EarFun Wave Pro review: Subpar execution

Noise canceling headphones and earbuds are the new everyday wear for most folks. In-ear, on-ear, or over-ear, brands like Bose, Sony, and the endless hoards of third-party developers are doing whatever they can to perfect technologies like ANC and transparency listening while improving comfort, battery life, and price.

Headsets like the EarFun Wave Pro attempt to combine all these important design and performance features. I had the opportunity to test the company’s first true pair of headphones, which advertise some pretty insane specs. Some standouts are 55-80 listening hours (based on ANC usage), an AI-calibrated mic array, and Bluetooth multipoint. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the $80 price, which is low for such a feature-packed headset.

Are these low-cost ANC cans worth your time and money? Based on my experience, I’m leaning in a rather dismissive direction, but others may disagree.

Price and availability

Almost here

As of the publication of this review, the EarFun Wave Pro isn’t available in North America. At least not just yet. We do know that they’re going to retail for $80 though. Considering EarFun sells certain products on Amazon, I assume we’ll eventually see the Wave Pro on Amazon’s digital shelves, too.

What’s good about the EarFun Wave Pro

Comfort, performance, and jaw-dropping battery life

The EarFun Wave Pro looks like just another run-of-the-mill headset, until you start wearing them. I hate the weighty sensation a big pair of headphones elicits, and I find myself oddly sensitive to ANC too. I’ve looked up ‘nausea from noise canceling headphones,’ and this is very much a thing.

When I first placed the Wave Pro over my ears, I was expecting another claustrophobic listening session, but was greeted to a lightweight and comfortable headset. And even with ANC cranked all the way up (the EarFun Audio app lets you adjust this), I could keep the Wave Pro on for hours at a time without discomfort. I can’t even say that about my $130 Sony Bluetooth headphones that I swear by!

Of course, the big thing we all want to know about is how do these headphones sound? Pretty dang good! For the price, I wasn’t expecting perfection, but the Wave Pro delivered the highs, mids, and lows of ANC headsets that are double the price. I was particularly impressed by how much bass the Wave Pro delivered, and the fact that the cans could do so without infringing on mid-low frequencies.

Speaking of bass: If you like the thump, you can get even more by downloading and pairing the Wave Pro to the free EarFun Audio app (iOS and Android). This great companion software lets you choose from several different audio presets, as well as a custom EQ. I liked all of the noise canceling presets, too, allowing listeners to truly fine-tune ANC performance based on their listening environment and comfort level.

Personally, I didn’t notice that big of a difference between modes like Comfort ANC and Strong ANC, but having an ANC preset that’s engineered to kill wind noise is quite the feat.

If you’re the kind of person who uses wireless headphones and earbuds all day long and forgets to charge them, the Wave Pro was made for you. With ANC turned off, EarFun claims you’ll get up to 80 hours of playback (up to 55 hours with ANC enabled).

And just 10 minutes of charging gets you an extra 10 hours of battery life! I’ve had to reread that last fast-charge spec several times because it’s almost too good to be true.

What’s bad about the EarFun Wave Pro

Limited soundstage and lackluster call quality

Funny enough, one of the best things about the Wave Pro is also one of its worst qualities: sound quality. What do I mean, exactly? Even though the frequency spectrum receives some fairly balanced attention, the Wave Pro’s overall soundstage is pretty narrow.

The best analogy I can muster is it sounded like everything I was listening to was compressed into MP3 format, when I know for a fact that the tracks I was listening to were much higher quality.

I also noticed a never-ending hiss when ANC was turned on and no music was playing. It was subtle, but I couldn’t ignore it. That’s not totally unusual for a cheaper set of Bluetooth headphones, but I’ve tested several headsets and earbuds over the last year or so and haven’t encountered any product with a hiss issue.

Call quality wasn’t so great either. I hopped on a test call with my girlfriend, with both of us being on separate sides of our apartment. She reported my voice as sounding tinny. She also said it was like I had awful reception, and that it kept sounding like I was about to lose my connection.

Wearing the Wave Pro while on this call, I thought my girlfriend’s voice sounded choppy and compressed. I’ve yet to find a headset or earbuds that can match my AirPods Pro 2 for call quality. The Wave Pro certainly doesn’t come anywhere close to even competing in this category.

Should you buy them?

I wanted more from the Wave Pro

If you ask me, the EarFun Wave Pro misses the mark. That’s too bad, especially since they nailed some of the most important headset features: comfort and performance, not to mention the awesome battery life.

Headphones and earbuds with immense, detail-oriented soundstages are more likely to cost upwards of $300 than less than $90. So, while I wasn’t completely surprised by the Wave Pro’s misses, I thought the good would outweigh the bad. That just wasn’t the case for me.

If you’re trying to save money and want as much ANC control as possible, I can see the Wave Pro being a decent contender, but maybe as the bottom rung on an otherwise tall list of options.