Like previous Earfun headphones, the Air Pro four are competitively priced and offer decent audio quality, battery life, and an excellent minimalist design. There’s a lot to like, but Earfun has packed in too many features, with a confusing variety of equalizers. presets and ANC modes that overcomplicate things.
Good for money
Lightweight case
Decent battery life
Confusing noise-canceling options
Too many EQ presets
Some audio peaks
I never imagined that I would provide a reasonable pair of headphones that had too many features, or that I would exclude a pair of headphones from our noise cancelling headphones advisor for providing too many ANC profiles. But this Earfun Air Pro four review changes that.
If you’ve ever heard of Earfun, you’ll know it as a logo that is used to offer reasonable yet competitive headphones. You’ll also know that your naming conventions can be confusing.
The Air Pro 4 are the successors to the Air Pro 3 from 2023 (which we did a near-perfect review), and their main difference from the Free Pro 3 at the same price in late 2023 is that they have stems, which are purely on the cobs. They’re also more premium options than the Earfun Air 2, previously released in 2024, which (like all those other Earfun options) featured wonderful features at very low prices. But that’s a lot of Frees, Airs and Graces Pros to give you an idea.
Suffice it to say that Earfun has a huge variety of products, perhaps an overwhelming amount for other people who don’t know which one to choose, and “too much” is also the subject of this review.
In its quest to provide budget-minded shoppers with a wide diversity of options, Earfun went too far and found that some elements of the delight were too overwhelming. There are five other ANC modes (not counting “off” and “ambient”) and I couldn’t figure out the differences; There are 30 EQ presets and scroll through the list to find the right option for certain songs or genres with more work than it’s worth.
So trying out the Earfun Air Pro four was a bit tiring at first, until I gave up and stuck with the same modes. I think that’s what I do as well. Do that and look at some wonderful budget headphones that offer plenty of features and some pretty respectable and physically powerful audio quality for the price. The thing is, browsing through superfluous features gets a bit boring.
They also feel quite premium, with a lightweight, minimalist design that stays comfortably in your ear, and the case is excellent and small enough to fit in small pockets, and includes some premium features like wireless charging.
The sound quality is perfectly appropriate for the value (although if your budget is over $100, there are some more tempting options) and definitely matches “cheap” and “happy” for most songs.
I also liked how the Earfun Air Pro 4’s battery life beats most of the competition, with a consistent 7. 5 hours with ANC-enabled headphones and 11 hours without. That’s a few more songs than you get with most headphones in this price range.
So if you’re happy to forget about some superfluous and potentially confusing features, or if you’re willing to check them out to find out, then the Earfun Air Pro 4 are potential smart options for others on a budget. But if not, the company offers many more options, as does its competition (more on this later).
The Earfun Air Pro 4 were announced at the end of July 2024 and were available to purchase shortly after. The company sells them in some regions but also offers a global option on its website, which is indexed in USD, which is why we don’t have a value in AUD.
The headphones cost $89. 99/£79. 99 (around AU$140), which is particularly lower than the $99. 99/£99. 99 (around AU$160) Air Pro 3; Those headphones earned price cuts almost immediately after launch, so it’s possible the Air Pro 4 can too.
Earfun has a well-stocked line of headphones and the four-slot Air Pro is just ahead of most others in terms of price; The Air Pro 3, Free Pro 3, and Air Pro SV charge a little less. The company specializes in affordable headphones and these new models are no different.
So yes, the Earfun Air Pro 4 are definitely a reasonable pair of headphones; They probably wouldn’t break the bank and this fact is helping to set expectations for sound quality and characteristics.
One of my favorite things about Earfun’s other earbuds is that they beat the festival in terms of battery life, and that’s the case with the Air Pro 4.
With ANC enabled, the earbuds last about seven and a half hours before you want to put them back in the case to turn them back on; turn off the ANC and that figure is even higher at 11 hours. Most of the competition at the same value last around 6 and nine hours respectively, so the Pro four is, uh, Pro-four, which fits well here.
Earfun said the case can offer up to 52 hours of music playback between all charges; the online page doesn’t say if it has ANC on or off, but I think not. By one estimate, it would give you 35 and a half hours of listening time out of the box if you’re only listening with ANC on.
Speaking of ANC: it has possibilities on the Air Pro 4, but a host of annoying potential options prevent you from getting the most out of it.
The popular ANC is robust and suppresses distracting background noise to help you enjoy your music without the noise of keyboards or the screech of the noisy trains you ride on (at least, those are my favorite uses!).
That is, in the application there is no noise cancellation mode, but there are seven.
These come with ambient mode and no ANC (it’s pretty self-explanatory), but they have five other versions of ANC: noisy, balanced, AI environment adaptive, AI ear adaptive, and wind noise cancellation. All of these five have descriptions of their differences, but it’s all very indistinct and I haven’t been able to hear much difference between them, especially the adaptive one. After a few sessions of listening to confusing tests, I stick with the “strong” ones and hope for the best.
Beyond this confusing ANC situation, the Earfun app offers the fundamental features that most other apps offer: some toggle features like wear detection and low latency mode for gaming, the ability to customize controls, and “find my earbuds. “functionality.
