EarFun AirPro 3 earbuds hands-on review

Breaking into the crowded wireless earbuds marketplace is quite difficult when big brands like Bose, Jabra, Apple and JBL fill it with pretty awesome products. If you don’t have the brand power, the most practical thing to do is to offer something with comparable features, but at a way lower price. That’s just one of the strategies that EarFun is using to take on the competition with the EarFun AirPro 3. Selling for about $80 USD

EarFun AirPro 2 vs EarFun AirPro 3

EarFun still sells the AirPro 3’s predecessor for $10 less. I recommend skipping that because the AirPro 3 is the first in the AirPro lineup to feature a Qualcomm QCC3071 SoC (system-on-chip) with aptX adaptive Audio Tech. Qualcomm designed this chip specifically for wireless earbud products and EarFun claims to be the first to implement it. The chip features a special Bluetooth technology called LE Audio which dramatically reduces the latency to allow higher quality streams to be shared with devices that support LE Audio.

Watch my full hands-on review of EarFun AirPro 3 earbuds

The EarFun AirPro 3 also boasts a longer 9-hour battery life with noise cancelling disabled or 7 hours with the feature turned on. This is impressive as EarFun didn’t add any extra weight on the earbuds themselves. A fully charged charging case can also boost the total runtime to 45 hours and it features fast charging as well.

What’s in the Box?

What you’ll find in every EarFun AirPro 3 box is mostly what you’d expect – the wireless earbuds and its charging case along with a user manual and a USB-C charging cable. Despite its sub-$100 price tag, the AirPro 3 impressively includes four sizes of ear tips (one on the buds; three in the box) rather than the usual trio found in many mainstream competitors so you are more likely to fit a pair that perfectly fits in your ears.

The design of the EarFun AirPro 3 is a bit uninspiring, though it does evoke Apple AirPods so you can sort of see where EarFun is going with its product name. However, it is nice to see EarFun adding IPX5 Sweat and Water Resistance to the earbuds which is something you don’t typically see on a pair of earbuds at this price range.

Fit & feel

Pulling the EarFun AirPro 3 out of the charging case I’m struck by how substantial they feel; they feel solid and sleek, not chap in any way. I put them in my ears and was immediately rewarded with a snug but very comfortable fit.

Using EarFun AirPro 3

Pairing the EarFun AirPro 3 with your device is very straightforward as the QCC3071 chip supports Google Fast Pair. The earbuds support multi-device connectivity and EarFun offers a companion mobile app called EarFun Audio which lets you customize equalizer settings, apply firmware updates, and access guides.

EarFun equipped each earbud with touch sensitive controls which can activate several functions depending on the tapping pattern you follow. A single tap on the left or right earbud decreases or increases the volume respectively. Triple tapping that particular earbud will go to the previous or next track. To answer or end a call, you can double tap either earbud. For rejecting calls, you must tap and hold either earbud for 2 seconds. If you don’t have any incoming calls, this tap and hold gesture will either activate the voice assistant or toggle the noise cancelling depending on the earbud you perform it on.

The tap controls are mostly responsive although I will say remembering the tap sequence will take some doing and now and then I had to repeat my commands.

Key Features

Active Noise Cancelling

Like the previous model, EarFun’s QuietSmart 2.0 Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation is baked into the AirPro 3. The technology is nowhere near as sophisticated as what you’d get with a pair of flagship Apple or Sony earbuds but the noise reductions are actually pretty good for focusing. There are three settings; Ambient Mode, Normal and Noise Cancelling. Ambient lets you hear pretty much everythign around you and worked well; I could even hear a low fan running with Ambient mode on. Normal mutes the lower sounds in particular, and noise cancellation gives you a pretty solid cone of silence. It’s not perfect and there are better noise cancelling earbuds out there but for the price, I’m actually rather impressed.

Audio specs

EarFun clearly wanted to minimize the bottlenecks of the Qualcomm QCC3071 chip so it outfitted the earbuds with custom 11mm Wool Composite drivers which boast decent high-frequency range, increased clarity, and boomy bass. Audiophiles will still notice the audio quality differences when pitted against flagship products from premium brands, but for its aggressive pricing, this is as good as $80 gets.

The QCC3071 comes with aptX Voice technology too so the AirPro 3 matches that with an enhanced 6-mic array. Combined with Qualcomm’s cVc or Clear Voice Capture technology, the AirPro 3 is well-equipped to suppress noise and transmit clearer vocals.

Connect to other devices

It’s possible to get connected to two different Bluetooth devices simultaneously. There’s a bit of a back-and-forth process the first time but after that it should pair to both simultaneously as it did for me. Essentially, you’ll pair with your first device and stay connected then put the earbuds back in there charging case and hold the button for three seconds to put it back into pairing mode. Then you’ll search on your second device is Bluetooth menu to find the earbuds. Connect on the second device then return to the first device and re-initiate the connection.

Doing this allowed me to switch seamlessly between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone 15 easily.

Sound Quality

I have to say I wasn’t expecting much in the way of sound quality but the EarFun AirPro 3 sound pretty good. There is a noticeable if slight lean towards the treble side so they can sound thin on some music, particularly if the volume is low, but this is subtle. The bass first hit me as raspier, not resonant, but I picked through a bunch more bass-heavy tracks (Headsprung by LL Cool J, C-Walk by Kurupt, West Coast from M1) and found a lot more boom and bounce.

I listened to a variety of sound from podcasts and music to zoom calls and the phone and found the sound was great all across the board.

Battery Life

When it comes to battery life you are actually getting quite a bit; you’ll have 9 hours of battery life in the buds with a further 36 hours (4 more charges) in the charging case totalling 45 hours.

• Recharging time runs from one hour up to 3.5:
• 1 hour(for earbuds);
• 2hours(for charging case via USB-C);
• 3.5 hours(for charging case via wireless charger)

Overall Review: EarFun AirPro 3

Overall I was surprised and impressed by the EarFun AirPro 3. This is a solid earbuds package with great sound quality and useful features. They are easy to set up, easy to pair even to multiple devices simultaneously. They sound great across all audio spectrums and the three levels of noise cancellation is a nice bonus that performs admirably.

For $80 USD, the EarFun AirPro 3 is quite the steal if you can forgive the generic design and finicky touch controls. If you don’t have super high expectations with noise cancellation, you should be happy with the overall listening experience and battery life the AirPro 3 provides and with its previous track record of other EarFun devices, it looks like this budget brand is here to stay!

In short, I can definitely recommend EarFun AirPro 3 if you’re tired of being on the big tech hamster wheel.

Also read:

1. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Review
2. Jabra Elite 3 truly wireless headphones review
3. The Best Wireless Earbuds Buying Guide: how to choose, plus our top recommendations

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