With long battery life and quad-mic noise cancelling call technology, EarFun Air can be deemed as a release to address the weaknesses in current entry-level true wireless earbuds.
Pros:
- »Wireless charging supported
- »Fast charging case
- »Comfortable and secure fitting
- »Sub-bass rumble
- »Non-fatiguing sound
- »Good clarity and detail retrieval capability
- »Long battery life for both case and earbuds
Cons:
- »Thick case makes it less pocket-friendly
- »Short intermittent breakup while picking up user’s voice
- »No “previous track” control available
Where to Buy
The EarFun Air is available on:
Introduction
Established in 2018, EarFun is run by a group of experienced designers, engineers and music enthusiasts. They shared a common goal – to create next-generation wireless audio devices, with cutting-edge technologies implemented to cater the weaknesses in current-generation wireless audio devices.
EarFun believes that technology can improve modern lifestyles and flawlessly merge with our daily lives. This belief is further delivered in their slogan “Better Sound, Better Life”
EarFun Air is the Award-winning true wireless earbuds in their current lineup. Multiple well-recognized awards such as CES Innovation Award and iF Design Awards honored them in 2020.
I am interested in the performance of a true wireless earbuds that received such praise. We’ll find out more about EarFun Air in this article!
Case
Battery
- Battery Life: 28 hours
- Connector: USB Type-C
- Wireless Charging: Yes
- Battery Capacity: 500 mAh
The pocket-friendly sized charging case surprised me with its battery capacity – 28 hours, which is equivalent to four full charges to the earbuds. For daily commuting, this capacity is more than sufficient for a week or even two. The case can be charged two ways – wireless or wired through the USB type-C charging port.
UX
- Can be open easily with one hand: Yes
- Pass the shake test: Yes
- Light Indicators: Display battery level
The lid of the case is secured with a magnet and it can be easily opened with just one hand. The design is similar to AUKEY EP-N5, which I recently reviewed. Taking out the earbuds is as easy as ABC too. The protrusion of the earbuds from the case sufficiently provides good grip for the users to remove the earbuds from the case.
There is an LED indicator on the case that displays the battery level by different colors. This color code can be found in the user manual. However, it does not show charging status, such as whether the earbuds are charging in the case or already fully charged. This is a room of improvement for EarFun in their future releases.
Design
- Shape of the case: Squarish with rounded corners
- Material: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) plastics
- Build Quality: Good
Similar to the AUKEY EP-N5, EarFun Air’s charging case has a certain level of resemblance to the popular Apple AirPods. The case is built with ABS and PC plastics with matte surface to provide a better gripping, even with a sweaty hand. The charging port is located at the bottom of the charging case.
Portability
- Weight: 59.87g (With both earbuds inside, 5.35g each side)
- Volume: 5.33 x 5.2 x 3.4 = 94.23 cm cu (~5.75 in cu)
- Portability: Good
The portability of the charging case can be considered good – with a relatively small volume. The portability would be improved if the case was thinner in the depth dimension. When I put it in my pocket, there’s a bump – not exactly a turn-on! So, I normally have to put it in my bag when travelling.
Earbuds
Battery
- Battery Life: 7 hrs
- Charge Time (15mins): 120 mins playback time
The battery life of EarFun Air’s earbuds is long enough for almost all types of daily activities such as exercising, travelling, or even running in a marathon. If you are going on a long distance journey with short notice, the fast charging case can give you 120 minutes of playback time with 15 minutes of charge.
You can use the 15 minutes to let your ears have a rest and go to the washroom. The earbuds will be ready to serve you for another two hours after that.
UX
- Control Mechanism: Touch
- Touch Accuracy: Average
- Control Symmetry on both earbud: No
- Mono Use: Yes, both sides
- Only skipping track is available, unable to return to previous track if you accidentally skipped.
- Voice assistant can be activated through control on earbuds
The control on the earbuds can be done by touching the control panels. I am glad that EarFun Air shows the “boundary” of the touch sensor.
Most basic controls can be done on the earbuds, such as play/pause and volume control. However, there is a shortcoming here – EarFun Air can skip to the next track by the controls but it cannot bring you back to the previous track. If you accidentally skip a track, you need to take out your phone to go back.
Design
- Profile: Medium
- Material: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) plastics
- Comfort: Good
- Fit: Good
During use, the touch sensor parts will have some protrusion from your ears. This gives the touch gesture a higher chance of landing on the sensor.
