EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid Truly Wireless Headphones Review

The EPOS GTW 270 have a fairly premium appearance. The buds' enclosure has a fairly distinctive and slightly squared-off shape, and the manufacturer's logo is plainly visible on the outer surface of the buds.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid are comfortable. They sit in your ear without causing too much discomfort, and similarly to the Sony INZONE Buds Truly Wireless, they don't have an especially deep fit. Using the controls on the left bud also doesn't force it any deeper into your ear canal, which is good. That said, they're a bit bulky for true wireless headphones and stick out of your ears a little.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have a limited control scheme. All functions are controlled via a physical button on the left bud. One click pauses and plays media as well as answers and ends calls. Two clicks skips a track forward and three clicks skips media backward. A two-second hold turns on your phone's voice assistant. The button itself offers good physical feedback, but using just the right bud corresponds to a total lack of controls. There's also no onboard volume control. If you're looking for gaming earbuds, check out the Logitech G333, which are wired gaming headphones that offer in-line volume control.

Like most in-ears, the EPOS GTW 270 are very breathable. Your ears can breathe freely while wearing them, and you won't sweat any more than usual.

These headphones are very compact. They can be easily stored in a pocket or a bag, and their carrying case is smaller than that of alternatives like the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 2.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have a great charging case. It's made of anodized aluminum and doesn't take up all that much room. There are five LED lights on the case that roughly indicate remaining battery life, as well as a dedicated Bluetooth pairing button, which only works when the buds are placed in their cradles.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid are very well-built. They feel more durable than the SteelSeries TUSQ as they're made of premium-feeling high-grade plastic. Overall, they feel as though they can survive a couple of drops and bumps. The removable ear tips also feel quite sturdy and won't tear too easily. The buds themselves are rated IPX5 for water resistance.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid are stable in-ear headphones. They won't fall out of your ears even during workouts, though they'd do an even better job of staying in place if they had stability fins. Since they stick some way out of your ears, they could also get caught on something close to your head.

• EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid headphones
• 4x ear tips
• USB-C dongle
• Silicone cover for USB-C dongle
• USB-C to USB-A conversion adapter for USB-C dongle
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Quick start guide

Using firmware update 9.2.4, the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have a bass-heavy and boomy sound profile. Their overemphasized bass response will suit genres like EDM or hip-hop and emphasize in-game sound effects without overwhelming vocals or instruments, thanks to their flat and even mid-range. Unfortunately, their uneven treble range results in a loss of clarity in more delicate genres and generates a somewhat dark and veiled sound. If that's not to your liking, their companion app features a nine-band graphic EQ and four EQ presets.

Unfortunately, there's some mismatch present between the L/R drivers. Even after different reseats, the mismatch is still present. Luckily, it's very minor.

The frequency response consistency is superb. As long as you achieve a tight fit with the included ear tips, audio will be delivered consistently on separate listening sessions.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have good bass accuracy. They provide adequate thump and rumble thanks to their relatively well-balanced low-bass. However, they have a bump in the mid to high-bass, which adds intense punch and boom to mixes. It can help bring out sound effects like footsteps in gameplay, but it also bloats and muddies dialogue and instruments.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have great mid accuracy. The bump from the high-bass carries over into the low-mid and clutters some vocals and lead instruments. That said, the mid and high-mid ranges are both flat and even, so dialogue and instruments sound detailed, present, and clear in your tracks.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have sub-par treble accuracy. The low-treble is very underemphasized, so vocals and lead instruments sound dark and veiled. The uneven mid-treble range can give sibilants like cymbals an alternatively lispy and piercing quality.

These in-ears have okay peaks and dips performance. There's some mismatch between the L/R drivers, but it's very minor overall. A bump in the high-bass range adds extra warmth to mixes, though some users may find them to sound slightly muddy and boomy. A recess in the mid-mid pushes vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix, while a rise in the high-mid makes them sound honky and harsh. A large dip in the low-treble veils the finer details of some upper harmonics, while a rise in the mid-treble can make sibilants sound piercing.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have a very good imaging performance. Their weighted group delay falls well beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. The L/R drivers are also very well-matched in frequency and phase response, so objects like voices and footsteps will be accurately placed within the stereo image. Although there's a peak in the phase response's mid-mid, it's very hard to hear, even with real-life content. However, there's some amplitude mismatch present, so there may be a noticeable difference in levels between the drivers.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have a terrible passive soundstage, which is quite normal for closed-back in-ear headphones. Creating an out-of-head-like listening experience relies on interaction with the outer ear, which in-ears like the EPOS bypass. Therefore, sound is perceived as coming from inside your head rather than all around you.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid feature support for Dolby 7.1 surround sound, which you can enable through the EPOS Gaming Suite PC app. This feature can help make your game's audio sound more immersive.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have an okay weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's some distortion in the lower treble range at both moderate and high listening volumes, but this may not be noticeable to all listeners. The rest of the range falls within acceptable limits, so audio reproduction will be fairly clean and pure.

