EarFun Air Pro 4i

I already have the EarFun Pros and Pro+, so when I heard about the 4i, I had to give these a try.

These fit into the lower mid-range, upper budget end of the market.

The case is slightly on the chunky side, the rounded edges help it feel smaller, but it won't be going into the change pocket on your jeans, at least not comfortably. The lid uses springs rather than magnets to hold it either open or closed. Single-handed opening is tricky but possible.

The build of the case feels solid and durable. It is made of a smooth plastic.

The case does support wireless charging, which at this price is great, the charging state is displayed by a single LED on the front.

These buds come with 5 different pairs of silicone tips, which will cover virtually everyone's ear sizes, the tips are oval to closer match the shape of your ear canal.

As these are more budget buds, you do lose the in-ear detection, which is something I often turn off on more expensive buds anyway. You do still keep the ANC, custom EQ options through the app, transparency, and more.

The ANC is excellent for this price point, there really is a noticeable drop in café noise, and aircraft cabin noise, to the point with music playing you could forget it was there. Voices were heavily reduced too, great for use in an office, though this wasn't as effective as the other noise types.

Transparency works okay, but it doesn't sound like the buds aren't there, the quality isn't quite the same as if the buds weren't there.

The sound is very pleasant, but I find it best with ANC on, as this gives the low end a boost, without it, the sound can be a little thin sounding. I really don't mind this, as I leave ANC on anyway. It does mean that music doesn't sound as good with transparency on.

On its default EQ, the sound is great for this price, and gives more expensive buds a run for their money. It can then be tuned to your individual taste in the app using the 10 band EQ, this alone is fantastic, as I have far more premium buds that either don't offer this, or limit you to five bands.

There is a roll-off in the high end, that kills off a little of the sparkle, this is far from the worst I have heard, and can at least in part be corrected in the EQ.

Overall though, I would say if you are looking in this price range, then these are a great choice for you, they do give many premium features, with only very minor drawbacks. Show Full Review

The charging case is compact and will easily fit in most pockets, making it easy to take it out with you for a quick top-up of power if required.
The case is plastic but is of a robust build, so it should survive minor knocks and drops and remain intact.
On first opening the case, you will need to remove the cardboard cover for the connections and place them back in the case.
You now have the option to use the EarFun app or not, your choice.
Connecting the buds to my devices' Bluetooth was easy and quick. Out of the box, they use the AAC codec. In the app i connected the buds to the LDAC codec.
Whilst in the app, i turnt on ANC and used the Bass Boost 1 EQ setting. If you find that you wish to change that preset, there is a host to chosse from, as well as customising the 10-band graphic equaliser...
The Buds are the classic stem shape and have a bulbous shape, which enables a secure and comfortable fit... The Buds go just far enough into the Ear Canal to give a good seal.
I am using the default size silicone/rubber ear tips, but you can swap and try the other 4 sizes of tips that come with the buds for the best fit for your ears.

To the Sound: it's winter, so for this review, I have been using the EarFuns indoors using my Playlist on Amazon Music Unlimited, which offers HD/Ultra HD/ Dolby Atmos/Spatial sound, and as the buds are HI-RES Audio Wireless, they should be able to work well with the HI-RES quality of many of the tracks.

Playing "Hey Little Girl " by Icehouse at 75% volume, which is basically a flat-sounding track... The EarFun gives some good low-end response, which is nicely controlled... The Mids and High frequencies give clean and crisp vocals and instruments, and strings are delivered clearly with good separation from the vocals.
Moving on to the more complex "Different Corner" by George Michael, this is a bass-heavy track... And the Ear Funs respond with a punchy and vibrant bass response, the vocals are rasping and detailed... Instruments and strings stand out and are dynamic, but the 75% volume is just right for the track.
The Mono "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, with sounds coming from one bud and then the other displays the bud's vocal strength with crisp, detailed, and controlled sound...
The ANC does a good job of blocking some of the external sound, but these are buds; for splendid isolation, you require over the head Headphones for that.
The Battery life is good without being class-leading.
For the price, the Ear Funs offer sound quality that can match more expensive models... ANC that works well , a comfortable fit, and app integration. Show Full Review

This is the fourth EarFun product that I've reviewed, and once again they don't disappoint.

