First off, WOW!
I have been playing video games for a long time with different kinds of sound: Over-ear headsets, speaker systems, in ear headphones with a mic. But gaming with true wireless headphones is never something I had even considered until now.
The set up for the GTW 270 Hybrid true wireless earbuds was seamless, just plug in the USB-C dongle into my PC, switch on the headphones – which came fully charged out of the box – and all of my music, notifications, and game audio were being streamed in super high quality right to my ears. If you do not have a USB-B port on your computer then you can also use the old USB-A port via the included adapter.
It is clear from the start that the sound-profile is engineered for gaming. If you are expecting deep punchy bass then you may prefer a headset for music, but these headphones deliver hard on crystal clear highs and directional sound so you can hear your surroundings accurately in-game. The microphone also works well, you’ll need to speak up a little more than you would on a gaming headset, but that Is a fair trade-off for the decrease in bulk and increase in versatility offered by the GTW 270s.
After using them happily for around an hour, I decided to download the free EPOS Gaming Suite app, to have finer control over the EQ of the headphones and discovered that In order to enable 7.1 surround sound, I had to use the app. This made the sound quality even better, comparable to my dedicated over-ear gaming headphones. I would say that the Gaming Suite is a must-have to get the full experience of these headphones, as it is also used to update the firmware on the headphone to keep them up-to-date.
Finally, as a true-wireless headset, a large part of the design consideration is mobile-gaming. To test this out I decided to try the 270s on my Nintendo Switch with the known shortcoming of being incompatible with Bluetooth headsets. With the USB-C dongle I just plugged into the charging port and voila! actual wireless sound on a Switch. For this function alone I believe the 270s are worth a look.
All in all I was really impressed with the sound quality, user-experience, and high-quality engineering that went into the GTW 270s. As a non-name-brand, EPOS has the ability to focus on a particular niche in the market and really double down, and that is exactly what they have done with the GTW 270s, they have taken all the important features to a gamer, whether it’s at their desk, or on the go, and crammed them into one impressive set of headphones. I would recommend the 270s to any of my gamer friends, as I know they’ll be just as Impressed as I am.
The GTW 270 Hybrid is available from at JB Hi Fi and select resellers, along with the EPOS website for AU$349 AUD/NZ$369 NZD
