REVIEW – A few years in the past, I reviewed the Edifier NeoBuds Professional True Wi-fi earbuds. I Appreciated them—fairly a bit. In reality, I nonetheless have and use them. Now, Edifier has launched their successor—the NeoBuds Professional 2 True Wi-fi Noise Cancelation In-ear Headphones. Edifier has promoted the “earphones” from Earbuds to In-ear Headphones. Is the identify change sufficient to justify them?
What’s it?
The NeoBuds Professional 2 True Wi-fi Noise Cancelation In-ear Headphones are the most recent iteration on this line of stemmed earphones (I’ll use the better time period earphone for this assessment).
These earphones are loaded with options with one cool, new characteristic.
The earphones have been redesigned in a refined means. You is perhaps hard-pressed to inform the distinction until they’re side-by-side. The arduous, plastic case contains a extra fashionable—and extra expensive-looking—design. It even feels extra substantial.
There are two colour decisions: Black or Ivory (eggshell white). I favor Ivory—what I’m reviewing. Edifier has executed away with the color-coded ear tip sizes however saved the numerous measurement decisions. I had no bother discovering ideas that match.
Edifier additionally features a USB-A to USB-C charging cable and a pleasant, lined carrying pouch with a drawstring closure. Be aware that there isn’t a wi-fi charging on the case. This may very well be a deal-breaker for some, however since I’m not a wi-fi charging fan, it’s no huge deal. Every thing is packaged in an Apple-like presentation—white on white with hints of black for distinction. Very posh.
As with the earlier NeoBubs Professional, a smartphone app—Edifier Join—helps with settings, audio equalization, and taping preferences. Extra on that later.
The NeoBuds Professional 2 earphones have licensed Hello-Res Audio Wi-fi with LDAC and AAC. Edifier states that they’ll obtain 192K/24bit audio over Bluetooth for the primary time. Which may be, however I’m utilizing my iPhone 15 Professional Max, and Apple—being Apple—doesn’t help it. Solely Android does.
An up to date Energetic Noise Canceling (ANC) is included. Edifier calls this “Extensive-band Multi-channel ANC. They state that the ANC is expanded within the hybrid speaker setup for a canceling depth of -50dB with a bandwidth to 5kHz. This merely signifies that the ANC is quieter and blocks out extra frequencies than the unique NeoBud Professionals.
Specs
- Bluetooth: 5.3
- Playtime: ANC On: 4 hours(earbuds) + 12 hours(charging case)
ANC Off: 5.5 hours(earbuds) + 16.5 hours(charging case) - Charging Port: USB-C (Sort-C)
- Charging Time: 1 hour (earbuds); 1 hour (charging case)
- Audio Coding: LDAC, LHDC, SBC, AAC
- Audio system: Knowles Balanced Armature Driver + 10mm Dynamic Driver
- IP Ranking: IP54
- Weight: .2 oz. (every earbud); 1.7 oz. (charging case)
Design and options
There are some spectacular issues concerning the new NeoBuds Professional 2 earphones. Let’s begin with the worth. These are greater than $100 cheaper than Apple’s AirPods Professional earphones. Granted, the AirPods Professional is extra handy to make use of in case you are a part of the Apple Borg (like me), however is that price 100 bucks? Solely you’ll be able to reply that. I’ll say that in case your funds dictates the cheaper NeoBuds Professional 2, you gained’t really feel cheated in any means. These are that good. Additionally, they’re priced the identical as the primary model—even with some spectacular added options!
As I mentioned, the New NeoBuds look much like the originals, however with a barely up to date design. Within the ear, they really feel the identical. They magnetically snap into the case, in order that they gained’t by chance fall out.
The Neobuds will final for five.5 hours (ANC off). The case will cost the NeoBuds as much as 16.5 hours for a complete of twenty-two hours. Plus, you will get 2 hours of additional playtime might be had for simply 15 min. of charging within the case.