The case and buds feel like a quality item, and when charging everything clicks into place with no worry about anything falling out. I did of a charger in before using but it didn't take long for it to get to 100% so I guess they were almost full to start with. They can, incidentally, also be charged wirelessly which is a very welcome feature.

Although I'm not normally a "teardrop" or "stem" (I think that's what these are called) kind of earbuds wearer, I found these easy to keep in place once fitted. I did however have to replace the silicone tips with the next size down, as the ones which were fitted were too large. It's very important to check this as it makes a significant difference, not just to comfort but to sound quality as well.

Noise cancelling is remarkably good for something of this price. I was listening to music the day before with headphones on, and the NC did very little to block out voices. These did a very good job, so tick for that.

As regards actual music quality, the first thing I did before playing anything was to connect to the app (which I already had installed, but as far as I can recall it was easy to do) and check the EQ. I was a little bit underwhelmed on the default setting, but there are a few presets which really do work, and what I found made the most difference was the "theatre" mode which creates a wider stereo image. As soon as I engaged that, everything came to life.

Overall these are fantastic for the price (and excellent regardless of the price!) and sound good with all kinds and genres of music. 60s pop, acoustic, rock, Easy Listening, Britpop, you name it, the only thing I don't really listen to is bass heavy stuff like you hear coming out of a car parked at the lights. Everything else is great.

These come recommended. Show Full Review

Pro's
Remarkable clarity for the price
Very affordable (when discounted)
Decent App
Wireless charging
Better than average noise cancelling

Con's
Slightly airy mids
No in ear detection
Can sometimes get congested in the bass

Overall
Right now these have a voucher offer for £34.99 - at this price these are an absolute steal. Comfortably outperform the Air Pro 3's which I paid £80 for last year, in every area that counts. At £49.99 RRP they still represent great value, but reduced standard Air Pro 4's make more sense.

I thought these might be repackaged Air Pro 3's but I was wrong. These are much better and completely redesigned.

Packaging/Presentation
These come packaged in a way that is very standard for Earfun now. You know what you are getting. They don't scream premium at you, but they are well packaged in fully recyclable card packaging with no extra plastic apart from the outer shrink wrap.
Inside you get 5 sized ear tips to get the best seal possible, and a USB A to C short charging cable
The case comes with the earbuds inside, but with a paper seal seperating the contacts that needs removing before pairing.
The case itself seems to be different to any existing case. It's roughly 56mmx53mm with a depth around 30mm. It's clamshell, like many of it's predecessors. This compares to the Air pro 4 case at 62.4 x 46.6 x 29.2 mm, which was comparable (albeit minimally larger) to the Air pro 3. So it's squarer than other earfun cases. The new Earfun Air Pro 4+ is a complete resign and not comparable at all.

The buds themselves are also a redesign. Again I suspected they might use the old Air Pro 3 shells, especially as both use a 11mm driver, but these are different. For a start they are missing the usually touch sensor disc, instead going for small dot where the touch sensor is. (which works just fine)

Pairing/app
I actually like the Earfun App, I have used it a lot and it does everything I need.
Pairing is via googles newer quick pair (for android phones) and means you don't even need to delve into your bluetooth menu to get set up.
These came with the latest firmware, so no flashing, which is handy because I always seem to have to reset them after a firmware flash.
The app has several EQ's as well as custom EQ. It also has a "my sound profile" feature where is plays some frequencies and you select what you can and can't hear and it will do an EQ for you based on your individual hearing.
It allows you to select if the noise cancelling mode is Adaptive (turns up and down automatically depending on background noise), wind cancelling, balanced or max noise cancelling.
There is a handy "find my earphones" mode where they produce a gradually louder beep until you have tracked them down.
You can use multipoint OR the higher resolution LDAC codec, not both. But this is not unusual. I used them on LDAC for this review.
You can adjust the touch sensors to do what you want or disable them entirely.

