Glasgow-based RHA’s knack for glossy designs and strong audio efficiency has helped the corporate make a reputation for itself since its debut in 2011. The firm’s first true wi-fi earphones, the $169.95 TrueJoin, is a brand new standout product in a class that sorely wanted it. The cool simplicity of the charging case and earphones, the safe match and sweat-resistant design, the beneficiant inclusion of a number of eartips (and foam ideas), and, above all, the superb audio efficiency, make it laborious to discover a actual flaw right here. The on-ear controls take a while to grasp, however when you do, you have got full reign over playback, name administration, voice help, and monitor navigation. Bass lovers will admire the accurate-but-deep sound signature, and the lows are well-balanced with crisp, detailed highs. These perks paired with its truthful worth earn the TrueJoin our Editors’ Choice.
Design
Like most RHA merchandise, the TrueJoin has a glossy, minimal design, with matte black rubber surfaces gracing the earpieces and a lot of the charging case. The stems of every earpiece jut out from the physique, including a layer of stability, and a single tiny pink dot marks the best unit. The in-ear match is comfy and safe, which is additional aided by the plethora of eartips that ship with the TrueJoin. In all, there are seven pairs of silicone and three pairs of Comply foam eartips in small, medium, and enormous sizes. The in-ear match additionally manages to dam out loads of ambient room noise.
The TrueJoin has an IPX5 score—that is respectable, however be mindful the X stands for some undetermined degree of mud ingress safety and the 5 means the earpieces are protected in opposition to water jets from any course, however are usually not absolutely waterproof. So, consider these as sweat-proof and rinsable, however not shielded from extra intense publicity to water.
Each earpiece employs a 6mm dynamic driver to ship a frequency vary of 20Hz to 20kHz.
The single multi-purpose button on every earpiece’s outer panel generally is a tad difficult to memorize at first, as every earpiece has completely different controls. It’s definitely higher than the restricted on-ear controls on the Apple AirPods, although. Tapping both ear as soon as performs or pauses music, however a double-tap on the left skips ahead, whereas a double faucet on the best raises the amount. A triple faucet on the left skips backward, whereas a triple faucet on the best lowers the amount. Press and maintain both facet for 1.5 seconds to summon the voice assistant in your cellular gadget, and 5 seconds to enter pairing mode. When you have got an incoming name, faucet both ear as soon as to reply and twice to reject. While on a name, faucet as soon as to hold up, twice to boost the amount, or thrice to decrease quantity. Is it intuitive? Not actually. But we have seen messier management allocations, or some controls merely unnoticed altogether.
The 1.8-by-2.9-by-1.1-inch charging case has a brushed metallic base and a black matte cowl—its standing LEDs present charging progress and battery life. The included USB-C-to-USB cable is of beneficiant size, in contrast with what typically ships with Bluetooth in-ears, and it connects to a USB-C port on the case’s facet panel. Note: The port just isn’t coated, which means the case just isn’t sweat-proof (that IPX5 score applies to the earpieces solely).
The case flips open at an angle, offering clear marks for which earpiece docks wherein spot. The aforementioned stems additionally slide right into a recessed space that additional secures the connection between the charging contacts. (Other true wi-fi fashions we have seen over the previous couple years do not dock, and thus cost, as securely.) When the earpieces are securely docked, a small white LED lights up on every. Overall, the design of the case and the earpieces is seamless, ergonomic, and good-looking. The case additionally seems like one of many extra compact choices we have examined.
The mic affords strong intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, I may perceive each phrase I recorded clearly, although there have been some slight audio artifacts and the mic sounded far-off, because it typically does on Bluetooth in-ears.
Pairing is a straightforward and simple course of. RHA charges the TrueJoin’s battery life to be about 5 hours per full cost, however your outcomes will range together with your quantity ranges. The case holds 20 additional hours of cost, however after all that quantity will even range together with your utilization. These numbers are respectable, imagine it or not, for the true wi-fi realm—battery life continues to be the Achilles’ Heel of those merchandise.
Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content material, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the TrueJoin delivers highly effective bass depth, however nothing that is too exaggerated. At high, unwise listening ranges, the bass does not distort, and at decrease, safer ranges, the bass is obvious, full, and wealthy, however not insanely boosted. Here, the highs are crisp, clear, and balanced effectively with the lows.

Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a monitor with far much less deep bass within the combine, offers us a greater sense of the TrueJoin’s normal sound signature. The drums on this monitor can sound overly thunderous on bass-forward in-ears, however right here they sound full, spherical, and heavy with out veering into unnatural territory. Callahan’s baritone vocals obtain a pleasing low-mid richness to them, balanced properly with some high-mid edge. The guitar strums and higher-register percussive hits on this monitor are delivered brightly and clearly—it is a sculpted sound signature, however to a refined diploma that permits the bass depth to be heard with out overwhelming the combination or sacrificing readability.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives a strong high-mid presence, permitting its assault to retain its punchy edge. The vinyl crackle that’s typically relegated to background standing sounds a bit extra front-and-center right here, which seemingly means some high-mid and excessive frequency sculpting and boosting is in play. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with severe depth, and but they do not sound insanely boosted. It’s laborious to nail that superb sub-bass response, however RHA comes fairly shut right here.
On orchestral tracks, just like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the decrease register instrumentation is pushed ahead within the combine considerably, however the focus stays on the upper register brass, strings, and vocals within the combine. This is a vivid, dynamic sound signature with wealthy bass depth to anchor it.
Conclusion
The RHA TrueJoin has a little bit of every little thing going for it—a considerably sporty, sweat-resistant design, a classy look, and glorious audio efficiency. There are few actual negatives right here—a few times I unintentionally paused music when urgent a button inadvertently, however that is a typical situation (together with mediocre battery life) within the true wi-fi realm. In the sub-$200 cable-free in-ear division, the TrueJoin is a winner and earns our Editors’ Choice. We’re additionally followers of the the Jabra Elite Active 65t, the JLab Epic Air Elite, and the Editors’ Choice Bose SoundSport Free, and for much much less cash, the Altec Lansing True Evo.