EarFun Wave Life review: $50 for all the features, good sound, but lackluster design
Wave Life are the second pair of wireless, ANC, over-ear headphones from EarFun, at an even more budget-friendly price.
With a focus on wireless audio products, including earbuds and speakers, last year saw EarFun launch their first pair of over-ear headphones – the $100 Wave Pro. Announced earlier this year, EarFun have recently launched their second pair of over-ear headphones at an ever lower price.
Unboxing and design
Inside the cardboard box packaging, you’ll find a plastic insert holding the headphones, a roughly one metre USB-C to USB-C cable and user manual. Unfortunately, there’s no carry case.
The design of the headphones is where the low price starts to show. While the exterior design of the headphones looks like many other basic over ear wireless headphones, with matte plastic and subtle branding on each earcup, it’s the feel of the headphones that lets them down. The plastic has a cheap-feel with sharp edges and the adjustable headband is stiff. This makes me concerned for the longevity of the product. The buttons are clicky and better than non-responsive tap controls on some competitors.
It should be noted, I’m comparing these side-by-side to my regular Sony WH-1000XM4, which are one of the gold standards in wireless headphones. Taking a hit in some areas is to be expected for a significantly less expensive product.
The earpads and cushioning along the top of the headband, along with a lightweight feel lead to a fairly comfortable and stable experience on the head. The headphones weight 264g, which is on par with other plastic headphones. The earcups swivel and fold, making the product easily fit in a carry case, which you’ll have to buy separately.
The headphones are only available in black.
Setup
Power on the headphones for the first time and they instantly enter pairing mode. They showed up in settings right away and connected no problem. When restarting the headphones, they automatically reconnected instantly.
The headphones support Bluetooth 5.4. Multipoint connection is available to connect to up to two devices simulateously. I was able to easily set this up via the app and the feature worked exactly as expected, automatically switching to the device activitely playing media.
Additionally, the headphones also support game mode, which lowers the latency to 55ms. For higher quality audio or just when the headphones are dead, the USB-C charging port can also be used as an audio input, with support for Hi-Res audio up to 48kHz/16-bit. Unfortunately there is no 3.5mm audio jack, however a USB-C to 3.5mm audio jack will achieve the same result, enabling you to connect to older wired devices.
Audio quality
The EarFun Wave Life are packed with 40mm composite drivers. They sound good enough for most everyday listening. They can be cranked to full volume with little distortion and plenty of bass. Those looking for particularly high quality critical listening are likely better off looking elsewhere.
There are four microphones around the headphones which work alongside an AI-powered algorithm and anti-wind noise technology. These mics are used for calls, active noise cancelling and ambient mode.
Noise cancelling
The Wave Life feature what EarFun calls ‘Hybrid ANC’ with a claimed ‘up to 45dB’ or 94% of ambient noise reduction. There are four noise cancelling modes which you can switch between using the buttons or the app: Normal, Ambient Sound, Wind Noise Cancellation, Noise Cancelling. I left it in ‘noise cancelling’ through most of my testing which seems to do a decent job, particularly at reducing lower pitch hums, but struggles with voices. ‘Ambient Sound’ mode passes through outside noise to help you stay aware of your surrounding and sounds realistic doing so.
Controls
There four buttons on the right earcup, including power, volume up, volume down and ‘NC’. A single tap of the power button plays or pauses music. Holding the button switches on or off the device, or can activate pairing mode. The other three buttons can be customized in the app to configure what a single or long press does, such as volume up, volume down, play/pause, next track, previous track, voice assistant, noise cancelling, game mode, dual device connection or disabled. The buttons are easy to feel and use without taking the headphones off. The default controls are intuitive and customization lets users take full control.
When switching noise cancelling mode, there are voice prompts which help you check you’re in the right mode. The voice prompts have a separate volume control that can be customize in the app. Here you can also switch between English, Japanese, German, and Chinese (Mandarin).
The right earcup also features an indicator LED that display power, pairing, connection, or reset status.
Battery performance
The EarFun Wave Life support up to 60 hours of playback on a charge with ANC turned off. With ANC on you can expect up to 37 hours. Plenty to get you through the heaviest days or even a light week of use. Fast charge will top you up for 4 hours of playback from a 10-minute quick charge.
The app
Connection, music playback and playback controls are all available right out of the box, with no app, however the EarFun Audio app provides additional features and customization. Once paired with my phone, I opened the app and the headphones were recognized straight away. As mentioned earlier, the app can be used to switch noise cancelling mode, customize the controls, setup multipoint connection and alter the voice prompt settings. The app can also be used to check the battery status, change the name of the device, enable game mode and customize the EQ.
There are 30 EQ presets for genres, like ‘Latin’ or ‘Hits’ and preferred characteristics, like ‘Vocal Enhancement’ or ‘Bass Boost’. ‘Custom Equalizer’ is a 10-band EQ to fully tailor the sound to your taste. ‘My Sound Profile’ lets you take a hearing test to boost certain frequencies that you find harder to hear.
Under the ‘Discover’ tab in the navigation bar, you can choose between 40 nature sounds to help you sleep.
Price and availability
EarFun Wave Life is currently on Amazon for $59.99. There is a 20% coupon available on the product page, plus use code ‘WAVLIFE2’ at checkout for an additional $5 off. This brings the price down to around $43.
Please note, this product was sent to us for free by EarFun. RouteNote was not paid to review these headphones. The Amazon link above is an affiliate link. We will earn a commission for any sales generated through it.