If you’re asking yourself whether a cheap pair of wireless earbuds can offer similar quality to options costing two to three times as much, I have news for you. The EarFun Air 3 Pro are shockingly cheap for a pair of earbuds that appear to offer so much from a quick skim of the feature list, and they hold up impressively well.
From ANC and wireless charging to solid audio and great battery life, there’s a lot going on that you wouldn’t expect from $80 buds. While the EarFun Air 3 Pro may not be perfect, the price leaves little room to complain.
EarFun Air Pro 3
For less than $100, you’re getting many of the same features that come on earbuds costing twice or three times as much. The EarFun Air Pro 3 are effective for calls and exciting for music and movies. Their ANC also does a great job of making sure you’re not distracted by outside sound. Tack on a long battery life and wireless charging, and what more could you really want?
- Brand
- EarFun
- Battery Life
- 7 hours (buds with ANC on), 9 hours (buds with ANC off); 36 additional hours in case
- Noise Cancellation
- Yes
- Microphones
- 6
- IP rating
- IPX5
- Supported codecs
- SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive, LC3
- Charging
- USB-C; wireless
- Driver size
- 11mm
- Price (MSRP)
- $79
- Dimensions
- 20 x 22.8 x 32mm (buds); 60 x 50 x 31 mm (case)
- Weight
- 5g (buds, each); 43g (case only)
- Great sound for earbuds
- Impressive ANC
- Long battery life
- Wireless charging under $100
- Ambient sound controls either on or off
- Lid doesn't secure buds that well
- So-so app
Price and availability
The EarFun Air Pro 3 have a list price of $100 on EarFun’s website, but they’ve already dropped to $80 on that site and have been sitting steady at $80 on Amazon with some dips below that even.
Design, hardware, and what’s in the box
Accessorizers will likely be a little disappointed as the EarFun Air Pro 3 only come in one color: black. That black covers the entire case and the majority of the buds themselves, though the outward-facing side of the stem is a dark gray.
The EarFun Air Pro 3 don’t do much unique, design-wise. They slot into the ear canal with one of four different-sized ear tips included in the box, and they have extended stems that reach down toward the mouth for better voice reception. I was able to get a solid, snug fit with the included eartips, and could headbang without concern about them falling out, though they weren’t quite stable enough to stay put while I ate a tough bagel — no earbuds have been.
The design is very similar to Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro, but the EarFun stems are a little smaller. The case is a little boxy, and has a simple spring lid that won’t keep the buds in if you drop it, but it makes up for that a bit by supporting wireless charging or USB charging via the included USB A-to-C cable.
The buds themselves have a combined six microphones, slip in 11mm speaker drivers, and have touch controls that register single-, double-, triple-, and long-presses, providing many options for controls. The taps don’t need to be too hard, so I don’t find myself jamming them deep into my ear just to skip a track. The buds also get an IPX5 rating, protecting against a bit of rain or sweat, though not dust.
Finally, the box includes a manual and some instructions on keeping the buds clean.
Audio and ANC
Paying only $80 for a pair of ANC-enabled wireless earbuds? Something’s got to give. That’s what you might be thinking, but EarFun comes out swinging with the Air Pro 3. These buds have a lot of elements working together just right.
The EarFun Air Pro 3 feature 11mm drivers and support for some more capable codecs, like aptX and LC3, over Bluetooth 5.3. The combination allows for more complete audio data to come through to the buds and get pumped out with ample volume and clarity.
The drivers can pump out some really thumpy bass right alongside crisp treble for a fairly rich performance. In the opening track to Of Montreal’s False Priest — an album I use (in the form of FLAC files) across all of my audio testing — the vivacious bass line sings throughout while the tambourine and keys ring out in the high end and vocals still sound pronounced. Often, the compression of Bluetooth can show its weakness trying to play back dense, layered tracks like much of Of Montreal’s catalog, but the EarFun Air Pro 3 hold up quite well.
With the challenge of rich, complex music tackled quite well, the EarFun Air Pro 3 continue to show superb performance for a loud and clear presentation of podcasts and spoken presentations.
