While most gamers looking for headphones would be inclined to look at the many, many gaming headsets on offer, EPOS seems to have spotted a gap in the market with the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid earbuds, which are one of the few wireless earbud solutions on the market targeted specifically at gamers. They look and feel premium, in competition as much with products like Apple’s AirPods as they are with other gaming headsets, and come in at an RRP of AU $229, but whether they’re more viable as a gaming-targeted product or just a general use one, is a trickier question.

The brushed metal case the GTW 270 Hybrid earbuds come in is weighty and solid, but definitely more of a two-handed operation to open, with its long rectangular shape, compared to the simple snap open of an AirPods case. Helpfully, the earbuds light up upon opening the case, as does a battery meter on the front, which shows you exactly how much charge the case has left. As with most modern wireless earbud solutions, the GTW 270 Hybrid earbuds each have their own batteries, which are charged whenever they’re placed in the case by the case’s own internal battery, which uses USB-C to charge. On their own, each earbud will last about five hours, but the case will keep them going for up to twenty hours, as long as they’re left to charge inside when not in use. The earbuds themselves have silicon eartips, with a range of sizes included, that form a seal on your ear hole as a ‘closed acoustic’ system. They even come with an IPX5 Water Resistance rating, which sufficient to protect against sweat and light rain. However, there aren’t any controls actually on the earbuds themselves, meaning that you can’t independently control the volume on them when playing a game, for instance, instead having to rely on OS or software controls. This isn’t so much of a problem on PC, where many keyboards have media buttons for controlling audio these days, but on console it usually means having to pause the action to adjust levels via on-screen menus, which is an annoyance.

They’re built solidly, and connect fairly easily using a standard Bluetooth connection to most devices, like phones and laptops. Your earbuds have to be in the case in order to pair correctly, but once you’ve got that down it’s a simple matter to use them like any other earbuds. When used via Bluetooth, the earbuds function as a regular headset, with a decent quality microphone (although not amazing, as EPOS note themselves on their website that even with a dual-mic system, its position further away from the mouth makes it inferior to the microphones found on most larger headsets). However, one of the key selling points is a special USB-C dongle that comes with the package. Able to be connected to PCs and PS5s, as well as PS4s and Switch via a converter, the USB-C dongle provides a special low-latency connection to the earbuds – and it really does what it says on the tin, with no noticeable lag in shooter which require precise timing like Call of Duty Vanguard.

Previously, these earbuds had an issue when using the USB-C dongle, where it could only carry playback audio, and not a mic channel. However, this has been fixed with a firmware update that can be downloaded via the EPOS Gaming Suite software on PC, so good on EPOS for resolving a problem that had been a sticking point for many users. The only issue I’d say that remains is actually getting the headphones to pair with your USB-C dongle, which seems to be a little picky depending on what it’s plugged into and where, and often requires several pairing cycles in order for your earbuds to connect properly. This could also be an issue with it detecting other Bluetooth devices which it’s been previously used with, although it is meant to support multiple devices at once. The constant pairing also does seem to drain the case’s battery more heavily than it otherwise should be.

General audio quality is also pretty good across the board as well. The bass is fairly clearly boosted by default, obviously to assist with SFX-heavy games and shooters, which also means these pack more of a punch when it comes to bass-heavy music as well. Mids sound good in general, although occasionally higher frequencies can get a little lost depending on the track. For gaming, the extra punch in the bass helps it sound a bit more like its bigger brothers, but comparing it to a big boy headset, like say for instance, EPOS’ own GSP 670, the sound can’t really compare. Of course, you can use software solutions on PS5 and PC (EPOS’ own audio software) to activate virtual 7.1 surround sound, which works reasonably well, but again just not quite as powerfully as the bigger drivers of larger headsets.

When using these for general music listening when out and about, the GTW 270’s are more than decent, especially given their tight seal around the ears. While they don’t have noise cancelling features or pass-through like my daily driver AirPods Pro, which are features of convenience which keep them as my default earbuds, the GTW 270’s nevertheless feature strong bass and a good quality soundstage. If you just need to tune out, they’re actually pretty good for isolating sound, and decent for use in phone conversations.

As gaming earbuds, the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrids are not alone in the marketplace, as there are products like the Razer Hammerhead and Turtle Beach Scout Air earbuds, which also offer wireless Bluetooth connectivity and come in significantly cheaper. However, the GTW 270 offer a premium feel and comfort, both in the case and in the earbuds themselves, as well as about as good sound performance as you could expect from wireless headphones tuned for gaming. The firmware updates also help make their low-latency connection much more of a feature, now that it supports both playback and voice chat. They just sit in a somewhat awkward position, outperformed in convenience with offerings like Apple and Samsung’s, and outperformed in quality for gaming by larger gaming headphones. However, if you have a specific need for earbud-driven audio with your gaming, then the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid earbuds offer a great low-latency connection that could very well sway you to check them out.