True Wireless Stereo Earbuds 🎧

[Incanus]

The modularity of the modular earbuds was the cable. So this is the next step, no cable at all .

[anon9989719]

Ha! I’m not sure if I should like your last post

I’m going for a chip in the brain that runs on metabolised fuel from a banana as the next option.

OH! and there are no more cables for the modular one either, that was real windup.

Apparently there have been for a while, it was a temp issue ??

[Anwendung]

Hi all!
Is there anyone who received the erabuds already and can answer those Questions?

[TrueCherry]

I ordered the Earbuds for my boyfriend. Upon received, I will test/review them on my boyfriend usage and my usage and I will be available to answer some questions

[urs_lesse]

I received the shipping notice about an hour ago. (Ordered & paid 14 October)

[GreenAndFair]

hi,
just received my true wireless earbuds and you can also listen to music with just the left earbud. you don’t have to have both in your ears.

ANC works well, have here an air purifier from IKEA next to me stand less than 1 meter away and at the highest level is usually unpleasantly loud. with ANC and music at medium volume I hear him no longer. But have no comparison to other ANC headphones.

From the sound rather bass-heavy as you know it from in-ear headphones compared to my HifiMan Sundara open back headphones

[TrueCherry]

Thank you @GreenAndFair! Have you tested voice calls?

[GreenAndFair]

Not yet. These are my first earbuds, I think I have to get used to accepting calls with them. Instead of taking them out like my old in-ear headphones.

[urs_lesse]

Some first …

Compatibility & Functionality tests

3x = three taps | 2x = two taps | 2s = hold 2 seconds

FP1 Fairphone OS 1.8.7 KolaNut | Android 4.2.2

App / Feature	Works?	L Skip back 3x	Pause 2x	R Skip next 3x
Pairing
Sound Recorder
Music
VLC
ANC 2s
Voicethrough 2s

FP2 Fairphone Open 21.10.0 | Android 9

App / Feature	Works?	L Skip back 3x	Pause 2x	R Skip next 3x
Pairing
Sound Recorder
Simple Voice Recorder (F-Droid)
Music
VLC
ANC 2s
Voicethrough 2s

FP3 Murena /e/OS 0.19 | Android 10

App / Feature	Works?	L Skip back 3x	Pause 2x	R Skip next 3x
Pairing
Sound Recorder
Simple Voice Recorder (“Apps”)
Music
VLC
ANC 2s
Voicethrough 2s

As you can see, I have not been able to use the microphone to record my voice yet under /e/OS 0.19 on my FP3+. Still awaiting if it works for calls, but more optimistic there.

I cannot test the Voice Assistant functionality (needs a Google-certified OS, I guess), so I omitted that control (hold left earbud for 2 s) from the table.

As to ANC and Voicethrough, I really just confirm (not that easy to test by talking to yourself ) that the controls result in audibly different modes – and I assume that those work completely independently of the device the earbuds are connected to.

UPDATE 18:47:
Just using them to listen to FLAC tracks played through VLC … from my early 2009 desktop computer.

UPDATE 18 Nov:
Easily worked with a Win10 tablet as well (plus made me figure out the unmentioned volume control, see below).

[urs_lesse]

Interesting find: While Fairphone’s instructions advise you to control volume on the source device, I just noticed that swiping (in either direction) the right earbud (i.e. its stem) increases volume while swiping the left earbud reduces it. It’s not super precise and doesn’t always respond at first try, so maybe it’s a function Fairphone just chose to not mention for those reasons while it might have been originally planned to be part of the controls.

[panina]

Oh thank you so much @urs_lesse for doing these tests! I’m very grateful, it feels a lot better ordering them after I’ve seen some hands-on info about them.

I’m wondering a specific thing that I’d be very grateful if you, or anyone else reading this, could test: the back pocket problem.
Can the headphones keep playing music from your phone, without the sound getting choppy, if the phone is in your back pocket, or a bag on your back?

I’ve only encountered a few wireless headphones that actually could, and it’s grown to be a rather important issue for me.

Either way, very grateful for the tests that you’ve already done.

Yours kindly,
panina

[urs_lesse]

Welcome to our community

This is the first pair of wireless earphones I ever had, so others might have more experience here. However, I just gave them a really tough test – I started listening to radio streaming (Wi-Fi – read: a double challenge for the phone – receiving and sending a signal) and put the phone into the fridge. Sitting down at my desk some 3-4 metres from the fridge, I was surprised how well this worked (after 1-2 interuptions whilst I went from fridge to desk, I just let it play for one minute without interruption) when I was sitting still. Once I got up and moved, it was getting interrupted from time to time. I then got upstairs to my apartment’s upper floor and only there & then did radio playback finally collapse altogether. The same with locally stored (on the phone’s SD card) audio playback.

