EarFun Air Pro 4 Review: $90 Earbuds that Rock

The EarFun Air Pro 4 in a nutshell

Here's the premise: The EarFun Air Pro 4 is the best in-ear headphones for under $100, and you even have a $10 change to purchase a quick dinner if you were to pick up this pair. For this low price, they offer first-class ANC, very good sound quality, and features that you won't find even in far more expensive headphones. These include Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity with Auracast technology, wear detection, and, above all, adaptive ANC with AI support. We strongly recommend you pick this up!

This review was written as part of a collaboration with EarFun. However, this does not influence the editorial opinion or content on this review.

Design & build quality

With the Air Pro 4, EarFun launched yet another pair of in-ear earbuds with silicone tips, a fairly long stem, and touch-sensitive controls. As models in the Air series, they are light, offer a high level of wearing comfort, and are stashed away in a charging case with a pocket mirror design for charging.

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Pros:

• Good wearing comfort.
• Many different silicone tips are included.
• Remains secure in place within the charging case.

Cons:

• Touch-sensitive surfaces are prone to accidental activation.
• Only IPX5 certification.

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The design of the earbuds is not usually worth writing a long essay about, and the EarFun Air 4 Pro is no exception. Available in either white or black shades, the earbuds have a simple AirPod Pro-like design (read our latest AirPods review) with a stem and silicone tip. Thanks to a large selection of different-sized attachments, most people should be able to find a comfortable fit for their ears.

If you find a good fit, the earbuds are light enough to remain securely in your ear without additional retaining fins or other mechanisms. Shaking your head or going on a bumpy bicycle ride is not going to cause problems with the Air Pro 4. Wearing comfort is high enough that I was able to wear the earbuds for several hours each day without feeling any pressure or other discomfort in my ear. Apart from a strong silicone odor, there is nothing to complain about here.

The same applies when inserting them into the charging case. The earbuds snap into place magnetically with sufficient force. Insertion is accompanied by a satisfying light signal from the deep black case. Thanks to the long stems, removing the earbuds is just as easy and secure as inserting them. Overall, I like how the earbuds are handled, considering how earbuds have become smaller and smaller in recent years, I have seen much more "fiddly" versions.

My only criticism of the EarFun Air Pro 4 design would be the touch-sensitive surfaces and the rather low IP certification level. Touch-sensitive surfaces are not uncommon on headphones but as with most models, they are susceptible to water drops and result in accidental activation when adjusting the earbuds.

App & shortcuts

As with all EarFun headphones, you should download the EarFun app to experience the full range of functions. This is available for free for Android and iOS platforms, where it can control the strength of the ANC, allows you to configure wonderful equalizers, and lets you tailor the sound quality of the Air Pro 4 to your ears. Other functions include wear detection, Google Gemini control, dual pairing, and Google Fast Pair.

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Pros:

• Solid range of functions.
• Attractive app with lots of configuration options.
• Wear detection works reliably.

Cons:

• No 3D audio or other functions.
• Auracast availability is currently still extremely low.
• Dual pairing only without LDAC transmission. It is not a big issue as it works with AptX.

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Let's begin with a truly unique selling point of the EarFun Air Pro 4—support for Auracast. This is a relatively new technology that is basically an extension of Bluetooth LE. It is a particularly economical method of transmitting audio signals but has a special feature: instead of establishing a connection between two devices, one transmitter can play to several receiving devices simultaneously.

Theoretically, it is possible for a movie theater to play audio signals of a film via Auracast. You could then tap into this audio source using the Air Pro 4. This may sound nonsensical at first, but it is an advantage for people with a hearing impairment or it could come in handy in scenarios where sound reinforcement is not possible with conventional loudspeakers.

As exciting as this technology is, it will most likely take some time for it to become widespread. This is evident from the fact that the "Bluetooth Special Interest Group" has not even made its guidelines for setting up Auracast transmitters available on its official website. Hence, I doubt whether Auracast is already a 'feature' that should influence one's purchase decision at the moment.

It's all the better that the EarFun Air Pro 4 also has other convenient functions, such as Google Fast Pair, which makes it easier to connect several Android devices. Dual pairing is also available, but once again, this only works without LDAC transmission activated. This is less of an issue than with other models, as AptX is a solid alternative and can remain enabled. If you were to remove the earbuds from your ear, the music will stop. However, this can also be disabled if required.

