Audio-Technica’s feature-packed, compact, colourful buds are ideal for bargain hunters

Audio-Technica is back with a new pair of wireless earbuds . Following on from its middling effort with the more costly Audio-Technica ATH-TWX7 , the Japanese brand has now refocused its gaze on the budget end of the market with its latest creation: the cheap-as-chips ATH-SQ1TW2 wireless buds.

Priced at a super-affordable £49 / €59 and acting as the sequel to the SQ1TW1 budget buys, this is a sequel that remains targeted at the entry point for consumers. Despite their low cost, the new buds come "packed with heaps of hi-fi energy" thanks to their 5.8mm drivers that offer "powerful lows and sparkling highs" for what Audio-Technica hopes will be the most immersive listening experience possible at this price.

You're not badly off for features, either. There's no active noise cancelling (which isn't unusual at this affordable market), but Audio-Technica's ambient sound functions give you some control over the sounds that pass through your ears, with a hear-through mode for greater ambient awareness and a talk-through function for tuning the world out.

The new buds offer 6.5 hours of playback on a full charge plus an additional 13.5 hours from the charging case, making a solid 20 hours of total playtime. They're also compatible with Qi wireless charging, although any fast charging capabilities seem to have been a step too far at this price.

The features don't stop there. The dinky buds offer on-ear touch controls for managing volume, playback and answering calls, the latter of which promise to be "crystal-clear" thanks to Audio-Technica's optimally placed microphones suppressing ambient noise. Multipoint Bluetooth is on board for simultaneous connection and easy switching between two devices, while Fast Pair is also available for swift connection to Android sources.

The IPX5-rated buds come in four finishes: black, white, navy and red, or forest green. The Audio-Technica ATH-SQ1TW2 are available now, priced at £49 / €59 / approx $80. That means they're going up against the much-discounted Sony WF-C500 (currently around £40 / $70) and even the EarFun Air (£26 / $50) budget buds, so they'll need to bring their A-game if they're to stand a chance at this competitive entry point.

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Read our Audio-Technica ATH-TWX7 review

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