I tested these $99 earbuds — and I’m being so serious when I say they’re genuine AirPods Pro competitors

If you’re searching for the best earbuds for the least amount of money possible, I’m not going to make you wait to find out the answer. You need to get the EarFun Air Pro 4+ — like, now. I am obsessed with these earbuds. For just $99/£89, they obliterate the similarly priced competition, and have been doing so for a while — the previous iteration, EarFun Air Pro 4, are easily still some of the best cheap earbuds around.

I tested them side-by-side with the AirPods Pro 3 and I was utterly amazed. Of course, the Air Pro 4+ aren’t quite as good as Apple’s premium earbuds, but they’re so close that it scares me. The sound quality is 90% of the way there, and while the EarFuns lack premium features like spatial audio, I found its absence negligible in real-world usage.

So if you want to save your time, then you may as well click away. The EarFun Air Pro 4+ earbuds are everything you need and more. But if you’re curious, then I’ll discuss everything in this EarFun Air Pro 4+ review.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? Affordable earbuds for the budding audiophile
• Who is it for? People on a low budget who want to squeeze the most cost-versus-performance out of their earbuds
• What does it cost? $99 / £89
• What do we like? Sound quality, battery, customization options, basically everything
• What don’t we like? Shock horror: cheap earbuds look cheap

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Specs

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Price & availability

The EarFun Air Pro 4+ are some of the most affordable earbuds I’ve tested, let alone affordable earbuds that sound this good. Upon launch, you can grab the Air Pro 4+ for $99 on Amazon U.S. and £89 on Amazon U.K..

The cheapest (good) earbuds I’ve ever used are the JLab Go Pods ANC, which are literally $36. If you want earbuds that’ll set you back the least amount of dough possible, it’s gotta be the Go Pods ANC.

However, if you can spend a little more, then the Air Pro 4+ are 100% worth it. They perform better than the $129 Skullcandy x Bose Method 360 ANC and… honestly, the same as the $179 Apple AirPods 4 ANC. Nay, maybe even better. I use the AirPods Pro 2 (although now discontinued, but you get the gist) every day, and I’d say the Air Pro 4+ are about 90% as good, perhaps 85% as good as the Air Pro 3. Most importantly, the Air Pro 4+ are a clear improvement on the previous version, the EarFun Air Pro 4.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Design & controls

• Comes with 5 ear tips
• Customizable touch controls
• Angled stem and nozzle

The EarFun Air Pro 4+ look like a cheaper version of the AirPods Pro 3. Whether you like this or not is up to you; I think the design feels a little plasticky, but that’s true of much of EarFun’s gear. I’m willing to put up with slightly plasticky, cheap looks for a product that sounds this good for such little money. It’s a worthy sacrifice.

The angled stem and nozzle design common among 2025’s new earbuds is intended to feel more snug and close-fitting, and that’s certainly the case with the Air Pro 4+. Personally, I have quite small ears, so I wish audio brands would go back to the previous design, but I was able to mitigate this well enough with smaller ear tips.

While the Air Pro 4+ are a little larger than other EarFun earbuds I’ve tried (the Air 2 and Air 2 NC), they come with five ear tip sizes. As always, I had to use the XS for the best fit. Changing ear tips was really easy — just as straightforward as on the AirPods Pro 3.

Like the earbuds, the charging case looks a little plasticky, too. Again, this is a price I’m willing to pay considering you’ll be paying very little for the Air Pro 4+ themselves. Alas, this is a step back from the previous model, which featured a more premium case.

Unlike the Air Pro 4 case, the lid of the Air Pro 4+ case is not quite secure enough. I found it bent backwards easily. Thankfully, it didn’t feel like it was going to snap off, so again, this is something I’m willing to overlook for the cheap price.

Although I have a few design-related qualms, I have nothing negative to say about the Air Pro 4+’s touch controls. The controls are completely customizable in the app, so I configured them to suit my personal preference. Once I’d found my ideal setup, I was impressed with the responsiveness of the controls. I never had to tap multiple times or wait for the action to kick in.

Overall, I think the design befits a $99 product. Ideally, of course, I’d like the earbuds to look like a pair of $250 earbuds, but that’s not fair nor expected. The Air Pro 4+ look like they cost $99, because, well, they do.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Features & connectivity

• Seamless multipoint
• Wear detection
• IP55

First, I’ll discuss hi-res Bluetooth codecs. The EarFun Air Pro+ have both LDAC and aptX Bluetooth codecs, which mean you’ll be able to stream music at higher bitrates (if you have a compatible device). Obviously, though, this is still not true “lossless” as Bluetooth is an inherently lossy format, but the rules of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) mean that higher-res input means a better-sounding output.

I’ll go into depth in the ‘Audio quality’ section below, but here’s a sneak peek: the Air Pro 4+ sound really, really good, even without these hi-res codecs. No way do they sound like budget earbuds.

