EarFun Air S Review
A step up or a step down?
Verdict
The EarFun Air S are a good pair of budget earbuds, with plenty of new and familiar features on board. The fit is comfortable and the new app is useful and easy to navigate; however, audio quality isn’t quite on a par with some of EarFun’s other offerings.
Pros
- Comfortable and secure fit
- Powerful ANC
- Quick to pair
- EarFun Audio app introduces EQ to the line
Cons
- Audio performance isn’t as good as other EarFun pairs
- EQ options are limited
Availability
- UKRRP: £79
- USARRP: $89.99
Key Features
- Active Noise Cancellation Along with an Ambient Sound mode
- Water-resistant design Sweat and water-resistant up to IPX5
- EarFun Audio appThe new app allows you to activate ANC and adjust EQ from your phone
- 30-hour total battery lifeFive hours in the earbuds with ANC switched on or six hours with ANC off
Introduction
For an audio brand only conceived in 2018, EarFun has built up an impressive collection of budget true wireless earbuds and speakers over the past four years, making the brand an easy consideration for anyone looking for a decent and cheap pair of noise-cancellers.
Amidst all the Airs, Frees and Ubooms in its arsenal sit the EarFun Air S. These buds are the latest addition to the Air range, delivering a much-needed update at the more affordable end of the line. They sit above the original EarFun Air and below the Air Pro 2 and the new Air Pro SV.
The Air S bring with them a handful of never-seen-before features for the brand, including a new Qualcomm chipset, multi-device connectivity and the newly developed EarFun Audio app, through which you can customise the touch controls and play around with the EQ.
Design
- The Air S feature a sleek two-tone finish
- They’re water-resistant up to IPX5
- The earbuds come with a matching wireless charging case
With the Air S, EarFun has swapped out the shiny plastic of the Air and the Air Pro 2 for a slightly fancier-looking two-tone matte black and blue-ish silver finish. The design isn’t as polarising as the angular finish seen on the original Air Pro, nor is it as sleek as the more futuristic Air SV; it strikes a healthy balance between the two.
The stem shape is the defining feature that separates the Air series from the smaller Free line, making this collection of buds one of many affordable earbuds to take on the shape of the Apple AirPods.
As with EarFun’s other true wireless pairs, I found the fit here comfortable and secure. These earbuds are incredibly lightweight (as is the case), plus the manufacturer has packed four ear tips in sizes XS, S, M and L into the box, ensuring you can get some decent passive noise cancellation, provided you choose the right size.
The snug fit is great news for gym-goers, as is the fact that these earbuds are sweat and water-resistant up to IPX5. Touch controls are the order of the day here, with the ability to tap and hold the right earbud to summon your phone’s voice assistant.
The Air S are accompanied by a matching wireless charging case, and while the matte plastic doesn’t make it the most premium-looking case, it does at least remain incredibly lightweight as a result. The dimensions are similar to that of B&O’s BeoPlay EX, but about twice the size of the tiny case you’ll get with EarFun’s own Free Pro 2.
Features
- Features ANC and an Ambient Sound mode
- Multi-device connectivity for pairing with two phones or PCs at once
- Stated 5-hour battery life with ANC is accurate
The EarFun Air S come equipped with 4-mic feed-forward Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), positioning them above the original EarFun Air that supported noise cancellation only in calls, and below the 6-mic hybrid ANC and wind-noise reduction tech found in the AirPro 2 and Air Pro SV. The Air S also include an Ambient Sound mode.
I found that the earbuds offered a good amount of passive noise cancellation before even activating the ANC. The Normal mode managed to dull the sounds of the Northern Line to the extent that I almost missed my stop because I couldn’t hear the announcements.
That said, the ANC offers a subtle step up from the Normal mode and does an excellent job of suppressing rushes of wind outdoors. While I could hear the train stops being announced, with ANC on I couldn’t distinguish any of the names, and no amount of quiet chatter from other commuters managed to slip past the earbuds.
Likewise, I found the Ambient Sound mode did a decent job of amplifying everything from train announcements and passers-by on the street to my own voice. These buds are a great choice for those looking for a cheap pair of noise cancellers to wear on public transport or in the office.