The earbud shape is elongated, bringing the microphones nearer to your mouth for better voice pickup. This part will be positioned in between tragus and antitragus of ears, providing a more secure fitting.
It is comfortable to have EarFun Air in the ears – the isolation is above average and it does not have any pressure hotspot which will irritate the user. I can easily wear them for hours without a need to take a rest or even adjust for a better fit.
Mic
- Noise Cancellation: Average
- Voice Pick-up: Average
Similar to most of the true wireless earbuds in the market, the voice pickup of EarFun Air is average. My voice is audible but there will be some short intermittent breakups. I won’t use it for my conference call for sure because I don’t want my audience to miss an important message.
Mic Demo
However, it will be useful when I am on-the-go. It’s still capable of handling my casual calls.
One of the selling points advertised by EarFun on Air is the noise cancellation technology in their voice pickup microphone. I tested it, and it’s true that in a noisier background, my voice is still audible. But the surrounding noise is not 100% fully cancelled. It does have a certain level of suppression.
Sound
- Driver: 6mm Custom-built composite cellulose drivers
- Sound Signature: Balanced
- Sub-bass: Good
- Bass: Good
- Mids: Good
- Treble: Good
- Sound Detail: Good
Overall sound quality
The overall sound signature of EarFun Air is balanced with good dynamics. It’s fun to listen to as the profile is lively. The ups and downs in tracks are presented precisely by the earbuds. Despites being true wireless earbuds, the clarity and detail retrieval capability is not compromised for the sake of freedom.
Lows
The sub-bass has good extension and rumble. Unlike the majority of the entry-level earbuds, EarFun focuses on quality over quantity. Instead of getting slammed by tons of it, users are going to enjoy themselves in the shallow sea of high quality bass. The bass is well controlled. It does not bleed towards the mids, preserving a transparent and clear midrange.
Despite being lean in terms of quantity, the bass still has a rich and full texture. It still punches significantly on your eardrums, which motivates me to run faster while jogging.
Mids
As mentioned in the lows – because of the well-controlled bass, the midrange is uncolored and transparent. This is rare in true wireless earbuds too. It reminds me of one of my favorite true wireless earbuds, Audio Technica ATH-ANC300TW. As a comparison, EarFun Air’s mids are pushed more forward, more engaging with the audiences.
The layering between lows and mids is great – having the bass punching at the back to create the overall dynamics, the transparent and clear mids is positioned more forward, creating a feeling of the vocalist is right in front of you, with the band behind the vocalist.
Highs
This is the part I like the most in EarFun Air. The highs are very well-extended. Unlike a lot of overly-smoothed earbuds, these well-extended highs bring the clarity of EarFun Air to another level, making it different from others. This is the reason why I praised its clarity and detail retrieval capability in the overall sound signature section.
The well-extended highs are handled accurately during the decay. The ending of each high frequency note does not “sparkle” and distort when they reach the end of their decay. A distorted decay will kill the overall presentation with a lot of noises. I am glad that the quality of the highs in EarFun Air is good!
Connectivity
- Audio Codec: SBC and AAC
- Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth Version 5.0
- Auto-connect when: Case cover is opened
- Average drop-outs in an hour: 0 – 3 times
- Multi-point connection: No
Two codecs, AAC and SBC, are supported by EarFun Air. As most of my devices are from Apple, I normally use AAC. EarFun Air has supreme connection stability. I tested it for my 5km daily jog; it has zero cut-off, even at those areas with stronger interference (which some of my earbuds normally are heavily impacted.)
To connect to EarFun Air is easy. Just open the case cover, it automatically connects to the last connected device. There is no multi-point connection available on EarFun Air. At the price point, however, I didn’t expect this feature.
Waterproof
- IP Rating: IPX7
EarFun Air has an IP rating of IPX7. This is more than sufficient for normal sport usage. For more rugged sports such as mountain climbing or jungle tracking, users might need to be more cautious because the shock proof is not tested and the microphone openings on the earbuds might be vulnerable to mud or sand.
Teo Yong Shun
A chemical engineer by training and an audiophile with years of experience in audio industry as an audio consultant in one of the major Hi-Fi shops in Singapore. Appreciating good music is my daily task and I love to share the greatness with the community. Love what you listen to, with what you have, where you are. Founder of The Audiolocheese.
