EarFun Wave Pro over-ears Review

Design

• Smart looks
• Good clamping force
• 3.5mm jack

There’s an undeniably plastic feel about the EarFun Wave Pro but it actually wears it well enough. Wiggle them in the hand and there are creaks and groans but once they’re on the head there’s nothing distracting about the build quality.

The ‘clackety clack’ sound of the headband slider can distract and reminds you of its less expensive nature. The design is foldable, and unlike the Sony WH-CH720N and Edifier W830NB, this model does come with a carry case for storage on your travels.

It comes in both a grey/black and a striking and softer oat white finish, and I’ve found comfort levels to be pretty good. The earpads are nice and plush and the clamping force on my head isn’t too tight.

Buttons are located on the right earcup and cover power/playback, volume, and noise-cancelling. There’s a decent firmness and clicky feel to the buttons, which don’t feel as cheap as you might have expected at this price. You also get a 3.5mm port for wired listening and a USB-C input for charging.

Features

• 80 hours battery with ANC off
• LDAC
• EarFun audio app

EarFun claims 80 hours of battery but that’s a misleading figure as that’s with noise-cancelling turned off. With it on, the headphones are around 55 hours.

A three hour drain at about 50% volume resulted in a drop of 10%, which suggests a performance closer to 30 hours. This was in its LDAC mode, which draws more power, so there’s the possibility that in its SBC or AAC mode, you could get closer to the 55 hour mark.

In a similar fashion to the Edifier W830NB, a ten-minute charge provides a massive 10 hours of playback.

Elsewhere the Wave Pro ticks off the features. There’s Bluetooth multi-point for connecting to two devices at once, though to enable it means disabling LDAC streaming. Bluetooth 5.3 features support for SBC, AAC, and the aforementioned LDAC.

The EarFun app has EQ controls with a 10-band custom equaliser, and you can create your own sound profile. There’s also a Fernanda Signature EQ, a tech creator from Indonesia, who’s shared his own EQ options for the headphones in its ‘Normal’ and ‘ANC’ mode.

The Game mode claims to reduce latency to less than 55ms. You’ve also got customisable controls and can adjust the noise-cancelling performance, with options such as Comfort ANC and Wind Noise cancellation included.

I found the noise-cancelling reasonably good for the money. It’s nowhere near as suppressive as the best headphones, but on a flight it did a good job in reducing ambient noise/cabin noise so it’s less inconvenient.

Among its price rivals such as the Edifier W830NB and Soundcore Space One, it’s slightly better in terms of suppressing external sounds.

If you’re going to use these headphones for calls, the voice pick up is fine but these headphones have a tendency to latch onto nearby sounds. For that reason alone they’re better use in quieter places.

Sound Quality

• Clear, defined sound
• Not the biggest bass performance
• Clear treble

The EarFun Wave Pro deliver a clear and balanced sound that contrasts with one of my favourite headphones at this price – the Sony WH-CH720N – which sound warmer, louder and a bit more energetic. The Sony headphones have a bigger bass presence than the EarFun but there are aspects that the Wave Pro does better than the Sony.

Voices sound better isolated within the centre of the stage, and there’s more clarity and better separation between the instruments and beats.

With a track such as GoGo Penguin’s Erased by Sunlight, it’s more incisive with high frequencies which are brighter, sharper and clearer – it’s more convincing with treble than the Sony is. In terms of retrieving detail from the top end of the frequency range, the Wave Pro is better, bringing out more detail, and definition.

Just What I Needed by The Cars sounds a little sharper to my ears with the EarFun than it does on the Sony, but the percussion hits harder on the WH-CH720N, and tonally the Sony sounds more natural with voices and instruments.

I enjoy the focus the EarFun puts on vocals – they’re defined with more clarity than they are on the Sony – but the overall soundstage it describes is flatter and more distant.

It’s not the best-sounding cheap over-ear headphone that I’ve tested recently – that honour goes to the Panasonic RB-M600B, but I’d say the noise-cancellation is better on the EarFun and it offers app support and customisation.

Compared to others, its sound is not as lively or as energetic as the Sony or Edifier headphones, but it’s more balanced than the W830NB and while not as fun as the Sony is, the EarFun is arguably the more detailed and clearer of the two.

Should you buy it?