Earfun Air Pro 4 review: good-value cheap earbuds with just a few too many features
Earfun Air Pro 4: Two-minute review
I never thought I’d be knocking a set of good budget earbuds having too many features, or excluding a set of earbuds from our best noise-cancelling earbuds guide for offering too many ANC profiles. But this Earfun Air Pro 4 review changes that.
If you’ve ever heard of Earfun before, you’ll know it as a brand well versed in putting out low-cost but competitive earbuds. You’ll also know that its naming conventions can be quite baffling.
The Air Pro 4 are the successors to 2023’s Air Pro 3 (which we gave a near-perfect review to), and their main difference from the same-priced Free Pro 3 from late 2023 is that they have stems, rather than being purely in-ear beans. They’re also more premium alternatives to the Earfun Air 2, released earlier in 2024, which (like all those other Earfun options) offered some great features at really low prices. But that’s a lot of Frees, Airs and graces Pros to get your head around.
Suffice to say that Earfun has a bustling product suite, perhaps an overwhelming number for people who don’t know which to opt for, and ‘too much’ is the theme of this review too.
In its quest to offer buyers on a budget a wide range of options, Earfun has gone a bit too far, and I found some elements of the experience a little too overwhelming. There are five different ANC modes (not counting ‘off’ and ‘ambient’) and I couldn’t get my head around the differences; there are a whopping 30 equalizer presets and scrolling through the list to find the right option for certain songs or genres was more work than it was worth.
So testing the Earfun Air Pro 4 was initially a bit exhausting – until I gave up, and just stuck to the same modes. I think that’s what you’ll do too. Do that, and you’ll reveal great low-budget earbuds that offer loads of options and fairly respectable, robust audio quality for the price. It’s just that wading through the extraneous options becomes a little wearying.
They feel premium enough too, with a lightweight minimalist design that remains comfortably in the ear, and the case is lovely and small enough to slip into little pockets even though it packs a few premium features like wireless charging.
The sound quality is perfectly acceptable for the price (though if your budget breaches the $/£100 barrier, you’ll have a few more tempting options) and definitely matches the ‘cheap’ with the ‘cheerful’ for most songs.
I also appreciated how the Earfun Air Pro 4’s battery life outstrips most competitors, with 7.5 hours per bud with ANC on and 11 hours with it off. That’s a fair few songs more than you’ll get on most earbuds in this price bracket.
So if you’re happy to ignore a few too many superfluous and potentially confusing features, or are willing to try and get your head around them, then the Earfun Air Pro 4 are good picks for people on a budget. But if not, then the company has loads more options for you – as do its competitors (more on that later).
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Price and release date
- Unveiled in July 2024
- Cost $89.99 / £79.99 (roughly AU$140)
The Earfun Air Pro 4 were announced right at the end of July 2024, and became available to purchase shortly afterwards. The company sells them in certain regions but also has a global option on its website, listed in USD, which is why we don’t have an AUD price.
The buds cost $89.99 / £79.99 (roughly AU$140) which is notably a lower price than the $99.99 / £99.99 (roughly AU$160) Air Pro 3 – those earbuds got price cuts almost immediately after launch, so it’s possible that the Air Pro 4 could too.
Earfun has a busy line-up of earbuds and the Air Pro 4 slot in just ahead of most of the others in terms of price; the Air Pro 3, Free Pro 3 and Air Pro SV all cost just a small amount less. The company specializes in low-cost earbuds and these new models are no different.
So yes, the Earfun Air Pro 4 definitely count as cheap earbuds; they won’t break the bank and that fact helps set expectations with the sound quality and features.
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Specs
| Drivers | 10mm |
| Active noise cancellation | Yes |
| Battery life | ANC: 7.5 hours (buds) 35 hours (case) / No ANC: 11 hours (buds) 52 hours (case) |
| Weight | 56g |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Frequency range | 2.402Ghz – 2.480GHz |
| Waterproofing | IPX5 |
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Features
- Many (many) equalizer presets
- ANC is good but too many modes
- Good battery life compared to rivals
One of my favorite things about Earfun’s other earbuds is that they often trump the competition in terms of battery life, and that’s certainly the case with the Air Pro 4.
