Aukey EP-T28

Highly affordable True Wireless in-ears with successful tuning

In a nutshell

For a price of almost 40 Euro, the Aukey EP-T28 offer good workmanship and a good sound, which will not become tiring or disturbing even over a longer period of time due to its unstrained character. Some technical problems, especially when charging or storing in the case, as well as unintentional disconnections, unfortunately, cloud the overall picture. But if you consider their low price – in spite of these setbacks – the Aukey EP-T28 make decent backup headphones or a spare pair, and they don’t put too large a hole in your budget.

With a purchase price of just under 40 Euros, the completely wireless Aukey EP-T28 offer amazing performance in terms of both sound and workmanship. Here once again, as with the EP-T21, the feeling that current technology can be quite affordable is reinforced. Nevertheless, there are upsides and downsides.

Package

The package is very small, yet it contains everything you need for True Wireless listening: Charging case, in-ears, fit adaptors in S, M and L, USB-A to USB-C cable and a quick start guide. After hassle-free pairing via Bluetooth 5.0, these in-ears are streamed via SBC and AAC codec. These in-ears are sweat-resistant according to IPX5 and fit surprisingly well in your ears, even if they are not very tight. But at least you still get to hear your surroundings.

Sound

The sound offers an astonishingly well-rounded experience in terms of bass depth, mid-range breadth and treble clarity. The sound is powerful and balanced, pleasant and unobtrusive. It is quite astonishing that there is no rumbling, clattering or crackling. So their tuning is quite successful, even if the imaging performance of the drivers has its limits in terms of transparency and depth, and they don’t reveal a very large sound stage. A classical piece of music can easily sound washed out and even energetic electronica tracks don’t fizz and crackle as one might expect. But for relaxed everyday use, the EP-T28 are definitely a good choice.

Remote

On the backs of these in-ears there is a touch field, which has a brushed aluminium appearance. To operate them you have to tap at least twice to start or stop the programme. Tapping and holding allows you to jump backwards or forwards, depending on which side you are on, and tapping three times calls up a digital assistant. Calls can also be controlled. However, the responsiveness of the feedback-free touch fields is imprecise and you sometimes have to try more than once to trigger the desired action.

Power

Five hours running time is promised for the EP-T28, but this was actually just less than four hours in our practical test. Not an outstanding running time, and to make matters worse, when these in-ears were inserted into their compact and pocket-friendly charging case, there was often no power connection via the inaccurately placed charging contacts. So it is possible that you can put these in-ears into the case empty and uncharged, and then take them out again in exactly the same state if you don’t give them a bit of a shake and a shove to fit them correctly.

Four cycles of recharging is promised, so theoretically you could achieve a total running time of 25 hours. Removing the in-ears from the charging case is sometimes a tricky business because it’s easy to get your fingers caught on the sharp edges inside the lid.

Miscellaneous

In addition to the problematic fact that these in-ears are sometimes not charged, unintentional disconnections can occur, even though the EP-T28 are in their case and are supposed to be deactivated. This leads to confusion, especially during phone calls, because they suddenly come through the case and not over the phone. In addition, the subordinate earpiece (i.e. the slave) loses its connection to the master from time to time and becomes mute, and this can only be eliminated with a restart. So you have to put the EP-T28 back into the case and take them out again.