The Air S feature Qualcomm’s QCC3056 SoC and come with support for the aptX and AAC codecs. They come with the latest Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity and take advantage of Qualcomm’s TrueWireless Mirroring technology for seamless listening when removing one earbud.
The Air S are quick to pair when placed in the ears and there’s support for multi-device connectivity for the first time on a pair of EarFun earbuds. This means you can connect to two devices at once – a phone and a laptop, for example – and switch between them as needed.
A 100ms Low Latency mode is designed to reduce lag when watching videos and gaming, which proved effective while streaming Netflix, as well as Qualcomm cVc 8.0 support to ensure calls are clear.
One of the biggest additions to the EarFun lineup with this release of buds is the new EarFun Audio app. The app allows you to customise the touch functions of your earbuds, move between ANC modes, download system updates and play around with the EQ, among other things. It’s simple to navigate, responsive and one of the better-looking headphones apps I’ve seen.
The EQ presets are quite limited, but I found this to a welcome addition to the Air S’s feature set regardless. I also appreciated being able to quickly select the ANC mode I wanted without cycling through the three options one-by-one using the touch controls.
Moving on to Air S’s battery life, Earfun claims the earbuds pack a total of 30 hours of playtime in the case, with six hours in the earbuds with ANC off, or five hours with it turned on. In my experience, the pair lasted 5hrs 23mins with ANC switched on, coming in just over EarFun’s own estimation.
In the box, you’ll find a USB Type-C cable for charging, but these buds support wireless charging and fast charging, too.
Sound Quality
- Energetic performance
- Decent tonal balance
- The Free Pro 2 offer an overall better audio performance
The Air S pack 10mm wool composite drivers designed to deliver an “unparalleled natural crisp sound”. While I think “unparalleled” is a bit of a stretch, I did find the Air S to be an energetic and generally balanced pair of earbuds.
I recently reviewed EarFun’s own Free Pro 2, so I pulled those out to compare. Upon listening to both, I found that the two models deliver subtle differences in performance, but that those differences do lean in the Free Pro 2’s favour. The smaller earbuds deliver a tighter performance with greater detail in the vocals and a clearer stereo image.
Playing Charlie Puth’s Left and Right, which I also used to test the Free Pro 2, the Air S lacked the control displayed by the Free, with a muddier, less defined bass performance.
Comparison aside, I did still enjoy listening to music through the Air S and I think they’re great value for a budget pair of earbuds. Tonal balance is good and there’s more than enough bass to give tracks some punch.
The bass thrums on Giveon’s For Tonight, with the vocals clear and dynamic, as is the piano. The highs could be more powerful, but they have enough presence that I don’t think they throw off the tonal balance too obviously.
The EQ in the EarFun Audio app could be more powerful but I welcomed the ability to make small adjustments to the bass and treble – something that isn’t currently supported on most model of EarFun buds.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
You want more features for less The Air S are equipped with ANC, a Game mode, support for multiple devices at once and come with a new app.
You want the best sound possible The Air S don’t sound bad at all, but you can get a more thrilling audio performance from other EarFun pairs.
Final Thoughts
The EarFun Air S are a great value pair of true wireless earbuds that offer a comfortable fit and no shortage of features. These include ANC, an Ambient Sound mode, a Game mode, multi-device connectivity and EQ with the new EarFun Audio app.
The addition of ANC is also reason to pick these over the standard Air; however, the audio performance isn’t as tight as that offered by the EarFun Free Pro 2. Nevertheless, the sheer number of features and the overall positive experience of using these headphones is justification enough to consider them.
How we test
We test every headphone we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used the earbuds for over a week
Tested the battery to determine how long it will last
Listened with music streaming apps
You might like…
FAQs
The EarFun Air S support Bluetooth 5.2 and are capable of maintaining a connection with two devices at once.
EarFun state that the Air S will last for five hours with ANC on or six hours with ANC off, with a total of 30 hours available with the wireless charging case.
The Air S are sweat and waterproof up to IPX5.
Full specs
Jargon buster
ANC
ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) uses an array of microphones in a headphone to detect the frequency of the sound coming at the listener, with the ANC chip creating an inverse wave (i.e. opposing sound) to suppress any unwanted external noises.Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a method of wireless transmission that allows for the exchange of data between devices over short distances.aptX
Qualcomm’s aptX codec can support higher quality audio than Bluetooth alone.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
