Earfun Air Pro 3

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Model: Earfun Air Pro 3
Price: £59.99 Amazon UK (£79.99 MSRP)
Website: Earfun
Review Reference: RC097

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Earfun
• Model: Air Pro 3
• Driver: 11mm Wool Composite Drivers
• Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3071
• Mic: 6 mics with cVc 8.0 ENC
• ANC: Quietsmart 2.0 Hybrid ANC up to 43dB
• Codecs: LC3, AptX-Adaptive, AptX, AAC, SBC
• App Support: Yes
• Volume Control: Yes (customisable via app)
• Gaming Mode: Yes
• Multipoint Connectivity: Yes
• Earbud Weight: 5g
• Earbud Dimensions: 31.9mm stem length
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 51g
• Case Dimensions: 60 x 50 x 31mm
• Quick Charge: Yes
• Total Charge Time: 1 hour (buds), 2 hours (case, wired), 3.5 hours (case, wireless)
• Wireless Charging: Yes
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 9 hours (ANC off), up to 7 hours (ANC on)
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 45 hours (ANC off)
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.3
• Bluetooth Protocols: LE / HFP 1.7 / A2DP 1.3 / AVRCP 1.5
• Water Resistance: IPX5

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x User Manual
1 x Warranty Card
4 x Pair Spare Eartips
1 x Q-Tip Cleaning Stick

YouTube Review:



Introduction

The Earfun Air Pro 3 is the first Earfun product I've reviewed so far, having bowed to the multitude of hype this earbud has seen since it's release. Well, the first if you discount the FIIL T1 Pro & Edifier TWS NB2, which were later essentially OEM'd by Earfun with their Free Pro and Air Pro, both of which were very early @regancipher reviews back in the day, and both of which scored positively. So I had reasonably high hopes for this one, especially given the headline features.

The Air Pro 3 are one of, if not the first major release to support 'next-gen LE audio' and the LC3 codec. LC3, aka the Low Complexity Communication Codec, promises to be the successor to SBC we've all been waiting for. Like AptX-Adaptive which the Air Pro 3 also support, it is a scalable codec, and tests have shown it to outperform SBC drastically, delivering imperceptibly unaffected audio quality even as low as 160kbps. It is designed to be more efficient in both transmission and power consumption, and as a result users will experience improved latency and better battery life. LE audio is a technology that will ultimately bring some truly tangible benefits, such as 'Auracast' (the ability to broadcast one or more audio streams to an unlimited number of receivers, turning your phone into your own silent disco) - however, it requires source devices to support it (as well as your headphones), and widespread implementation is a while away yet.

Even so the Air Pro 3 have some solid specs on paper. The use of the Qualcomm QCC3071 chipset facilitates up to 43dB hybrid ANC, there's six mics and cVc8.0 noise reduction and support through the Earfun app - but you can read all of this on the Earfun website, so let's get on with the review.....

Unboxing



The Air Pro 3 arrive in a small, understated cardboard box with an image of the buds and some of the key features on the front, as well as the VGP logo for the 2023 Gold Award of which the product was the lucky recipient. On the back, you've got the key parameters listed in full.



The unboxing has a very 'upper midrange' feel to it - Earfun are no slouches in this department, but they've upped their game even further. The manual and warranty card are housed in a yellow branded envelope, and they've even included a 'cleaning stick' - essentially a q-tip to wipe the earwax off after you use them. Practically speaking, it's pretty useless because nobody is going to keep a waxy stick lying around, but it serves as a useful reminder to treat your earbuds with appropriate case and attention.

The manual is in a bunch of different languages, including English, Chinese, German, Spanish and Polish, and it uses diagrams and well-translated text to good effect.

Charge Case



The Air Pro 3 charge case configuration is similar to that of the Edifier Neobuds Pro and SoundPEATS Life, with the battery connectors on the inside of the stems of the buds necessitating that they are placed with the tip facing down, slightly at an angle. Flipping the case open is straightforward, with a fairly large lip meaning they aren't too fiddly to operate.

You've got an L and R either side to remind you of your left and right, and a reset/pairing button in the centre of the cockpit. There's a USB socket to the rear, and the case supports Qi wireless charging.



There are three LED's on the outside of the case to denote charge level - when the case isn't plugged in or on a Qi wireless charging pad, when you open the case you'll get all three LED's lit when the battery level is over 60%, two if it's over 20%, one if it's over 10%, and one flashing if it's under 10%. Whilst charging, one LED will always pulse, all three will remain solid if charging is complete. It takes around an hour for the earbuds to charge, another 2-2.5 for the case (or 3.5 hours when charged wirelessly). There is a quick charge feature - you're getting around 2 hours from just 10 minutes of charge.

The hinge has a friction element to it and nicely springs up when you open it, showing that a reasonable amount of thought has gone into the operation.

