Review: EarFun Free Pro 3, affordable TWS earbuds for listening while travelling, exercising, and relaxing
Earfun has made a pair of affordable earbuds for anyone looking for durable TWS buds with long lasting battery and good sound. Get wireless charging, active noise cancelling and more for just $79.99.
EarFun released the Free Pro 3s earbuds on October 30th 2023 for $79.99 / £79.99 / €79.99. They produce well-balanced mids and crystal-clear highs, but their bass response can be a little hit-and-miss. Nevertheless, they offer stellar features like excellent noise cancelling and fast charging over USB-C, as well as wireless charging.
EarFun’s Free Pro 3s are comfortable enough so you’ll forget you’re wearing them and their durable design protects against dust, splashes, scratches and dents. Oh, and EarFun’s neat companion app makes customising controls, engaging and switching between ANC modes and accessing the low-latency Game Mode all the easier.
EarFun Free Pro 3 rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unboxing
Due to their affordable price tag, there isn’t much that fancy about the packaging and unboxing experience of the EarFun Free Pro 3s.
Unlike the fairly extravagant packaging of the Edifier Neo Buds Pro 2 ($159), the Free Pro 3 packaging is neat and straight to the point. Let’s take a look at what’s in the box:
- Free Pro 3 Earbuds
- Compact charging case
- Rather short USB-C charging cable
- 5 x pairs of additional ear tips
- User manual
Comfort
EarFun has provided 4 pairs of additional ear tips, but the truth is, I wasn’t sure how to insert the earbuds into my ear holes on my first attempt.
With no stem and only a compact, rectangular housing for the drivers, I didn’t realise which way the earbuds were supposed to sit in my ear. Silly, I know, but EarFun provide a useful “how to wear” booklet / in-app guide as well as general information about the Free Pro 3s.
The EarFun Free Pro 3s do nevertheless sit comfortably in my ears over long listening sessions. The rectangular form of the earbuds doesn’t cause stress to my ears whatsoever, and I’d say they’re some of the most comfortable earbuds I’ve reviewed to date.
One thing I’d ask EarFun (and pretty much every TWS earbud brand) is why not go paperless? Seeing as user manuals are embedded into companion apps, the booklet seems like a waste of paper.
Sound: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The EarFun Free Pro 3s sound fantastic… but they don’t perform well across the board.
I have been impressed by treble in particular, though the mids are very well-defined with impactful transients and snappy drums. The highs, however, have been consistently crystal clear with enough air for cymbals and reverb tails to ring out with presence.
Unfortunately, the depth, warmth and presence of bass depend on the Free Pro 3s noise cancelling. And even then it’s often boomy though not always. Another inconvenience is the occurrence of digital artefacts which can be irritating while enjoying some good tunes… but this isn’t overly regular.
There are several sound preset EQs to choose from and you can create custom ones. “Default Sound” seems optimized for good-quality playback of all music with a good balance between instruments, vocals, synths, bass, etc.
EarFun has even collaborated with oluv’s gadgets to provide two “Oluv’s Signature” sound profiles (“Natural” & “Boosted”). The latter is merely a boost in frequencies applied to the former, whereas Natural has come quite severe troughs in its frequency reproduction.
The listening experience
The balance of mix elements and instruments has been one of the stand-out pros of the Free Pro 3s. Whether I’m listening to metal, electronic music, hip hop or pop, EarFun’s affordable earbuds reproduce a signal where each element has its own space. They even point out over-compression (I’m looking at you, pop punk).
Unfortunately, though, the stereo field is pretty wide… even for a pair of earbuds. The Neo Buds Pro 2 and EarFun’s own Air Pro 3s produced a more centralised stereo image than these Free Pros. A shame, yes, but this is only really noticeable with electronic music.
No matter the genre, drums do feel a little too wide. Music makers know that kick and snare drums occupy the centre image and if the stereo field of the earbuds isn’t centralised enough then they sound like they’re coming from your sides rather than in front of you (noticeable if you close your eyes and focus on the music).
Nevertheless, drums & heavy transients are delivered with impact super well. Listening to “Dystentry Gary” by Blink 182, Travis’s heavy snare hits snap and cymbals crash and ring out perfectly while Tom’s melodic guitar riffs fill the space beneath his vocals and Mark’s bass licks. Despite how well these earbuds reproduced the song, I A/B tested against the Edifier Neo Buds Pro 2 and the latter were much brighter.
Sleepnet’s remix of Noisia’s “Could This Be” and Kylie Minogue’s “Padem” also sound full with punchy drums and defined mids. Could This Be opens with a series of ambient instrumentation and drone sounds and I was surprised at how well these affordable EarFun earbuds reproduced the very subtle variations and nuances. As I said, the highs and mids are crystal clear and defined every time.
