Klipsch has finally delivered the T10 true wireless earbuds it was supposed to ship in fall 2020… but they’ve changed a lot in the past two years. The company and Ear Micro have released the T10 Bespoke Ear Computers (yes, really) as a hand-built custom design aimed squarely at luxury buyers who refuse to own the same earbuds as everyone else. You can ask Klipsch to build the charging case using materials like gold, leather (vegan and otherwise) and wood, and the bud frames using pearl or ceramic zirconia. You can ask for special leather motifs, and even have jewelers add precious stones or carvings.
The T10 has some technical prowess to match the luxurious exterior, at least. Klipsch touts 96kHz/24-bit audio when using the LDAC codec, and believes the dual Cadence/Tensilica DSPs, class-D amps and Sonion transducers will make the most of your music. Despite the incredibly small bud size, you can expect nine hours of listening per charge as well as active noise cancellation.
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And yes, Klipsch knows it would normally be ridiculous to spend a fortune on earbuds whose batteries rarely last more than a few years. The T10 design is built to be repaired and upgraded with relatively little effort. Provided Klipsch remains committed to support, you could keep using your one-of-a-kind audio indefinitely.
You will pay a steep premium, as you might have guessed. Klipsch estimates typical T10 prices between $2,500 and $5,000, and you can easily pay more to add gems and other unique touches. That’s a lot more than the $649 the company targeted back in 2020. However, this might make more sense. Klipsch already has the $199 T5II to court mainstream buyers who would otherwise turn to AirPods or Galaxy Buds, and it’s not clear the original T10’s promised AI features would have justified the price. The finished product targets a niche but largely unerved group — the same upscale audience that wouldn’t flinch at a $3,400 Louis Vuitton smart watch or on electric supercar.
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