If you’re asking yourself whether a pair of cheap wireless earbuds can deliver comparable quality to options that cost two or three times as much, I’ve got news for you. The EarFun Air 3 Pro are shockingly cheap for a pair of earbuds that seem to offer a lot from a quick browse of the feature list, and they hold up admirably well.
From ANC and wireless charging to powerful sound and great battery life, there’s a lot you wouldn’t expect from $80 headphones. While the EarFun Air 3 Pro may not be perfect, the price doesn’t leave much room for complaint.
Air Fun Air Pro 3
For less than $100, you’ll get many of the same features that come in earbuds that cost double or triple the cost. The EarFun Air Pro 3 is efficient for calls and exciting for music and movies. ANC also does a great job of making sure you’re not distracted by outside sound. Enjoy long battery life and wireless charging, and what more could you really want?
- Brand
- EarFun
- Battery life
- 7 hours (buds with ANC on), 9 hours (buds with ANC off); Additional 36 hours in case
- Noise cancellation
- Yes
- Microphones
- 6
- IP rating
- IPX5
- Supported codecs
- SBC, AAC, aptX adaptive, LC3
- shipping
- USB C; Wireless
- Driver size
- 11 mm
- Price (MSRP)
- $79
- Dimensions
- 20 x 22.8 x 32 mm (buds); 60 x 50 x 31 mm (case)
- weight
- 5 grams (sprouts, each); 43 grams (box only)
- Great sound for earphones
- Impressive ANC
- Long battery life
- Wireless charging is under $100
- Control ambient sound either on or off
- The lid does not secure the buds well
- The application is like this
Price and availability
The EarFun Air Pro 3 has a list price of $100 on the EarFun website, but it’s already dropped to $80 on that site and has remained steady at $80 on Amazon with some drops even below that.
Design, hardware and what’s in the box
Accessories will probably be a little disappointed that the EarFun Air Pro 3 only comes in one color: black. This black color covers the entire case and the majority of the buds themselves, although the outward-facing side of the stem is dark grey.
The EarFun Air Pro 3 doesn’t offer much in the way of unique design. They slot into the ear canal using one of four different sized ear tips included in the box, and have extended stems that reach into the mouth for better sound reception. I was able to get a solid, snug fit with the included ear tips, and I could bang my head without worrying about them falling out, though they weren’t quite stable enough to stay in place while eating crusty bread — there were no earbuds.
The design is very similar to Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro, but the EarFun’s stems are a little smaller. The case is a small box, and has a simple spring-loaded lid that won’t keep the buds in if you drop them, but it makes up for that a bit by supporting wireless charging or USB charging via the included USB A-to-C cable.
The earphones themselves have six built-in microphones, 11mm speaker drivers, and have touch controls that register single, double, triple and long presses, providing many options for controls. The clicks don’t have to be very strong, so I don’t find myself pressing them deeply into my ears just to skip a track. The buds also get an IPX5 rating, which protects them from a little rain or sweat, but not dust.
Finally, the box includes a guide and some instructions on keeping the buds clean.
Sound and active noise cancellation
Would you pay just $80 for a pair of wireless earbuds with ANC? Something has to give. That’s what you might be thinking, but EarFun comes out swinging with the Air Pro 3. These headphones have a lot of elements that work together right.
The EarFun Air Pro 3 features 11mm drivers and support for some of the more capable codecs, such as aptX and LC3, via Bluetooth 5.3. This combination allows more complete audio data to reach the speakers and be pumped out with greater volume and clarity.
The drivers can pump out some really powerful bass along with clear treble for a fairly rich performance. On the opening track of Of Montreal’s False Priest — an album I use (in the form of FLAC files) across all of my sound tests — the peppy bass line sings throughout while the tambourine and keys ring in the high end and the vocals remain intact and clear. Often times, Bluetooth compression can show its weakness when trying to play dense, multi-layered tracks like much of Of Montreal’s catalog, but the EarFun Air Pro 3 holds up well.
Handling the challenge of rich, complex music well, the EarFun Air Pro 3 continues to perform admirably to deliver loud, clear presentation for podcasts and spoken-word presentations.
