Close Menu
stereoguide.com
  • Home
  • Bluetooth Speakers
    • Home/Indoor
    • Mobile/Outdoor
    • Stereo Speaker Sets
    • Bluetooth Speaker Ranking
  • Headphones
    • In-Ears
    • On-Ear/Over-Ear
    • Noise-Cancelling
    • True Wireless
    • Gaming Headsets
    • Mobile headphone DACs
    • Home headphone amplifiers
    • Mobile digital audio players
    • Headphones Ranking
  • Hi-Fi
    • WIFI Onebox
    • WIFI Stereo
    • Soundbars
    • Subwoofers
    • Turntables
    • Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Car-Hi-Fi
    • Car Hi-Fi reviews
    • Car-Hi-Fi reports
    • Car Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Guides
    • News
    • Buying Guides
    • Technology
    • Acoustics
    • Streaming
  • About us
    • Our approach
    • About us
  • English
    • German
Facebook Instagram RSS YouTube TikTok
YouTube Facebook Instagram TikTok LinkedIn
stereoguide.com
  • Home
  • Bluetooth Speakers
    • Home/Indoor
    • Mobile/Outdoor
    • Stereo Speaker Sets
    • Bluetooth Speaker Ranking
  • Headphones
    • In-Ears
    • On-Ear/Over-Ear
    • Noise-Cancelling
    • True Wireless
    • Gaming Headsets
    • Mobile headphone DACs
    • Home headphone amplifiers
    • Mobile digital audio players
    • Headphones Ranking
  • Hi-Fi
    • WIFI Onebox
    • WIFI Stereo
    • Soundbars
    • Subwoofers
    • Turntables
    • Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Car-Hi-Fi
    • Car Hi-Fi reviews
    • Car-Hi-Fi reports
    • Car Hi-Fi Ranking
  • Guides
    • News
    • Buying Guides
    • Technology
    • Acoustics
    • Streaming
  • About us
    • Our approach
    • About us
  • English
    • German
stereoguide.com
Home » Headphones » True Wireless » Yamaha TW-E5B review
Bluetooth In-Ears True Wireless

Yamaha TW-E5B review

Does it offer a maximum of fun even without noise-cancellation?
Stefan SchickedanzStefan Schickedanz13. June 2022
Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Email
Review: Yamaha TW-E5B in case
Power for up to 30 hours of playtime: Yamaha TW-E5B in charging case. (Photo: Stefan Schickedanz)

STEREO GUIDE verdict

87%
87%

+ excellent voice reproduction
+ highly detailed resolution
+ Lot of drive, dynamics and ambience
+ Real buttons instead of touch operation
- Upper bass partly a bit too dominant
- Wearing comfort somewhat limited depending on ear canal

  • Sound: Tonal Balance / Transparency
    9
  • Sound: Bass / Dynamics
    9.2
  • Ease-of-Use / Connectivity
    8.2
  • Price / Performance
    8.5

For a young generation of music lovers, true wireless ear buds often are the first products to offer an experience of high-quality music reproduction. The market is therefore quite contested, so Japanese hi-fi specialist Yamaha is planning to launch an entire new series of in-ear headphones. Their Yamaha TW-E5B, which we had a chance of reviewing, are promising several cool features you might have never heard of, plus top-class sound quality for a retail price around 160 dollars. However, there is no noise-cancelling, a feature being exclusively offered in the more expensive top model TW-E7B.

So one thing is clear: this neat product has to compete with several rivals offering ANC, and advantages like a designated gaming mode, audiophile sound and excellent speech reproduction quality have to go a long way. In any case, you feel the aura of a highly desired gadget when unboxing the set: besides black and white, there are two decent colour alternatives (dark blue and brown). The buds themselves feel solid, yet lightweight. And they are housing real buttons instead of touch surfaces.

Lots of features, new ideas included

The ads for Yamaha´s TW-E5B introduce some buzzwords that even connoisseurs of the brand might fail to understand: Listening Care, True Sound and Ambient Sound. The latter could be translated as voice-through mode to pay attention to both traffic noise or announcements in airplanes/trains. Listening Care is a new word for kind of a loudness, designed for very low playback levels. Frequencies that might fall under the hearing threshold are slightly emphasized dynamically. This applies mainly to the lower bass region, but also to a lesser extent to the treble. However, the effect is rather subtle and really limited to very low levels.

