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The Earfun Air Pro 4+ is by far one of the cheapest dual-driver wireless earbuds that I’ve tested. It’s got a Balanced Armature + Dynamic Driver setup, and as a package it looks quite complete.

It’s very customizable, with a whole bunch of EQ settings including EQ presets, an automatic EQ, and a 10-band equalizer. All touch controls can be customized, or turned off if you prefer.

It now also supports Bluetooth 6 instead of Bluetooth 5.4, and you can also receive Auracast streams directly on supported devices. (But it’s not a perfect experience, which is something we’ll talk about later.) As for what other codecs it supports, it supports aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, as well as LDAC which will work even with multipoint pairing turned on.

In this review, we’re going to compare their performance to some popular earbuds in this price range, like the Soundcore Liberty 5, the OnePlus Buds 4, and its predecessor, the Earfun Air Pro 4.

Microphone Quality

The mic pickup of the Earfun Air Pro 4+ is nice and clean in quiet conditions. But what’s happening here is, when tested in the same extremely noisy conditions as the others, it applies overly aggressive noise gating which cuts into my own voice. It wasn’t the case with the previous model which wasn’t so clean in the background, and my voice sounded more robotic, but you could still hear much of what I’m saying. But the fact that the Air Pro 4+ background reduction is so silent is why I’m still giving it a rank B in my mic quality rankings.

👉 Have a listen to the mic quality samples

Active Noise Cancelling

n its best noise canceling setting, its ANC is very good in the low frequencies so it will do a fantastic job at reducing the rumble of vehicle noises like on buses, trains and planes, and it’s able to deal effectively with midrange noises too by dumbing down the sound of voices around you. Definitely a little better than its predecessor the Air Pro 4. (Editor’s note: Based on further measurements in controled conditions, the Air Pro 4 does cancel a bit more noise in the midrange than the Air Pro 4+ so everyday sounds might be bit more dumbed down, although the newer 4+ deals with low rumbling noises a little better.)

Now, if we look at the measurements, it may not measure as well as the Liberty 5 at canceling low frequencies, but in actual usage, I feel that it’s easier to get a good seal with the Air Pro 4+, so noise canceling ends up being deeper than the Liberty 5.

👉 Have a listen to the ANC quality samples

Transparency Mode

In terms of transparency, the Air Pro 4+ suffers from the same issues as the Pro 4. Although it’s able to amplify ambient noises pretty well, it doesn’t pick up much of my own voice when I’m speaking, so in a verbal exchange situation it does feel unnatural because my own voice sounds very muffled. The OnePlus Buds 4 and Liberty 5 doesn’t have this issue, and they are also more airy and natural when transparency mode is turned on.

Sound Quality

In terms of sound quality on their default settings, the Air Pro 4+ is an improvement over the Pro 4. It sounds clearer and richer in the mids, vocals and instruments are more focused, less brittle, and bass response is deeper, more textured, more visceral. I do enjoy the new version more, and that is even before touching the EQ.

Compared to Liberty 5, the Air Pro 4+ sounds more forward in the vocals, and soundstaging is a bit more compact. Liberty 5’s soundstaging is a bit more spread out and relaxed. It is also far more bass-heavy yet maintains separation from the mids very well so I will definitely recommend the Liberty 5 for bassheads versus the mid-focused Air Pro 4+. Liberty 5 also has spatial audio modes in collaboration with Dolby which gives you a slightly more enveloping soundstage that’s appropriate to the content.

So does the OnePlus Buds 4 with a similar mode called OnePlus 3D audio which sounds even more diffused than the Liberty 5’s spatial audio mode. For me, I prefer to stick to regular mode most of the time so the fact that the Air Pro 4+ doesn’t have spatial audio is not an issue for me. If I compare the Air Pro 4+ to the OnePlus Buds 4 in regular mode, they both share very similar sound signatures and characteristics.

Only differences are the OnePlus sounds less heavy in the bass and a bit brighter in the upper mids, while the Air Pro 4+ sounds a bit fuller and a bit more forward in the bass and vocals. It also sounds a bit louder than the OnePlus, about a 10% volume difference. Otherwise they are pretty much the same in terms of track separation and soundstaging.

EQ Settings

I also love the Pro 4+’s default visceral, textured and clean sound quality without crossing too much into sibilant territory. And there’s more than enough bass to satisfy without sounding boomy. In my opinion, it would sound even better if the mids were a bit more laid back, so I pushed the mids down a bit from 500-4000hz. Also pushed the treble up to airify the soundstage. Feel free to copy my Singapore Spring EQ if you want to try it. But out of the box, it already sounds great to my ears.

👉 Have a listen to the sound quality samples

Conclusion

A great reason to get the Earfun Air Pro 4+ over the others is its fit. I found it easier to get a tighter seal, and this affects bass response as well as noise canceling performance. You also get the option to finetune the noise canceling more than you could with the older Air Pro 4.

The only thing that’s really missing is Spatial audio, and I did encounter some issues with Auracast. I couldn’t receive Auracast streams through the Earfun app. If I tried to do that, I hear a pop and it just forces a reboot of the earbuds. I could receive Auracast from my phone’s Bluetooth settings though, so that part of the user experience needs to be polished further, and I believe they can be fixed with a firmware update.

But all things considered, the Earfun Air Pro 4+ is shaping up to be one of the best budget earbuds of this year. Very good value for this level of sound quality, performance, specs and features.

Check latest price:

Earfun Air Pro 4+ - https://amzn.to/4hrd79E
Earfun Air Pro 4 - https://amzn.to/4duKXaF
OnePlus Buds 4 - https://amzn.to/4kY9EQ4
Soundcore Liberty 5 - https://amzn.to/4kx2H9n

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