The earbuds already offer fairly strong isolation with a snug fit in my ear canals, but the ANC can take that even further. I still can notice a bit of hum from background sounds, music, and conversation in a busy cafe with the buds in and ANC off, but once ANC is on and music is playing (even at under 50% volume), I can hear effectively nothing else.
While the mics do solid work for ANC, they’re only average when picking up my voice for calls. They can filter out some noise, like a fan running, but don’t sound any better than acceptable on a call.
Features and app
The EarFun Air Pro 3 are surprisingly feature-rich for such low-cost buds, though their features aren’t as deep as some competitors. Having ANC at the price is already a great get, but the noise-canceling only has a toggle, no dial for adjusting its strength. The same goes for the buds’ ambient sound mode. Fortunately, the latter is rather clean, and sound doesn’t sound like it’s hissing its way through a tin can like it can on some headphones’ ambient sound modes.
The buds can also connect to two devices at once. However, while some Bluetooth devices may let one interrupt the other, the EarFun Air Pro 3 won’t let audio from one source come through until the audio from the current source is paused for a few seconds. Still, this is better than having to fully disconnect from a phone just to switch over to using the buds with a laptop or vice versa.
The app provides a simple interface for controlling ambient sound modes, toggling on a low-latency Game Mode (which still works with its ambient sound modes), and customizing the sound with a six-band equalizer. The equalizer comes with four presets with varying bass and treble levels, and adjustments reach the buds promptly. The Game Mode noticeably reduces latency, but unfortunately impacts stability, with subtle but noticeable signal blips that I never ran into while using the buds with it off.
You also get to manage the touch controls of the buds in the app. If you don’t want certain controls, you can disable them as well. Unfortunately, the app struggled with something many wireless devices struggle with: firmware updates. Attempting twice, the app reached “100%” on the final step, which was resetting the buds, but never passed that stage even after leaving it and the buds be for a while to see if it would wrap up. Despite seeing that “100%” reading twice, the buds still aren’t reporting they’re on the new firmware.
Battery and charging
EarFun claims a 7-hour runtime with ANC on or 9 hours with it off. This checks out, as the battery reports an 80% charge remaining even after a 100-minute listening session with ANC enabled. In fact, EarFun’s estimate may be a little conservative. Given how well the ANC cancels out external noise and the buds pump out volume, I couldn't justify listening over 50% volume.
When the buds run low, the charging case can top them up four times before it needs a recharge — an impressive amount. The case will charge up over USB-C in 2 hours or atop a wireless charger in 3.5 hours. With all the juice in the case and buds and the easy means of recharging, it’ll be easy to keep these buds from ever running low.
Competition
The EarFun Air Pro 3 gun for the best wireless earbuds while pricing themselves like the best cheap ones. They’ve got more features than many similarly priced options, such as the Jabra Elite 3 or Cambridge Audio Melomania 1+, both of which lack ANC and wireless charging. And they’re much cheaper than Sony’s WF-100XM4 or Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II while still competing with them on features. Perhaps their nearest competitor is the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro, but the EarFun Air Pro 3 prove largely their equal and are cheaper.
We recently gave the Jabra Elite 4 a strong recommendation, and the EarFun Air Pro 3 offer many of the same qualities and go beyond in many ways while costing a bit less. Even against the more impressive Jabra Elite 5, buds that come with a big bump in price, the EarFun Air Pro 3 seem a solid contender.
Should you buy them?
The EarFun Air Pro 3 may not be perfect. Still, when you consider that they’re offering features on the level of earbuds twice their price and pumping out surprisingly good audio, it’s easy to look past the minor setbacks, which are few anyway. It’s easy to give these buds a strong recommendation for anyone on the prowl for both capable wireless earbuds and a bargain.
EarFun Air Pro 3
For less than $100, you’re getting many of the same features that come on earbuds costing twice or three times as much. The EarFun Air Pro 3 are effective for calls and exciting for music and movies. Their ANC also does a great job of making sure you’re not distracted by outside sound. Tack on a long battery life and wireless charging, and what more could you really want?