Review of the best noise-isolating EarFun Free Pro headphones

EarFun isn’t the most well-known brand in the audio world. However, with products like Free Pro, they deserve much better recognition.

These true wireless earbuds are yet another attempt at bringing active noise cancelling technology into the budget territory. While the ANC performance leaves much to be desired, the audio exceeded our expectations.

You don’t find many wireless earbuds under $60 that sound as dynamic as these. The audio performance alone is worth the money, plus you get all the other features.

And you get a lot of them. Qi wireless charging, touch controls, and the latest Bluetooth 5.2 are some of them.

Check the review down below to see why the EarFun Free Pro earbuds are worth every penny.

Comfort & Fit

Star Rating 4.5 Almost Perfect

While you feel them in your ears, the experience is still comfortable due to lightweight construction and small design. The addition of ear fins also adds to overall excellent stability.

For ANC true wireless earbuds with 7 hours of battery life, EarFun Free Pro are exceptionally small and lightweight. Their housing doesn’t cause any discomfort, even after an hour of use.

Tips have slightly longer sides, that provide more contact with an ear canal. That ensures better isolation from the outside world, but it can also cause pressure.

Thankfully, it isn’t that bad, and you barely notice it. However, you will know you’re wearing something in your ears.

Ear hooks (fins) provide extra stability if you plan to use them during sports activities. You get 2 different sized fins in the box, while a third option is simply a rubber sleeve.

We found them to perform reliably, even for outdoor use, and you’ll rarely have to readjust them.

Noise Isolation

Star Rating 4.0 Great

The design of ear tips ensures great passive isolation, which is handy for frequent commuters or workers in a noisy environment.

As mentioned above, ear tips have slightly longer sides that go straight down instead of creating a mushroom. Because of that, the tip stays in contact with a larger surface, blocking more outside world.

When you add the music, you don’t hear ambient sound. The effect is sufficient for commuting or office, but it might be too strong for outdoor sports.

Noise Cancelling

Star Rating 2.5 Average

While it’s nice to see active noise cancelling technology in $60 worth of pair of true wireless earbuds, it’s doesn’t do much. The effect is minimal.

EarFun uses big letters on the box to tell you the Free Pro come with active noise cancellation. However, looking at the asking price, you need to keep your expectations low.

The wireless earbuds selling point isn’t noise cancellation. As it turns out, the background noise cancelling is rather minimal. It’s about on par with Aukey EP-N5, similarly priced truly wireless earbuds.

See best noise cancelling earbuds for alternatives.

The majority of work is done by passive isolation, and active noise cancelation only blocks a few extra percent.

EarFun Free Pro earbuds also offer ambient aware mode, where they amplify surrounding noise to increase awareness.

But the results are nowhere near to premium headphones. Most often, you’ll have to put them out of your ears to speak to someone.

Bluetooth

Star Rating 4.0 Great

The latest Bluetooth version 5.2 brings a robust and energy-efficient connection with low latency transmission. There’s also mono mode, but sadly, you won’t find extras like aptX or multipoint support.

The EarFun Free Pro have to be one of the first Bluetooth 5.2 enabled truly wireless earbuds on the market. Despite the fact that only a few audio devices support version 5.1, let alone 5.2.

This new version brings a more stable connection, faster pairing process, and energy-saving communication. Sadly, there’s no support for the new LC3 Bluetooth codec that comes with Bluetooth version 5.2.

There’s also no mobile app that would offer “find my earbuds” features, which can be incredibly accurate with the help of Bluetooth 5.1 or higher.

Regardless, we can’t complain too much when it comes to basics. You can wear the earbuds around the house with rare audio stutters.

Multipoint?

No, EarFun didn’t include this feature in these earbuds. Therefore, you can only use them with one device at a time.

What Bluetooth Codec They Use?

You get SBC and AAC, which is quite normal. Both codecs are great for basic tasks, where Apple exclusively uses AAC as their codec of choice.

Is There a Video Lag?

EarFun offers below 100ms low latency mode, which better than average. It should be more than enough for watching videos and even playing mobile games.

Of course, some gaming-oriented earbuds offer even lower latency (like Razer Hammerhead True Wireless, which can deliver a 40ms delay).

Battery

Star Rating 4.5 Almost Perfect

Earbuds have an excellent battery life with up to 7 hours per charge (7 hours and 6 minutes in our test at 50% volume) and another 25 hours waiting inside the charging case. Also, they support Qi and fast charging via USB-C.

Free Pro are smaller than what you would expect from ANC truly wireless earbuds. And yet, they still offer respectable 7 hours and 6 minutes of playtime on a single charge (at 50% volume and ANC enabled).

That’s better than most of the best earbuds under $50.

Of course, enabling ANC does eat away around two hours off of that, which is still a good result. In many other earbuds, the ANC cuts the battery in half.

