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What Are TWS Earbuds? Are They Better Than Wireless Bluetooth Earphones?
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What Are TWS Earbuds? Are They Better Than Wireless Bluetooth Earphones?

by Syed Hassan AlgadrieJuly 2, 2020
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There’s no doubt that ever since Apple courageously did away with the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 back in 2016 that wireless accessories have experienced an explosion in terms of popularity. Among the most popular of those wireless devices are TWS earbuds. What are TWS earbuds and are they actually better than traditional wireless Bluetooth earphones or headphones?

What is TWS?

Before we delve deeper into the TWS earbuds vs wireless Bluetooth earphones or headphones comparison, allow us to explain what exactly TWS is and how it works. TWS is short for True Wireless Stereo. To put it simply, TWS works by transmitting dual channel audio from your phone to one side of the earphones which in turn will transmit one half of the dual channel audio to the other earphone. Thus, creating full stereo audio.

There is also an upgraded version of the TWS technology in TWS Plus. Developed by Qualcomm, TWS Plus is able to transmit audio to both of your wireless earbuds simultaneously which makes it easier to pair the two earbuds to your device and improves audio quality.

What Are TWS Earbuds? Are They Better Than Wireless Bluetooth Earphones? 29

TWS Earbuds vs Wireless Bluetooth Earphones or Headphones: What’s the difference?

The most obvious difference between TWS earbuds and wireless Bluetooth earphones or headphones is that TWS earbuds are completely independent of wires and consists of two earpieces (or earbuds as some refer them to) and a case that which the earpieces are stored and charged. Which gives the user total freedom.

What Are TWS Earbuds? Are They Better Than Wireless Bluetooth Earphones? 30

Wireless Bluetooth earphones on the other hand, more often than not have a wire running between the two earpieces that is draped behind the neck. In the case of wireless Bluetooth headphones, a band between the two earcups that run over the head.

Are TWS Earbuds better than Wireless Bluetooth Earphones?

Yes but also no. Like all things, there are many pros and cons to a certain product and this rings true for both TWS earbuds and wireless Bluetooth earphones or headphones. The main advantage of TWS earbuds is mainly due to its portability, small form factor and general ease of use. You are truly free of any potentially distracting and fussy wires which makes for a very comfortable use. Plus, the lack of wires means it’s easier for you to share one side of the earphones with a friend or partner. However, due to the small form factor the odds of you losing any one of the earbuds are quite high.

As far as audio quality goes, the quality found in wireless Bluetooth earphones or headphones are generally better than TWS earbuds due to the size of them. With TWS earbuds, there isn’t really a lot of space to pack in that much hardware (drivers, amp, DAC etc) as you would with a more traditional wireless Bluetooth headphones. Even so, with the advancements of Bluetooth technology in recent years particularly in terms of audio codecs (which we talked about in great lengths before), it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be having a bad time with the TWS earbuds.

In terms of latency, both the TWS earbuds and wireless Bluetooth earphones or headphones will suffer some form of latency due to the nature of Bluetooth connections. Whether the latency is severe or not depends on the specific audio codec they support. So if you’re into gaming then you might want to keep using a wired set of earphones or headphones.

TWS Earbuds Bluetooth Earphones/Headphones
Size Small Varied
Wired No Wires Yes (Connecting the two sides)
Structure Two Earbuds, One Charging Case Just the earphones/headphones

To sum it up

TWS Earbuds

TWS earbuds might have some shortcomings here and there but for me personally, the comfort and freedom of having no wires whatsoever pretty much outweighs all that. Not only that, TWS earbuds do give you a sense of style when wearing it. Besides, TWS earbuds occupy a relatively new market which will improve and evolve for the better and will no doubt bring upon more enhancements to TWS audio products as the years go by.

Here’s a fun bit of trivia for you. Did you know that Bluetooth was named after a 10th Century King of Denmark and Norway named Harald Bluetooth? Plus, the Bluetooth logo is actually the combination of his initials written using Scandinavian runes.

About The Author
Syed Hassan Algadrie
Just a guy who loves Star Wars, Transformers, tech, 90s nostalgia and all things geek. Is in a constant battle with procrastination.

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