RATING
- DESIGN
78
- PERFORMANCE
81
- VALUE FOR MONEY
80
- FEATURES
78
- PROS
- Well-balanced, detailed sound
- Impressive battery life
- IPX7 water resistance
- Comfortable and snug fit
- CONS
- Bulky charging case
- Slight hiss at high volumes
VERDICT
The Lypertek Tevi are one of the most musical pair of true wireless earphones we’ve had the pleasure of listening to, especially at the sub 10K price range. The sound is open, natural and well-balanced, with oodles of detail and character.
The audio market is currently being flooded with a host of mid-range true wireless earphone options right from companies in their infancy to establishes names in the industry. The price segment under 10K has some interesting offerings in the true wireless category with some providing quite a bit of bang for your buck with a host of features made available. However, when we think of true wireless audio under 10K, stellar sound quality is something we don’t really expect. Even Sony, the company has developed ones of the best true wireless earphones, the Sony WF-1000XM3, doesn’t really shine at this particular price range with its mediocre-sounding Sony WF-XB700 at the sub 10K price point. However, in the sea of audio mediocrities that reside in this price range, the Lypertek Tevi is being heralded as an offering that offers stellar, audiophile-grade sound quality and a decent set of features as well. The brand itself isn’t very renowned, in India at least, but the Lypertek Tevi is creating quite a bit of stir in the audiophile circles since it is priced competitively and apparently sounds great as well. Let’s see if these pair of mid-range true wireless earphones live up to the hype.
BUILD AND COMFORT
Upon opening up the Lypertek Tevi’s box, the very first that meets your eye is the gorgeous, fabric-covered charging case which is reminiscent of the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2’s charging case. The dark grey case is simple yet elegant with the subtle Lypertek logo smacked right on top of the lid in black. There’s also a small cord hanging off the case that allows you to secure it around your finger or even a keychain, if you so desire. The case feels great in the hand and its distinctive fabric texture allows you to find it easily inside a bag.
The case features four indicator lights at the front that display the battery level of the case and a USB Type-C port at the back. The magnets on the lid and inside the case (that hold the earbuds in place) are sufficiently strong. The case is definitely on the larger side and the bulkiness is pretty noticeable in pockets, especially in tight-fitted jeans. The bulkiness of the case makes it bulge out of pockets very prominently, so we’d advise you to store these in a backpack or handbag instead. The charging case, however, has a very good reason for being inordinately bulky. More on that later.
Moving on to the earbuds, they feature a nondescript and minimalist look with a shiny silver ring on the rear housings of the buds, adding a bit of flair. Inside the ring, you can see the Lypertek logo on both buds and this area houses the physical controls for music playback and calls. We weren’t disappointed by the lack of touch controls since the physical controls on these earphones are easy-to-press and accurate. Accuracy is almost always a bit of a hit or miss on touch controls, so we don’t mind well-executed physical controls on true wireless earphones, like the ones on these earphones and the Jabra Elite Active 75t.
The physical controls allow you to play/pause music, skip tracks, go to the previous track, increase/decrease volume and wake your device’s voice assistant. The controls are pretty accurate and easy to remember, however, the controls for seeking tracks (next and previous track) can be slightly tiresome since they involve triple-taps.
Inside the box, Lypertek has included four pair of ear tips - three pairs of conventional silicone tips and one pair of foam tips. We naturally gravitated to the foam ones and they fit us like a glove. Passive isolation was excellent due to the snug and secure fit. However, if the foam ones don’t fit you too well, then you’d be better off trying the other tips. The box also contains a pretty standard USB-C cable.
The foam ear tips granted an exquisite fit in the ears that was supremely comfortable even over extended periods of listening. There was very little readjusting of the earbuds even during moderately intensive actions such as doing chores around the house or jogging. The earphones also come equipped with an IPX7 rating for water resistance which means you can use them in the gym without breaking a sweat… even if you do break a sweat. See what we did there?
