Mention the name Earfun six months ago and you’d probably have been met with quizzical looks or even the odd giggle. But that was before the virtually unknown audio firm released an affordable true wireless headphone proposition that was so good for the money we handed it a What Hi-Fi? Award.

The company is seeking to build on the success of its Earfun Air by cramming even more features into a new ‘Pro’ variant, the main addition being active noise cancellation. (There is now a 10mm driver and three mics per earpiece, too.) But, considering the claims on the spec sheet, the price remains jaw-droppingly low at £70 ($80, AU$120).

Just as bands struggle with the difficult second album, repeating that winning formula in a sophomore effort could be a tough ask. Can Earfun deliver the goods with a follow-up set of affordable in-ears? We can’t wait to see...

Build

The Earfun Air Pro’s cool black plastic case is pocketable, portable and doesn’t collect fingerprint smudges. Unlike its older sibling, it opens like a suitcase, instead of a backpack, and is pebble-shaped as opposed to looking like a premium box of dental-floss. Though it charges via USB-C, it doesn’t support Qi wireless charging.

Once the buds are back in it, you have to quickly flip to the back of the case to find the LED battery indicator, which will flash red three times if you have more than 60 per cent battery left, twice for over 30 per cent and once when you’re at five percent and really need to charge.

One of the joys of the Award-winning Earfun Air true wireless earbuds was the simple and reliable pairing experience. We’re happy to report that is still the case here – Earfun consistently manages to do the basics properly. We open the lid, then snap it shut and count to 30. We reopen the case, leave the earpieces inside, go to our phone’s Bluetooth menu, see the Earfun Air Pro as an 'available device' and connect. It’s easy. And once they're paired, the connection is solid.

Although three sets of tips are supplied, we find the pre-fitted medium pair works for us. Also, fitting them in our ears is done without unintentionally altering playback or accessing Siri. This is both refreshing and an improvement on some more expensive models.

Comfort

The buds themselves are well-weighted, comfortable and secure in our ears, with the stems angling slightly forward to follow the line of our cheekbones. The silvery sheen on the angular and stylish new stems completes a premium aesthetic that belies the Earfun Air Pro’s entry-level price point.

It’s worth noting that the 10mm composite dynamic driver in each earpiece is a switch up from the 6mm composite cellulose driver found in each Earfun Air driver housing, too.

The in-ear detection is now infrared, not capacitive, and is handled via an LED rather than an electrical charge. If you’re worried this might make auto-pause a bit hit and miss, don’t – it’s spot on. It will doubtless save on battery, but more than that it’s a great comfort to know that you can simply pluck the buds from their case, put them in your ears and pick up whatever you were last listening to.

There’s no way to alter volume or skip back to the start of a track without accessing your source device, and there’s no app support. These are the only small issues in the Earfun Air Pro’s otherwise admirable feature set – though we shouldn’t perhaps expect the latter at this entry level anyway.

The tap-control functionality is clever here, though: more evidence that Earfun does the basics well. One tap actually serves no purpose – a clever approach given that you can easily alter playback on other buds by inadvertently touching them. 

Two taps on the right bud pauses or resumes playback; three skips to the next track. Double tapping the left earpiece accesses Siri on our iPhone and also answers or ends a call. The crucial function you’ll want to practice is a triple-tap of that left earpiece, as this scrolls between the Earfun’s noise-cancelling, ‘normal’ and ‘ambient sound’ modes.

Beyond those three profiles, there’s no scope to tweak the levels of noise-cancelling, and without app support you can’t activate them on your phone. However, once we get the hang of tapping just below the mic at the top of the stem rather than on the mic itself, it’s a solution that works well.

With noise-cancelling deployed, low-level constant noises such as the hum of the washing machine are significantly diminished. Initiating ambient mode dutifully feeds the noise of passing cars and barking dogs into our ears. Both in terms of efficacy and usability, it’s not quite in the same league as the Apple AirPods Pro – but at one-third of the price, to expect that would be unreasonable.

The good level of noise cancelling is thanks in part to the six-mic array (three per bud), which also ensures clear voice calls in our tests. Battery life is good too, with a claimed total of 25 hours with ANC on (seven from the buds plus 18 hours from the case) or 32 hours with it off. 

The Earfun Air Pros boast an IPX5 rating for water-resistance, meaning that while you can’t submerge them fully in water, a spell in heavy rain or sweating at the gym shouldn't do them any harm. All in all, it’s a lot of decent tech and durability for the money.