Hardware
SoundPeats has established its design ethos for its products and has largely stuck to them for the past several iterations. The Air6 Pro look very much like the Air5 Pro+ that I previously reviewed. The cases are also nearly identical. The differences are minor; some stem and accent color differences and revised placement of logos and branding. The Air6 Pro are stem-style earphones with slanted rounded bodies. They come with a variety of silicone eartips; I found the ones pre-installed worked fine for me. The case is black with an eggshell finish. The SoundPeats brand appears on the back of the case and the USB C port and reset button are on the bottom. A single LED adorns the front of the case. If you have another recent pair of SoundPeats earphones, you may find yourself having to remember the subtle differences in colors so you don't constantly confuse them. But for the most part, this is a first world tech reviewer problem.
Comfort is about average. I didn't have any issues wearing the earphones for hours at a time, but you may need to play with the fit and eartips to ensure you have a good seal. There is a fit test available in the app. If you don't have the right fit, the eartips are likely to wiggle their way out of your ears over time.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth range and performance is just above average. I had no issues using the earphones throughout my house, including on the way to the basement and in the basement proper. I also didn't lose connection when exiting my home, closing the front door, and heading to my mailbox to get my mail. In my days of use, I only ever encountered one stutter and it was on the way back up from the basement. This is solid Bluetooth performance.
Bluetooth codec support includes SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX adaptive, aptX lossless, LC3, and LDAC.
Battery Life
SoundPeats says the Air6 Pro with the case can last up to 52 hours. The earphones themselves are rated for up to 12 hours of use but as few as 7 hours when using ANC and LDAC. In using the earphones over multiple days with multiple hours of use each day, I did not have to charge them. With normal use, you can expect these earphones to last through a standard 8-hour work day. If you use them casually, you may be able to go a week without charging them. When you do need to charge them back up, the case supports Qi wireless charging.
App
The SoundPeats app works with these earphones and there are a variety of features you can use and activate in the app. You can change the ANC and transparency settings, turn on Dolby audio, enable dual device connection, turn on/off LDAC, disable touch controls, turn on/off in-ear detection, turn on/off game mode, customize the touch controls, activate adaptive EQ (requires a short hearing test), change and create EQ presets, update the firmware, reset the device, turn on Bluetooth Low Energy, perform the fit test, and activate a drainage function to help them dry. (The earphones are IPX5 rated.) The app does not require a login to use it.
ANC and Transparency
There are five ANC modes: adaptive, indoor, outdoor, traffic, and anti-wind. There are also voice enhancement transparency and standard transparency The earphones are rated to reduce noise by up to 58dB. In testing them against the Air5 Pro+, which are rated for up to 55dB of noise reduction, I found their performance nearly identical for typical noises like air conditioners and fans. When typing, I did find that the sound of typing on my laptop was a tad bit more muted than on the Air5 Pro+, but not so much that it was life changing. I also found their transparency settings to be nearly identical. They both present a sound that is similar to real life, but with less representation from high frequencies.
Microphone
SoundPeats indicates that the Air6 Pro have an 8-microphone array and use the industry standard Qualcomm Clear Voice Capture (cVc) 8.0. The microphones on the Air5 Pro+ and Air6 Pro are very comparable. Voices sound clear and balanced in a quiet room and can be heard well above average noise. They both struggle less with wind noise than other earphones I've tested recently. For normal conversations indoors, the microphones are excellent performers. For use outside or in noisier situations, the Air6 Pro should perform well, but as with all earphones and headphones, be careful using them on windy days outdoors.
Sound
I tested both the Air5 Pro+ and Air6 Pro with the Classic EQ preset and enabled ANC on both. Turning on ANC noticeably pumps up the lower frequencies. As you can tweak both earphones with adaptive EQ and EQ presets, you can probably get a frequency response that suits you. But in comparing the two on the same settings, I found that the Air6 Pro is just a bit brighter, but not sharp or sibilant. I also found that there is a little bit more clarity and presence in the midrange. But these differences are slight and when using the earphones for background music or spoken word, you won't notice these differences. Both earphones have very good sound.
Wrap-up
The Air6 Pro are not the obvious successor to the Air5 Pro+ due to their differing driver setups, but it may be interesting to know how the two compare. In general, they are very similar in their performance in all categories. If you have the Air5 Pro+ and wondered whether the Air6 Pro offer anything new, the answer is no. The slight improvements in ANC and differences in sound don't justify spending another~$80. If you are coming to the SoundPeats from competitors in this price range, the primary draw here for the Air6 Pro is in-ear detection, the adaptive EQ setting, and the extensive features in the app, especially the different levels of ANC and transparency. The Air6 Pro offers quite a bit for the money and is worth a look.
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