When you think of headphones, you probably don’t have EarFun in mind right away. This company is still relatively fresh to the market, having been founded in late 2018, and currently has mostly in-ear headphones in its lineup. For a review, we have the EarFun Air Pro 3 here, which promise to be the first wireless in-ears with LE Audio and active noise cancelling. As far as features go, the EarFun Air Pro 3 look very promising and proportionally, the price is also quite respectably low. And that’s without grazing in the cheapest price segment. We’ll see how well these headphones live up to their marketing promises in this EarFun Air Pro 3 review.
Specifications
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 |
| Features | LE Audio, App with EQ, Multipoint Connection |
| Active Noise Cancelling | Hybrid up to 43 dB |
| Codecs | SBC, AAC, LC3, aptX Adaptive |
| Qualcomm aptX | QCC3071 |
| Driver | 11 mm |
| Low Latency Mode | 55 ms |
| Battery Runtime | 9 h (+ 36 h recharge in charging case) |
| Charge ports | USB-C and wireless |
| Fast charging | 2 h runtime after 10 min charging |
| Water protection | IPX5 |
| Price | € 69.99 * |
Packaging and scope of delivery
The EarFun Air Pro 3 come in a shrink-wrapped box that looks very sturdy. After removing the protective film and opening the box, the first thing that catches your eye is the small sleeve containing the instructions and warranty information. Between these, you’ll also find a cleaning stick along with instructions.
Below that, you’ll find the charging box with the in-ear headphones and a small yellow box with other accessories. This contains earpieces in different sizes as well as a USB-A to USB-C cable to charge the charging box. There is an open protective foil around the charging box. There is a small adhesive foil on the top of the charging box that should be removed, and there is also a protective foil on the charging contacts of each of the two in-ears. These should also be removed.
Design
The design of the EarFun Air Pro 3 is unobtrusive. These in-ear headphones are black and a subtle gray on the visible side with the logo and chrome-colored accents. These do not stand out, but still look restrainedly classy. Between the charging contacts, there is an R or L to identify the headphones for right and left. The charging box is also quite compact and black, which makes it inconspicuous. In size, it’s easy to carry around, but you have to be a little careful not to misplace it.
Three LED dots on the front signal the charge level, but only light up briefly when opened or closed.
Workmanship
The EarFun Air Pro 3 appear to be cleanly finished. There is no creaking or cracking when touching them here. Even though the charging box is completely made of black plastic, this also appears to be processed in a valuable manner and the hinge gives no reason to complain.
The in-ear headphones are typically held magnetically in the right position in the charging case to press the contacts firmly in the right places. The feeling of putting the headphones into the case is correspondingly satisfying, and then the in-ears sit securely in position. They are nevertheless easy to remove again.
Comfort
I have to admit that I have issues with many in-ear headphones and find them uncomfortable after just a few minutes. The EarFun Air Pro 3, however, fit really comfortably and even after several hours of testing, they didn’t feel strange or uncomfortable. The earmolds are soft and fit well without being too pinchy. And since there are four different sizes of ear molds included, you can be fairly confident that you can fit these headphones well to yourself. From the factory, one of the medium sizes is on.
Sound
- Very good sound
- Intense bass response without the sound getting stale
- Bluetooth connections can lead to higher latencies
The most important point besides wearing comfort is of course the sound in headphones. This is quite very good in the EarFun Air Pro 3. Especially the bass response, with which other in-ears can quickly get times problems, is very impressive in the Air Pro 3. The frequencies are nicely balanced and it is really fun to listen to music over them. However, when playback is very quiet, such as in the quiet periods between sentences in podcasts, a minimal amount of hiss is noticeable when noise cancelling is enabled.
I also connected the EarFun Air Pro 3 to my laptop to play a round. Latencies were noticeable there, which can definitely be irritating in faster games.
Active Noise Cancelling
- Impressive reduction of ambient noise
- Low frequencies are filtered better than high frequencies
- It can also be a disadvantage if you cannot perceive your surroundings well.
This is quite an experience! When testing the ANC of the EarFun Air Pro 3, you notice that this function is quite strong. And also the specifications already show that this function has been improved compared to the previous model. When people are talking next to you, it sounds like they are being heard from a distant phone speaker. As soon as music is playing, it almost has something of a pantomime because the remaining background noise is relatively so quiet that it is quickly drowned out even at not too high volumes. Thus, those who want to listen to something undisturbed for themselves will definitely find the right tools with these in-ear headphones.
It is noticeable that it filters low frequencies better. Where, for example, voices are largely suppressed, it is quite possible to still perceive a high-frequency noise, such as the crackling of a plastic film, quite well.
However, it has one disadvantage: If you can hear so little of your surroundings, you can easily get startled if someone you didn’t hear is suddenly standing next to you. And you don’t look like you can hear so little with such small in-ear headphones. There’s also something else to consider: This function is not approved for road traffic. You can listen to music in traffic, but you should still be able to hear the surrounding noise. For this, however, you can change the mode to “Ambient”.
Microphone
- good intelligibility during phone calls
- not suitable for qualitative recordings
Alright, these in-ears have been so surprisingly good so far that the quota is probably used up. In the microphone department, they are not quite so outstanding. Recordings sound like on the phone – well intelligible, but the quality is not a treat. You wouldn’t want to record podcasts with it. However, when you’re on the phone with it, the voice quality is good on the other end of the line. To illustrate, I put a recording through Audacity’s spectral analysis and the result looks like this:
So the microphone is not designed to run the highest quality, but a good intelligibility during phone calls.
EarFun App
- Settings of the control functions
- Setting equalizer and active noise cancelling
- No account requirement
Wow, respect. 1.4 stars in the Play Store is a respectably bad rating. But well – bad software to good hardware offer many manufacturers and the EarFun Air Pro 3 work in the test so far quite well even without dedicated software. But let’s see!
As expected, the installation went smoothly and then based on the reviews I was prepared for it to end there. Practically speaking, however, it was no problem to connect to the EarFun Air Pro 3. Of course, the app wants you to create an account, but fortunately, you can just skip that step and proceed without signing up. Oddly, though, it insists on location access, which I can’t understand from a technical standpoint.
In the EarFun app, you can now make manual settings on the EarFun Air Pro 3, such as selecting the noise cancelling mode. But a graphic equalizer is also available, with which you can either select a few presets or edit it yourself. In the settings, you can also adjust the controls to your own preferences, for example. Last but not least, the app also shows the battery status of the charging case and both headphones.
Overall, after all the bad reviews, I was amazed at how well the app worked. The firmware update also worked without a hitch, even though there was no info on what it was supposed to do. Only once did the app lose the connection, whereas playback was still possible. When testing the EarFun Air Pro 3, my experience with the app was obviously better than the evaluating average.
Conclusion
The EarFun Air Pro 3 in-ear headphones are very compelling for the price. The sound is very good, the wearing comfort pleasant and even the app served its purpose in the test. The active background noise suppression was also outstandingly good. I have to admit that I’m impressed – there are upper-class features here at a mid-range price. You have to cut back a bit on the microphone, but it’s fine for making calls.
EarFun Air Pro 3
Workmanship
Comfort
Sound quality
Recording quality
Features
Value for money
90/100
The EarFun Air Pro 3 scores with a high sound quality, an effective background noise suppression and the good price for it.
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