With 8.5 hours of continuous use without recharging, the Yamaha is definitely among the leaders of its class. Calculating a few recharging cycles in the nicely rounded, but not quite handy case, it manages a total of 30 hours, which is absolutely sufficient even for intercontinental travellers.

Phone calls included

An array of multiple mics, a specially shaped and directional microphone channel, and the latest speech identification circuits made by Qualcomm are said to deliver a class-leading speech intelligibility.

Thanks to additional hardware, higher-quality codecs are included as well: Both aptX Adaptive and AAC are supported. In the Android world, it can be used to play music in high quality just like in the Apple world. With aptX, there is also a low-latency mode for gaming. Yamaha wants to avoid annoying time delays between video and sound.

The teardrop-shaped casing has to be inserted into the ear canal first, which might not always be that easy for people with smaller ear cups. Thanks to the slim attachment case, however, there is nothing to complain about once you have inserted the earbud using a kind of “push and turn” technique. In the Yamaha Headphone Control app a brief video tutorial might help beginners. Four different sizes of adaptors help to optimize fit.

Review: Yamaha Headphones Control App for the TW-E5B.
The Yamaha Headphones Control app offers an equalizer and loudness. (Photo: Stefan Schickedanz)
Review: Yamaha TW-E5B in front of charging case
The Yamaha TW-E5B are relatively large TWS with a case consisting of inner and exterior part. (Photo: Stefan Schickedanz)

Get thr real key touch!

The separated back chamber should also help the 7mm driver acoustically. The three buttons per offer a classic design and a noticeable pressure point. This is definitely an advantage over many True Wireless models just relying on touch surfaces. Depending on the OS of the connected device, the voice assistants from both Apple and Google are supported and activated by pressing the larger button on the right ear bud.

On the left, phone calls can be accepted or ended as well as music playback. On the right, the volume can also be controlled with the small and the large button, but this procedure definitely takes some time to get used to. You have to briefly tap the respective button once and wait until the playback level is synchronized with the device via Bluetooth. Clicking the small button twice skips a track. Doing the same with the big one replays the current track from the beginning, and holding down this elongated button for a second brings either Siri or Google Assistant into action.

Some of the new features are only available via app. It’s called Yamaha Headphone Control App – and should in no way be confused with the Yamaha Headphones Controller, which is not compatible to the TW-E5B! Besides activating loudness, there is also a battery level indicator and a 5-band equalizer.

Are Yamaha´s In-Ear True Wireless really audiophile?

First of all, the Yamaha TW-E5B offers a pleasing combination of high detail accuracy plus pretty dynamic voice reproduction. The result is a spacious, transparent sound image by in-ear standards. Solo voices in the center show a certain tendency of playing inside your head, but a generous, stable impression of reverb and ambience are created to either side. The nimble response to impulses and sparkling fine dynamics in the treble region also speak in favor to the yamahas. However, if you regularly listen to pop and rock recordings from the old days offering a somewhat questionable sound quality, they also expose all the details like a studio monitor, down to a slight hiss.

If the adaptors are not precisely inserted into the ear canals, bass remains thin and underexposed. In this case, it is essential to determine the correct size by trying them all. The correct adaptors can be recognized by the fact that the earphones really seal off the ear canals tightly, and the bass appears rich, deep and even somewhat dominant in the kick range. Depending on the genre, this can even be too much of a good thing and cause the voices to be dominated by the bass.

Take control of the bass via EQ

Adjusting the two lower bands of the in-app EQ (-2 steps for both bass and lower mids do the job) brings back tonal balance to the neutral side, but might also reduce the pure fun factor of the bass. So as a listener you have to decide whether unconditional joy or unconditional neutrality is your highest goal. For older recordings of popular music, however, the voicing seems to be ideal.