Unlike other budget earbuds I’ve tested, the EarFun Air Pro 4+ have seamless multipoint connectivity. On my first day of testing, I connected to all of my devices — iPhone 16 Pro, MacBook Pro M1, and MacBook Air M2 — and never had to reconnect anything. While the earbuds can only be technically connected to two devices at any given time, the EarFun app remembers more, so you can toggle each device to active/historical. The earbuds just remembered this, which is a breath of fresh air in the stale wasteland of other budget earbuds.

Even the $129 Skullcandy x Bose Method 360 ANC (which I loved) struggled to reconnect to my devices without throwing a hissy fit.

Another premium feature that’s made its way onto the Air Pro 4+ buds is wear detection. While it takes about half a second to stop and restart, I found it was around the same as my AirPods Pro 3. Considering there’s $150 between the Air Pro 4+ and the AirPods Pro 3, I think this is a major win for EarFun.

Speaking of major wins, the durability has been upgraded on the Air Pro 4+. The previous iteration (Air Pro 4) had just IPX5, but the Air Pro 4+ has IP55. This means the Air Pro 4+ are protected against dust, and protected against water from a nozzle.

I’ll discuss this with more depth in the ‘App’ section below, but the EarFun app also has a range of premium features. You’ll find a personalized EQ, “My Sound Profile”, which is like a personalized hearing test. You listen to a series of tones and select the volume when you can no longer hear the tones.

Then, the app makes a custom EQ based on your hearing. JBL and Soundcore have similar hearing tests, which you can find in the JBL Live 770NC and the Soundcore Space One Pro. These tests require much more user input than Denon’s fantastic personalized sound profile. Denon’s is completely automated and uses mics inside the earbuds to analyze how your ears perceive sound.

In the app, you can also activate Game mode, which reduces latency, but I found this didn’t alter much, if anything. I was disappointed to see no Spatial Audio, but hey, these are literally $99 earbuds, so I don’t think it’s an issue.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Audio quality

• Rich bass without being muddy
• Surprisingly great instrument separation
• Performs like $200 earbuds, not $99

To test LDAC and aptX, I borrowed a friend’s Android (Samsung Galaxy S24FE) and listened on Tidal as he didn’t have Qobuz (our usual hi-res streaming service).

I listened to ‘Dracula’ by Tame Impala. The jazzy piano chords in the first bridge were electric, and the synths and rhythm guitar throughout were incredibly prominent in the soundscape. There was no tinniness whatsoever, and every aspect of the track was rich and warm.

I also played ‘Everybody Scream’ by Florence + the Machine. In the opening of the track, the atmospheric vocal melodies felt as if they were coming from all around me. When the soft melody shattered into a cacophony of screams, the high pitch didn’t pinch my ears. The Air Pro 4+ handled the shift in tone very well.

In the rest of the track, the humming bass and delicate harp notes were balanced, and never felt like they were fighting for prominence.

After these tracks, I switched to indie and played ‘Docket’ by Blondshell and Bully. This track was a standout, with raw, close guitars, and emotive vocals. No part of this song was squashed or warped, and even the heavy, guitar-rich chorus was balanced perfectly. I was surprised to find budget earbuds so adept at handling bass without muffling or muddying it.

Another standout track during my LDAC testing was ‘New Gold’ by Gorillaz. The hip-hop bass was rich without overpowering the tannoy-effect vocals. The binaural synth notes flashed in turn in each ear and immersed me in the track. Every genre sounded good, just as on the EarFun Air Pro 4, and much better than the Air Pro 3, which tended to sound tinny in more ambient genres.

The LDAC and aptX performance is really impressive for $99 earbuds, but don’t think that’s the only way you can enjoy the Air Pro 4+. If you’re an iPhone user (like me) then the Air Pro 4+ still sound good on AAC.

Afterwards, I went back to Qobuz, our best music streaming service for audiophiles, to test on my iPhone 16 Pro and MacBook Air M2.

I listened to a variety of genres on Qobuz, just as I did with Tidal. I obviously listened to more tracks than I have space to mention here, but I’ll discuss some standouts.

‘Where’s The Catch?’ by James Blake is an atmospheric, glitchy R&B track with electronic synth pulses. The instrument separation was fantastic, and I could clearly hear the singer’s breaths, which added nuance to the track.

After that, I switched genres to rock with ‘Heaven Knows’ by The Pretty Reckless. I thought the Air Pro 4+ would struggle with the heavy guitars, but they handled the sound really well. The tambourine beat was a touch tinny at the top of the frequency range, but none of this tinniness was present in the female vocal or higher-pitched guitars.

‘Champagne Taste’ by Sunflower Bean is a ‘70s-inspired heady rock track with fuzzy bass and layered guitars. This song was a touch muffled in the low end, but that’s partly a creative choice, and the female vocal sounded strong and clear at the top of the frequency range. While my AirPods Pro 3 handled the fuzzy instrumentation better than the Air Pro 4+, I think the latter performed much better than their $99 price tag.

Overall, the sound quality of the EarFun Air Pro 4+ is much, much better than you’d expect. If you just looked at the price tag ($99), you’d think they sound good at best. That is not the case. The Air Pro 4+ sound like $200 earbuds, with heady, rich bass and faithfully reproduced mids. If you want to be an audiophile but you can’t spend $500 on Bang & Olufsen, then you need to check out the Air Pro 4+.

