 "The company claims a battery backup of 55 hours with ANC on and a whopping 80 hours without it.")
We have reviewed a handful of EarFun true wireless earbuds in the past couple of years and they have impressed us with their stacked feature list and performance at reasonable price points. The EarFun Wave Pro is probably their first wireless headphones to be officially available for purchase in India. Again, the feature list looks quite elaborate for the segment, and we straight away got down to business the moment we received a test sample. Strangely, there’s something un-EarFun about it. Read on to know what.
EarFun Wave Pro - Build, design and comfort: 8/10
The EarFun Wave Pro has a pleasant design that looks reasonably premium for the segment. Though largely made of plastic, the build quality and finish are pretty good, and the weight is perfectly acceptable at 268 grams, given the presence of ANC circuitry and a high capacity 800 mAh battery. It has a dark grey body with an even matte finish and metallic accents at the back and for the logo. The combination works well.
The height adjustment is smooth and the ear-cups are foldable when one needs to store it away. Speaking of which, EarFun bundles a rugged and high quality carry case with a fabric exterior; something rarely available in products twice the cost of the Wave Pro. The ear-cups are nicely padded and the same goes for the headband. The clamping force is just right for a comfortable fit over the ears without the headphones wobbling when you move around. However, there is no specified ingress protection and I wouldn’t recommend using them during workouts to avoid sweat damage.
They can be worn for a couple of hours at a go without any sweating or discomfort. The ear-cups provide a good seal and decent passive noise isolation. Physical buttons for power/playback/pairing, volume and ANC toggle can be found on the right ear cup along with a 3.5 mm stereo jack to use these headphones in wired mode. A USB-C charging port and a status LED are present on the right ear-cup. The buttons here are fairly easy to access and with a good tactile feel. Touch controls aren’t available here but you won’t miss them either.
EarFun Wave Pro - Key features: 7.5/10
The codec support on these Bluetooth 5.3 headphones is pretty good and they are compliant with LDAC, SBC and AAC codecs. Multi-point support is also available and this product can be paired with two devices simultaneously, which is handy. However, using LDAC codec and dual-pairing simultaneously doesn’t work well. It either disconnects one of the devices or switches to AAC codec. So it’s best to use LDAC only if you do not intend to pair these headphones with two devices. Else, stick to AAC. The difference in audio quality is not significant.
You get hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) here along with a transparency mode to let ambient sounds through. The company claims that the ANC can block up to 45 db of ambient noise and can filter some wind noise too. One thing missing here are wear detection sensors that pause the audio when you take the headphones off. Each ear-cup hosts a 40 mm dynamic driver and there are five microphones in total on these headphones for calling and ANC.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOne can download the EarFun app available on Android and iOS and sync these headphones with it. It lets you tweak the sound output and controls, switch between different ANC modes, update the firmware and a couple of other things. It gives you access to a bunch of sound presets and also provides you with a multi-band equaliser to alter the output and create your personalised sound profiles. The app has a clean layout and is easy to use.
EarFun Wave Pro - Performance: 5/10
The wireless range is perfectly fine with the headphones retaining a strong connection at 10 metres with a clear line of sight. As I mentioned, the EarFun Wave Pro can be used in wireless as well as wired modes. While I will briefly touch upon the latter later, we will largely focus on the former. Typically, EarFun audio products have a warm and punchy sound output but not the Wave Pro. It strives to be neutral at the default setting. That means bye bye bassheads right off the bat.
While a neutral sound signature means not favouring any particular frequency range, which also means no boosted bass, it need not sound lacklustre, which is unfortunately the case here. Not boosting the lows is perfectly fine but the bass feels deficient here. The mids and highs are reproduced reasonably well but the detail in sound is average at best. To complicate matters further, the soundstage is surprisingly narrow which makes the sound feel cramped.
While the vocal clarity is good, the instrument separation is below par and the upper mids tend to tangle with the highs due to the narrow sound stage. The useful EarFun app does offer more than a handful of sound tweaks which does help boost the lows a bit to bring some degree of warmth to the sound but not enough. Presets like Bass Boost just make the sound muddy and are best avoided. Using the 10-band equaliser is a better choice.
