SoundPEATS Air5 Pro nearly KILLED the TWS Market 😮 vs Soundcore, CMF, Earfun, OnePlus, Nothing
Just looking at what the Soundpeats Air5 Pro has on paper it’s very, very attractive for what it’s going for. You might even think it’s one of the best value under $100! But hold on, there are others out there under $100 that look really attractive also, that includes the CMF Buds Pro 2 which was my choice for best budget earbuds. So how does the Soundpeats compare to the CMF, and popular budget offerings from Earfun, Soundcore, OnePlus and Nothing in terms of performance, and what are its pros and cons?
Microphone Quality
In terms of microphone pickup, the Soundpeats performs pretty well in noisy conditions, cutting much of the background noise as well as moderate levels of voice filtering. I would place it as Rank A, same tier as the CMF Buds Pro 2, Nothing ear a and the OnePlus Buds 3, although the OnePlus has the best mic of this group. As for the Earfun Air Pro and Soundcore Liberty 4 NC, they take rank B and rank C respectively.
👉 Have a listen to the mic quality
Active Noise Cancelling
Its active noise canceling is much better than expected. You do have various noise canceling modes like outdoor, traffic and indoor mode, but with the exception of Indoor mode which feels weaker, the other modes are just as strong as the default Adaptive mode, which is what we’re going to base our comparison on.
If we look at these measurements, we can see that in this group, the Air5 Pro is one of the most effective at reducing the bass and mids, with the CMF Buds Pro 2 coming very close.
What all this means is, the Air5 Pro will be very effective at canceling the noises of public transport, and reduce the noise of fans and air conditioning. The only one that outperformed the Air5 Pro is the Soundcore Liberty 4, mostly in the mids, so it will do better for reducing background chatter of those pesky humans.
👉 Have a listen to the ANC quality
Transparency Mode
In terms of transparency mode, it isn’t the most transparent, but close. It does have a very nice open airy feeling which is great for general awareness and verbal exchanges. A bit more clear than the OnePlus, but in this group the CMF Buds Pro 2 and the Earfun Air Pro 4 sounds more natural, less hissy, and less muffled during verbal exchanges. The others like the Nothing (ear a) and Liberty 4 NC are also good for quick awareness, but verbal exchanges might feel less natural because of that bit of muffling of your own voice when you’re speaking.
Sound Quality
In terms of the Air5 Pro’s sound quality, to be honest, out of the box they sound clean, and they’ve got great dynamic range, but they’re not tuned very well. I like lots of bass but even I think it’s a bit too boomy. Also there’s a very big emphasis on mids so vocals are very loud but also a little shrill. And no wonder, frequency sweeps show a bit jump in the region around 1.5 khz, so vocals whether male or female, can sound shouty and a bit uncomfortable to listen to. It also has a very compact soundstage, and track separation is average so faster types of music can lean a bit more messy.
👉 Have a listen to the sound quality
Out of this group, I like the sound of the CMF Buds Pro 2 the most, it’s thick and smooth, great track separation, so is the Liberty 4NC and the Nothing ear a, but what I like about the Soundpeats is how customizable its sound is. Using the PeatsAudio app I’ve managed to make it sound somewhat decent by cutting a whole bunch of the mids to improve separation, and the 4khz band just to open up the soundstage. Also cut a bit of bass and added a bit more highs and now it’s much, much better. I can even say it sounds good, which shows how tunable these are.
The Air5 Pro also has some basic auto calibration. I say it’s basic because it calibrates for both ears at once, so it’s not as accurate as Soundcore’s HearID, for example.
Something else related to sound is codecs. The Air5 Pro is Snapdragon Sound certified so it supports aptX adaptive aside from aptX Lossless if your device has it. If it doesn’t, it does have standard LDAC which works on any Android device, but you cannot activate LDAC and multipoint pairing at the same time, it’s one or the other. In this group, only the CMF Buds Pro 2, Nothing (ear a) and OnePlus Buds3 can do both multipoint and LDAC.
Verdict
Overall, in terms of performance, the Soundpeats Air5 Pro puts up a hell of a fight, it’s feature rich, having great noise canceling, mic pickup, transparency, and with a bit of tweaking, sound.
Now, do I prefer them compared to the others? Well they certainly are compelling, but my experience with them could be a bit smoother, especially when it comes to the app.
Changing between pages can be a bit too slow, and the graphic EQ tests my patience. Every change to the bands takes time to load, so tweaking the buds can end up taking a lot of time.
Also, the buds themselves are not that great at rejecting the flapping noise of wind, whether in noise canceling or transparency. Now to be fair, all of them picks up wind noise to an extent, but if you’re cycling or it’s just a windy day, somehow the Soundpeats pick up more flapping noises than the others. Maybe it’s the position of the microphones or the aerodynamics.
But personally, my overall pick is still the CMF Buds Pro 2 because, apart from not picking up wind noise as much, it’s a great all rounder from its performance to the app, to multipoint with LDAC, and this click dial that lets you control the buds remotely which is a unique, satisfying experience. I wasn’t kidding when I said the CMF Buds Pro 2 killed the budget TWS market, these are really hard to beat.
Nonetheless, I still think the Soundpeats Air5 Pro is still worth checking out, the best argument I can make for it is its performance and features versus what you’re paying. Blows my mind how good these things are getting at such low prices.
Check latest price:
Soundpeats Air5 Pro - https://amzn.to/3SU5q0w (25% coupon available on the product page Use code 'SPA5PFORAXLW' for an additional 5% off Regular Price: $79.99 Final Checkout Price: $55.99)
CMF Buds Pro 2 - https://amzn.to/3zwPivw
NOTHING ear (a) - https://amzn.to/3UloJzQ
Soundcore Liberty 4 NC - https://amzn.to/3UG0vlx
Earfun Air Pro 4 - https://amzn.to/4duKXaF
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