After releasing a series of well-received products over the past few years—including the Earfun Air Pro and Earfun UBoomL—affordable audio company Earfun has built a strong rep for quality sound at wallet-friendly prices. Their latest release sees the brand break entirely new ground, with the new EarFun Air Pro 3 wireless headphones that are claimed to be the world’s first noise-canceling earphones under $100 to offer next-generation Bluetooth LE Audio.
The Earfun Air Pro 3 is now available directly from the Earfun website (Opens in a new tab) or Amazon, priced at $79.99 / £79.99 (not available in Australia).
LE Audio is the latest iteration of the Bluetooth transmission standard that uses a new codec called LC3 that improves sound quality and battery life. The LC3 is able to compress and decompress audio data more efficiently than previous codecs, which means that the wireless Bluetooth chipset can do its job without drawing too much power – and it’s able to get higher quality at the same time.
As if that weren’t enough, the Air Pro 3 also boasts support for Qualcomm’s adaptive apt-X audio codec, which can deliver 16-bit 44.1kHz CD-quality audio over Bluetooth. The codec also provides low latency performance when streaming from devices that support the Qualcomm standard.
Support for LE Audio means there is also support for Auracast technology which will enable you to seamlessly switch between playing audio from two different devices, allowing you to share audio with nearby friends, or hear voices streamed to large numbers of people in public. (Auracast won’t activate for a while, though.)
For comparison, Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 introduced at the end of last year don’t support LE Audio or any other high-resolution audio transmission standard — Earfuns have some major advantages over some of the best wireless earphones available today and cost three times as much.
The new headphones run on the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard, and also have active noise cancellation, called the QuietSmart 2.0 hybrid ANC system, which provides a claimed reduction of outside noise by up to 43dB. We rated the original Earfun Air Pro as the best noise-cancelling earbuds for the price, so we’ll see if they can pick up the mantle.
Calling good performance from the earpiece’s built-in microphones — often the Achilles’ heel of even the best TWS earphones — it promises to impress, too. Wind crosstalk is tuned by a custom algorithm that continuously reduces wind noise from a three-microphone array in each bud, while the Air Pro 3 also features Qualcomm’s cVc 8.0 echo cancellation and noise suppression to further improve call quality.
There’s an IPX5 level of water and sweat resistance, meaning they’re good for use in light rain, while the earbuds get up to nine hours of battery life on a single charge, with a USB-C storage case for up to an additional 36 hours of juice reserve. That’s a total of 45 hours—it’s among the best we’ve seen, assuming it holds up in practice.
Analysis: Good-spec earbuds should mean a new Bluetooth fun for everyone
From their ultra budget EarFun Air TWS headphones, to their Earfun UBoom L travel headphones, EarFun has been quietly putting out a steady stream of devices that offer more than their price tag over the past 18 months.
They seem to be stepping up the game but in a big way with the Air Pro 3, with a list of features that put high-end earbuds to shame. These headphones have better connectivity than the Sony WF-1000XM4 or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II!
LE Audio has had us tech-sounding audiophiles eagerly awaiting hardware to support the feature since it was first announced a few years ago, and it’s been around for a while — but we’re surprised at how quickly it turned out to be the best low-cost wireless earphones, considering the feature Not supported by any phones yet. (It was supposed to be included in Android 13, but it hasn’t been activated yet, apparently).
While we’d fully expect more from LE Audio-branded earphones in the wake of the Air Pro 3, they’ll likely be outdone by the price tag.
Will the sound buds live up to their long list of features? While you’re waiting for TechRadar’s full review, why not check out our current list of the best true wireless earbuds.