I think there cannot be a general works/does not work answer, it depends how tough the “shielding” around your phone is. Probably everyone agrees a refrigerator door counts as tough shielding.

P.S.: This was with my FP3+ on energy saving mode.

[panina]

Dear @urs_lesse
Thank you so much for testing! You’re a star!
That does like rather good connection, so it should be safe.
I’ve ordered mine, and will get back with my comparisons to my other headphones when the TWS arrives!

[Bapf]

Thank you for your detailed review, Urs! Just a small follow up question: Is it possible to pair the Earbuds with more than one device simultaneously?

[urs_lesse]

Pair yes, but not actually use/connect (active) simultaneously.

[Anwendung]

Thanks for the review! So its nice to know, that you can use just one earbud, but is it possible to put one earbud in the “loadingstation” and use only the other one? And if so, will the used earbud restart after you put one back or does it work seamless?

[Galli]

Hi
Mine just arrived. Great stuff
To the last question. Yes you can continue listening whilst the other is loading. The moment you take it out of your ear, the remaining one stops playing. By pressing play it will continue to play even if the other is in the case.
now about putting the it back in.
It does work seamless if you manage to put it back in your ears without touching the the surface that is supposed to respond to your finger. A complete restart is not happening even if you touch it. It just stops playing the Musik as it should when touched…
hope I was able to answer your questions.

[juri.gagarin.ii]

And what are the sound characteristics? Clear? Muffled? Bass accentuated?

[TrueCherry]

I received my boyfriend ones. He will test them as a casual tech user the next week and I will share what he tolds me.

I tested them for ~25 minutes too.

So @juri.gagarin.ii I think I can help. Any audiophile-related analysis is subjective. However :

To begin, bass are here, and they have a strong presence. How you will like it depends of your preferences, but I love it. That’s something I dig.

Concerning how it handle different sections of the audio spectrum:

• Massive bass can wronlgly mix together and lose detail a little more easily in metal genres, I feel (Tested with Children of the Dark of Mono Inc where this was more the case. On Music and Shoemaker of Nightwish it as more acceptable, but that is a less bass imposing metal band).
• Medium-basses are well present and I feel that they are not lost in the rest of the spectrum like I feel they do in the previous fairphone headphones. With some jazz, wich relies more on mediums, sound can be too bassboosted for a « natural » feel, but the way you will react about that depend highly of your preferences (Tested with Blue World from John Coltrane).
• Medium-high can feel a little scathing for me, but I think that is something you can be used to (Tested with Finale from Tron Legacy soundtrack).

Concerning how the sound is “clear”:

• Sounds and instruments are really more balanced and discernible than on previous headphones or many previous audio material that I had. This is not Sennheiser but it’s a thing that I really appreciate.
• On few musics, different areas of the spectrum are clearly discernible and it’s really pleasant!

On a general note, concerning audiophile feelings, from my point of view this is without a doubt clearly better than on the previous fairphone headphones. Moreover, in conclusion, because I wrote a lot of details about my feelings, what is really clearly important here is that I really enjoyed my time using those little things. Despite the fact that I can be a nitpicking person sometimes. But I never put more than 40€ in headphones or listening device before. So I am clearly not an expert for a 100€ device.

If someone want to critic/nuance/improve on what I’ve said with their personal experience of the FP earbuds, I’m really open to it. There is only subjectivity in my feeling and I’m clearly not an expert on spectrum analysis, I just like to check how the sound feel on different genres and that is an important aspect for me. But when bass are strong, I can be biased as it is something I really like.

Hoping this helps

[urs_lesse]

I am also quite delighted with the sound (music playback). I slightly disagree with you and @GreenAndFair though when it comes to basses. To me they sound just right and not particularly emphasized. From my experience and from what I have read in the past, in-earphones actually always run the risk of losing/missing bass if the silicone “seal” in your ear isn’t good enough. In other words: in-ears should usually tend to sound tinny rather than bass-y. Although I’m using the biggest silicone parts with the Fairphone TWS, it still doesn’t feel like I’ve hammered them into my ear channels to the max, and yet the basses are there.

All in all, I find the sound pleasantly balanced, and I agree with you on how they sound significantly better than Fairphone’s discontinued wired Modular Earphones which suffered from … let me call it droning. Details were getting drained a bit in too much lower register walls.

I have only taken two phone calls with them so far, and this is where they didn’t sound that great. A bit of a radio communication sound that I didn’t have with the same caller when previously using Fairphone’s modular earphones.

Sorry, I am also not an expert, so my terminology might not be up to the highest standards.

Grateful for your takes @GreenAndFair and @TrueCherry