Hey All, I got the
JBL Tour Pro + and the
Ear Fun Free Pro 2 this last week and thought do a comparison with these buds:
Sennheiser Momentum 2
Echo Buds 2
Lypertek Tevi
Jabra Elite 85t
I apologize in advance for the ridiculously long review, I spent way to much time on it
Sound Quality
#1 JBL TP+ / Tevi
(I got tired of playing with the EQ of the JBL's, you could tune them for days, but they respond really well and have great bass response, wide soundstage, clear and detailed mids and highs. they get a little on the bright side, but I was able to get them to sound near identical to the tevi's with better bass.
#2 Momentum 2 (Really great sound all around, hesitated to put these in 2nd, but the EQ is limited and adjusting it really messes with the other freqs. mids by default are pushed forward, they can sound a bit cold to me w/o recessing the mids and they just aren't loud enough, but they are a really lovely tuned TWS.
#3 Ear Fun Free Pro 2 (Incredible bass, non-fatiguing highs with recessed mids. even though I rated them 3 in SQ, this is only due to recessed mids and lack of an eq. not as detailed in the highs and mid highs as it's competitors, but i'd imagine they can be tweaked with an EQ. I have a headphone playlist i've used for testing all my buds and these just made everything even the poorly mastered songs sound good.
#4 Echo Buds 2 ( lots of high mids, good bass and treble, takes some tuning, they sound pretty good but not as good sound as Gen 1 or the other buds on this list.)
#5 Jabra Elite 85t ( They sound better than the Air Pods Pro, EQ is lacking. They aren't unpleasant to listen to, just not exciting)
ANC
#1 Jabra Elite 85t (The Jabra's are till best in class. If you haven't tried these and love ANC, do it. They are only rivaled by the XM4's. I haven't heard the bose but they are def. both better than the Air Pods Pro especially with it's newest firmware
)
#2 Momentum TW2
#3 Ear Fun Free Pro 2
#4 Echo Buds 2
#5 JBL Tour Pro +
Transparency/Ambient The Elite 85t and the Free Pro 2's both have excellent Transparency modes, the Ear Funs sound warmer, their mics capture better highs than the Elite 85t yet plug more of your ear canals so they don't feel as natural. The JBL's Transparency modes are Very good , but are just plagued with bugs. the Ambient modes shut off and on all the time and have lots of connection issues.
#1 Echo Buds 2
#2 Ear Fun Free Pro 2
#3 Jabra Elite 85t
#4 Momentum TW2
#5 JBL Tour Pro + (kept shutting off)
Phone Calls
#1 Jabra Elite 85t (multi-point, mute button, fully customizable call controls, excellent side tone)
#2 Ear Fun Free Pro 2/ Echo Buds 2 (calls sound great on both. Side tone on the EFFP2's is just Ambient mode, Echo Buds SideTone is fine but quieter also has mute)
#4 JBL TP +/ Lypertek Tevi (the JBL's do not have sidetone while on calls, that's a deal breaker for me, but the call quality was great and they have a mute button.
#5 Momentum TW2 ( Even after the update, the MTW 2's still have intermittent bad call quality. They sound quite good, but I experienced a few connection issues.
#6 Lypertek Tevi (they work fine, but everyone tells me I sound far away)
Summary
The
Earfun Free Pro 2 are still my favorite to date. They do everything very well, really great sound, ultra portable, fast connection speed, super comfortable, excellent ambient mode and ANC, wireless charging etc. I got them with with a $25 off coupon for $60 total and even at $80 They are punching way above their weight class.
- Great Bass and sub bass, surprisingly controlled for how prominent it is.
- Some of the best Transparency and ANC in all price ranges. I noticed a very slight mid bass boost when ANC is on, but it's almost not noticeable.
- Lack some clarity in high mids, and mids are recessed, highs are clear detail is 8/10. Soundstage is wide open and not sibilant or painful at loud volumes.
- No app but Control everything except previous track can be controlled (3 second lag between Ambient, Normal and ANC modes)
- Battery lasts a good 6 hours, I switched between ANC and Ambient and they also have quick charge
- Can be used in Mono mode, but the Transparency/ANC modes will turn off if one is placed in the case.
These are simply a pair of earbuds every enthusiast should have in their collection and if you are looking for an all around workhorse that does everything well, this is the pair.
Jabra 85t -
- Although i'm heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, the 85t is still the king of Productivity for me.
- Multipoint still has some growing pains, but it's near flawless. I use them at work on zoom, teams, phone calls and listening to books.
- Battery life isn't great, I get about 4-5 hours max
- EQ doesn't do much, sound quality is decent, but not great.
- ANC is some of the best out there and has different levels of adjustment.
- Great transparency mode.
Echo Buds 2 - I also use these weekly at work, they are a great all around bud. They do very well with calls, have very good transparency and ANC is above average. I feel like the battery lasts about 6 hours. They aren't the most comfortable and give me that plugged canal feel. The Controls are somewhat customizable and they have a basic EQ. Def. a great pair of buds for the money and functionality.
Sennheiser Momentum TW2-
- Excellent sounding TWS, that do many things very well
- Big and bulky after a few days I couldn't wear them anymore, they were very uncomfortable.
- Connectivity issues with ios and Mac OS, (they take about 3-5 seconds longer to connect than the Ear Funs and a few times the didn't connect at all.)
- Eqing them is effective but boosting the bass muddles the other freqs.
- Stock sound is really clean and detailed, pushed forward mids sound cold.
Too Expensive. For the Price tag ($200) If they Liberty 3 pro can out perform them in SQ at $150, they should be cheaper. I ended up returning these because they got to be unbearably painful after a couple days of use. also, I LOVED the touch tones, so smart. I wish every manufacturer would get on board with this.
JBL Tour Pro +
- Great Bass, Detail and Clarity, Incredibly EQable,
- Responsive touch controls and tons of features in the app.
- Excellent build quality, nice case, wireless charging, 8 hour battery.
- Plagued by Bugs
- No way to turn off the voice prompts or switch to tones like the MT2's and 85t's.
- No sidetone for calls
- Controls are customizable but akin to the Sony's XM3/XM4 you have to pick different profiles
- ANC is good but doesn't filter out as much low noise as it should. It's fine but nothing special.
- Ambient mode is very good, but also shut off multiple times during use in quiet environment. (It seemed like it was trying to filter out loud noises even though I was in a quiet environment. )
The left ear bud just decided not to connect to my phone one day and I had to put it in the case a couple times to get it to connect.
I paid $99 for them, which frankly is a steal, but they are going back.
The
Tevi's are a my rock steady shower buds, the buttons on them are really hard to press, they aren't great for calls, there is no ANC or Transparency but with a little EQing they sound excellent. They are still one of the best sounding earbuds I have heard to date.