It's a reasonably robust case, and not too large at 6x5x3.4cm, weighing in at 51g, so it's moderately portable. Whilst the durability is pretty good, it is still constructed from matte plastic, which will scuff up very quickly in your pocket.

Design & Ergonomics


The Air Pro 3 are a stem-based in-ear earbud, coloured in grey with the Earfun branding located at the base of the stem. The circle at the top is a touch control area, and it's nicely designed - often earbuds can be a little sensitive and not always intuitive, but you soon get used to knowing where to touch in order to initiate a control - it works well.


L-R - QCY HT05 Melobuds, Soundcore P2i, SoundPEATS Capsule3 Pro, Earfun Air Pro 3, Oppo Enco X2

Measuring in at 32mm on the stem, they are not as short as the Oppo or Soundcore, marginally longer than the SoundPEATS, but the thicker area around the top means they wear a little bulky in the ear.



Whilst you do get a reasonable seal with the surprisingly good stock-fitted tips and the assortment of alternatives (4 pairs in total), their slightly angular frame means they wear bigger than you would expect, and by relying on gravity to kinda hold the tips in your ears, they don't feel especially secure in your ears, especially during workouts. They pass the shake test OK and would probably be fine for the daily commute, although you will probably find yourself adjusting them regularly out of paranoia that they may fall out - the buds weigh 5g each, so it isn't altogether impossible that your fears may precipitate, but for me they wore well, reasonably securely and providing good passive isolation, with very little leakage.

The buds are IPX5 water resistant, so they're fine for rain and workouts, but you shouldn't submerge with them. Overall, the build quality feels pretty good. Earfun have also bevelled the battery connectors on the stem, to try to bring them away from your skin slightly, should you suffer from nickel or other such metal allergies.

ANC - 8/10

ANC on the Air Pro 3 is good - at least as good as I expected. You've only got three ANC levels - on, off and transparency mode. With ANC on, they are very respectable at low rumbling and deeper sounds such as extractor fans and air conditioning units. With higher frequency sounds, the performance isn't quite as good, so nearby conversations won't be removed altogether, likewise keyboard clicks and taps, but this is quite normal in TWS - and when you compare to the rest of the market, the Air Pro 3 are at least as good if not better than any of the competition below $100.

If you push the Air Pro 3 into your ears, you'll hear some white noise. Again, this is not uncommon and nothing to worry about too much unless your hearing is particularly sensitive. Transparency mode is is quite natural sounding, with less 'hiss' over nearby voices (and your own) than is typical on budget earbuds. You probably won't make out every word of more distant conversations, but anything at point blank range will be fine.

You can control ANC by either toggling on the main screen in the app or holding the left earbud for a couple of seconds, and you get a voice prompt confirming the change. In the app, it's possible to toggle which modes you can switch to manually - i.e. if you don't want the buds to toggle ANC off, only ANC on or transparency, you can set this - a very useful feature.

Audio & Sound Signature - 6/10 (for the price), 6/10 (raw score)



Having heard that Earfun had already dialled back the bass response of the earbuds via a firmware update, I was stunned to hear that it was probably the most overwhelmingly bloated lower frequency response of any earbud I've tested to date. The Air Pro 3 use an 11mm wool composite driver, and sadly it falls some way short of the capability of modern dual-driver buds like the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro, Oppo Enco X3 and Edifier Neobuds Pro, but it also falls short of well-tuned single driver budget buds like the SoundPEATS Capsule3 Pro and QCY HT05 Melobuds. There was also quite a sizeable disparity between the amplitude on the left and right buds, which was quite obvious on first playback. Not a great start! I tested on the version of firmware the buds arrived with (0.4.1), and also the version I was prompted to upgrade to (0.4.7) - frequency response was identical on both versions.

They buds reminded me a lot of the sound signature of the Tronsmart Apollo Air, only they sound even worse. The subbass and midbass are just one huge, unrefined mess. I listen to a variety of music styles, including house and melodic techno, which rely on fast attack to kick drums and deep, tight basslines. The Air Pro 3 simply cannot represent that style of music, even with exhaustive EQ'ing.

On rock tracks, where you have a mixture of bass and wah wah guitars along with male vocals, it becomes impossible to even hear all the orchestral elements you're looking for, let alone place them, and the fat at 800Hz leaves acoustic guitars sounding rather unnatural. The lower midrange is uncontrolled even by comparison to the Tronsmart model, and this leaves tracks sounding boxy - again, despite a lot of time spent trying to improve the sound on EQ, the tonal balance is still rather inaccurate. The dip at around 3kHz blunts the beater of the drum, and the percussion on tracks in general take a heavy beating in terms of reproduction.