For some listeners during our test procedures, the ear tubes caused a slight feeling of pressure, which could affect the wearing comfort being excellent with all others who tried. So trial and error is what you might want to execute before purchasing Yamaha´s TW-E5B. And it is worth it as the natural, highly detailed and bass-rich sound seems to be perfect for long, intense listening without fatigue.

Conclusion and alternatives to the Yamaha TW-E5B

Everyone who is in the market for True Wireless Earbuds in the price range of max. 150 dollars has to make a decision first: How important is noise cancelling? JBL´s Tue 230NC or Panasonic´s TZ-S500W both offer ANC at a lower price point. The JBL comes with an even juicier beat in the lowest octaves and was even more comfortable to wear in some reviewers’ ears. The Yamaha on the other hand offers a more neutral tonal-balanced, nuanced voice reproduction and a far better staging/ambience. The Panasonic master noise-canceling to perfection and sound a bit softer and drier than the Yamaha´s. The non-ANC modell is justifying its higher price with playfulness, space and audiophile timbre in the treble region.

Advertising
BoxWave Cable Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - miniSync - USB-A to USB Type-C, Retractable Cable - USB-A to USB Type-C
BoxWave Cable Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - miniSync - USB-A to USB Type-C, Retractable Cable - USB-A to USB Type-C
BoxWave Cable Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - miniSync - USB-A to USB Type-C, Retractable Cable - USB-A to USB Type-C
14,95 €
Auf Lager
as of 12. May 2025 11:11
Amazon.com
BoxWave Cable Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - MagnetoSnap AllCharge Cable, Magnet Charging Cable USB Type-C Micro USB - Jet Black
BoxWave Cable Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - MagnetoSnap AllCharge Cable, Magnet Charging Cable USB Type-C Micro USB - Jet Black
BoxWave Cable Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - MagnetoSnap AllCharge Cable, Magnet Charging Cable USB Type-C Micro USB - Jet Black
16,95 €
Auf Lager
as of 12. May 2025 11:11
Amazon.com
BoxWave Adapter Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - USB-A to C PortChanger (5-Pack), USB Type-C OTG USB-A Convert Charging Data - Metallic Silver
BoxWave Adapter Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - USB-A to C PortChanger (5-Pack), USB Type-C OTG USB-A Convert Charging Data - Metallic Silver
BoxWave Adapter Compatible with Yamaha TW-E5B - USB-A to C PortChanger (5-Pack), USB Type-C OTG USB-A Convert Charging Data - Metallic Silver
14,95 €
Auf Lager
as of 12. May 2025 11:11
Amazon.com
YAMAHA TW-E5B True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Premium Sound, CVC Clear Voice Capture, Ambient Sound, IPX5 Water Resistant for Sport (Light Gray) (Renewed)
YAMAHA TW-E5B True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Premium Sound, CVC Clear Voice Capture, Ambient Sound, IPX5 Water Resistant for Sport (Light Gray) (Renewed)
YAMAHA TW-E5B True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Premium Sound, CVC Clear Voice Capture, Ambient Sound, IPX5 Water Resistant for Sport (Light Gray) (Renewed)
Auf Lager
as of 12. May 2025 11:11
Amazon.com
Yamaha TW-E5B True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Premium Sound, CVC Clear Voice Capture, Ambient Sound, IPX5 Water Resistant for Sport (Black)
Yamaha TW-E5B True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Premium Sound, CVC Clear Voice Capture, Ambient Sound, IPX5 Water Resistant for Sport (Black)
Yamaha TW-E5B True Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Premium Sound, CVC Clear Voice Capture, Ambient Sound, IPX5 Water Resistant for Sport (Black)
131,91 €
Auf Lager
as of 12. May 2025 11:11
Amazon.com
For links on this page, STEREO GUIDE may receive a commission from the merchant. This applies, for example, to those marked with *.

