EarFun Air Pro 4 review: 4th time's the charm for this AirPods Pro alternative
EarFun nailed it all: the features, the sound quality, the app, the low price. Android users will be especially pleased.
Looking for a great pair of wireless earbuds? Look no further. The Air Pro 4 represents EarFun's best effort to date, combining first-rate audio with a laundry list of great features, all for less than $100. It's a no-brainer addition to our list of the best AirPods Pro alternatives and a particularly good option for Android users. All that's missing is spatial audio, a feature that has yet to make its way into any EarFun earbuds. That would make this a home-run product. As of now, it's a stand-up triple. Here's my EarFun Air Pro 4 review.
VERDICT: Stylish, comfortable earbuds with incredibly good sound for the price, commendable ANC and amazing battery life. They're also unusually novice-friendly thanks to clear printed instructions.
- Good printed setup and operation instructions
- Rich, balanced sound, amazing at this price
- Above-average noise cancelling
- Superb battery life
- Supports two different lossless audio codecs (but only for Android)
- Supports both USB-C and wireless case charging
- No spatial audio
- Games and videos require use of special audio mode
- Touch controls a bit slow to respond
- Questionable long-term reliability
EarFun Air Pro 4: Setup and design
Like all modern earbuds, these pair with your phone, tablet or PC via Bluetooth; they also support multipoint, meaning they can connect to two devices instead of just one. There's an EarFun app that helps you manage those connections as well as various settings; it's extremely well designed and, blissfully, doesn't force you to create an EarFun account.
The box includes one of the better earbud instruction manuals I've seen, with simple, straightforward steps for installing the app, getting the right earbud fit, pairing a second device and so on. It's a little brief overall, with somewhat small print, but still better than most.
There's nothing special or unusual about the design: These are pipe-style earbuds, similar to AirPods (except in color), with silicone ear tips that help to create a sound-isolating seal inside your canals. EarFun supplies five sizes, which should ensure you find the perfect fit. I have fairly average ears, and so the already-installed "medium" tips fit me perfectly (and, I'm happy to say, comfortably).
When not in use, the earbuds reside in a compact plastic case that also recharges them. The case itself recharges via USB-C or Qi wireless, your choice. EarFun estimates up to 11 hours of listening time on a charge, plus nearly four additional charges from the case, for a grand total of 52 hours. That's definitely better than average for wireless earbuds, but keep in mind that's with ANC (active noise cancellation) turned off. With it on, you're more likely to get 7.5 hours per charge (still impressive). AirPods Pro are rated for about six hours with ANC on.
EarFun Air Pro 4: Features
These are some seriously feature-packed earbuds, especially considering the sub-$100 price tag. I'll start by spotlighting the one thing that's missing: spatial audio. This creates a sort of virtual focal point for music and videos — hardly essential, but something I really like. Alas, I've seen only one set of earbuds under $100 that offers spatial audio: the 1More Aero.
Other than that, everything you might want is here: adaptive ANC, in-ear detection, multipoint connectivity, Bluetooth 5.4 (the latest version of that spec) and IPX5-rated water resistance. Would IPX7 be better? Yes, but it matters only if your earbuds sink to the bottom of a pool (and stay there awhile). IPX5 offers full protection against sweat, rain ... even your brother dousing you with the water hose.
These are especially good earbuds for Android users, starting with Google Fast Pair: A compatible Android phone will automatically detect the Air Pro 4 the first time you bring the case nearby, saving you the step of fiddling with Bluetooth settings. (Apple AirPods users have long enjoyed a similarly easy setup process.)
The Android crowd can also leverage two advanced audio codecs: AptX Lossless and LDAC Hi-Res Audio. (Check your phone and preferred music-streaming app to see if they're compatible with one or both.) Typically, music transmitted via Bluetooth is compressed, and therefore not heard at its full, maximum fidelity. Lossless codecs effectively overcome that issue, arguably delivering the best possible audio experience.
How important is this, really? And will iPhone users find the Air Pro 4 to be subpar? Read on
EarFun Air Pro 4: How do these earbuds sound?
I'm a longtime iPhone user, so that's where I performed my testing. I've always considered sound quality to be fairly subjective, with some pretty narrow margins between "good" and "great." To my ears, these earbuds fall into the latter category — and that's without any kind of lossless codec in the mix. Plain old Spotify streamed over plain old Bluetooth. Everything I listened to sounded lush and well-balanced, and that was without messing with any of the numerous preset options in the app.
Speaking of which, that's where you'll find the earbuds' active noise cancellation settings — all five of them. That's probably overkill, and I struggled to understand the differences between "AI Environment Adaptive ANC" and "AI Ear Adaptive ANC," but at least there's a little info icon for each mode you can tap to learn more. In the end, I mostly used the default "Strong ANC" option, which worked quite well overall and didn't negatively impact audio quality.
As noted above, if you're an Android user, there's potentially even better audio quality awaiting you — but I'm hard-pressed to imagine an improvement over what I heard on my iPhone. Maybe hardcore audiophiles have a more discerning ear, but I suspect those listeners will be looking at Bose or Sony earbuds instead — albeit at two or three times the price. I also suspect the vast majority of everyday users will be pleased as punch with the sound — and ANC — delivered by the EarFun Air Pro 4.
As for phone calls, my tests were mostly positive: I could hear callers very well and vice-versa, and the built-in microphones did a good job canceling wind noise. (On a fairly breezy day, the person I spoke with said he couldn't hear any wind at all.) However, I found I wasn't able to hear myself very well during conversations, even with Ambient Sound mode enabled. It's not a huge deal (and not uncommon), just something to note.
EarFun Air Pro 4: What I don't like
If you use the earbuds to play games or watch videos — Netflix, TikTok, etc. — you're likely to notice a slight lag in the audio. There's a workaround for this — just toggle Game Mode in the app — but why is it there to begin with? AirPods don't have this issue. And why is it called Game Mode when it's also important for videos?
Another app complaint: The equalizer presets are arranged in a slow-scrolling carousel rather than a list, which makes selecting one far more tedious than it needs to be. And do we really need 12 different boost/reduction choices for treble and bass?
The earbuds' touch controls are just a bit slow to respond. For example, when I tap one to raise or lower volume, there's a beat (no pun intended) before it beeps in acknowledgement and another before it actually makes the change. A double-tap to play/pause also doesn't register instantly. Not a big deal, just a minor annoyance.
Finally, I've had a few reliability issues with EarFun over the years. The Air Pro 2 earbuds I tested a while back were great at first, but failed after about six months of pretty heavy use. (One earbud would no longer hold a charge.) And if you peruse user reviews for various EarFun products, you'll see a smattering of similar reports.
Granted, such failures can happen with any device, especially those with budget prices. And these earbuds are covered by a one-year warranty, so if you run into such a problem, you should have no trouble getting a replacement.
EarFun Air Pro 4: Should you buy it?
If you're looking for an AirPods Pro alternative with great sound, solid ANC and virtually unrivaled battery life, I have no qualms recommending the Air Pro 4. These are stylish, comfortable earbuds with the features I consider most important. (Still, fingers crossed for spatial audio in the Air Pro 5.)
They're also likely to be discounted as frequently as EarFun's other earbuds. At this writing, for example, there's a coupon knocking the $90 price down to $72 — and this despite the earbuds hitting the market just a couple weeks ago.
Read more: The best wireless earbuds for 2024