The earphones are a hybrid design, which means every has a dynamic speaker paired with a balanced armature speaker. Earphones (often) have both a dynamic or armature speaker. A dynamic speaker seems to be like a tiny speaker. An armature speaker comes from the listening to assist business. It doesn’t look something like a conventional speaker. Dynamic audio system are (often) extra bass-friendly. Armatures are (often) tuned for greater frequencies and are thought-about extra correct sounding on the expense of a hotter, extra listener-friendly sound. The NeoBuds Professionals use each—therefore, the time period hybrid. This setup theoretically supplies the benefits of every.
Edifier has included digital sign processing and an energetic cross-over. This balances frequencies that maintain element and a listenable, enjoyable sound. The distinction might be heard when in comparison with the unique NeoBuds, nevertheless it’s extra refined than dramatic.
The Edifier Join app consists of what Edifier calls “Soothing Sounds”. These are mainly audio loops of rainforests, streams, bugs, waves, and so forth. I suppose it’s enjoyable, nevertheless it’s not my cup of tea. I favor music enjoying within the background. In case you like nature sounds on audio system, Edifier has actually supplied a big library.
I used the Orchestral Manoeuvres within the Darkish (OMD) album, “The Punishment of Luxurious” to check the unique NeoBuds. For the Professional 2 earphones, I used songs from their OMD’s new album “Bauhaus Station”. The usage of digital music makes their music nice for testing audio system and headphones. Each the title observe and “Sluggish Prepare” pack a punch lacking from lesser earphones. I additionally seen that music sounds equally good whether or not ANC is on or off. That is an enchancment on the unique NeoBuds the place music sounded higher solely with ANC activated.
Additionally improved is cellphone name high quality with 4 mics per earphone. Individuals I talked with had no points with my vocal high quality, saying I sounded pure to them.
An annoying difficulty I had with the unique NeoBud Professionals was tapping the earphones to carry out a pre-determined operate. Double and triple-tapping features have many decisions accessible. Sadly, there isn’t a single faucet alternative. The issue I had was how arduous to faucet so the earphones would do what I wished. This hasn’t improved that a lot with the brand new NeoBuds Professional earphones. I found that I wanted to faucet moderately arduous simply to register any faucet. You’ll be able to regulate faucet sensitivity within the Join app, nevertheless it doesn’t appear to have any impact. I’ve to forcefully faucet it doesn’t matter what sensitivity I set.
ANC is a blended bag on the brand new NeoBuds Professional earphones. Sure, it really works nice, however Edifier has added a complicated array of noise-canceling decisions. Excessive, medium, and low noise canceling compete with wind discount, voice enhancement, balanced (no matter which means), and background sound. Then there’s ambient mode (allows all background noise and Off. Possibly I’m old-school, however I favor, ANC On and Ambient. That’s it. Make the opposite decisions automated, so I don’t have to consider it. Sufficient ranting. Simply know that ANC works and works fairly effectively.
Then there’s the one, cool characteristic: Spatial Audio. In case you’re watching a film, the realism—and enjoyable issue—are off the charts. Watching and listening to “High Gun: Maverick” on my iPhone was a revelation. The spatial audio made the small iPhone display appear a lot bigger. The audio was that good. Music, nevertheless, was a special story. At first, streaming music from Apple Music sounded kinda neat. However after some time, it simply turned tiresome. Switching from spatial audio again to Music mode revealed an enormous enchancment. Sure, the extensive soundstage was now lacking, however the audio high quality was so significantly better—even listening to Dolby Atmos tracks. My advice is to stay to motion pictures utilizing spatial and depart the music to stereo.
What I like
- Wonderful worth for the options
- Nice noise canceling
- Spatial audio (for motion pictures and sound results)
What I’d change
- Soothing Sounds mode isn’t vital
- ANC may very well be less complicated
Last ideas
What Edifier has achieved isn’t all of the options and tech they’ve managed to pack into the NeoBuds Professional 2 In-ear Headphones however that they did it for 130 bucks!
Worth: $129.99
The place to purchase: Amazon
Supply: The pattern of this product was supplied by Edifier.