There’s also an equalizer and I liked it: you can customize your sound yourself or rely on a sound profile mode that tests your hearing (I didn’t find this mode as accurate or useful as its counterparts from other companies, such as Nothing is in). the ear nothing (a) and the ear nothing). But the most productive component is the presets – there are 30 in total and many of them make differences to the sound profile, so it’s useful if you need to adapt your mix to what you’re listening to.
Frankly, 30 is too much and I didn’t have to go through a total list of “Bass Reduction 1, 2 and 3” to locate the quick ones. Instead, I’m sticking with a core of 15 based on musical genres. and that’s pretty smart: in conditions like this, less is more. I’m surprised there can be 30 without any spoken word or podcasts!
The Air Pro are the four smallest earbuds I’ve ever seen, even in the Earfun range, but they’re still pretty slim. The earbuds weigh about 5g each (according to my kitchen scale; no official weight is listed) and consist of an AirPods-style mouthpiece, small body, and stem.
The default tip fits comfortably in my ear and stayed securely in position throughout the testing process, however, Earfun included 4 more sizes in the box, which is at least one more than you typically see on earbuds, and two more at this budget level. I set this range, from smaller to more gigantic, and I commend Earfun for that.
Each bud has a small grain, which is the circular indentation in the most sensitive part of the stem that you can see in the pictures. It only required a gentle touch and that’s why I found them easy to use, there was a noticeable delay between emergencies. and trigger the desired action.
The headphones have an IPX5 rating, making them resistant to water jets but not liquid immersion, so you can use them in the rain or even in the shower, but not in the bathroom (or pool).
Keeping the Air Pro four comfortable and safe when you’re not using it is its charging case; From the photographs in the product directory and the length of the box, one would think it would be quite large, but it was much smaller than I expected. It weighs 56 g (with the heads inserted) and measures 62. 4 x 4, 6. 6 x 29. 2 mm.
This shell-shaped case, which opens in a shell, has a USB-C port for charging but also supports wireless power. Although it’s a small plastic pebble smaller than the average length of a box mouse, it seemed strong enough to protect the buttons well.
It’s great that the Earfun equalizer goes so deep in allowing you to customize your music, because in default mode, the headphones are good, but not great. For the price, they are better than many competitors, but you will get better sound. paying more.
Unless you spice up the treble in the app, it’s a little missing by default, falling into the relatively meaty bass combination. The mids are also hidden in the rear, but I’ve found that they’re susceptible to spikes and distortion at times. with tools like hi-hats and acoustic guitars that become soft.
However, once you turn to the equalizer and push the music to the limit, you can get a lot more space to enjoy your music. The bass, which is already quite meaty by default, can gain even more prominence, it will never be as hard as in something like the Nothing Buds.
I liked to save the treble, with some presets that push it further forward, and the mids to some extent; This puts them at greater risk of reaching peaks in songs. And while the presets allow you to play with the way other sounds interact, I rarely felt the sounds were energetic.
Some additions to the Air Pro 4 over the Pro 3 are a new audio code, LDAC, which allows for 24-bit/96kbps streaming of educational files or apps, as well as Bluetooth 5. 4 for a more reliable connection. This compensates for what, on paper, might seem like a relief in motor length from 11mm to 10mm.
If you’re familiar with budget headphones, you’ll know that Earfun offers you good value for money, and there’s no other here.
The Air Pro 4 gives you decent music quality, long battery life, and admirable noise cancellation, and the slimmer than the easy-to-store charging case is the price.
Sure, the Earfun Air Pro 4 has as many features as some of the biggest names on the market, but it also costs a third of your big options from Bose, Apple, and Samsung.
See our full Nothing Ear (a)
See our complete Earfun Air 2
I reviewed the Earfun Air Pro four for two weeks to write this review, which is the popular review time for headphones like this. I used them most commonly connected to my Android phone, but I also paired them with my Windows computer and my iPad to check.
I listened to this review at home, in the office, at the gym, on walks around my community, and also on some long exercise trips, so its ANC was put to the test. I listened to music, podcasts, and audiobooks on Spotify, watched YouTube videos, streamed Netflix movies, watched plenty of the Olympics on Discovery Plus, and participated in phone and video calls while wearing the headphones.
I’ve been on devices on TechRadar for over five years, and in that time I’ve used a lot of budget headphones and added older options from Earfun.
Tom Bedford calls TechRadar deputy editor until the end of 2022, after moving up from editor. Although he has specialized in phones and tablets, he has also ventured into other technologies such as electric scooters, smart watches, fitness, cellular gaming and much more. He is based in London, United Kingdom and now works for the online entertainment website What To Watch.
She has degrees in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working at TechRadar, he freelanced in technology, gaming and entertainment, and spent many years working as a mixologist.
Halliburton suffered a cyberattack that disrupted its operations
A first firmware update is coming for your Philips Hue home setup
One of my favorite comedies with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes is soon leaving Netflix: here’s why you can’t miss The Edge of Seventeen
TechRadar is from Future US Inc. , a foreign media organization and leading virtual publisher. Visit our corporate website.