A sound companion to your sporting endeavours!
| Pros | Cons |
| Great sound across the spectrum for open ear Lightweight and comfortable Multi-device connections | A little bulky looking Suffers some sound bleed Fit is secure, but not always snug |
The Soundpeats Runfree Lite headphones are open ear phones from the Soundpeats range, offering a secure fit and very decent battery life at around 17 hours of active use. Out of the box, they pair to your phone as easily as finding them in the bluetooth menu and clicking the name. You then hear a nice clear “connected” spoken through the phones to confirm you’re good to go.
First impressions
I found the design a little awkward to put on at first, as the fit around the ear is fairly cosy, but after a couple of goes at wearing them, the way to put them on soon became second nature. How good you find the sound and how much sound bleed you experience will (I suspect) depend to some extent on how well this set happen to fit your skull! For me, they sit at a very slight angle, holding the speakers slightly away from my ear, reducing the volume for me, and increasing it a bit for those around me (albeit, they’re still pretty quiet). For my partner, they fit snuggly all around, so this really is just about your personal size and shape, and it may well be a thing that improves over time if they “settle” to your fit.
Even with the less than optimal fit, I’m pretty happy with these as an option, as the volume provided is more than enough for most environments and, having only worn bone conduction headsets before these rather than open ear, I was really pleasantly surprised by the balance of sound these things provide. I love bone conduction phones, but their real weakness is bass. It just never hits! Whereas with these, there is a very genuine punch to the bass and a good balance across the full range.
The Sound
Talking about balance, as is standard across the Soundpeats range, the Runfree Lites can be used alongside the Soundpeats App, which then provides options for different EQ profiles, or the ability to set up your own EQ settings – an option I really appreciate as it makes everything sound just the way I like it! The App also provides the option to complete firmware updates, which is important as it turns out as while I was writing this review, an update appeared which now allows me to connect to two devices simultaneously. This was a lovely surprise as I’ve only ever had a couple of devices with this ability and speaking as one of (I suspect) many people who carry more than one device at a time, this just makes things seamless. For example, I can attach both my phone and laptop, allowing me to listen to music or watch videos while working, but the phone will kick in and take over if someone calls. Also, I can connect to my personal and work phones and take calls on whichever one is required but again, listen to other content also on either device. Thank you Soundpeats – this one is a big win!
Again, as seems to be standard in the Soundpeats world, the App provides access to ‘Gaming Mode’ which then reduced the latency, improving your gaming or video viewing experience, although this will come at some kind of expense to battery life. In general, the Runfree Lite set uses Bluetooth 5.3, which seems stable and requires little battery on either device.
Are they any good?
I suppose the point of the Runfree Lite headset is really about sport, exercise and being on the move. So how do they stack up here? Well, the open ear design leaves you free to be aware of your surroundings, ideal for joggers who may be near cars, bikes and other obstacles where your awareness at a push could be lifesaving. But the Runfree Lites are better than just a standard set of open ear phones. The use of what they refer to as Air Conduction technology means the sound quality is a good step above anything relying on bone conduction for the sound, particularly at the bass en of the spectrum. The Runfree lites (as the name suggests) are also very lightweight, even if they’re fairly chunky to look at from some angles, which make them comfortable for a run, a visit to the gym, or just for a day out and about! One thing you absolutely cannot argue with is the security of the fit. I think if I tried to shake these off by doing somersaults on a vibrating plate, I’d still struggle to move them at all, so for the more active among you, this design is a big plus if your current phones are either a little insecure, hot, or uncomfortable when you exercise.
On the downside, they do look a little on the chunky side (even if that does provide easy to find and use button with a nice bit of physical feedback when pressed) and they aren’t the best option for listening to anything privately when you’re close to other people, for example on a train. The sound bleed isn’t huge, but it’s enough!
Should you buy them?
Let’s not mess around here. This is a really packed marketplace, with more options than you can shake a stick at! So first of all, I would only recommend these to someone looking to use them while engaged in sports and exercise, but that’s true of any similar device. Once past that obstacle, I think these are a really good option! At time of writing (without any offers or discounts) they’re priced at £35, which I think is really cheap for what you get – great battery life, the ability to set your own EQ and my favourite feature, pairing to two devices simultaneously!
Would I buy them at that price? Yes – without hesitation!
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