Those looking for a great deal often jump at the chance when presented with a bargain. The EarFun Air Pro 3 offers current-gen specs and features for under $100, so what’s the catch? We tested to find out.

Editor’s note: this is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

The EarFun Air Pro 3 is a set of lollipop-styled earbuds with an aggressively forward-angled stem. The buds fit into a relatively small charging case, which enables charging over USB or wirelessly with any Qi-compatible charging pad. EarFun may not have made the most exciting earbuds ever, but it did debut a product with a lot of nice touches for something on the more affordable end of the market.

The earbuds have short nozzles, which is good for those who aren’t a huge fan of the brain tickle longer ones give. The nozzle is that little bit hidden behind the ear tip that sticks into your ear. A shorter nozzle is also a great way to make sure your product will fit a wider array of people. Consequently, it wasn’t much of a surprise to me that I could wear the EarFun Air Pro 3 for hours without too much discomfort. I’d still prefer a more ovoid shape, but that may be too much to ask at this price point.

For those of you who really punish their earbuds through workouts, the EarFun Air Pro 3 bears an ingress protection rating of IPX5. This simply means that you probably couldn’t kill the earbuds with a squirt gun. However, that doesn’t mean that these earbuds are waterproof; you just can’t sweat through the casing. They won’t survive a swim.

Like many of the more well-polished earbuds out there, using the EarFun Air Pro 3 is as simple as it gets. You don’t really think about them being there; they just are. Over time, the silicone eartips will build up heat, but that’s true of any earbuds.

Should you use the EarFun app for the EarFun Air Pro 3?

Using the EarFun app unlocks some fun extras, like controlling ANC level and a lower-latency game mode. You’ll also occasionally need it for firmware updates, so even if you’re privacy-conscious, you’ll need to install the app occasionally.

There’s also a six-band equalizer with three equalizer presets that you can save if you get creative and make situation-specific presets that you’d like to swap to on a whim. While we usually look for something a little more fleshed-out, it’s a fair sight better than what’s offered by some of the more popular brands out there.

How do the EarFun Air Pro 3 connect?

The EarFun Air Pro 3 connects to your phone or computer with Bluetooth 5.3 via AAC, SBC, or aptX Adaptive. However, iPhone owners should note that the aptX family of codecs will not be available to use with their phones — the best you can use is AAC. This is really fine, though, as this codec often results in much better latency than SBC on Android and Windows.

If you often swap between two devices, the EarFun Air Pro 3 supports Multipoint, but only with two devices.

How long does the EarFun Air Pro 3 battery last?

Withstanding our standardized battery test for 6 hours and 26 minutes, the EarFun Air Pro 3 performs better than average for earbuds. Though this kind of performance isn’t quite good enough to last for an intercontinental flight or anything, but it’s more than enough for your morning commute. Given that you’re going to be charging the earbuds anytime you’re not using them, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about as long as your charging case gets topped off now and again.

While the EarFun Air Pro 3’s ANC is fairly weak, the product does a decent job of isolation, so the story isn’t as bad as the above lines on a chart appear. Still, you can “only” expect to have about 60% of outside noise attenuated by the time it reaches your ears. Not terrible, not amazing by today’s standards. Of course, this will vary a lot depending on factors such as fit, so be sure to take the time to re-fit the earbuds if you notice something amiss. However, don’t try to chase perfection, as you likely won’t be able to find it.

How do the EarFun Air Pro 3 sound?

Though most people will like the sound of the EarFun Air Pro 3, those with sensitive, young, or trained ears will notice distortion.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

The chart below shows how the sound of the EarFun Air Pro 3 was assessed by the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics.

The high overall score heavily depends on that very good Timbre score and the uncommonly good immersiveness. However, after several tests and retests, the distortion rates as something that most people will find off-putting. I can see the earbuds as an okay option for someone listening to non-music content, or listening to music in a noisy setting, but the truth of the matter is that these earbuds are not going to satisfy pickier audiophiles.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

The EarFun Air Pro 3 is a fair bit bassier than we typically look to see, but that’s a plus for many people and more of a matter of taste. From middle-C and lower, the emphasis rises to over 8dB over our target, which is quite loud for bass and sub-bass. There is a dip in the mids from 266Hz to 1.1kHz, and then an overemphasis in the highs up until 8.1kHz. This is a fairly common feature seen in earbuds that have strong bass, and it helps some of the smaller details like instrument attack and room effects stay audible.

Though the frequency response doesn’t extend into the highs as much as I’d like, the EarFun Air Pro 3 does maintain a decent level of emphasis even above 10kHz. This translates to a very “V-shaped” sound, which strongly emphasizes bass and treble over mids — a popular sound, even if it isn’t something enthusiasts typically gravitate towards.

Can you use the EarFun Air Pro 3 for phone calls?

Just like you can with most other earphones, the EarFun Air Pro 3 is more than capable of handling a phone or video chat. Below are samples collected in our labs:

EarFun Air Pro 3 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

On sale, these earbuds could be worth it to someone merely looking for earbuds with wireless charging and up-to-date hardware, but I wouldn’t recommend these over many other options in the under-$100 price bracket. Sure, the specs are nothing to sniff at, and the performance is about what you can expect for this category, but there are too many models that compete with the EarFun Air Pro 3 at similar prices that I’ll generally recommend other products. That’s not to say that this is a bad product by any stretch — it’s okay — but I’m not sure it makes a compelling case for your dollar.

That said, the EarFun Air Pro 3 ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of people looking for a bargain, and aren’t terribly concerned with pristine audio quality. If you want creature comforts that you typically can’t find under $100, wait until these go on sale to grab a pair.

What should you get instead of the EarFun Air Pro 3?

Bargain hunters looking for affordable ANC earbuds are going to have to make tradeoffs, but there are plenty of options out there for those in the market for a portable music buddy. I strongly recommend increasing your budget by a couple of Hamiltons. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE ($99 at Amazon) offers pretty much everything the EarFun Air Pro 3 does, but with better ANC performance. So, too, does the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC ($99.99 at Amazon). You could also stick with EarFun, as the EarFun Free Pro 3 ($79.99 at Amazon) has a lot of what the EarFun Air Pro 3 have to offer at a similar price, but with better sound quality.

Alternatively, you could forgo the IPX5 water resistance and go for the ultra-cheap Moondrop Space Travel ($24.99 at Amazon). These earbuds sound better, have better ANC, and much lower price.