Bass, though, leaves something to be desired without ANC engaged because the Neo Buds Pro 2 still delivered enough bass while ANC was disengaged. With the amount of sound pressure ANC builds, the bass in all tracks is more or less gutted with it disengaged (except high bass frequencies). Both Could This Be and Padem suffered with ANC disengaged as their bass frequencies were almost eradicated and these are dance tracks.
But I’ll stress that the mids are nicely detailed with subtle variations in ambiences and instrumentation standing out while snare drums and tucks on guitar and bass strings smack, slap and snap.
Kicks meanwhile feel weighted as they should while switching between the different ANC modes on some songs but not all. Saying that I have noticed the right bud starts to distort kick drums when the volume is too loud.
Nevertheless, kicks feel weighted across the board in No Face No Case’s “Beatdown Sessions, Vol. 1” where the kick drum and bass guitar are the most prevalent instruments, but not so much in “Tom & Jerry” by Ocean Wisdom.
Meanwhile, Nyu’s “Stormy“, with its fast string melodies and speed drumming, sounds clean and well-balanced. As is the same in Neck Deep’s “Damsel in Distress“, the plentiful kick drums are neatly tucked beneath the other mix elements but don’t stand out overly well without ANC engaged.
Preset Equalizer sound profiles
EarFun has provided 10 different sound profile presets that cater to various genres including pop, rock, country, jazz, and EDM. There are many things to like about these EQs but I don’t think they are an overly valuable addition to the feature lineup.
They do what they’re designed to do which is use strategical frequency cuts & boosts to sweeten your listening experience of a particular genre. They add and remove weight in different frequency regions, but each preset is very limited outside of its specified genre as a result.
For me, the problem that arises is that I need to switch between different EQs when genre jumping which I do a lot. Avid listeners of one or two genres won’t have this issue or they’ll experience it to a lesser extent, but anyone who jumps between contrasting or dissimilar styles will immediately notice the provided presets do not translate well.
However, the Default Sond preset sounds just fine across the board. Sure, the presets do add value to songs within their genres in most cases, but they sound just fine using the Default Sound Profile too.
This ultimately leaves me wondering why spatial audio audio has been axed from the feature lineup. I’m not sure how many users will gain something from these EQ presets but I’m sure many would prefer to see spatial audio, although I’m not one for it myself either.
Nevertheless, the genre-specific sound profiles are good and do what they say on the tin… they’re just a little restricted in versatility.
Features: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
To maintain their affordable price, EarFun hasn’t loaded these Free Pro 3s with anything other than essential and in-demand features.
For instance, there is a low-latency game mode, multiple sound profiles and various ANC modes. Missing features however include a high-res audio LDAC codec, wearing detection and spatial audio. If you’re looking for these features you’ll be better off looking for a pair of earbuds with a bigger price tag.
Connecting the EarFun Free Pro 3 TWS earbuds
While the sound is pretty good, connecting the Free Pros to my smartphone and/or has been a bit of a faff sometimes. A robotic “Connected” prematurely triggers before any connection has happened which is confusing.
Furthermore, I’ve been having to disconnect and reconnect the buds due to no sound transmission almost every time I’ve tried to play music. The robotic voice says “Connected” while my phone still says “Connecting”, and sometimes the connection confirms but only for calls and no media playback… like, why? I’m sure EarFun can resolve this issue via a firmware update, but it’s an inconvenience nonetheless.
In fact, EarFun has already updated the firmware a couple of times since the release of the Free Pros, now standing at v0.2.3. I therefore have no doubt EarFun will release another update where, hopefully, this connection issue will be addressed.
Anyway, the Free Pro 3s offer multipoint pairing (unlike the Neo Buds Pro 2) which has been as functional as it needs to be. After pairing with a device for the first time the buds connect to it automatically (providing its Bluetooth is switched on) with a little bit of aforementioned faff. I’ve been using both my phone and laptop simultaneously throughout this review process and switching between devices has been more or less seamless, however.
Active noise cancelling
Active noise cancelling in the earbuds is excellent but controls over ambient sound are very limited. Manufacturers tend to provide different levels of ANC, ambient sound and wind reduction, but the Free Pro 3s do not boast any such features.
Instead, EarFun has provided 4 “Ear Adaptive” settings whereby the ANC behaves differently for different ear sizes. There is a default setting but I’ve found “Ears 1” works best for me. Yes, the other settings are labelled “Ears 2/3”.
As I said, the noise cancelling performs amazingly. EarFun promises a 43dB reduction in environmental noise, and the only noise to bleed through into my ears are offensively loud sounds like sirens, heavy trucks and bus engines, and a slight bit of chatter from a bus full of drunk students.