With an additional 25 hours in the charging case, these earbuds provide at least 2 days of constant listening. There is only one LED light on the case that shows the remaining battery life.

To bring the value higher, you can also charge EarFun’s case wirelessly. Charging speeds aren’t incredible, but this option can be handy if you already have a charging pad at home.

Durability

Star Rating 3.5 Almost Great

Earbuds seem solid in hand, and with an IPX5 rating, ready to get soaked in sweat. However, the charging case feels cheap, with a flimsy lid.

When it comes to general use, these earbuds should survive most situations. Unless you’re truly unlucky, merely dropping them on the floor shouldn’t pose a problem.

Also, sweating is harmless. With an IPX5 rating, they’re fully sweatproof, although you still have to keep them away from water.

The build quality of the charging case is a slightly different story. It’s okay for the price, but the lid feels flimsy. Tolerances are somewhat lower, with the lid moving left and right as if they didn’t tighten it enough.

Will it break? Only the time will tell, but we don’t recommend tossing it around in your backpack. At least the magnets are good and can hold the lid down tightly.

Features

Star Rating 4.0 Great

For the price, you get more than expected. Apart from active noise cancellation and ambient mode, there are many touch commands, Qi charging, and decent microphones for taking phone calls.

Usually, the price dictates how many features you’ll get. However, nowadays, you can get tons of extras for just under $60.

EarFun Free Pro surprises you with decent noise cancelling performance, ambient mode, Qi wireless charging, and Bluetooth 5.2.

While all these features aren’t the best in class, they’re a welcoming addition if you ever need them.

Touch controls are executed very well. There are many different commands, meaning there’s a learning curve.

Thankfully, you can control everything from enabling ANC, ambient mode, changing tracks, and raising the volume. Practically you don’t need to touch your phone once, which is excellent.

Touch controls are reliable, and they always give you audio feedback before initiating a command.

Controls

Play/pause – double-tap on either side

Next track – triple tap on the right earbuds

Volume control – one tap on either side

Answer/end phone call – double-tap on either side

Reject call – tap and hold on either side

Voice assistant – tap and hold on the right earbud

ANC/Transparency mode – triple tap on the left earbud

Latency mode ON/OFF – tap and hold on the left earbud

Sound

Star Rating 4.5 Almost Perfect

Dynamic sound with punchy bass, natural midrange, and crispy, clean treble. Also, for in-ear headphones, the soundstage is big, too.

If anything, you should get these for their sound quality. Even though we’re familiar with the sound of much more expensive earbuds, we are still amazed at how good these sound for the price.

Starting with the bass, it’s probably the least remarkable part of the presentation. Dual composite dynamic drivers produce a boosted, punchy low-end that extends nicely into the sub-region.

There is a pleasant amount of rumble when the song asks for it. Bass guitars also sound quite lovely, although they do get muddy sometimes.

The midrange doesn’t escape the amount of low-end, which is why it’s noticeably warm. However, the dynamics and detail are excellent for the price.

Vocals and instruments sound relatively natural. Guitars come out loud and clear, and you can hear every pluck of a string.

The great performance continues with the treble. It has good detail retrieval, with every cymbal hit being nice and audible.

Tuning is on point for casual users, without any sibilance or harshness. Every genre sounds excellent, from pop to hard rock. Metal is probably the most congested sounding but far from being unlistenable.

Moving to the soundstage, it’s quite big for an in-ear headphone. Sounds can fly slightly out of your head, which amplifies the listening experience.

Imaging is also pretty good, but you don’t get the same sense of accuracy as with the more expensive Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2.

Overall, the sound quality is excellent for the price. Sadly, you can’t tweak it to bring down the bass, which can be overwhelming to some audio purists.

Therefore, we would recommend them mostly to users who need some extra bass when listening to music. Also, see best bass earbuds.

Update 03/29/2021: There’s an alternative version of these earbuds called EarFun Free Pro Oluv Edition (OE). They’re overall similar to the original buds in every way except sound. The latter is tuned by Olaf Lubanski, also known as Oluv.

The sound quality of the Oluv Tuned Edition is outstanding. Compared to the original ones, it’s considerably more balanced, especially in the bass, which still adds a bit of warmth to make the audio more pleasant.

The midrange is right where it should be, not too recessed or too forward, sounding very natural and detailed. This trend continues with the treble, which is exceptionally smooth and resolving at the same time. A “5 out of 5” rating in my book.

The only thing to critique is imaging, which isn’t very precise. The latter is most noticeable when listening to drums, where you can’t pinpoint the location from which the sound is coming from.

Sadly, EarFun only made 1000 of them, and they were sold out in a matter of days.

You simply cannot find the same level of resolution, balance, and dynamics in a pair of $70 true wireless earbuds anywhere else. They can easily compare to premium models like Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2.