Hi,
Let me first start by saying that I think the Fairbuds XL are amazing and I’m extremly happy that Fairphone has released them! Great job!
I’m extremely excited to have fairly produced headphones which can be used both via Bluetooth and USB-C directly. That’s amazing!
It does seem however that at least the very first version still has some bugs. I’ve sent them to the Fairphone support already and I do hope that they can release a new firmware very soon, which fixes those bugs. I estimate that the probability is very high that most of those things can be fixed quite easily.
For some of those bugs I’ve even found a workaround (also attached below).
Here are the steps to reproduce the USB-C bugs:
- Fairbuds XL are switched off
- Bluetooth on the phone is switched off
- Connect them via USB-C to an Android phone
- Play music on that phone
- The music is then be audible with Fairbuds XL
- Bug 1: The volume is quite low (compared to when they are switched on). This means, when you start listening to music while they are switched off and then you switch them on, they are suddenly extremely loud, which is quite annoying. The bass is also quite low, music sounds much better when they are switched on compared to when they are switched off.
- Bug 2: Changing the volume or switching songs using the green switch on the Fairbuds doesn’t work while they are switched off
- Switch on the Fairbuds by pressing the green button for a couple of seconds
- Bug 3: When they are activated with USB-C connected to the phone while listening to music, after a couple of seconds they say in a very loud voice “Pairing mode”. This is a pity because the whole point of the USB-C connection is that Bluetooth is not used. Please ensure that Bluetooth is properly deactivated in such situations. I’m sure many people will be interested in the Fairbuds just because of their ability to avoid using Bluetooth. I would also recommend to give a clear indication somewhere when Bluetooth is on and when it is off.
- Bug 4: When they are switched on like this, there is a clearly audible static noise. In addition to that, noise of the outside world is directly transmitted to the speakers for some reason. I guess they put themselves into “Ambient sound”. I would rather suggest to put them into “Noise cancellation off” by default.
- When pressing the black button once, the voice says “Ambient sound”. The sound stays exactly the same, so they simply stay in “Ambient sound” mode.
- Bug 5: When pressing the black button once, the voice says “Noise cancelling off”. The sound still stays exactly the same (with clearly audible static noise + sound of the outside world directly transmitted to the speakers). So, they simply stay in “Ambient sound” mode.
- Bug 6: When pressing the black button once, the voice says “Noise cancelling”. The sound still stays exactly the same (with clearly audible static noise + sound of the outside world directly transmitted to the speakers). So, they simply stay in “Ambient sound” mode.
- Bug 7: Everything that the voice says is extremely loud in relation to the music when in USB-C mode. This problem does not occur with Bluetooth.
- Changing the volume, changing to the next or previous song or pausing/playing the song works well with the green button via USB-C. This is really great and extremely convenient!
- Bug 8: When pressing the green button twice for the firs time it correctly says “Battery high”. When trying to do it again, it doesn’t work anymore (instead it will either switch songs or pause the song). After doing that, the Fairbuds seem to enter a strange state, where e.g. the shutdown sound also disappeared.
The strange thing is that all of those problems do not appear with the Bluetooth connection. Over there, everything works absolutely fine.
While testing I’ve actually found a workaround for Bugs 2 + 5. With that workaround they are at least usable with USB-C:
- Fairbuds XL are switched off
- Bluetooth on the phone is switched off
- Connect them via USB-C to an Android phone
- Play music on that phone (that seems to be important!)
- The music will then be audible with Fairbuds XL and the green switch cannot be used to change songs or to change volume
- Press the green button for 3 seconds to switch them on
- Press the green button twice, so the voice says “Battery high”
- Press the green button twice again (this time without the voice saying anything)
- Press the green button for 3 seconds and then release and wait for several seconds. Important: What you need is that there is no shutdown sound this time. If there is a shutdown sound, the workaround didn’t work and you need to try again.
- Result: The Fairbuds are now in a state where all noise cancellation and Bluetooth seems to be switched off and the green switch works for volume, switching songs and play/pause. It seems that this state remains even if you plug out the USB-C cable and plug it in again.
