EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid hands-on: More than just an excellent solution for gaming on the go

Just as I was expecting, the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid comes well-protected inside a box that looks great and feels solid. This box shows all the essential information and contains everything needed for long-term use in any scenario on the inside. In addition to the earbuds and the charging case, there is also a USB-C dongle (and even a protective sleeve for it), an adapter cable to use the GTW 270 with a PC, a charging cable for the case, three additional sets of silicone tips, as well as a few printed guides.

The design of the earbuds might not be out of this world, but it gets the job done properly and they don't fall off my ears when I do push-ups — an annoyance that I had to face while using many other earbuds. Some might not like the lack of touch controls, but I think that having a single control button placed slightly out of reach is an excellent choice in this case. After all, these are wireless earbuds focused on gaming, not on controlling the music that might be playing in the background. The case might be quite bulky, but it feels solid and looks great (at least if you enjoy a good matte black metal finish as much as I do). 

For me, taking the earbuds out of the case can get quite annoying from time to time, but this is probably mostly due to my clumsiness. The case, buds, and accessories have a premium feel, maybe with the exception of the silicone protective sleeve for the dongle. I simply don't see its purpose and I'd rather like to get a carrying pouch for the charging case instead. 

Before moving on, I have to mention the five blue LEDs on the case that look great and are very useful to indicate the battery level accurately, while many other brands use single multi-colored LEDs or even a single white LED that flashes when the battery level falls below a certain threshold.

In this case, I dare to say that numbers don't matter because the proprietary miniaturized EPOS audio drivers deliver the right sound in virtually all scenarios. However, those who are looking for artificially boosted low frequencies should just move on and pick something else. I should mention just a few highlights before moving on, such as IPX 5 water resistance, Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity for dual-channel and aptX via the USB-C dongle for single-channel, low-latency audio, up to five hours of autonomy on a single charge, and a total of 20 hours with the charging case.

Although the USB-C dongle provides a lag-free experience, after a few weeks of use I can say that the Bluetooth experience is also (almost) free of any delay, as Asphalt 9 feels incredibly snappy in both cases. When it comes to PC gaming, these wireless earbuds helped me fully enjoy multiple War Thunder and World of Warships battles without lag. What I love most is that explosions and shots are not boosted pointlessly, something that happens quite often with audio gear tuned for gaming nowadays.

For me, the most interesting parts about the audio experience provided by the EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid are the music listening and virtual surround scenarios. All genres sound great, although EDM and hip-hop fans might feel the need for deeper and punchier lows. If I had to describe the sound provided by these earbuds in one word, that word is "accurate" and I think this should say it all. The virtual surround experience, on the other hand, might be hit or miss, but in most cases I discovered that enabling 7.1 audio when using the GTW 270 Hybrid on my PC added a pleasant sensation of depth, thus increasing the level of immersion into music, games, or movies.      

I had no problems with the autonomy or default audio tuning, but both might receive further improvements via firmware updates in the future. The EPOS GTW 270 Hybrid works with the Gaming Suite software for Windows that I used with other EPOS devices so far, so I could take advantage of the EQ presets that I already fine-tuned in the past.

In case you were wondering, connectivity is rock-solid and I never faced any random disconnects or crackling noises (seems like a rather frequent problem with Bluetooth earbuds, or maybe I was unfortunate so far). Battery life can already exceed the value mentioned in the tech sheet (I am now using the headset with firmware 7.3.55 and dongle with version 3.3.43). Now, the time has come for my final words.