With ANC turned on, the buds last for roughly seven and a half hours before you need to return them to the case to power back up; turn ANC off and that figure is even longer at 11 hours. Most same-price rivals go for about 6 and 9 hours respectively, so the Pro 4 is, ahem, Pro-4-ming well here.
Earfun has said that the case can provide up the 52 hours of music playback between all its charges; the website doesn’t state whether that’s with ANC on or off, but I’d imagine it’s with it off. At an estimate, I’d give you 35 and a half hours of listening time from the case if you only listen with ANC on.
On the topic of ANC: it has potential on the Air Pro 4, but an annoying abundance of choice makes it hard for you to make the most of it.
The standard ANC is pretty heavy-duty, cutting out annoying background noises to help you enjoy your music without the chattering of keyboards or whine of noisy trains that you’re working on (at least, those are my favorite uses of it!).
The thing is, in the app there’s no one noise cancellation mode. Instead, there are seven.
These include ambient mode and no ANC (pretty self-explanatory) but five different versions of ANC: strong, balance, AI environment adaptive, AI ear adaptive, and wind noise cancellation. These five all have descriptions about how they’re different but it’s all very vague and I couldn’t hear much of a difference between them, especially the adaptive one. After a few listening sessions of confused testing, I decided just to stick to ‘strong’ and hope for the best.
Beyond this confusing ANC situation, the Earfun app offers the basic features that most companion apps do: a few toggle-able features such as wear detection and low-latency mode for gaming, the ability to customize the controls and a ‘find my headphones’ feature.
There’s an equalizer too and I really took to it: you can customize your sound yourself, or rely on a sound profile mode that tests your hearing (I didn’t find this mode quite as accurate or useful as other companies’ equivalents though, like Nothing’s in the Nothing Ear (a) and Nothing Ear). But the best part is the presets: there are 30 in all, and lots of them make marked differences on the sound profile, so it’s useful if you want to tailor your mix to what you’re listening to.
Frankly, 30 is far too many, and I didn’t want to scroll through a whole list of ‘Bass Reducer 1, 2 and 3’s in order to find specific ones. Instead I stick to a core 15 based on genres of music, and that seemed enough – in situations like this, less is definitely more. I’m just surprised that there can be 30 without any for spoken word or podcasts!
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Design
- AirPods-style stem earbuds
- Fairly small charging case
- IPX5 rating against limited showers
The Air Pro 4 aren’t the smallest earbuds I’ve ever seen, even within Earfun’s lineup, but they’re still pretty slender. The buds weigh roughly 5g each (according to my kitchen scales; no official weight is listed) and consist of an eartip, a small body and an AirPods-style stem.
The default tip fit in my ear comfortably and stayed nice and secure through the entire testing process, but Earfun has packed four extra sizes into the box, which is at least one more than you normally see in earbuds – and two more at this budget level. These range from extra-small to extra-large and I commend Earfun on it.
Each bud has a small button, which is the round indentation at the top of the stem that you can see in the images. This only required a gentle touch and so I found them easy to use, although there was a noticeable delay between the press and the desired action being triggered.
The buds have an IPX5 rating, making them protected from streams of water but not immersion in liquid, so you can wear them in the rain or even in the shower, but not in the bath (or pool).
Keeping the Air Pro 4 cozy and safe when you’re not using them is their charging case; from product listing images and the size of the box, you’d imagine this would be quite big, but it was a lot smaller than I expected. It weighs 56g (when the buds are in) and measures 62.4 x 46.6 x 29.2mm.
Said case, which opens in a clamshell style, has a USB-C port for charging but also supports wireless powering. Despite being a small plastic pebble that’s smaller than the average size of a field mouse, it felt sturdy enough to protect the buds well.
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Sound quality
- Good sound, rather than great
- Equalizer gives you customization over sound
- Several upgrades over predecessor
It’s good that the Earfun equalizer is so in depth in letting you customize your music, because in default mode the buds are good, but not great. For the price, they are better than lots of rivals, but you’d definitely get better audio by paying more.
