Earfun Air Life Review
Scroll down for the video review with microphone samples!
The Earfun Air Life Bluetooth (BT) headset is a very inexpensive pair of earbuds ($30-50 on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DBQ8DL27 or on Earfun's website https://www.myearfun.com/headphones/earfun-air-life-true-wireless-earbuds-black). But quite often you get what you pay for, so what do you actually get with these earbuds?
When I use BT earbuds, I’m usually connected to one of my Android tablets. Some of my earbuds use higher resolution codecs not available on iOS, like AptX or LDAC, so I rarely listen to music with my iPad unless using cabled headphones as I don’t own any form of AirPods. Connected to my Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, the codec used is AAC. While this isn’t a flashy high-res audio codec, it’s perfectly fine for daily use and the EarFun comes across with clear and loud sound. I compared the EarFun directly against my daily driver earbuds, the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro. I love the size and shape of these buds and they are fairly neutrally tuned. Since I have mainly Samsung devices, it made sense for the Buds2 Pro to be in my collection as they switch between Samsung devices with less fuss than other brands that use only multi-point connections.
Comparing the sound of the EarFun against the Buds2 Pro, I was surprised and yet also not surprised at how much more bass the EarFun produce than the Buds out of the box. They are also noticeably louder. The Buds2 Pro present more of the midrange while the EarFun pumps up the bass and highs a bit. Listening to podcasts, I found that the lower register of voices came across better with the EarFun. I prefer warmer sound over brighter sound, so for spoken voice, I’d probably prefer the EarFun over the Buds2 Pro. Listening to a track with choir vocals, I found the choir to be recessed (quieter in the mix) with the EarFun but more prominent with the Buds2 Pro. As a musician, I would perhaps aim for the EarFun when trying to hear bass lines and sometimes piano parts, but I’d want the Buds2 Pro (or something even better) for studying vocals. Both buds can be tuned; the EarFun comes with presets and a 10-band custom equalizer in the app.
Let’s talk about the app. I don’t always bother to install apps for BT headphones. I usually do for the expensive ones that have special features or are likely to have firmware updates. But for an inexpensive pair of earbuds like these, I really had no intention of installing the app. I did not want to create yet another account and be bothered with yet one more app. However, although the EarFun paired effortlessly with my Chromebook Duet 3, it did not want to pair with the Galaxy Tab without the app. In fact, it specifically told me I needed an app to use the device. This really annoyed me. Honestly, it still annoys me. Nevertheless, I installed the app and was at least able to skip past creating a login to use it. The app allows you to tailor the controls and play around with the aforementioned equalizer. The app also shows you the battery life of each bud. You can also set how much time you want to pass with the earbuds being idle before shutting off. The default for this is 10 minutes. That seemed short, so I bumped it up to 30 minutes. Increasing the time will obviously impact battery life. As for battery life, the box indicates 11 hours of use and 24 hours with the case. I did not test continuous use of these buds for 11 hours and since they turn themselves off after a certain time by default, it is hard for me to say that these will get 11 hours continuously. But I was able to use them for a workday off and on without any issues.
Why off and on? I don’t typically have earbuds in my ears for hours at a time as they eventually get uncomfortable. I can wear the Buds2 Pro for many hours as their shape just seems to suit my ears, but although I wouldn’t say the EarFun are strictly uncomfortable, I did not want to keep them in my ears for hours at a time. The Earfun buds do not have active noise cancellation, but the tips seal out a little bit of noise if you get a good fit so they are fine for use in a quiet area or if you do want to be able to hear a bit of your surroundings when listening at low volume. The microphones do have noise cancellation though, and it is noticeable in sound recordings I did to test them. The voice comes across very understandable, but it sounds compressed and somewhat digital. However, background noise is pretty well suppressed. The microphone on the Buds2 Pro is clearer and more natural but with a bit more noise and a quieter sound, probably because the extra length on the stems of the EarFun make a difference and this is probably why Samsung went with the stem style for the Buds3 Pro. You can make calls with the EarFun in relatively quiet places and you will be understood but I wouldn’t say you’d sound great. I’d not use these for long phone calls unless I had to, and I’d certainly not use them for work calls.
I think the general use case for these buds is use at home for watching media or listening to music (and you want the bigger bass boost) or perhaps at work to block out the sound of co-workers and other noises without being totally disconnected from reality. They might also be good for exercise; they stay in my ears well even with vigorous shaking and they are IPX5 water resistant, so they should be fine for a bit of sweat or light rain. While these don’t have active noise cancellation, I’d probably not use them for exercise outside because I’d prefer to have my ears open with something like bone conduction or open ear headphones so I can hear cars and other potential dangers around me. But as these are so inexpensive if you can get them at $30, I think they’re great as a backup pair to keep at work, in your purse or bag, or just somewhere around the house for use when you inevitably wash or otherwise destroy your favorite pair of earbuds.
