How Good $35 Wireless Earbuds Can Be?

The EarFun Air 2 in a nutshell

The EarFun Air 2 is a pair of solid wireless earbuds that are particularly impressive due to their relatively cheap entry price. The sound quality is decent with a fine range of functions which includes wireless charging, fast charging, and a very good companion app. After a few days, the main disadvantages are the lack of ANC and slightly overdriving treble. If these disadvantages don’t bother you, here is the best offer available for the earbuds:

This article was written as part of a collaboration with EarFun. This had no influence on the content or our editorial opinion.

Design & operation

Visually, the EarFun Air 2 is reminiscent of the Oppo Enco X and therefore, also carries a shade of Apple’s AirPods. This means you get simple in-ear buds that you can place in a rounded charging case. They can be operated either via the comprehensive EarFun app or directly on the ear. Touch-sensitive surfaces recognize what you want from the earbuds and it is great you can also disable this option.

Pros:

• High wearing comfort thanks its lightweight form factor.
• Solid workmanship considering the MSRP.
• Customizable operation.

Cons:

• Touch-sensitive surfaces are more prone to accidental input.
• Inserting the earbuds into the charging case can be a little fiddly.

You can’t usually write an ode about the design of in-ear wireless earbuds, and the same principle applies to the EarFun Air 2. After unboxing the device, where you’ll find a charging cable and various silicone attachments in addition to the earbuds themselves. The black charging case is roughly the size of the AirPods. As with Apple’s earbuds, you open the charging case horizontally and remove the two earbuds for your listening pleasure.

They fit very snugly into the charging case and therefore are very stable to prevent the earbuds from falling out by accident. However, it is a little awkward to insert the earbuds into their respective recesses. I have seen more convenient solutions here, but this is not a major point of criticism.

It is pleasing that EarFun also offers its affordable wireless earbuds some sort of water resistance with an IPX7 rating, making them splash- and sweat-resistant. In other words, they are safe to wear in the rain. To be on the safe side, the manufacturer also integrated a repellent coating to protect against sweat. Wear this to the gym without any worries!

Speaking of rain and sweat: unfortunately, contact with water on the Air 2 causes songs to pause or the volume to change. This is attributed to the touch-sensitive surfaces that are activated when they come into contact with water. Adjusting the earbuds also leads to accidental input at times. Even if I were to find the operation of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 (review) better, EarFun gives you a choice.

The functions you can control via the buttons can also be performed via the companion app. From there, you can also deactivate all features at the touch of a button to avoid incorrect input.

Overall, there is nothing to complain about in terms of its design or operation. The Air 2 are sleek and simple in-ear wireless earbuds that I’ll always remember for their high wearing comfort.

Comfort, functions & app

What’s impressive in wireless earbuds that do not cost more than $50? The AirFun 2 offer Bluetooth multi-pairing, which worked excellently with all connected devices in the review. However, you will have to live without wear detection and special functions such as 3D audio, spatial audio, and others. The EarFun companion app also impressed us in the review with its extensive settings and good design.

Pros:

• Attractive app with many functions.
• Bluetooth multi-pairing worked surprisingly well.

Cons:

• No wear detection.
• No 3D audio or spatial features.

Like the more expensive Pro models, the Air 2 works with the excellent EarFun app. This lets you control the functions of the earbuds and offers a 10-band equalizer. You can also customize the operation of the earbuds and even choose which microphone you prefer to use when making calls. Together with the option to rename the earbuds for a more personalized touch, we have configuration options that I have never encountered before, even with more expensive earbuds.

Compared to more expensive models, however, they lack features such as wear detection and 3D or spatial audio. I wouldn’t accuse in-ear wireless earbuds for $50 of lacking the latter, but I do find having a wear detection function to be very practical.

What I also miss compared to the EarFun Ear Pro 3 are the limited equalizer presets. I can only find rock and pop presets in the app. The excellent settings from YouTuber Oluf are also missing here. The inexpensive earbuds make up a little for this disadvantage with their 10-band equalizer, which allows you to create your own presets.

One final thing when it comes to its functionality: if required, you can trigger your favorite voice assistant via the earbuds. By default, the function is configured when you long-press one of the two earbuds.