Unless you boost the treble in the app, it’s a little lacking by default, falling in the mix behind the relatively meaty bass. Mid is also hiding in the back, but I found it susceptible to peaking and distortion at times, with instruments like hi-hats and acoustic guitars getting mushy.
However once you turn to the equalizer, and push the music to its limits, you can get a lot more legroom for enjoying your music. Bass, which is already pretty meaty by default, can gain even more prominence, though it’ll never turn as forceful as on something like the Nothing Buds.
I enjoyed rescuing the treble, with certain presets pulling it further forward, and the mid to a certain extent – though this put both at higher risk of peaking in songs. And while the presets let you play around with how the different sounds interact, I rarely felt that sounds found energetic.
A few additions to the Air Pro 4 over the Pro 3 is support for a new audio codic, LDAC, allowing for 24-bit/96kbps streaming from supported files or apps, as well as Bluetooth 5.4 for a more reliable connection. This offsets what might, on paper, look like a downgrade in the driver size to 10mm from 11mm.
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Value
- Good feature set for price
- More cash will get you better audio
If you know low-cost earbuds, you’ll know that Earfun always gives you good value for money, and that’s no different here.
The Air Pro 4 give you decent music quality, a long-lasting battery and admirable noise cancellation, and the only thing more slender than the easily-pocketable charging case is the price.
Sure, the Earfun Air Pro 4 isn’t quite as feature-packed as some of the biggest names on the market, but it also costs a third of its big Bose, Apple and Samsung alternatives.
Should I buy the Earfun Air Pro 4?
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Features | The Earfun have the feature set you’d expect, but with too many extras complicating matters | 3.5/5 |
| Design | A fairly standard design with a useful button but limited IP rating | 3.5/5 |
| Sound quality | Fine sound for the price with the equalizer saving matters. | 3.5/5 |
| Value | You’re getting a good range of features and sound quality for what you’re paying. | 4/5 |
Buy them if…
Don’t buy them if…
Earfun Air Pro 4 review: Also consider
| Earfun Air Pro 4 | Nothing Ear (a) | Sony WF-C700N | Earfun Air 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $89.99 / £79.99 / Approx. AU$140 | $99 / £99 / Approx. AU$192 | $119 / £99 / AU$199 | $49.99 / £49.99 / Approx. AU$75 |
| Drivers | 10mm | 11mm custom | 5mm dynamic | 10mm |
| Active noise cancellation | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Battery life | Buds: 7.5 hours (11 hours without ANC). Case: 35 hours (52 hours without ANC).) | Buds: 5.5 hrs (9.5 hours without ANC Total with case: 24.5 hrs (42.5 hrs without ANC) | 7.5hrs (ANC on) 10hrs (ANC off) plus one full charge in case | Buds: 9 hours. Case: 40 hours |
| Weight | 5g | 4.8g | 4.2g | 4.5g |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4 | Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.2 | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Frequency range | 2.402Ghz – 2.480GHz | 2.402Ghz – 2.480GHz | 20Hz – 20kHz | 2.402Ghz – 2.480GHz |
| Waterproofing | IPX5 | IP54 | IPX4 | IPX7 |
How I tested the Earfun Air Pro 4
- Tested for two weeks
- Tested at home, in the office and on trips
I tested the Earfun Air Pro 4 for two weeks to write this review, which is the standard testing time for earbuds like this. I mainly used them connected to my Android phone, but also paired them to my Windows laptop and iPad during testing.
The listening for this review was done at home, in the office, at the gym, on walks around my neighborhood and also on a couple of long train journeys, so their ANC was really put to the test. I listened to music, podcasts and audio books on Spotify and also watched YouTube videos, streamed Netflix movies, caught lots of the Olympics on Discovery Plus and partook in phone and video calls, all using the buds.
I’ve been testing gadgets at TechRadar for over five years now, and in that time have used plenty of budget earbuds including previous Earfun options.
- First reviewed in August 2024
Source: www.techradar.com