These functions are configured as usual via the clearly laid out EarFun app. It is in the app where you can also change the operation of the earbuds and set particularly efficient equalizers. They can also be adapted to the wearer's ears. Using a hearing test, you hear different tones on the conventional spectrum of the equalizer and can adjust them until they are barely audible. The earbuds then generate an audio profile that is supposed to be adapted to your ears.

I found it a bit of a shame that this audio profile cannot be combined with other equalizers. This is because even if the earbuds were to be adjusted to my ears, these settings don't necessarily match my listening habits. Of course, we will discuss the sound quality separately!

Sound quality & ANC

Great-sounding in-ear earbuds with ANC have been available for less than $100 for some time now but, with 10 mm drivers and adaptive ANC including AI functions, the Air Pro 4 look particularly interesting when you check out the specifications. Its positive first impression was underpinned by a gaming mode for lower latency, Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, and a number of equalizer settings.

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Pros:

• First-class sound quality with a powerful equalizer.
• Powerful ANC that easily exceeds the price range.
• AptX, AptX Lossless, Bluetooth LE, and LDAC are supported.

Cons:

• Rather strong wind noise with ANC, especially in transparency mode.

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EarFun has now proven itself across several reviews that they have a knack for delivering great price-to-performance earbuds, carving their own niche of well-reviewed "Chi-Fi" audio gear. The EarFun Free Pro 3 knocked my socks off in its review back then with their Internet music nerd sound profile, and it's a similar story with the Air Pro 4. Although the Oluv-tuned equalizer is missing here, the sound quality is first-class, especially when used with Android devices.

This is mainly made possible by the availability of several Bluetooth codecs, which play music from the smartphone to the 10 mm drivers with as little loss in quality as possible. Thanks to AptX Lossless and LDAC, instruments retain a high resolution, which allows them to be finely separated from each other.

Unfortunately, EarFun does not specify the frequency range of the drivers. In my opinion, however, the Air Pro 4 offers sufficient pressure and clarity for both bass-heavy music and treble-heavy songs.

Since music profiles can be adjusted via the equalizer, the EarFun Air Pro 4 is particularly flexible. As I like to listen to music from different genres, I was able to skip through my Spotify playlists freely while wearing the earbuds. I would have liked the particularly neutral, almost studio speaker-esque sound profile of the Free Pro 3 here. Nevertheless, the Air Pro 4 are among the best in-ear headphones I've heard for less than $100 as you will hardly go wrong with them.

It is therefore particularly impressive that the earbuds also offer really good ANC performance. This can be set to five levels, two of which are supposed to work with AI support. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that these settings are actually adaptive ANC. This means the earbuds react to the environment and try to filter out background noise more effectively.

In the review, however, I mostly used the most powerful setting to find some peace and quiet from the world. Together with music, the ANC is powerful enough that I can no longer hear a "finger snap" at a distance of around 30 cm from my ear. It is therefore better to leave the ANC disabled in traffic.

If you still want to do this, you will unfortunately have to live with the rather loud wind noise. This occurs when ANC is activated and in transparency mode, which actually offers really good "pass-through". The wind noise is annoying, so I disabled the ANC while I am on a bike and used the "Normal" setting instead.

Incidentally, the earbuds are technically impressive with Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, which supposedly offers a maximum transmission range of 15 meters. Unfortunately, I don't have a compatible device to test this out, but I didn't notice any disconnections or interference throughout the review. The same applies to phone calls: the other party didn't even notice that I was wearing earbuds to carry out the conversation, how neat is that!

Battery life & charging

The charging case of the Air Pro 4 is not exactly small, but at least it has a 600 mAh integrated battery. This ensures you won't need to plug it to the wall for a while, which is an impressive 52 hours without ANC. The earbuds themselves last up to 11 hours without ANC and 7.5 hours with Active Noise Cancellation enabled. Fast charging provides up to 2.5 hours of playback time in just ten minutes.

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Pros:

• Very long battery life.
• Effective fast charging.
• Wireless charging is also available.

Cons:

• -

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In terms of battery life and charging options, there is no real criticism of the new EarFuns. A runtime of up to 7.5 hours with ANC activated will get you through almost an entire working day with loud colleagues around. If you're traveling with the earbuds, you can listen to music for two full days if necessary. The earbuds can also be charged quickly if required.

According to the manufacturer, it takes one hour to fully charge the earbuds. Thanks to fast charging, over two hours of music playback can be achieved after a 10-minute charge. Even wireless charging, which allows the earbuds to be charged with a compatible Android phone, is supported.

How much battery capacity is left in the earbuds can also be revealed precisely and conveniently via the EarFun app. No competitor offers more for the same price!

EarFun Air Pro 4

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