FEATURES
Powered by Bluetooth 5.0, the Lypertek Tevi boasts of pretty solid wireless connectivity and a frequency response of 20 - 20,000Hz. There were no lags or skips in the audio during our week-long testing period and the connection remained stable even if the source device was in the next room. Impressive! Additionally, you not only get SBC and AAC codec support but also Qualcomm aptX support, which is relatively rare at this price point. We noticed a significant increase in detail when listening to music on streaming services on aptX over AAC. There’s also mono listening support, where you can listen to a single earbud independent of the other.
Of course, you don’t see features such as ANC, Transparency Mode, wear detection and wireless charging on these mid-range earphones. However, with increasing competition in this space, brands such as Oppo and Realme have begun offering these seemingly premium features on their sub 5K offerings. We would have liked to see at least wear detection on these earphones, if not the others. Additionally, there’s no app support as well. You do get basic features such as voice assistant support, Type-C charging, and an IP rating.
However, the Lypertek Tevi makes up for the lack of features in one place - battery life. These earphones sport an astounding battery life of 70 hours (charging case + earphones)! You get 10 hours of playtime on the buds alone on a single charge, while the case is capable of charging the device 6 times over. This is by far the highest combined battery life we’ve come across in the true wireless segment. In our tests, we managed to squeeze out 8.5 hours from the buds alone at 50-60 per cent volume and aptX codec active. The case was indeed able to charge the buds 6 times over, and still had a bit of battery to spare before it completely died out.
PERFORMANCE
We’ve never really associated the mid-range true wireless segment with stellar sound quality, until now. Housing 6mm graphene drivers, the Lypertek Tevi was a true shock to us, a welcome one at that. We were astounded by the openness and naturalness of the sound, something that is just not present in the array of other earphones we’ve tested at this price range. The sound is close to neutral and is well-balanced, allowing users to listen to most genres of music how the creator intended them to be heard. Even staunch audiophiles will likely be impressed with the sophisticated approach the Lypertek Tevi takes.
No frequency range is exaggerated to a great degree, therefore, bass lovers may need to turn away from these pair of earphones. There’s definitely punch to the bass and oodles of detail, however, the booming bass response that many other mid-range true wireless earphones offer is obviously absent. While we were enthralled by the accurate representation of the frequencies, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Contemporary tracks such as TKN by Rosalia have ample drive and punch, while still keeping the clarity and integrity of the vocals. The decay of drums in tracks such as Popular Monster by Falling in Reverse is precise and natural as well.
Listening to more delicate tracks such as Youth by Daughter, there opening guitar chord is distinct and open. There’s an undeniable depth to the soundstage with the vocals placed in the front while the plethora of instruments comfortably occupy their accurate spots in the stage. The delicate vocals never lose their exquisite texture and tonality, in quiet moments as well as the occasional soaring moments. The earphones are capable of bringing out even faint elements of tracks that often overpowered by other elements when heard on other mid-range earphones.
Listening to high-resolution files opens up the soundstage even further, if it’s possible. Instrument separation is great as well with instruments, even in crowded tracks such as Edge of Forever by Crimson Glory, being easily discernible. At higher volume levels, you may hear a bit of unwanted hiss, but there’s not much else we could find fault with when it comes to the Lypertek Tevi’s sound quality.
Coming to the microphone, the performance was pretty good for the most part. The microphone relays the speaker’s voice with clarity, however, background noises aren’t kept out fully during calls, which is common on true wireless earphones, especially budget and mid-range ones.
BOTTOMLINE
The Lypertek Tevi are one of the most musical pair of true wireless earphones we’ve had the pleasure of listening to, especially at the sub 10K price range. The sound is open, natural and well-balanced, with oodles of detail and character. Not just the stellar sound, you also get a massive battery life of 70 hours, aptX support, solid physical controls, and a simple yet classy design. These may very well be the best value for money purchase in the true wireless segment owing to the sheer quality of the sound and is currently our top pick for true wireless earphones under 10K.
LYPERTEK TEVI KEY SPECS, PRICE AND LAUNCH DATE
| Price: | ₹6999 |
| Release Date: | 06 Jul 2020 |
| Variant: | None |
| Market Status: | Launched |
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