EarFun launched its new flagship Air Pro 4 active noise-canceling (ANC) wireless earbuds Monday, calling them “the world’s first Auracast-supported earbuds under $100.” And the new buds run true to form for EarFun. They’re great-sounding, well-equipped earbuds that present an excellent value at a list price of $90. And EarFun Air Pro 4 present an even better value with the launch discount (see below).
EarFun Air Pro 4 ANC wireless earbuds
EarFun Air Pro 4 ANC wireless earbuds present yet another high-value product from the company. The company always seems to find just where excellent sound and quality features meet at a nice price. These aren’t nearly as expensive as AirPods Pro 2, but for many people, they’d be just as good. They sound almost the same, and most likely better for Android users. So they’re a great buy for anyone who wants really good ANC wireless earbuds with a solid list of premium features for a perfectly reasonable price.
Another EarFun set that I really like, by the way, is the stemless EarFun Free Pro 3 wireless ANC earbuds. And the company’s first over-ear headphones are great, too.
Excellent audio quality
Cool new features EarFun includes with its new flagship Air Pro 4 buds relate to audio quality — especially for Android users with compatible devices. As someone who hangs out most of the time in Apple’s ecosystem, I might not benefit as much as they do from every feature. But they’re still excellent earbuds.
The buds use the Qualcomm QCC3091 chip with aptX adaptive audio for high-quality wireless sound. This works best with an Android device using a corresponding chipset. When I reviewed EarFun Air Pro 3, I found they didn’t quite compare to my AirPods Pro (2nd generation) earbuds with their H2 chip and other features for great sound quality. But EarFun’s new top set, Air Pro 4, come mighty close to Apple’s pricey buds in sound quality.
Like, crazy close. I heard a slightly expanded sound stage on AirPods Pro 2 on various tunes, like with complex instrumentation on remixed albums by Randy Newman (Harps and Angels, 2008) and Steely Dan (Royal Scam, 1976). But of course head-tracking Spatial Audio is missing. And yet: Damn, EarFun Air Pro 4, nice job. On Elvis Costello’s “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror” (Spike, 1989), the sandy percussive tambourine isn’t at all lost. And that flattened high hat cymbal on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “O Children” (Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, 2004) might as well be implanted in your head, like you were crashing it yourself with your own foot pedal and drumstick.
EarFun Air Pro 4 buds rely on 10mm composite dynamic drivers. As such, the buds compare well with excellent products from Soundcore, Edifier and Jabra. They’re in the same audio ballpark for both music and call sound quality.
EarFun’s top buds bring a fairly expansive soundstage with a full range of expression across frequencies. You may not find quite the pristine clarity and exquisite audio detail that some high-end buds can give you, but most people should enjoy EarFun Air Pro 4. And yet even with all the improvements, EarFun’s new flagship buds still lack Spatial Audio.
And by the way, another new feature in the buds is in-ear detection, so they’ll pause if you take one out.
A fine fit
Photo: EarFun
Right out of the box, I found Air Pro 4 fit comfortably and securely for stemmed earbuds. If earbuds don’t fit well or fall out, it almost doesn’t matter how good they sound because you might not be inclined to use them.
Unlike some stemmed buds that are meant to dangle rather than go inside the ear canal, these go right in the ol’ ear hole and create a good seal. That’s my preference because it creates passive noise cancellation. And these earbuds come with five sets of ear tips in different sizes to help with your personal fit.
Solid connectivity
The new earbuds bring the latest Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity with codec support for aptX, aptX Lossless, LDAC, Auracast, SBC and ACC. The best ones for your device can contribute to sound quality, longer battery life, low power consumption and, most of all, stable wireless connections.
But I met with a stumbling block when I paired the earbuds with my M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Just like with Air Pro 3, Air Pro 4 paired well with my iPhone 13 Pro and iPad Air (5th gen), never dropping the Bluetooth connection. But with my laptop they hiccuped regularly. They didn’t drop the connection entirely. But choppy, in-and-out sound interrupted the flow at times, like the earbuds just couldn’t quite stay connected.
And the earbuds work beautifully paired with two devices, by the way. It seems easier to do with the latest version, too. You simply select the devices, like iPhone and iPad, through the EarFun Audio app.
‘Ultra ANC’ works well
Photo: EarFun
On the EarFun Air Pro 4 box, the worlds “ultra ANC” appear in big, silver type, out-headlining the name of the product. And EarFun did, indeed, upgrade the functionality. Its QuietSmart 3.0 adaptive hybrid ANC quiets external sound up to 50 decibels.
And the ANC system, which relies on three of the earbuds’ six mics, works like it should. EarFun has added more settings. You can set it to Normal (none), Ambient Sound (some sound allowed through) and Noise Cancelling. On that last setting, you can pick from five sub-settings: Strong ANC, Balance ANC, AI Environment Adaptive ANC, AI Ear Adaptive ANC and Wind noise cancellation. That’s more choices than I need, and I didn’t get a chance to really test the “adaptive” settings (which change per conditions, like sudden loud sounds), but they all seem to work. I cycled through them while watching the Olympics on TV. The strong ANC setting really blotted out voices and the ambient setting let plenty of sound through.
Of course there’s an app for that
EarFun’s top buds come with tap controls, of course, but I prefer a dedicated app with as much control as possible to learning all the tap-and-hold routines. Touch controls can be convenient, of course, if you just want to nudge up the volume or take a call. But thankfully, EarFun’s includes its steadily improving EarFun Audio app.
The EarFun app lets you futz with various functions. There’s the expanded noise cancellation choices mentioned above, of course. You can also turn in-ear detection on or off, disable or customize on-device tap controls, set connectivity for two devices, choose which bud’s mics are active, set the voice prompt language (English, Japanese or Chinese), activate Game Mode for low latency, select preset equalizers or customize, establish your own sound profile, peruse a tutorial and FAQ, check the firmware version (always update when setting up), and reset or delete the device.
The app has pumped up its audio-adjustment settings recently. When I reviewed Air Pro 3, it had a simple equalizer with six moveable EQ points (or bands) plus several presets. Now you get to make your own sound profile by taking a hearing test that lets you set EQ points as appropriate. And there are a staggering 29 presets covering bass and treble adjustments and musical genres.
EarFun Air Pro 4 compared to Air Pro 3
Photo: EarFun
Bottom line: EarFun brings good value (again)
In addition to the geat audio and ANC technologies on board, Air Pro 4 buds get excellent battery life — up to 52 hours of playtime, up from the previous version’s 45. You get 11 hours with the buds on their own and 41 hours with the wireless charging case.
You can pick up the earbuds in black or white on EarFun’s website or on Amazon. With a 20% coupon on the product page and an extra discount code, AP425OFF, your final price should be $67.99, EarFun said. That’s a great deal.
Where to buy: Amazon
EarFun provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out other in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.
★★★★☆
