Truke BTG 1 and BTG 2 Review: More pluses than minuses

Earphones are said to be a phone’s best companion, and like the latter, the hearbales too have undergone an immense change from a wired one to wireless and now the truly wireless, often referred to as TWS (true wireless stereo). Now with gaming becoming one of the most sought-after features in a smartphone, TWS earbuds too are catching up with the trend, in order to take your gaming experience to the next level.

German audio brand Truke, which has been quite aggressive with its TWS portfolio for the last couple of quarters, recently launched two gaming-centric TWS earbuds – BTG 1 and BTG 2 – in India. Designed for the passionate gamers, both the BTG (Born To Game) series earphones offer jazzy design with neon lighting case and low latency at an affordable price of Rs 1,999. But are these promising features enough to satisfy your desire that you look for in TWS devices, especially the gaming ones. Let’s find out.

Design and Comfort

Both the BTG series TWS earbuds are fundamentally the same except the unique design of the charging case. The LED lighting stripes on the front of the case of these two is enough to suggest the gaming trait of BTG 1 and BTG 2.

Beginning with the BTG 1, the case has an aggressive styling that is to some extent hexagonal with sharp edges and has no curves. It has two triangular LED lights on the front that look like two eyes. While the BTG 2 offers only curves and no edges. It has an oval structure with white LEDs (that glows green similar to the former) on the front giving it a distinctive look.

In terms of build quality, both the earbuds and their cases are made of plastic which appears to be of average quality but it justifies their price. Appreciatively, the plastic build has a matte finish which helps in elevating the product feel when you hold it in your hands. Having a compact form factor, the cases are easy to carry around. There is a USB Type-C port for charging on the back of the TWS earbuds cases.

The lights on both the cases turn on when the buds inside are charging and blink when the case itself is charging. They turn off once the buds are charged, and continuously remain lit up when the charging of the case finishes.

Now, coming to the comfort, the buds, offering an identical design, fit nicely into the ear and feel very light. They do not cause any sort of irritation even while wearing them for long hours. The buds have touch controls and LED lights as well that light up green and white. Each of them has the Truke branding and two mics on each earbud.

Overall, the feather-light gaming buds are designed for providing all-day comfort while precisely angled at 45-degree to extend the best possible fit.

Functionalities

Both the Truke BTG 1 and BTG 2 support Bluetooth v5.1 and are compatible with smartphones, tablets and laptops/ PCs. They support SBC and AAC codecs and also 60ms low-latency mode. To enable it, you just need three taps on the right earbud. This dedicated gaming feature is a nice touch.

The touch controls on these TWS earbuds are quite smooth. One can single tap on either earbud to play/pause or answer calls, long press left earbud to go to the previous song, long press the right earbud to go to the next song, double tap the left earbud to launch the voice assistant, and a triple tap to toggle between gaming mode and music mode.

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Performance

Both the earbuds come packed with a 13mm Titanium driver with 32-ohm impedance and a 101dB signal-to-noise ratio. While the sound quality of both the devices was average, what you’ll like most about the audio is the heavy bass. However, in terms of gaming, they offer you an impressive listening experience.

Truke claims that it comes with best-in-class 60ms low latency and a dual-mode configuration that enables users to effortlessly switch between music mode and gaming mode. The music mode has a Hi-Fi audio quality feature and a cinematic sound experience. The TWS also comes with a dual-mic noise cancellation offering a clear voice communication with advanced DSP that reduces background noise. It was a pleasant experience overall.

Battery

Battery has always been a USP for Truke, and this time too, it is one of the strongest points of BTG 1 and BTG 2, both having a 300mAh cell integrated. It offers up to 10 hours of playtime on a single charge and a total of up to 48 hours of playtime with the case. They sport 180 hours standby time alongside 3-4 times charge from the case. The TWS devices also have overcharge protection and low power consumption with a durable Type-C charging port. The charging time of the case was about 80 – 90 minutes.

Conclusion

The Truke BTG 1 and the BTG 2 TWS earbuds are ergonomically designed, offering secure fit and all-day comfort, owing to feather-light buds. They have an outstanding battery life and offer optimum performance in both gaming and music modes, which is justifiable at the affordable price point. Unfortunately, there is no companion app with these earbuds, so there is no option of customizing the controls or the EQ.