly wireless headphones wired. They come with a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, which means you can plug the case into your phone for on-the-go charging. It also comes with a USB adapter.

You can only use these headphones via Bluetooth on PCs, and they won't work with the PS4.

These Bluetooth-only headphones aren't compatible with the Xbox One.

Like all truly wireless headphones, their case serves as a charging dock that you can bring around. It supports charging via USB-C and has no other inputs.