The trebles are also a little disappointing. The mid trebles feel a little coarse with some instruments, but the sizeable dip at around 7kHz blunts certain vocals, but the peak at 8kHz brings sibilance elsewhere. These sharp peaks and dips make EQ'ing the Air Pro 3 very difficult in terms of consistency across all music genres, to the point I gave up - there are far better sounding midrange earbuds out-of-the-box, and the impressive ANC and array of features aren't going to be enough to save this one unfortunately.

The soundstage is also depressingly narrow, leaving tracks sounding blurred and even a little congested, and resolution is pretty bog standard. Things sound less constrained with ANC off, as you would expect, but taking ANC off to listen to music kinda takes the point out of having such good ANC.

There are some tweaks that you can make in the EQ to at least leave the Air Pro 3 sounding OK. The equaliser in the Earfun app is not full-frequency - most of the adjustment you have is in the lower frequencies up to 1kHz, but that's probably a good thing as that's where most of the tweaking would be spent anyway. You've also got the ability to adjust at 8kHz, and you can save different EQ settings for both ANC on and off on the Earfun app.

Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors - 8/10

The Earfun Air Pro 3 feature in my indoor call quality test, where they were pitched against 36 other models to see how they perform in a coffee shop:



Outdoors, you can hear how they fare here:



The Air Pro 3 are fairly good on calls, especially outdoors. The noise reduction algorithms are most effective at dealing with traffic and wind, and as a result, you'll sound at least coherent on the daily commute, with good weight to your voice, although the noise reduction can occasionally stray into your own voice, missing the odd word here and there.

Indoors, whilst they're fine in silence, the noise reduction is much more aggressive. Whilst they handle the hum of a busy coffee shop rather well, your voice will sometimes border on muffled, and that can leave the caller unable to discern every word - whilst the balance outdoors is close to spot on, indoors it leans towards noise reduction over clarity, so if you're making the odd call here and there you'll be fine, but if you're looking for a set to wear for Teams calls in a very busy office, they may not be the ideal companion for this purpose.

Connectivity, Controls and other Interactive Features - 8/10

I tested the Air Pro 3 with the Sony Xperia 1 IV - unfortunately, this prevented me from testing out LE audio and LC3, so I was left with AptX-Adaptive and AptX as my choice of primary codecs - even so, AptX-adaptive is excellent in requirements for low latency, and gaming mode boosted this further.

The buds are Bluetooth 5.3 capable, and you can also use multipoint with them. You don't get a device list in the app, and multipoint was a little flakey for me with an Android phone and Windows PC, but it worked in the end. Connectivity was mostly rock-solid with no issues other than the odd glitch on one channel.

The app is good - it's not quite in the Soundcore league, but it's good enough. You have tutorials on how to wear and use the product, the ability to fully customise controls for single, double, triple tap and long press (on both L and/or R). You've also got a 6-band graphic equaliser at 63, 180, 500, 1K, 8K and 15KHz. This is a bit restrictive, so you may find Wavelet a better option due to being parametric as opposed to graphic, especially since they don't save the EQ to the bud, it is saved within the app. Yep, that's right, every device you need to use the buds with, to use the EQ you need to have the app installed. That's every device having excessive data harvested - not ideal and not something I was willing to entertain any longer than the end of the review.

Battery Life

Battery life on the Air Pro 3 is great - the case has quick charge (2 hours from 10 min), wireless charging and they charge the buds four further cycles. That took the pro rata battery life to approximately 34 hours and 48 minutes, having measured between 6-7 hours on the first two cycles. The buds advertise up to 9 hours battery life, but I suspect this is at 50% volume and using the more power-efficient LC3 codec. If I can get more than 5 hours with ANC on I'm happy, and the Air Pro 3 tick the box there.

The buds also shut down after a prolonged period of inactivity, which further helps to conserve battery life - a nice feature if you're out for a walk and forget to bring your charger case, but are done listening to your podcast.

Summary

Despite the fanfare by YouTube influencers and an impressive catalogue of features, the Air Pro 3 fall desperately short in the one department that really matters - audio. Despite delivering decent ANC, good enough call quality and lots of nice added bonuses like quick charge, a solid app and future proofing thanks to their support for LE audio, you will have to spend a long time tweaking the EQ to even get the Air Pro 3 to sound passable, and at this price range, when you have great OOTB performers like the SoundPEATS Capsule3 Pro and QCY HT05, neither of which can lay a glove on the Air Pro 3 for features, if you're anything like me then sound will take precedence every time. Even the Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro - a long in the tooth alternative - is probably a better option.

The Air Pro 3 are retailing at £55.99 currently, which is competitive - but for around £20-30 more, if you shop around you can pick up older, top tier bud like the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro, Edifier NeoBuds Pro or OnePlus Buds Pro for a similar price - maybe even the Oppo Enco X2. So unfortunately this is definitely one to skip as far as I'm concerned - sadly the practice didn't match up to the theory.

Price Weighted Score: 79%
Raw Score: 77%