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Eksa GT1 Cobra Review Earbuds with 38ms Low Latency Gaming Mode

Thursday, September 16, 2021

 

Eksa breaks into the true wireless market by literary breaking the earbud mould with a futuristic-looking design - the GT1 Cobra - a pair of gaming earphones with a charging case that is shaped like the Superman diamond logo! 


The GT1 Cobra charging case has a clamshell opening that resembles the mouth of a snake when it's open. On the front sides of the GT1 Cobra charging case, there are side vent battery indicators that light up cyan and turn off when the charging case fully charges the earbuds.

The GT1 Cobra charging case has a magnetic lid and magnetized dock to prevent the earbuds from falling out when the lid is open. The GT1 Cobra earbuds have a long thick stem shaped like a cobra body with two angled leds on the front, which look like the side markings on the hood of a cobra too. When the earbuds leds are lit up they also remind of the squinting evil eyes of Al'Diabolos (the Lord of Terror) character from Diablo video game.

The earbuds light up in cyan color too and flash every few seconds during audio playback. Just above the leds, there is the touch control panel. The touch sensitivity is responsive and requires a firm tap to activate, which is nice as it prevents accidental presses.Touch control functions include voice assistant, play/pause, game/music mode and calls (answer/reject) and, they can be activated from both earbuds, which is super convinient as you don't have to remember which earbud controls what function.

The GT1 Cobra earbuds do not support track skipping nor volume control. A lot of true wireless earbuds do not support volume but, the pretty much all them support at least one track skipping function. Considering that the GT1 Cobra isn't equipped with ANC, it is odd full track skipping (next/previous) isn't supported.


There is two microphone for calls (one per earbud) located at the tip of the stem. The call quality is good (loud and clear) for casual online gaming chatting. There is some noise supression too, which minizes noise, although keyboard type noise gets a bit picked up by the mics. 

 
Despite the thick stem and overall bulky look, the GT1 Cobra earbuds are surpringly lightweight, weighing just 4.5 grams each. Because of the low weight, they're very comfortable to wear. The front side of the stem has rubbery material but the body is not rubberized. That said, the glossy plastic finish is very grippy and helps anchor the earbuds in the ears. There is IPX4 sweat resistance too.

The GT1 Cobra charging case has an internal 500mAh battery and a unique design with a black stealth matte finish that doesn't easily mark with fingerprints. The top of the charging case lid has interesting detailing that looks like a car hood intake vent. The hinge lid is made of plastic but has a solid contruction and a friction mechanism that allows you to keep the charging case lid half-open. Removing the earbuds is done pushing them out at angle. You won't be able to pinch the earbuds out of the charging case because of the low profile of the docking area.


The GT1 Cobra charging ase measures 7cm long, 5.5cm wide and 3.5cm high. The charging case is a bit bulky but compact so, it's still trouser pocket friendly. The base of the GT1 Cobra charging case is flat, while the USB-C charging port is rear facing. The charging case weighs 46 grams.


The GT1 Cobra earbuds have built-in voice prompts, including a voice alert when toggling from music mode to game mode and viceversa. The audio volume decreases so, you can hear the voice prompt loud and clear. Game mode is easily activated by tapping twice on the left or right earbud. Game mode is rated at 38ms, which is really low for a pair of true wireless earbuds, although not as low as the Eksa E910 5.8Ghz headset (15ms). 

Game mode works well for local and online gaming. Game mode is also supposed to increase the low frequency response, although it doesn't seem to make the sound any different to Music mode. On the plus side, Game mode doesn't degrade the sound either like with some gaming earbuds. The volume level in Game mode is also just as loud as in Music mode, thanks to the high sensitivty of the 10mm dynamic drivers (101dB). The GT1 Cobra has good bass response similar to most true wireless earbuds. Using foam eartips (not included) also improves the bass sound, although the earbuds will not fit inside the charging case when using foam tips.



The GT1 Cobra earbuds and charging case both recharge within 1.5 hours. The earbuds provide up to 6 hours of battery life at 50% volume and 4.5 hours in game mode. The charging case holds 29 hours of power so, it provides 4 to 5 extra charges for the earbuds. There is no quick charge support and no multipoint connection support.


Flipping the lid open triggers automatic bluetooth pairing, which means you can pair and connect the earbuds to a device while sitting inside the charging case. The GT1 Cobra earbuds use bluetooth 5.0 connection and have seamless switching so, bluetooth doesn't disconnect nor does the audio pause when switching from stereo to mono mode and viceversa. There is a 3 second reconnection delay though, when taking the earbuds from the charging case. A voice prompt can be heard saying "power on - pairing". The  GT1 Cobra earbuds cannot be paired individually with separate devices. A charging cable and standard bowl-shaped silicone eartips are included. You can buy the Eksa GT1 Cobra earbuds directly from Eksa.

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