Listen along to our testing with the Earfun Air Pro 4+ with our testing playlist.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: ANC

• 3 ANC modes
• AI environmental ANC as well
• Can adjust ANC strength in the app

Unlike the Air Pro 4, the Air Pro 4+ only have three main ANC modes. Some would see this as a negative, but I found it more than enough. There’s ANC, Transparency, and Normal modes. You can also activate AI Environmental ANC, but I never found myself using this. Standard ANC was more than enough.

The ANC is really strong, as it is on the Air Pro 4: I couldn’t hear my colleagues chatting in the office and the traffic noise outside was completely obliterated. You can adjust the strength of the ANC in the EarFun app, but I found I got the best results on max ANC.

I will say that the ANC isn’t quite as powerful as the AirPods Pro 3. I usually can’t hear my boyfriend return home from his morning walk, but I did when using the Air Pro 4+. This could be a good thing (you know, being attuned to your environment), but it meant I got distracted from my morning routine.

Even so, for $99 earbuds, this performance was great.

There’s also Transparency mode, which is never something I reach for. This makes you able to hear both your music and the sounds around you. Personally, this is a bit overstimulating for me — if I’m using ANC, I’m using ANC, you know? — but I like this being an option, and it’s useful for maintaining situational awareness outside, when running for example.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: App

• EarFun Audio app
• Tons of customization in the app
• Personalized EQ mode

As far as budget audio brands’ apps go, the EarFun Audio app isn’t half bad. It’s got a clean UI with easily navigable sections, a huge variety of features, and doesn’t ask to access my entire media library (cough Soundpeats Air5 Pro cough).

I’ll chat about the personalized EQ mode for a second. This works more like Soundcore and JBL’s versions (HearID and PersoniFi, respectively — EarFun could learn a thing or two from Soundcore and JBL’s catchy nomenclature) than Denon’s high-tech version, so don’t expect any premium automated microphones-analyzing-your-hearing-level.

Personalized EQ basically plays a tone in various frequencies (from 31.5Hz to 16kHz) and you have to adjust the volume until you can no longer hear the tone. Then the app makes you an EQ based on your hearing level.

You’re not restricted to just the personalized EQ. You can make as many custom EQs as you want (within reason, of course) and can also choose from pre-made EQs.

You can also completely customize your touch controls, which I did as soon as I unboxed the earbuds. I didn’t realize that my settings were so weird until I gave the earbuds to a colleague and he said that having "volume up" on the left earbud was “wack”. Regardless, you can make your touch controls as “wack” as you want.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Call quality

• 6 mics — 3 in each bud
• Noise-minimizing AI algorithm
• Good call quality

To test the quality of the microphone, I called my boyfriend. He has listened to pretty much all my earbuds that I’ve reviewed, so he’s practically a control test at this point.

He reported that my voice sounded clear and intelligible, but a little metallic in some words. He said the quality was a touch worse than my usual earbuds — AirPods Pro 2 — but not markedly. I feel like this is a fair evaluation for $99 earbuds.

He did report that the ambient noise reduction was impressive. As usual, I played a traffic noise video in the background at full volume. He said that he couldn’t hear this environmental noise and my voice was in the foreground, which is fantastic for $99 earbuds.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Battery

• 42 hours in the case
• A massive 12 hours in the buds
• Better battery life than Bose, Apple, Sony…

One of the best things about the Air Pro 4+ — other than the incredible sound quality, of course — is the almost unbelievable battery life. The Air Pro 4+ have a whopping 54 hours of battery life. This is 30 hours more than the AirPods Pro 3, 30 hours more than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, and 22 hours longer than the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds.

If you need earbuds to really last, then I’d recommend the Air Pro 4+ wholeheartedly. The EarFun Air Pro 3 have a 45-hour battery life, and the Air Pro 4 last for 52 hours, so the Air Pro 4+ have added an extra couple of hours. In terms of battery life, the Air Pro 4+ are the earbuds to beat.

I tested these earbuds over the course of a week and I never needed to charge them. I listen to a lot of music, and usually find myself charging my earbuds a number of times throughout the week, so I was utterly bamboozled by this. In a very good way, of course.

EarFun Air Pro 4+ review: Verdict

If you want budget earbuds that perform way above their pay grade, then the EarFun Air Pro 4+ are 100% the earbuds for you. There’s no doubt in my mind that these are the best option for audiophiles on a seriously low budget.

While obviously the AirPods Pro 3 are better than the Air Pro 4+ overall, I was absolutely gobsmacked by the Air Pro 4+. The sound quality is unbeatable at this price, with delicately balanced mids and treble over punchy but not overpowering bass. And the battery life? You’ll be listening to music for a whopping 54 hours before needing to recharge.

So, yes, the Air Pro 4+ are the budget earbuds to beat. At just $99/£89, I’ve yet to find any other buds with better cost-versus-performance. These are the best budget earbuds I’ve ever tested.