Like the previous Earfun earbuds, the Air Pro four is competitively priced while also offering decent audio quality, battery life, and an excellent minimalist design. There’s a lot to like, but Earfun has packed in too many features, with a confusing array of EQ presets and ANC modes overcomplicating things.
Good for money
Lightweight case
Decent battery life
Confusing noise cancellation options
Too many EQ presets
Some audio peaks
I never imagined that it would provide a reasonable pair of headphones that had too many features, or that it would exclude a pair of headphones from our Noise Canceling Headphones Advisor for providing too many ANC profiles. But this Earfun Air Pro four review changes that.
If you’ve ever heard of Earfun, you’ll know it as a logo used to offer reasonable but competitive headphones. You’ll also know that their naming conventions can be confusing.
The Air Pro 4 are the successors to the Air Pro 3 from 2023 (which we did an almost perfect review), and its main difference from the Free Pro 3 at the same price at the end of 2023 is that they have stems, which are purely on the cob. They’re also more premium opportunities than the Earfun Air 2, released earlier in 2024, which (like all those other Earfun options) featured wonderful features at very low prices. But that’s a lot of Frees, Airs, and Graces Pros to give you an idea.
Suffice it to say that Earfun has a very lively set of products, perhaps an overwhelming number for other people who don’t know which one to choose, and “too much” is also the subject of this review.
In its quest to offer budget buyers a wide diversity of options, Earfun went too far and I found some elements of the delight to be too overwhelming. There are five other ANC modes (not counting “off” and “ambient”) and I couldn’t figure out the differences; There are 30 equalizer presets and you can scroll through the list to find the right option to ensure songs or genres take more work than they’re worth.
So trying out the Earfun Air Pro four was a bit tiring at first, until I gave up and stuck with the same modes. I think that’s what I do as well. Do that and look at some wonderful budget headphones that offer plenty of features and some pretty respectable and physically powerful audio quality for the price. The thing is, browsing through superfluous features gets a bit boring.
They also feel quite premium, with a lightweight, minimalist design that stays comfortably in your ear, and the case is excellent and small enough to have compatibility in small pockets, although it does include some high-end features like wireless charging.
The sound quality is perfectly appropriate for the value (although if your budget is over $100, there are some more tempting options) and definitely matches “cheap” and “happy” for most songs.
I also liked how the Earfun Air Pro 4’s battery life outperforms most competitors, with a consistent 7. 5 hours with ANC-enabled headphones and 11 hours without. That’s a few more songs than you can listen to with the maximum headphones in this price range.
So if you’re content to forget about some superfluous and potentially confusing features, or if you’re willing to check them out to find out, then the Earfun Air Pro 4 is possible smart choices for other people on a budget. But if not, the company offers a lot more options, just like its competition (more on that later).
The Earfun Air Pro 4 were announced at the end of July 2024 and were available to purchase shortly after. The company sells them in some regions but also offers a global option on its website, which is indexed in USD, which is why we don’t have a value in AUD.
The headphones cost $89. 99/£79. 99 (around AU$140), which is particularly lower than the $99. 99/£99. 99 (around AU$160) Air Pro 3; Those headphones earned price cuts almost immediately after launch, so it’s possible the Air Pro 4 can too.
Earfun offers a great variety of earbuds and the Air Pro four slot, just ahead of most others in terms of price; The Air Pro 3, Free Pro 3, and Air Pro SV charge a little less. The company specializes in affordable headphones, and those new models are no different.
So yes, the Earfun Air Pro 4 is definitely a reasonable pair of headphones; They probably wouldn’t break the bank, and that’s helping to set expectations for quality and sound characteristics.
One of my favorite things about Earfun’s other earbuds is that they outperform the festival in terms of battery life, and that’s indeed the case with the Air Pro 4.
With ANC enabled, the earbuds last about seven and a half hours before you want to put them back in the case to turn them back on; turn off the ANC and that figure is even higher at 11 am. Most competition with the same value lasts around 6 and nine hours respectively, so the Pro four is, uh, Pro-four, which fits well here.
Earfun said the case can offer up to 52 hours of music playback between all charges; the online page doesn’t say if it has ANC on or off, but I think not. By one estimate, it would give you 35 and a half hours of listening time out of the box if you’re only listening with ANC on.
Speaking of ANC: it has possibilities on the Air Pro 4, but a host of annoying potential options prevent you from getting the most out of it.
The popular ANC is robust and suppresses distracting background noise to help you enjoy your music without the click of keyboards or the noise of the noisy trains you run on (at least, those are my favorite uses!).
The thing is, there is no noise cancellation mode in the app. On the other hand, there are seven.
These come with Ambient Mode and no ANC (self-explanatory), but they have five other versions of ANC: Loud, Balanced, AI Environment Adaptive, AI Ear Adaptive, and Wind Noise Cancellation. All of these five have descriptions of their differences, but everything is very indistinct and I haven’t been able to hear much difference between them, especially the adaptive one. After a few sessions of listening to confusing evidence, I’m sticking with the “strong” ones and hoping for the best.