These are the settings used to test the EPOS GTW 270. Our results are only valid in this configuration.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid do a decent job filtering out ambient noise. While they don't block out a lot of low-pitched background noise, like the rumble of bus or plane engines, they perform better in regards to filtering out ambient chatter from people nearby. They also do an excellent job of filtering out higher-pitched background noise, like the hum of an AC unit.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have superb audio leakage performance. They leak very little audio across the frequency spectrum, so you can listen to content at high volumes without fear of annoying people nearby.

The integrated mic delivers good recording quality. Using the USB dongle, your voice sounds natural and is reasonably easy to understand, though it may also sound a bit thin.

The integrated mic does a sub-par job of separating speech from background noise. Using the USB dongle results in a worse noise handling performance than via Bluetooth. There's distortion present as the mic attempts to block out noise, and the volume of your voice diminishes when there are loud sounds. As a result, if you need to use the mic, it's best to be in a quiet environment to ensure that you're heard clearly. If you want to fine-tune the mic's performance, the companion app offers handy features like noise gate, sidetone, and gain.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid's battery performance is poor. If you've updated your headphones to firmware 9.2.4, you're likely disappointed by the low continuous battery life, especially since the manufacturer advertises them to last five hours continuously. You're not alone. Our retest achieved over three hours of playback time, which is a big step down from our original results of over five hours. Unfortunately, this really lowers their total battery life, even with three additional charges in the case. They also lack power-saving measures, like a standby mode or an auto-off timer. They advertise a quick-charge feature allowing one hour of playback time on a 15-minute charge. If you're looking for gaming earbuds with a better battery performance, try the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova or Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed True Wireless instead.

The EPOS Gaming Suite companion software is decent. It features four audio presets: 'Flat', 'Music', 'Esport', and 'Movie'. There's also a nine-band graphic EQ that you can use to adjust your listening experience in greater detail. There are several features available for tuning the mic performance, including noise gate and noise cancellation, which can be handy if you want to ensure that you're heard clearly. You can enable Dolby 7.1 surround sound through the app as well.

The EPOS GTW 270 have great Bluetooth connectivity. They support Bluetooth 5.1, and you can pair them with up to two devices at a time, whether that's to two Bluetooth devices or one Bluetooth and one dongle-connected device. They also offer low latency on mobile iOS and Android devices. Their latency on PC with the SBC codec is somewhat low too, and they support aptX-LL codec, which can help reduce latency on compatible devices. It's worth noting that different apps and devices compensate for latency to varying degrees, so your experience may vary in real-world conditions.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid have decent non-Bluetooth wireless latency. These headphones come with a USB-C dongle that uses the aptX-LL codec. This codec ensures somewhat low latency. It falls just outside of good limits, but it won't be too noticeable. If you're concerned about it, the Sony PULSE Explore Truly Wireless and ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova both have lower latency with their dongles. Also, unfortunately, there have been user reports that firmware update 9.2.4 has caused issues with dongle connectivity. While we didn't encounter these issues, if you have, please let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.

These headphones don't support any wired connections. They come with a USB-C to USB-A cable for charging their case. There's also a USB-A to USB-C female adapter that you can plug into their USB-C dongle for compatibility on devices that don't have a USB-C port.

The EPOS GTW 270 have full audio and mic support on PCs via Bluetooth and wireless USB dongle.

These earbuds can connect to PlayStation consoles with full audio and mic support via their non-Bluetooth wireless dongle. However, the max volume is lower than with other headphones that use a dongle. Some users have also reported issues with the dongle's connectivity since firmware update 9.2.4 and that the overall volume was lower.

The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid come with a charging case that supplies roughly three additional charges. They also have a USB-C dongle that provides low latency transmission of audio with PCs, PS4/PS5 consoles, and Nintendo Switch consoles.