The earbuds already provide fairly solid isolation with a snug fit in my ear canals, but ANC could take that even further. I could still notice a little buzz from background sounds, music, and conversation in a crowded cafe with the speakers on and ANC off, but once ANC was on and music was playing (even at less than 50% volume), I can hear effectively nothing else.
While the microphones do a good job of ANC, they are only average when picking up audio on calls. It can filter out some noise, like a fan running, but it doesn’t sound any better than that acceptable On a call.
Features and application
The EarFun Air Pro 3 are surprisingly feature-rich for such low-cost headphones, though their features aren’t as deep as some competitors. Having ANC at the price is actually nice, but the noise cancellation only has a toggle switch, no dial to adjust its strength. The same applies to the surround sound mode of the headphones. Fortunately, the latter is fairly clean, and the sound doesn’t sound like it’s making its way through a tin can as it does in surround modes on some headphones.
The buds can also connect to two devices simultaneously. However, while some Bluetooth devices may allow one to interrupt the other, the EarFun Air Pro 3 will not allow audio from one source to pass through until the audio from the current source is paused for a few seconds. However, this is better than having to completely disconnect from the phone just to switch to using the speakers with a laptop or vice versa.
The app provides a simple interface for controlling ambient modes, switching to low-latency gaming mode (which still works with ambient modes), and customizing the sound with a six-band equalizer. The equalizer comes with four presets with varying bass and treble levels, and adjustments reach the speakers instantly. Game mode significantly reduces latency, but unfortunately affects stability, with subtle but noticeable signal flashes that I’ve never experienced while using the headphones off.
You can also manage the touch controls of the speakers in the app. If you don’t want certain controls, you can disable them as well. Unfortunately, the app ran into a problem that plagues many wireless devices: firmware updates. After trying twice, the app reached “100%” on the final step, which is resetting the buds, but it didn’t get past that even after I left it and the buds stayed on for a while to see if they would go away. Despite seeing a “100%” reading twice, the headphones still do not report that they are on the new firmware.
Battery and charging
EarFun claims a playback time of 7 hours with ANC on or 9 hours with it off. This is verified, as the battery indicates an 80% charge remaining even after a 100-minute listening session with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) enabled. In fact, EarFun’s estimate may be a bit conservative. Given how well the ANC technology cancels out external noise and the speakers pump out the volume, I couldn’t justify listening at more than 50% volume.
When the buds run out of juice, the charging case can charge them four times before they need to be recharged – an impressive amount. The case will charge via USB-C in 2 hours or via a wireless charger in 3.5 hours. With all the power in the box, the buds, and easy recharging methods, it will be easy to keep these buds from ever running out.
a race
The EarFun Air Pro 3 is a hit for the best wireless earbuds while pricing itself as the best cheap earbuds. They have more features than many similarly priced options, like the Jabra Elite 3 or Cambridge Audio Melomania 1+, both of which lack ANC and wireless charging. They’re significantly cheaper than Sony’s WF-100XM4 or Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II while still competing with them on features. Their closest competitor is probably the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro, but the EarFun Air Pro 3 pretty much proves to be their equal and is cheaper.
We recently gave the Jabra Elite 4 a strong recommendation, and the EarFun Air Pro 3 offers many of the same qualities and exceeds them in several ways while costing slightly less. Even up against the more impressive Jabra Elite 5 headphones, which come with a significant bump in price, the EarFun Air Pro 3 looks to be a strong contender.
Should you buy it?
The EarFun Air Pro 3 may not be perfect. However, when you consider that they offer earphone-level features twice their price and pump out surprisingly good sound, it’s easy to look past the minor setbacks, which are few anyway. It’s easy to give these buds a strong recommendation for anyone on the hunt for capable wireless earbuds at a bargain.
Air Fun Air Pro 3
For less than $100, you’ll get many of the same features that come in earbuds that cost double or triple the cost. The EarFun Air Pro 3 is efficient for calls and exciting for music and movies. ANC also does a great job of making sure you’re not distracted by outside sound. Enjoy long battery life and wireless charging, and what more could you really want?
