Today we’re looking at the new $129 USD (£119 / €129) $99 USD PurePlay Z5 True Wireless Stereo In-Ears with ANC from Lypertek.
Disclaimer: Lypertek sent us the IEM for this review via KS Distribution in the UK, free of charge. All thoughts and experiences with the product are naturally my own. You can find out more about Lypertek here.
UPDATE: Lypertek Z5’s new price is £99/$99/€99
Lypertek
Sound Innovation Co. Limited was founded in 2013. Their first products came under the brand Oriveti in 2015 and quickly became popular among audiophiles. Lypertek was established in 2017, focusing on portable audio with high-performance true wireless products.
Their first major release was the TEVI (now the Z3 2.0) that we reviewed a couple of months ago. It won our recommendation award fair and square, it was one of the few TWS out there that offered a balanced, detailed sound signature with a killer price to performance ratio. We recently reviewed the TOTL TWS of the PurePlay lineup, the Pureplay Z7, and it was quite clear to us that Lypertek knows how to tune and design high-performance wireless earphones. Today, we are going to look at the PurePlay Z5, the middle brother. It is priced in between the Z3 and the Z7.
Lypertek PurePlay Z5
The Lypertek PurePlay Z5 features Qualcomm’s new QCC3046 chipset. It fully supports Bluetooth 5.2 and aptX Adaptive codec. Lypertek used a single, custom 10mm dynamic driver in the Z5. The unit comes with 3 cVc 8.0 type mics per side, enabling clear voice capture and hybrid active noise cancellation. It is also IPX5 certified and ready for action. Lypertek added their PureSpace, PurePower, and PureComfort tips sets into the packaging so you’ll have more options now. I am including the highlights & specs of the Z5 below.
Specifications:
Driver: 10mm Full Range Dynamic Driver
Bluetooth Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3046 Bluetooth 5.2
Microphones: x3 cVc 8.0 mics (per side)
Supported Codecs: SBC, aptX, aptX Adaptive and AAC
Case Battery Capacity: 500 mAh
Battery Life: Up to 35h with Charging Case (ANC off)
Features: App Support, IPX5, Hybrid ANC, Ambient Mode, LDX™ Mode, OTA Updates & More.
Packaging & Accessories
The Lypertek PurePlay Z5 comes in a square, black cardboard box, just like the Z7. Lypertek listed the specifications and highlights of the product on the back of the box. Additionally, a list of the package contents can be found on the right side of the flap-design cover. Moving on with the opening ceremony, the earbuds and the charging box welcome you as soon as you open the box. The package contents levelled up with the Z5, you get 10 pairs of good quality tips. Let’s check out the details. The new Z5 comes with 5 pairs of PureSpace silicone tips, 3 pairs of PurePower silicone tips, and 2 pairs of PureComfort foam tips. Apart from the tips, you get a good quality USB-A to USB-C charging cable.
The unboxing experience is quite nice for this price point. Many products in this price range come with limited accessories and it is nice to see Lypertek going the extra mile. I tend to do a lot of tip-rolling during the review phase, to get the most out of the in-ears. I don’t want acoustics to get in my way, I know you do too, that’s why it is important to have options. Just 3 pairs of tips won’t cut it, folks!
Design, Fit & Build Quality
In this chapter, we are going to take a detailed look at the design and build quality of the Z5. The Z5 utilizes a rod-y design, just like Apple’s Airpods. The reason why manufacturers usually resort to this design type is to place the microphones at the ends of these ”rods” to capture the ambient sound and the voice of the user more easily, acoustically. This is a time-tested design that is known to work well and I can understand why Lypertek chose this route. We have reviewed so many TWS in the past and nearly 80 percent of them lack proper voice capture. We will evaluate Z5’s mics in the call quality section, let’s get back to the design. The Z5 has a 3 mic layout per side, and all of these mics support cVc 8.0 echo cancellation and noise suppression features.
The Z5 is a medium-sized TWS with oval-shaped nozzles. The faceplates are touch-sensitive and enable us to control the unit with taps and several other gestures. The faceplates have circular chrome accents and they look great. The earphones are made of plastic with a matte black finish.
The build quality is good, as expected from Lypertek. They are consistent in this regard, Z5 has the same kind of shell, finish, and material as Lypertek’s TOTL TWS, the Z7.
Fit-wise, I haven’t had any issues with the Z5. It feels comfortable in my ears and I can wear the Z5 until it runs out of charge. Apart from that, the Z5 does not protrude from my ears as much as other rod design TWS earphones so it looks aesthetically pleasing as well. The silvery ring accent around the button looks chic and complements the matte black color very well. There is no LED anywhere on the earphones themselves, quite interesting. Instead, there is a LED inside the case, in the middle of the cradle. I actually like this approach as I don’t really like police lights strobing in my ears. Yes, manufacturers, the colors of the LEDs do matter.
Let’s talk more about the case. I like the Z3 and Z7’s fabric case design quite a lot so after seeing those, the case of the Z5 seemed a bit ordinary, to be frank. However, I also know that those cases take much more space compared to the new, more compact case of the Z5. The case has an all-plastic build with a silvery Lypertek logo on top. It looks and feels nice, however, the finish is not as resistant to scratches as Z3 and Z7’s cases. It is also a fingerprint magnet and I recommend you get a small pouch if you want to throw it in your backpack. Apart from the aesthetic aspect, the hinge mechanism feels rigid and durable, and also, the inner side of the case has a different finish and it is much more resistant to scratches. The magnets hold earphones quite well too, they won’t fall off even if you shake the case rigorously. There is also a physical pair/reset button inside the cradle.
There is a single LED on the front of the case, letting you know about the battery and charging status. The charging port is located on the rear side, under the hinge mechanism. To recap, I like Lypertek’s new case design because of how compact it is but I would really want to see a better exterior finish, perhaps a newer design as unique as the Z3 & Z7’s.
As for the buds themselves, I think they look quite chic and the shell is quite compact compared to the Z7. I think Lypertek did a good job with the whole package. As I mentioned earlier, I had no issues with the fit of the Z5 and it passively isolates noise well. Additionally, the Z5 has IPX5 water-sweat-dust certification so you take it with you on your adventures, without worrying.
The review continues on Page Two, after the click HERE or by using the jump below.
Page 1: Lypertek, Lypertek PurePlay Z5, Packaging & Accessories, Design, Fit & Build Quality
Page 2: Stability, Controls, ANC & Call Quality, Battery Life
Page 3: PureControl ANC App, Sound Signature, Low, Mid, High, Technical Performance, Comparisons, Conclusion
