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Android Headlines recently received EarFun Free Pro for review. Priced normally at around $80, these earbuds are presently on sale for under $60 from EarFun directly. They’re on sale for the same price at Amazon too. And that puts them in the budget range for true-wireless audio. But these don’t perform like budget buds. In fact, I was blown away by the quality of the audio for the money.
Now, there are a few minor quirks and issues with these buds. Mostly, those are apparent when comparing to pricier earbuds. Or when examining the features from a more objective perspective. So they aren’t deal-breakers. For instance, charging time feels just a bit too long and noise-canceling feels entirely unnecessary. The size, while comparatively tiny, could also be a problem for some users with consideration for how they fit in the ear.
But they’re great earbuds nonetheless. Especially with consideration for the price, sound quality, battery life, and other features. So let’s dig in and see what makes EarFun Free Pro great and where they fall just short of being perfect for the price.
This isn’t bleeding edge hardware but it’s a solid design anyway
Now, the design of EarFun Free Pro isn’t necessarily groundbreaking. But it is unique among its EarFun counterparts. The most intriguing part is, of course, the carry case.
Upon opening up the packaging for Earfun Free Pro for this review, I was immediately taken aback by just how small this wearable’s carry case is. Normally, charging cases fit snugly in hand because they’re smooth and round. Or just because they have a design that fits the hand. These earbuds fit because of how small they are. At least in one direction.
EarFun Free Pro’s charging case measures just 2.63-inches on its longest side. But it’s also a slim design with the earbuds fitting firmly via magnets in a row and the case is barely wider than that from front-to-back. The shortest side measures just 0.98-inches while they’re only 1.29-inches tall. So the case fits in hand just like a fun-sized candy bar without its wrapper. The earbuds themselves are diminutive too; no bigger than the tip of my finger. But we’ll get to that momentarily.
In the meantime, the case is a smooth matte gray color while the lid touts the branding and is glossy black. There’s an LED light that indicates when the case is full or dying at four different levels. The company built-in a USB-C port at the back, just under the hinge. Which is itself fairly well-built but loose in terms of its intended movement for easy one-handed operation. That’s in conjunction with the firm — but not too firm — magnets holding the lid closed.
With regard to the earbuds themselves, EarFun Free Pro is a fairly standard sports design. Namely, it features the earbud, which slots vertically into the ear. But with a rubber casing on both the earbud tip and the earbud itself. The latter is a winged casing, with three different styles included in the box, so that it can comfortably hug the inner curve of the ear. All to help the buds to better stay firmly in the ear during activities such as running.
There are four different earbud tip sizes too.
These earbuds are tiny, about the size of the tip of my finger. And that means, once the proper earbud tip and wing-style casing have been chosen, they’re certainly going to be comfortable for most users. In fact, EarFun Free Pro are some of the most comfortable in-ear buds I’ve had the pleasure to review within the last several years. Not the very best, but close enough as to make very little difference. Especially at their price.
Battery life from EarFun Pro was better than expected but not perfect on charging
On battery life, it’s important to understand that the metric is subjective. Differing listening environments, distance from the source device, volume, media type, and more factor into just how long Bluetooth accessories of this type last. In my case, for this review of the EarFun Free Pro, I listened at around 80-percent volume, on average. And that’s much louder than anybody should really need, as we’ll discuss in the next segment. But a higher volume drains the battery faster.
I also primarily listened to music via YouTube Music, at a distance averaging between 15 to 25 feet. ANC was turned off for my initial test because it simply wasn’t needed with the volume being what it was.
Despite that, these lasted just over seven hours on a single charge-up. And they lasted just over six with active noise-canceling activated. In fact, nearly every figure matched up almost exactly with what EarFun advertises. So there were just short of four additional charges available from the carry-case. That’s including the initial charge.
In terms of charging, it takes just under an hour to charge the earbuds and just over two to charge up the entire bundle. And the accuracy here means it should take just over 3.5-hours to charge up wirelessly — based on EarFun’s claimed charge rates. Also based on those rates, it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes of charging to get over an hour of listening time.
Audio here is staggeringly good for the cost & perfect for those in loud environments
The fit of earbuds makes all the difference, and although EarFun Free Pro is diminutive in size, they aren’t the smallest I’ve had the pleasure to review. They aren’t going to be comfortable for those with smaller ears, even with the smallest wrap installed instead of a wing-cover. So they probably simply won’t be the best earbuds at all for those with small ears.
With that said, for myself, they fit snugly and comfortably and that meant a world of difference in audio. As noted above, setting these to 80-percent volume was far too loud. And, in fact, they’re still more than loud enough at 50-percent volume and that presents something of a conundrum. Namely, because these come with both active noise canceling up to 28dB and Ambient audio modes.
Now, if you happen to be working on a construction site or otherwise noisy environment, I can definitely recommend these earbuds. Under those conditions, EarFun Free Pro is going to drown out external audio and be loud enough otherwise that the conundrum won’t matter. For every day, day-to-day users, ANC is essentially pointless on these earbuds. Even at a moderate volume, with a proper fit, these earbuds are going to drown out any noise.
On quality, these earbuds are both punchy and bright. Background details shine through in crystal clarity with almost no muddiness at all. They aren’t quite audiophile-grade. But that’s okay. For under $60 at their current sale price and even at full price, they don’t need to be. They’re brilliant for the cost. No distortion, audio lag, or artifacts are present. Bluetooth 5.2 ensures a great, wide audio experience and EarFun Free Pro’s drivers ensure a balanced result with plenty of power across the board.
For calls, EarFun Free Pro performed almost as well as speaking directly into my phone. That’s largely thanks to the multiple mics, oriented all around the frame of the buds themselves.
EarFun Free Pro connections are rock-solid, Ambient is great
On connectivity and special features, we’ve already covered the latter topic, mostly. Ambient mode is another special feature that deserves a closer look though and it performs relatively spectacularly here.
That mostly comes down to how clearly the earbuds let other audio through. And, more importantly, the way EarFun Free Pro’s high-volume leanings seem to amplify surrounding sounds when in Ambient mode.
For clarity, an ambient mode in any headset is intended to allow users to continue listening to music or other audio. That’s without drowning out surrounding noise. So, if you’re trying to talk with friends and do that at the same time or happen to be in a somewhat dangerous environment such as walking across or down the street, you won’t miss what’s going on around you. With these earbuds, the volume levels help make the mode even better.
For connections, as noted above, Bluetooth version 5.2 is in use. And the max distance of 15-meters — roughly 50-feet — is accurate. Just so long as there are no walls or other obstructions in the way. At around 10-meters, even obstacles didn’t present much of a challenge for EarFun Free Pro under review. So you can listen at a distance without worrying about cut-out, distortion, or other issues.
Buying EarFun Free Pro would not be a waste of money
With consideration of the fact that most of the quirks with these earbuds are minor, they are an easy recommendation for me. EarFun helped that along by pricing them well under $100. The quality here is to be expected with earbuds above that price point but wasn’t at all expected under that.
The only real drawback is that ANC seems utterly pointless since external sounds are all but nonexistent at just 50-percent volume. These are undoubtedly best suited for those in loud work environments. Or for those who ordinarily need their earbud volume to be set at the maximum. EarFun did a wonderful job on that front while avoiding typical negatives. Such as distortion or artifacts.
The accumulation of small potential problems stops EarFun Free Pro just short of receiving an Editor’s Choice award. But there are still more than enough features to lean our ranking closer to 5-stars than 4. So, if you’re looking for earbuds that stay put, offer loud and balanced — but still powerful and wide — audio, these buds are going to be an obvious choice. Just don’t expect next-level design language to be at the forefront.