Average buds for casual listening

A new pair of good wireless earbuds should meet certain worthwhile qualifications, including comfort, battery life, affordability, and sound quality. Unfortunately, earbuds that check every box are few and far between and could set you back by more than a couple of hundred dollars. Budget earbuds are available by the horde but require significant sacrifice on your feature wishlist. But offerings in the $100 to $150 range, like the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2, are more than capable of pumping out a gym playlist, streaming a podcast, or dulling the noisy subway car on your commute. Assuming, of course, that you’re willing to let a few boxes go unchecked.

Price, availability, and specs

The Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 clock in at $130, dropping them squarely in the lower midrange category, and they’re currently available on Amazon. Edifier products are also sold through other online retailers, like Walmart, but the NeoBuds Pro 2 aren’t yet available elsewhere.

What’s good about the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2?

Audio quality and price bracket strike a balance

If I’m spending over $100 on a pair of earbuds, the sound had better impress. According to Edifier, the NeoBuds Pro 2 vastly improve on their first-gen predecessors sound-wise. The drivers remain the same across the generations — both use a Knowles Balanced Armature Driver and a 10mm dynamic driver. But AAC is added to the earbuds’ list of supported codecs, which adds a modest sound quality boost for most listeners, notably Apple device users who can’t use the high-fidelity LDAC and LHDC codecs.

The earbuds’ sound profile out of the box wasn’t perfect (more on that below) but the NeoBuds Pro 2 still delivered detailed, robust audio, even if there was a slight imbalance. There’s a nice, thumpy bass to these buds, without venturing into overkill territory.

The NeoBuds Pro 2 have a striking, angular aesthetic and are some of my favorite earbuds, visually speaking. It’s hard to make a curb-appealing impression in the highly saturated earbud market, so consequentially, only a lucky few do — like the Nothing Ear (a) earbuds. The charging case looks sleek and modern, made of luxuriously weighted plastic, with a front-side LED indicator strip, the color of which is customizable in the app. While the earbud stems mirror this appearance, the speaker pieces are almost abrupt in comparison, a bulbous oblong shape that I will speak to later.

There are no control options for single and long presses on the earbuds’ stems. At first, I was a bit miffed, wishing that I could execute a simple quick tap to play or pause music. However, with the NeoBuds Pro 2s’ responsiveness, I quickly realized how much this minimizes accidental bumps and brushes, especially as someone constantly battling back unruly hair.

There’s nothing to complain about with call quality on these buds, and the active noise cancellation — which toggles between high, medium, and low ANC, plus transparent mode, wind reduction mode, and fully off — works well to mute fans, distant voices, and a TV in another room. Sharp or high noises like a dog barking still slice through. I wouldn’t expect Sony- or Bose-level ANC outside of midrange buds, but the NeoBuds Pro 2 still do well in this category. There’s not much of a perceivable difference between the low and medium cancellation modes, though. To get top-of-the-line (and top-dollar) noise-cancelling earbuds, go with the Bose QuietComfort Ultras.

What’s bad about the Edifier Neobuds Pro 2?

Not for marathon listening sessions

As much as I wish I could use the NeoBuds Pro 2 earbuds for hours and hours, the earpiece’s bulbous design makes that impossible for me, and I’m not someone who frequently encounters discomfort wearing earbuds. After about two hours of continual use, a steady ache crept into my ear canals, and I had to take a break. I tried all the included seven ear tip sizes, but it comes down to the earbuds themselves.

These certainly aren’t viable earbuds for sleeping. I have relatively average-sized ears, perhaps a bit on the bigger side, so I worry that users with average- and smaller-sized ears will face the same issue.

Some listeners may need to make EQ adjustments. These are very treble-forward earbuds, so I had to pull back on the treble range to soften the vocals and sharper instruments.

Should you buy it?

Nice sound for the price, but it’s hard to stand out in the mid-tier crowd

The Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 have style and sound quality and are stable in the ears. However, they didn’t meet the mark for me in terms of comfort, a milestone that even other Edifier products I used managed to achieve in the past. This may not be ubiquitous to all users, but as someone with an above-average amount of earbuds cluttering my desk, I probably won’t reach for the NeoBuds when settling in for a long podcast or movie. Their detailed, well-bodied sound is good for short spurts of activity, like cleaning or working out.

There are native earbuds within every major smartphone brand (Google, Apple, and Samsung, at least) that offer a more cohesive user experience overall thanks to baked-in applications, fast pairing, and Find My services. They’d sound just as good as the NeoBuds, if not better, and offer a longer battery life. But the audio quality lines up with the price, so if you’re looking for some new buds outside the major manufacturers and want decent noise cancellation plus a standout visual aesthetic, there’s nothing wrong with picking the NeoBuds Pro 2.