With a sleek aluminum exterior that offers a stunning visual upgrade to most plastic-body earbuds, the Porsche Design PDT60 TWS Earphones aim at creating an experience that’s as good in the visual department as it is at handling audio. Porsche Design’s repertoire features a whole host of hi-end audio gear, although the PDT60 is easily the smallest in that bunch, fitting snugly into your ear to deliver immersive, balanced audio directly into your head.
Sure, one could make the case that Porsche Design is a little too late in the TWS department (with practically everyone making TWS earphones nowadays), although the earbuds are clearly designed to make a style statement more than anything. The earphones champion a minimalist design, featuring a matte aluminum body that has the same premium appeal as the matte metal finish on most high-end laptops and computers. The earphones come with the Porsche Design logo emblazoned on their front, and sit in a case that’s partly matte metal too, with the same PD monogram embossed on the case’s sliding leather lid.
On the feature front, the PDT60 performs just as well as other TWS earphones in its class. It comes with hybrid noise-canceling – combining active noise-canceling for removing background and ambient noise while listening, and electronic noise-canceling that allows for crystal clear conversations during calls and video chats. On the inside, the PDT60 is outfitted with 8mm neodymium drivers (considerably smaller than the 11mm drivers on the AirPods Pro which are within the same price range), and connects to devices via Bluetooth 5.0, pretty standard for TWS earphones nowadays. The PDT60 accommodate for touch-based input, letting you tap, hold, and slide your finger on the earphones to answer/reject calls, control music playback + volume, and summon your phone’s virtual assistant. The earphones even have a battery life of 5 hours, with an additional 15 hours when placed back in the charging case. They also support fast-charging and have the ability to charge wirelessly, allowing you to use any Qi-compatible wireless charging mat to juice the buds when they’re low on battery. The TWS earbuds ship in the charging case along with a USB-C charging cable and 3 earbud-tips for different ear sizes, although even though they provide a snug fit, with an IPX5 water-resistance rating, they’re just about good for exercising and I’d caution against wearing them in heavy rain or near a pool.
At $299, Porsche Design’s PDT60 easily falls in the ‘premium’ spectrum of the TWS market. They aren’t strictly for audiophiles (whether they sound great too is still yet to be determined), although for people who want earphones that rank higher on the style quotient, the metal-bodied PDT60 makes for a pretty compelling purchase! They look significantly more premium than Nothing’s earbuds too.
Designer: Porsche Design
