EarFun Air Pro 3 Review: Noise

It's easy to find the perfect earbuds if you’re comfortable spending a few hundred dollars, but what if you’re on a budget? The EarFun Air Pro 3 are true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation, great battery life, and quality sound, all for well under $100.

Iterating on the Air Pro 2, the Earfun Air Pro 3 look fairly similar on paper. In practice, EarFun has taken some interesting steps forward with this model, notably with the introduction of a new Bluetooth codec.

EarFun makes quite a few different earbuds, but are the Air Pro 3 earbuds a standout in the company's lineup or just another model?

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Build and Design: Plastic, but Solid and ComfortableConnectivity: Looking Toward the FutureControls and Using the EarFun App: Simple but SolidSound Quality: Leave the Noise, Keep the BassMicrophone Audio Sample - IndoorsMicrophone Audio Sample - OutdoorsBattery Life: Plenty of PlaytimeShould You Buy the EarFun Air Pro 3 Earbuds?

The Earfun Air Pro 3 have what is now a fairly recognizable shape for a true wireless earbud, with a protruding stem at the bottom. They certainly don't look like a copy of the Apple AirPods Pro, but they’re not especially distinctive either. It's a simple design, but it works.

You shouldn't need to worry about taking the Air Pro 3 with you on a rainy day, as they’re IPX5-rated water-resistant. This means they’re splash-proof and sweat-proof, but you don't want to submerge them in water.

A good fit is key for good sound—powerful bass, especially—and for effective noise cancellation. EarFun includes four different sizes of silicone tips here: extra small, small, medium, and large. That extra small size is handy if you typically have a tough time finding a good fit with earbuds.

As long as you find a tip size that works for you, the Air Pro 3s are comfortable to wear for hours. They’re light enough to forget you’re wearing them.

Since 2020, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has been talking up Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio and the LC3 codec, which is supposed to sound better than the standard SBC codec, even while using a lower bitrate. The EarFun Air Pro 3 are some of the first affordable earbuds we’ve seen to include Bluetooth LE Audio and LC3.

Don't worry if your phone or audio player doesn't support this codec, as the Air Pro 3s still feature the usual SBC codec, as well as AAC, which means better sound on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. If you’re on an Android device, you’ll need to rely on the other codecs.

If your phone supports Bluetooth 5.3, you may either have support for LC3 or receive it in a future firmware update. This isn't the only alternative to SBC, however, as the Air Pro 3 earbuds also support aptX Adaptive. This doesn't have widespread support, but if your phone or other device supports it, it offers higher quality than the SBC codec.

Finally, the EarFun Air Pro 3 earbuds feature a Game Mode that lowers latency. This isn't really necessary, as latency is fairly low when using the earbuds in any mode. That said, milliseconds matter in gaming, so it's certainly handy to have.

There are no buttons on the Earfun Air Pro 3. Instead, you use a system of taps. For example, tapping twice on either earbud pauses and resumes playback or answers and ends calls. Tapping a single time on the right or left earbuds raises and lowers volume, respectively.

You can tap twice on the left earbud to cycle between normal, noise-canceling, and Ambient Sound modes. That said, for full control, you’ll want to install the EarFun app, available for iPhone as well as Android devices.

The app lets you update the firmware on your earbuds, though in my case, no update was necessary. You can also enable Game Mode and cycle through the various modes I mentioned earlier. The biggest reason to use the EarFun app, however, is the EQ feature.

You can set the six-band equalizer to your own custom setting, or you can choose from the four presets. These are fairly basic, cutting and boosting either bass or treble, but they’re a nice starting point for setting your own EQ curve.

I’ve tested other EarFun products, mostly earbuds, and they always have a fun sound, even if it isn't especially neutral. The Air Pro 3 are similar in that while they aren't for audiophiles, they should sound good to most people, as long as you can find a good fit.

Listening to Ty Segall's "Harmonizer," that powerful bass makes itself apparent immediately, though it leaves the midrange enough room. The stereo panning of various parts is very clear, but the soundstage isn't especially wide, not that this is unusual in earbuds.

Similarly, "Dance Floor" by The Apples in Stereo has a lot of movement in the stereo field, and that translates well on the Air Pro 3, but again the soundstage isn't very wide. On the neutral EQ setting, which I used for the vast majority of my listening, the low end has plenty of thump, but the highs are treated nicely as well.

One aspect of the Air Pro 3 worth pointing out is that right out of the box, they sound great with audiobooks and podcasts. The spoken word, especially male speakers, often sounds too bass-heavy on earbuds. While other earbuds like the 1MORE Aero aim to fix this issue with a "podcast" EQ setting, the Air Pro 3 are a great set of earbuds if you mostly listen to podcasts or watch videos.

The active noise cancellation (ANC) is surprisingly effective, though, like sound quality, this is highly dependent on finding a good fit. Even with nothing playing, enabling ANC significantly reduces noise. Play music or even a podcast or video, and you won't hear a thing.

Assuming you want to hear your surroundings, the Ambient Sound mode (aka Transparency Mode) is surprisingly good. Apple and some others are still at the front, but cheaper options like the Air Pro 3s are catching up quickly.

EarFun claims a battery life of up to seven hours with ANC enabled, and up to nine hours with ANC disabled. Add in the extra charges from the case, and you get a total of up to 37 hours with ANC and up to 45 hours without.

I tested the battery life with ANC enabled and actually got slightly over seven hours on a single charge. That said, how much battery life you get out of a single charge depends heavily on volume, and I do tend to listen at a lower volume than many people.

The Air Pro 3 earbuds take an hour in the case to fully recharge, while the case charges in two hours over USB-C. If you’d prefer to charge the case wirelessly, it will take around three and a half hours.

The earbuds feature fast charging, getting you up to two hours of playtime from a 10-minute charge.

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The EarFun Air Pro 3 earbuds are a sort of jack of all trades when it comes to true wireless earbuds. I can't think of any areas where they really stand out or excel, but I also can't think of any areas where they fail or fall short. They’re not outstanding, but they’re solid and, for the price, that's a selling point.

The larger overall drivers seem to be a recent trend in mid-range and high-end in-ears, so it's nice to see this included on the Air Pro 3. These drivers may have something to do with why the ANC and Ambient Sound mode work so well on a pair of earbuds in this price range.

If you’re looking for quality earbuds at a decent price, you’ve got plenty of great options. That said, the inclusion of Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 codec, while not a game changer, does make the EarFun Air Pro 3 a comparatively future-proof pick.