Sound quality

This category is usually falls under “Sound & ANC” in our in-ear wireless earbud reviews, but the Air 2 from EarFun does not feature Active Noise Cancellation. To block out your surroundings, you therefore have to rely on the 10 mm wool composite drivers that determine the sound of the earbuds. Technically, the earbuds still shine with Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and a low latency of less than 55 ms.

Pros:

• Solid sound quality with good resolution.
• Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity included.
• LDAC codec & Hi-Res certification.

Cons:

• No multi-pairing with LDAC activated.
• No AptX supported.
• No ANC included.

If we were to take a look at the technology of the Air 2 from EarFun, we can immediately see where the manufacturer cut corners. The in-ear wireless earbuds do not come with ANC, which means you cannot electronically and actively suppress ambient noise. In the nextpit office, however, it was possible to block out the noise of clacking keyboards and conversations when listening to music in conjunction with the passive noise suppression of the silicone tips alone. Nevertheless, the absence of ANC is a negative point even in a device that costs less than $50.

However, the sound quality of the Air 2 is definitely praiseworthy. The 10mm drivers provide a powerful sound that resolves well even with connected Apple devices. This means individual musical instruments can be made out quite well even via the SBC codec alone.

If you connect the earbuds to compatible Android smartphones, sound quality is even better thanks to LDAC. In addition, the in-ears are certified for Hi-Res. The certificate introduced by Sony confirms that the headphones can play songs in 24-bit at 96 kHz.

To experience even better sound quality, however, you have to make do without dual pairing. In addition, activation is only possible via the EarFun app. It took us a lot of trial and error through our experience across four different devices during the review duration. However, when LDAC is running, the music sounds even fuller at a better quality.

Thanks to the integrated 10-band equalizer, the sound quality of the Air 2 is easily adjustable and the bass boost in particular was a lot of fun in the review. The large drivers offer enough pressure here, but the high tones are quickly overtaken. I would therefore recommend the in-ear wireless earbuds if you prefer bass-heavy music. If you’re looking for crystal-clear highs, you’ll have to spend a little more money on a different model.

Thanks to the integrated microphones, the EarFun Air 2 is also suitable for making phone calls. My opponent described the sound as clear and a little tinny. Conversely, I was quite impressed by the sound of the other party in the headphones. The option of selecting which microphone you want to use when making calls is really practical if you like to make calls with just one ear.

Battery & Quick-Charging

However, there is one advantage by picking this pair of wireless earbuds up if you can make do without ANC: The battery life is really long-lasting, offering up to nine hours of active music listening on a full charge. Together with the charging case, the manufacturer claims to deliver 40 hours. Fast charging is also on board as is wireless charging—a rarity in this price range.

Pros:

• Long run times.
• Fast charging is available.
• Wireless charging is supported.

Cons:

According to the manufacturer, the Air 2 from EarFun lasts a full nine hours of uninterrupted music playback. This is a solid value-for-money proposition, even for other in-ear wireless earbuds without ANC. We can confirm the manufacturer’s specifications based on our everyday use. If you were to use the Air 2 with HD sound via LDAC, the runtime drops to 5.5 hours.

As the charging case allows an additional four charges, you can be free from power sockets. If the wireless earbuds do run out of juice before you begin exercising, you can recharge them to a certain extent via Fast Charging. As with the Pro models, EarFun claims up to two hours of playtime on a ten-minute charge.

What makes the EarFun Air 2 really special in its price range is the inclusion of wireless charging. If you were to forget your USB-C cable, you can charge the headphones via a Qi charger or reverse wireless charging. Amazing!

Technical specifications

	Technical specifications
Product	EarFun Air 2
Image
Design	Semi in-ears | Weight: 45 g | Touch operation
Audio	10 mm full composite driver
Frequency response
ANC
Bluetooth	5.3 | SBC, AAC, LDAC codecs | Multipoint BT
Battery life	Without LDAC: 9 h | 40 h with charging case With LDAC: 5.5 h | 23 h with charging case Fast charging 10 min. = 2 h battery life.
MSRP

Conclusion