Touch controls
The sensitivity of the touch controls is pretty good. While reviewing the Neo Buds Pro 2s I had to reduce the touch sensitivity because I’d flick between options while readjusting the buds to make them more comfortable.
However, the EarFun companion app makes it easy enough to adjust touch controls to your taste.
I haven’t had to do the same with these Free Pro 3s, and the controls have been super convenient while I’m walking anywhere and don’t want to whip my phone out.
Battery life
I’ve used the Free Pro 3s every day for the last couple of weeks while working, studying, and on my adventures around the woods.
I’ve had at least 5 to 6 hours of playtime from the earbuds with intense use while ANC is engaged. I haven’t had ANC disengaged at all due to the slash in the low end that is inherent with ambient sound / normal mode.
The duration in battery life has nevertheless been what EarFun has promised (up to 6 hours on a single charge, 7.6 with ANC turned off), and I’ve easily had 24 hours of charge from the case, rounding up to at least 30 hours of total playtime as opposed to 33 hours (7.5 Hours + 25.5 hours with charging case).
Meanwhile, fast charging via USB-C unlocks 2 hours of playtime with just 10 minutes of charging and 1.5 hours for a full charge. The case, however, requires 2 hours for a full charge (3.5 over wireless charging).
EarFun App
Akin to the Soundcore app, EarFun’s companion app is neat and not too busy. It’s easy to navigate with an easily accessible interface that puts every available earbud control and function at your fingertips. Although it isn’t packed with every feature under the sun, it does provide the features you need.
Switch between Noise Cancelling, Ambient Sound, and Normal listening modes and activate the low latency Game Mode from the home screen. With that said, there is no option to make EQ adjustments for game audio like there is on the brands’ Air Pro 3s.
In the top right corner, you’ll find the settings button where more features are available. For one, you can turn off features to preserve battery life as well as customize the touch controls and access the “Find Earbuds” feature.
The competition
Affordable earbuds with spatial audio include Sony’s WF-C700N which cost $10 less than the Free Pros at $79.99. With a $10 difference in price, I do wonder why EarFun opted not to include any spatial audio tech as is a feature in the Sony’s.
However, at 7mm, the Free Pro 3 drivers are larger than those found in the Sony WF-C700N’s (5mm) and JLAB GO AIR POP TWS earbuds (6mm). The Free Pro 3s do also offer multi-point pairing which isn’t available in the Neo Buds Pro 2 earbuds.
Another area where the EarFun Free Pro 3s are lacking is the number of ambient sound and noise-cancelling controls. The Neo Buds offer extensive ambient sound, wind reduction, and levels of noise cancellation and the WF-C770N offers 20 levels of ambient sound control.
EarFun offers slightly more colour options than the JBL Vibe Beam earbuds as the the latter are only available in white & black but EarFun has added navy blue to its offering.
Design: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The design of the Free Pro 3s prioritises a compact form factor with a touch of minimalism. The sturdy little buds aren’t anything special to look at but I’m not sure earFun would have prioritised form with a budget pair of earbuds.
However, removing the buds from my ears in a snap instance has been frustrating with my having long hair that folds over my ears. Whenever someone, say a stranger at a bus stop asking a question, talks to me and I need to remove my earbuds to hear them… wrapping my fingers around either of the small Free Pro 3s earbuds and not dropping them after also grabbing hair in the process has been impossible.
Of course, this problem won’t affect you if you have short hair… but lots of people have long hair and may find this problem to be overwhelmingly annoying as a result.
Despite this annoyance, these occasions have demonstrated how durable these TWS earbuds are. There’s not a single scratch or dent on them, even though I’ve dropped them on slabbed pavement.
Value: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EarFun is offering a lot of bang for your buck here. Priced at just $79.99, I think EarFun’s new affordable earbuds are a sweet deal for anyone looking for a cheap pair. Despite their lack of low-end with ANC disengaged, other factors do these EarFun’s a lot of favours like comfortability, durability, and the sheer quality of active noise cancelling.
Let’s also not forget that their sound reproduction capabilities are still excellent – it’s just the low end that has noticeable problems. Small earbud drivers are notorious for lacking in low-end, though, so this isn’t unheard of.
This is the second instance where I’ve been pleasantly surprised by EarFun. Their affordable Air Pro 3s are cheaper again yet deliver awesome sound and enough features for an affordable price.
To conclude, EarFun’s Free Pro 3s will suit a wide range of general audiences with their excellent ANC, good sound reproduction and suite of affordable features. They’re not so suited to anyone looking for crisp audio reproduction, but they’re an excellent pair of affordable earbuds with decent features for a fair price nonetheless.
EarFun Free Pro 3 rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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