The EarFun Wave Pro isn’t particularly enjoyable across various genres of music, except those which focus on vocals and where bass is a non-factor. I do not remember saying this for any other EarFun product to date. However, if you are looking for a pair of wireless headphones primarily to listen to podcasts or dialogue-heavy content, the Wave Pro is a pretty decent option. But if you are into action movies or web-series where you want to feel the explosions and the thrill, that’s not going to happen here.
Interestingly, if you choose to use this in wired mode using the 3.5 mm jack and the bundled Aux cable, the sound quality is drastically different. There is a significant bump in bass and the output is a lot warmer but not sharp enough. So best to use it if these headphones run out of battery or if you are craving for the extra bass someday. Also, when using it in wired mode, it disables ANC and the playback controls. One cannot play audio via USB either.
Speaking of ANC, the hybrid noise cancellation does a fair job though it isn’t Sony grade; not that you are going to get a Sony option around 5K. It does block out low frequency ambient sounds like the hum of an AC or a car engine. The background buzz was greatly reduced during air travel too but it isn’t as effective in other public transport like local trains. The transparency mode is decent but could have done with enhancement of vocal frequencies. You can have a quick chat wearing the headphones but you do need to strain your ears in noisy areas.
EarFun Wave Pro - Call quality: 6/10
The call quality is serviceable on these headphones but not very sharp. Your voice is transmitted with reasonable clarity to the person on the line but it feels a little distant and soft, probably due to an aggressive noise suppression algorithm. The other person is audible too, but again, the voice could have been a tad sharper. The wind noise suppression works well and the ambient noise is kept in check, so the multi-microphone array does its job well. You can use the EarFun Wave Pro for receiving the odd call but I would advise against it for the important ones.
EarFun Wave Pro - Battery life: (9/10)
Like most EarFun products, this is a department where the Wave Pro shines. The company claims a battery backup of 55 hours with ANC on and a whopping 80 hours without it. While I did not test the battery backup individually with ANC on and off, the headphones did last for close to 60 hours with sporadic use of ANC and Transparency. With 3 to 4 hours of daily listening, the battery can easily last for more than a couple of weeks, and you may only need to charge it twice a month.
It takes about two hours to charge them fully with a standard USB-C charger. In case, it is almost out of juice and you are in a rush, a quick 10 mins charge can give you close to 10 hours of audio playback with ANC disabled. That should easily take you through a day of heavy listening before you find a charging point again. These are impressive battery figures overall.
EarFun Wave Pro - Price and verdict
The EarFun Wave Pro is priced at Rs 6,890 in India with a one year warranty and is currently selling for Rs 5,234 on Amazon India. The pricing is competitive and it does have most things going for it barring the one that matters most - sound quality. If you do not like even a bit of extra bass in your sound and prefer a brighter audio output or those who need headphones with great battery backup to listen to vocal heavy content, the Wave Pro can work for them. If you are looking for a lively sound output with thumping bass, look elsewhere.
Having said that, finding a pair of wireless headphones with all the features offered by the Wave Pro around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 can be a daunting task. There is one that comes close - the JBL Tune 770NC. I have heard some good things about the Soundcore Space One that’s currently selling for Rs 5,499, but since we haven’t tested it, I cannot vouch for it yet. Lastly, if you are willing to stretch your budget a bit, you can score the Sony WH-CH720N with far superior sound and ANC for less than 7K currently, and that would be a great buy.
All said and done, though the EarFun Wave Pro did not impress us like other products from the company we tested thus far, it has all the necessary ingredients but they just don’t come together to create a great dish. Better tuning could have completely flipped this product on its head, and I sincerely hope EarFun does that with their next release. A vast majority of buyers in this segment do not care about neutral sound signature. So the company can simply opt for one that it usually does and what its name suggests.
Pros:
Sturdy build, polished design, comfortable to wear for long
Impressive battery backup with quick charging
Support for LDAC codecs
Functional ANC and Transparency modes
Dual-pairing support
Useful companion app
Very good carry case
Affordable
Cons:
Lacklustre sound output with narrow soundstage
Subpar bass response
Dual-pairing and LDAC codecs don’t work well together
Lacks wear detection, audio through USB
Price: Rs 5,234
Rating: 3.5/5