Specs Yamaha TW-E5B

  • Retail price: 160 dollars
  • Weight: 6.5 g (each)
  • Features: AAC and aptX adaptive codecs, IPX5 waterproof, app control.
  • More at yamaha.com
  • Panasonic RZ-S500W review
  • Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 review
  • Yamaha TW-E7B review
App App Control Battery mode Black Bluetooth In Ears Microphone White
Stefan Schickedanz, STEREO GUIDE
Stefan Schickedanz
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)
  • LinkedIn

The founder and editor in chief of STEREO GUIDE has been testing for over three decades as a hi-fi expert for print and online magazines such as AUDIO, stereoplay, LowBeats or FAZ Kaufkompass. In addition to cultivated music playback, he likes fast cars - including classic cars - with rich sound. He also reports regularly on this topic, not least on this platform.

Related Posts

Sony WF-C710N with ANC review

Pink different: Better than the last generation?

Sony WF-C710N with ANC review

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 celebrates launch

3D audio the English way

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 celebrates launch

Dyson OnTrac: What does the app update for the ANC over-ear do?

Useful new functions for the Bluetooth headphones

Dyson OnTrac: What does the app update for the ANC over-ear do?

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: How good is the over-ear?

ANC headphones with top sound & endurance

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: How good is the over-ear?

Advertisement
Werbebanner Audio Reference Velodyne
Most viewed Articles

Edifier M60 review: desktop speaker with Bluetooth

Small wonder: tiny sound sensation for the desk

Edifier M60 review: desktop speaker with Bluetooth

Despite their tiny size, the Edifier M60s offer a great sound. However, one small flaw prevents them from being used as a hi-fi system.

The best Bluetooth speakers for outdoors

Outdoor sound for camping, hiking, beach or party

The best Bluetooth speakers for outdoors

Waterproof, shockproof, loud: What makes outdoor boxes stand out? In the test, we found the best outdoor Bluetooth speakers from 35 to 450 euros.

Klipsch The One Plus review

Retro speaker with PC connection

Klipsch The One Plus review

The Klipsch The One Plus is aimed at the small, select circle of retro Bluetooth speakers. It is technically at the forefront with a USB socket for PCs.

Harman Kardon Luna review

Counterpart to the JBL Flip 6 in fine twine

Harman Kardon Luna review

The Harman Kardon Luna is a successful combination of stylish design and outstanding sound quality. It is a JBL Flip in elegant.

JBL PartyBox Stage 320: Review of the 240-watt Bluetooth speaker

Bluetooth with bass guarantee

JBL PartyBox Stage 320: Review of the 240-watt Bluetooth speaker

The JBL PartyBox Stage 320 comes with upgrades such as a rechargeable battery and Auracast for wireless speaker chains. In the review, it offered plenty of bass.

Qobuz Playlists by STEREO GUIDE
Latest Articles

Econik unveils reference box ELEVEN at High End 2025

Attack on the upper class

Econik unveils reference box ELEVEN at High End 2025

Volvo EX90 review with Bowers & Wilkins and Dolby Atmos

Spacious wonder with up to seven seats and Dolby Atmos 3D sound

Volvo EX90 review with Bowers & Wilkins and Dolby Atmos

Edifier D32 review

Classic design meets modern hi-res sound

Edifier D32 review

STEREO GUIDE HIGH END 2025 Reference Playlist

Listening comparisons with our selected test tracks

STEREO GUIDE HIGH END 2025 Reference Playlist

The best Bluetooth speakers for outdoors

Outdoor sound for camping, hiking, beach or party

The best Bluetooth speakers for outdoors

STEREO GUIDE – The Hi-Fi Magazine
STEREO GUIDE – The Hi-Fi Magazine

Here on STEREO GUIDE – the online hi-fi-magazine – you will find profound and independent coverage on bluetooth speakers, headphones, home-hifi gear and in-car entertainment reviewed by experienced journalists. Our authors have one thing in common: expertise and a lot of listening experience both in terms of live concerts and state-of-the-art audio systems.

  • Home
  • Data protection
  • Imprint
© 2025 Stereo Guide

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Manage cookie consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and service.
Functional Always active
Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the lawful purpose of enabling the use of a particular service expressly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a message over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access used solely for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, the voluntary consent of your Internet service provider, or additional records from third parties, the information stored or accessed for this purpose alone generally cannot be used to identify you.
Marketing
Technical storage or access is necessary to create user profiles, to send advertisements, or to track the user on a website or across multiple websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Settings
{title} {title} {title}