We’ve covered many EarFun budget earbuds on Electronicsforward and typically, my take on them has been pretty positive. For an affordable price, EarFun often delivers a surprisingly comfortable earbud with an incredible feature list and good audio. But can its latest release, the$50 EarFun Air 2 carry that torch of budget greatness? Be sure to hit the video below to see all of the details.
Overview
While its brand new, the EarFun Air 2 earbuds are the entry point for this budget brand. Its flagship product, the Air Pro 3, comes in at just $80, though. Needless to say, EarFun has always been about budget earbuds that are packed with features for affordable price points.
EarFun Air 2 quick specs:
- Hi-Res Audio Certificated & LDAC Decoding to Play Hi-definition Audio
- Bluetooth 5.3 for Ultra Low Power Consumption & Stable Connection
- Immersive Hi-Res Sound with 10mm Wool Composite Dynamic Drivers
- 4-Mic Noise Cancellation Technology for Clarity Call
- EarFun Audio App
- 40 Hours Playtime: 9 Hours + 31 Hours with Charging Case
- IPX7 Waterproof with SweatShield™ Technology
- 55ms Low Latency media mode
- Wireless Charging Compatible
In the box
Included in the box is a manual, a short USB-A to USB-C cable, and four total sets of silicone ear tips of varying sizes.
EarFun Air 2: Design
Earfun doesn’t stray far from earlier designs with the new Air 2 earbuds. And as the name would suggest, it has an Airpod-like aesthetic. The arm is meant to point toward your mouth to pick up better audio from the microphone and also holds a touch capacitive button on each earbud.
The case is very compact for the extra 31 hours of playback it can deliver to the earbuds. On the front is a small LED light and on the bottom are a USB-C port and a small button for resetting Bluetooth connections. The charging case also supports wireless charging – another surprising feature for such a budget-friendly pair of earbuds.
By default, a single tap on either earbud will adjust the volume, a double tap will toggle play/pause, and a triple tap will skip to the next track. Those settings can also be customized through the EarFun mobile app.
EarFun Air 2: Video
Comfort
For me, EarFun has always nailed comfort. The shape of the earbud fits perfectly in my ear canal for a secure fit that isn’t fatiguing like some other more expensive earbuds.
That rings true with the Air 2, as well. I ended up using the default set of tips that come on the earbuds. They have a secure fit that doesn’t ever feel like it is going to fall out. I often use earbuds the most when exercising – either lifting in my basement or going for walks and runs so a secure fit is always something that I look for.
EarFun Air 2: Sound Quality
Once again, EarFun delivers a great-sounding earbud for the budget price. I’m always surprised by how good they sound for the price point. I spent most of my time listening to the default EQ mode but EarFun has built in quite a few EQ settings into the app.
By default, the sound is detailed, but fun. I prefer an EQ with controlled bass that doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the sound and that’s right where the Air 2 sits in its default EQ mode. A the same time, highs are kept under control. Cymbals never felt overly bright or harsh, and vocals carry plenty of presence.
The mids are a bit more subtle than I typically prefer for metal tracks like Mist by Protest the Hero. With that in mind, I made an EQ mode that boosts the 1K frequencies to three and 2K to two. It’s easy to do and gave me the mid-range boost I sought.
Turning on bass boost and listening to a bass-heavy track like Solar Sailer from the TRON: Legacy soundtrack delivered an ear-shaking low end that holds up even at higher volumes than I would ever typically listen to.
At very high volumes, deep bass can start to muddy some other frequencies and the highs started to break up a bit but that was at volume levels that I would never use. 50% volume was more than enough for me throughout my testing and the Air 2 performs well here.
One of my favorite features here is that EarFun has 10 different EQ modes for varying genres of music but if you hit the custom button in the top-right of the app, it opens up a 10-band equalizer that is the current mode you have selected. So if you find an EQ that you like but want to make a slight tweak, that is very simple to do. Once again, that’s a great feature for the budget price point.
EarFun Air 2: Connection
Where the Air 2’s budget sparkle starts to tarnish, though, is with some connection issues. The first time I tried them, I went down to my basement to exercise and had multiple connection drops. Needless to say, during a workout, this was less than ideal.
I tried the earbuds a few more times that day and still had connection issues but for the last couple of days, the connection has been rock solid. In my basement, office, and out for a run I’ve had multiple consecutive sessions without connection issues.
Unfortunately, intermittent issues like this make it hard to tell what’s going on but connection issues like this are something I’ve never had on any other EarFun earbuds that I’ve reviewed.
Mic check
While the sound quality of the microphone isn’t anything to be excited about, it did seem to do a decent job of cutting out background noise. I had music playing and I could hardly hear it in my voice memo recordings. Be sure to watch the video to hear how it sounds in use.
Electronicsforward’ Take
So sadly, my streak of glowing reviews will take a pause with the EarFun Air 2 earbuds. While they have a lot of great things going for them, the connection issues caused my music to drop for nearly a second and keep me from giving them a great review.
Now, these earbuds are brand new and according to the app are on a firmware version .76 but it says they are up to date with no new firmware available. I can only hope that future updates and firmware versions will make the wireless connection even more solid.
EarFun still has plenty of great products like the Air Pro 3 that I still recommend. While more expensive, they also have more features like ANC.
Buy EarFun Air 2
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