Advanced M5-TWS Review: 3D Printed Earbuds Provide Excellent Comfort

Written by Cheryl Tan

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Claimed to be the world’s first 3D-printed true wireless earbuds, the Advanced M5-TWS is designed to fit the contours of the ear, resulting in a more comfortable and secure fit. We’ve reviewed something similar with the FiiO FA1 before, although that was a pair of wired earphones.

This one isn’t quite as curved though, which results in a more generic fit. It can be good or bad depending on whether your ear shape is closer to the norm or if there are some differences.

These earbuds use a 6.1mm proprietary pressurised high-purity carbon driver with a lightweight diamond-like carbon layer diaphragm and a pure copper moving coil that maximises the vibration stroke of the diaphragm.

Personally, I found that the silicon tips provided were too shallow and made the earbuds feel quite loose in the ear, although the shape of the earbuds is very ergonomic. Pairing these with the Comply TrueGrip Pro foam tips made a lot of difference, however, ensuring a more secure fit in the ear canal.

There are touch controls on these, with double taps and triple taps working to pause, play and skip tracks. No volume control or voice assistant activation though, so those will still have to be manually controlled from the phone.

With Bluetooth 5.0, these earbuds maintain a strong connection and never had any dropouts when I was testing them. There’s also IPX5 water resistance, so these will be safe to use for exercise, but won’t survive a dunk in the pool.

As with most true wireless earbuds, there’s a bit of audio lag while playing games, but nothing too major. Bullet shots will be a fraction of a second slow, but you’ll be able to pinpoint where enemies are coming from and other environmental sounds.

Sound quality-wise, the treble definitely is the most prominent part with plenty of energy. At higher volumes, you’ll get a hint of sibilance in the vocals occasionally. The bass has sufficient depth and body, but could get a bit too thumpy in songs with heavier basslines.

The soundstage is a bit more intimate and you definitely have a feeling that the music is right in your head, but the imaging is accurate and the overall sound is relatively detailed.

The earbuds hold up to 9 hours of battery life, while the case adds another 32 hours for a total of 41 hours. I’m not the biggest fan of how bulky the charging case is, but I do appreciate that it’s made out of aluminium and that it uses USB-C to charge.

Unfortunately, something I noticed was that pairing these with the Comply tips made it so that the earbuds wouldn’t sit properly in the case, resulting in the buds not being charged. The only solution is to remove the tips before putting the earbuds back into the case, but that’s definitely not a long-term fix and I found myself just going back to the silicon tips because of the hassle.

The earbuds are surprisingly loud, resulting in me playing music at a lower volume than I’m used to. That had a positive effect on battery life, with a single charge lasting me almost 10 hours.

Overall, it’s a decent pair of TWS earphones, but at S$309, I’m not quite sure it’s worth that price. It might be more attractive at around S$250 or so.

More information and purchase options for the Advanced M5-TWS (S$309) can be found at the distributor’s website.