EarFun Air Wireless Earbuds

EarFun Air Wireless Earbuds
Manufacturer: EarFun
Retail: $59.95

Attempting to compete with Apple’s AirPods is a tough engineering, technological, and design challenge. EarFun has come very close at a great price. Their new EarFun Air wireless earbuds contain some welcome refinements as well. Foremost is onboard volume control. This doesn’t involve buttons or levers, you simply touch and hold the right earbud to gradually increase the volume and gradually decrease it by touching the left one. Another great feature is active noise cancellation which is typically sketchy depending on the fit and sealing in you ear canal. EarFun has included four pairs of graduated size silicone tips for selecting the right fit. For me, the seal is good and tight so the noise cancellation’s isolating effect really works. This feature is built-in and is always on. The AirPod Pro’s Transparency Mode is not present here. 

Connectivity is by Bluetooth and pairing is a breeze. Opening the case invokes the pairing mode and the earbuds remember the last device connected. Most of the time, you’re ready as soon as you put them in your ears. There is a button inside the case for times when you want to pair to a different device. You’ll get about six hours playtime with the earbuds and putting them back in the case recharges them. EarFun claims that you can recharge them up to four times this way. 

The case is a bit bulkier than Apple’s AirPod case because wireless Qi charging capability is built in. It is flat on the bottom and stands upright on any Qi charger. Charging is also possible using the USB-C port in the base. A USB to USB-C charging cable is included. There is a tiny LED that displays status—Power, Pairing mode, and Charging status. While playing music, Play/Pause is a single tap on the earpiece and triple taps skip to the next or previous track. Each earbud contains two mics so phone calls are loud and clear. Controls for answering and ending calls are simple and you can also put one call on hold, answer a second, and even transfer them. EarFun Air earbuds are available in black or white. The earbuds are IPX7 compliant for water and sweat resistance.

How do they sound? Pretty darned good for earbuds. Bass is strong and the highs are crisp. I sense that the top and bottom of the audio spectrum have been enhanced a bit. The midrange is quite faithful. Being able to raise and lower the volume with a touch permits adapting to individual tracks easily.  

EarFun earned an Innovation Award at CES 2020 for these earbuds. Way to go, EarFun!

MyMac Reviews rating is 9 out of 10.