Beyond this confusing ANC situation, the Earfun app offers the fundamental features that most companion apps offer: some toggleable features like wear detection and low latency mode for gaming, the ability to customize controls, and “find my headphones. “functionality.
There’s also an equalizer and I liked it: you can customize your sound yourself or rely on a sound profile mode that tests your hearing (I didn’t find this mode as accurate or useful as its counterparts from other companies, such as Nothing is in). the ear nothing (a) and the ear nothing). But the most productive component is the presets – there are 30 in total and many of them make differences to the sound profile, so it’s useful if you need to adapt your mix to what you’re listening to.
Frankly, 30 is too much and I didn’t have to go through a total list of “Bass Reduction 1, 2 and 3” to locate the quick ones. Instead, I’m sticking with a core of 15 based on musical genres. and that’s pretty smart: in conditions like this, less is more. I’m surprised there can be 30 without any spoken word or podcasts!
The Air Pro are the smallest four earbuds I’ve ever seen, even in the Earfun range, but they’re still pretty slim. The earbuds weigh around 5g each (according to my kitchen scale; no official weight is listed) and consist of an AirPods-style mouthpiece, small body, and stem.
The default earbud fits comfortably in my ear and stayed securely in position throughout the testing process, however, Earfun included 4 additional sizes in the box, which is at least one more than you typically see in earbuds, and two more at this budget level. This diversity, from very small to very giant, and I commend Earfun for that.
Each bud has a small bud, which is the circular indentation at the top of the stem that you can see in the pictures. This only required a light touch and so I found them to be easy to use, there was a noticeable delay between urgent and triggering the desired action.
The earbuds have an IPX5 rating, making them jets of water but not liquid immersion, so you can wear them in the rain or even in the shower, but not in the bathroom (or pool).
Keeping the Air Pro four comfortable and safe when you’re not using it is its charging case; From the photographs in the product directory and the length of the box, you can believe that it would be quite large, but it was much smaller than I expected. It weighs 56 g (once the buds are inserted) and measures 62. 4 x 46. 6×29. 2mm.
This case, which opens into a clamshell, has a USB-C port for charging but also supports wireless power. Although it’s a small pebble of plastic smaller than the average length of a box mouse, it seemed strong enough to protect the buttons well.
It’s great that Earfun EQ goes so deep in allowing you to customize your music, because in default mode the headphones are good, but not great. For the price, they are better than many competitors, but you definitely get better sound if you pay more.
Unless you spice up the treble in the app, it’s a little missing by default, falling into the relatively meaty bass combination. The mids are also hidden in the rear, but I’ve found that they’re susceptible to spikes and distortion at times. with tools like hi-hats and acoustic guitars that become soft.
However, once you turn to the equalizer and push your music to its limits, you will be able to get much more space to enjoy your music. The bass, which is already quite meaty by default, can gain even more prominence, it will never be as harsh as on something like the Nothing Buds.
I liked to keep the highs, with some presets that push them further forward, and the mids to a certain extent; This puts them at greater risk of peaking in songs. And while the presets let you play with how other sounds interact, I rarely felt like the sounds were energetic.
Some additions to the Air Pro 4 over the Pro 3 are a new audio code, LDAC, which allows 24-bit/96kbps streaming from educational files or apps, as well as Bluetooth 5. 4 for a more reliable connection. Prepared for what, on paper, might seem like a relief in the length of the motor from 11mm to 10mm.
If you’re familiar with budget headphones, you’ll know that Earfun gives you good value for money, and there’s no other here.
The Air Pro 4 gives you decent music quality, long battery life, and admirable noise cancellation, and the slimmer than the easy-to-store charging case is the price.
Sure, the Earfun Air Pro 4 has as many features as some of the biggest names on the market, but it also costs a third of its big alternatives from Bose, Apple and Samsung.
See our full Nothing Ear (a)
See our full Earfun Air 2 review
I reviewed the Earfun Air Pro four for two weeks to write this review, which is the popular check time for headphones like this. I used them most commonly connected to my Android phone, but I also paired them with my Windows computer and my iPad for checking.
I heard this review at home, in the office, at the gym, on walks around my community, and also on some long trips to work out, so your ANC was put to the test. I’ve listened to music, podcasts, and audiobooks on Spotify, also watched YouTube videos, streamed Netflix movies, attended many Olympics on Discovery Plus, and participated in phone calls and video calls, all while wearing the headphones.
I’ve been on devices on TechRadar for over five years, and during that time, I’ve used a lot of budget headsets and added older Earfun options.
Tom Bedford deputy phone editor at TechRadar until the end of 2022, after moving up the ranks from editor. Although he has specialized in phones and tablets, he has also ventured into other technologies such as electric scooters, smart watches, fitness, mobile games. and much more. He is based in London, United Kingdom and now works for the online entertainment website What To Watch.
She holds degrees in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working at TechRadar, he freelanced in technology, gaming, and entertainment, and spent many years working as a mixologist.
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