Alongside the X90 series of flagship smartphones, vivo also unveiled its next generation true wireless buds. Known simply as the vivo TWS 3 and TWS 3 Pro, these promise great audio quality, impressive noise reduction and immersive sound.
There are plenty of similarities between the two models, but the Pro ones cost double – CNY 1,000 ($140/€135/₹11,500) vs. CNY 500 for the vanilla model. What does the extra cash buy you?
The active noise cancellation has been improved and now cuts noise down by 49dB (the previous TWS buds topped out at 40dB). And it works in a wider band, reaching up to 4,000Hz. This should make it much better at filtering out human voices as well as medium frequency sounds.
The vivo TWS 3 Pro offer impressive 49dB noise reduction up to 4,000Hz and very low THD+N
The vanilla buds have ANC that is almost as good as that on the Pros – it also covers sound up to 4,000Hz and reduces noise by up to 48dB. What sets the Pro model apart is that they have been tuned for very low distortion with a THD+N of 0.002% or below (the acronym stands for Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise).
Both TWS 3 models boast aptX Lossless support – as the name suggests this is for lossless audio and uses 1.2Mbps bitrate to pull it off. The wide-band speaker, which was developed in-house, can reproduce sounds in the 5Hz to 40kHz range. It has a 3-layer nano-composite diaphragm and measures 12.2mm in size. With Bluetooth 5.3 and LE Audio support, these buds can bring latency down to 55ms.
Both buds also have some modern features like 360° spatial audio. They also adjust the level of ANC to match your surroundings and can automatically enable passthrough mode and enhance human speech when they that hear someone is talking to you. One interesting feature is the high quality binaural audio recording, which vivo says can be used for vlogs. The system features three mics per bud and is also used for noise cancellation during calls.
Both buds have stems, which are used as pressure sensitive controls – you can squeeze them to pause, for example, and you can swipe up and down to control the volume.
The vanilla vivo TWS 3 buds have better battery life – they can last 10 hours and total listening time is 40 hours with the charging case. For comparison, the Pro buds last 6.8 hours on their own and 30 hours total with the case for the Pros (these numbers are with ANC off). This is despite the Pro case having a bigger battery (510mAh vs. 430mAh, the battery inside each bud is 53mAh).
vivo TWS 3 and 3 Pro colorways
The vivo TWS 3 and TWS 3 Pro buds go on pre-order in China today. The vanilla model will go on sale on November 30, if you want the Pro buds instead you will have to wait until December 6. Both are available in white and each has their own blue hue.