Sound Quality
I compared these to the Earfun Air Pro 3 (which also has an 11mm driver), and the Air Pro 4+ (10mm driver).
The sound signature appears much closer to the 4+ than the 3's.
Bass in particular sounds much clearer. The 3's seem to have more rumble to the bass, but lack clarity. These have the clarity. So during classical music you can tell it's a double bass and it's not just rumbly bass.
During some complex bass tracks things can get lost. I'm thinking of tracks like Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) where you have church bells along with a low rumbling bass guitar and drum section which really adds to the mood. In some earbuds the bass line and drums merge, and while these try to seperate them they are less good at it than the Air Pro 4+. The Air pro 3's in contrast are muddied together with little to no seperation.
Never is this more apparent than with Faith no more - Epic - a track I feel is suboptimally mastered and sounds muddy on most things.
These 4i's seperate the muddiness and it sounds a different track completely on the 4i's than on the 3's. Clearer, more defined and generally just a remarkable achievement in a cheaper earbud.

There is a little airiness to the mids and vocals. Nothing overly telling, but comparing vocal tracks you can again tell the Air Pro 4+ offer more clarity.

Top ends are fine. Not overly fatiguing. I've seen graphs suggesting some drop off, but maybe it's my 50+ hearing, because I can't hear any drop off. Possibly the sound of the reel to reel tape player (or cine film) during the mono intro to "wish you here" by pink floyd doesn't quite sound as convincing.

These handle pretty much every genre I threw at them well.

Noise Cancelling
Light years ahead of the Air pro 3. Claims 50db reduction compared to 43db on the AP3's.
And it really works. I would says it's lightyears ahead of the AP3's. Compared to the AP4+ there are subtle differences. The actually level of ANC seems similar (both rated at 50db) but the AP4+ just sounds more natural. The AI adaptations were it adjusts the level of ANC dependant on what it going on around you are better on the AP4+.
But if you are a set it to max and leave it there person then you won't notice much difference.

Passthrough is the difference here. Also called ambient sound, this in the one area where the AP4i show their budget nature. The passthrough is electronic. Sounds like a recording of the outside world is being pumped to your ears (which it is). This makes me think the microphones are cheaper. The AP4+ sound much more natural.
Concerningly, the EQ is affected by switching to normal and ambient. With ANC on the bass sounds great. With ANC off and during passthrough the bass disolves away. This leads me to think that the post processing involved during ANC is what gives the bass. In other words the driver isn't great at bass, it's electronic wizardry that boosts it when you turn on ANC.
I see this a lot in cheaper earbuds. This is most noticable it's been in my Earfun experience (I have 7 of their earbuds)

Comfort.
The nozzle is oval not round, which apparently helps with comfort. I found them fine. Especially with 5 tips to choose from. I was able to listen for 3 hours without discomfort. They are light. They stay in place for me.

Final Thoughts
It made sense to me, with these being 11mm drivers, the same as the AP3's that they would re-use their shells, change from the wool composite driver to a titanium driver and upgrade the system chip from QCC 3071 to 3091.
Especially since the AP3 had wireless charging and no in ear detection, exactly the same as these.
This is absolutely not what has happened. These have ben redesigned from the ground up.
They have taken the most popular parts of the AP4 and reproduced them in a cheaper package.
These are not AP3+. They are AP4 light and are much better for it.

I wouldn't touch the AP3 any more. They simply aren't worth it.
You currently have 3 choices in the Air pro arsenal. The 4i, the 4 or the 4+
The 4i are the weakest, BUT they are NOT weak. They are exceptional.

I see the 4 drop to £50 frequently. At this price I would buy the 4. They have a few more features and reading other reviews are probably slightly better.
The 4+ are supposed to be over £100 and are NOT double the 4i.

You have a choice, you can get fantastic enjoyable audio for affordable. Paying an extra £15-20 gets you a little better and in ear detection. Paying another £20 on top gets you more AI features in the 4+

These slot in nicely and are an instant recommendation. Just don't pay RRP if the standard 4s are on offer.

One note of caution - I have noticed the battery in my L earbud drains faster than the R. I will update if this continues or gest fixed. After an hour I was down to 80% on the L but 90% on the right.
I recharged and after 45 mins I was again down to 85% on the L and 95 on the R. Show Full Review

Couldn't wait to open the packaging of the EarFun Air Pro 4i earbuds...! They're fantastic..... Highly recommend them, they've exceeded my expectations. The clear quality sound, strong bass, and very effective noise cancellation. Super comfortable for long use, with excellent battery life and easy controls. Great quality at a great price - just buy them! Show Full Review