Simple, elegant, but are they any good?
| Pros | Cons |
| Good EQ options Strong sound quality Good volume range | Basic functionality High levels of competition in this space |
The Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS earbuds follow what appears to be the Soundpeats way. They come in a well made case, with a magnetic lid, which feels just weighty enough to feel like a quality item. In the box is a charging cable and some instructions written in small enough print that to use them I ended up taking a photo of them and zooming in! Most of the packaging is also recyclable or at least compostable, except the plastic cable tie used to keep the charging cable tidy. Someone really needs to find an eco friendly replacement for those things!
Out of the box
As soon as the Air3s were out of the case and my phone was onto the bluetooth menu, all I needed to do was click the name of the earbuds that appeared and the connection was made. I also downloaded the Soundpeats App, which took a little more effort to create an account, verify my email and log into, but was still quite a slick process and once logged in, all I needed to do was select the add device option and pick the Air3 Deluxe HS option, and up popped all of the controls and options and I was set to go!
How does it sound?
The sound produced by the Air3 Deluxe HS is very high quality for a relatively cheap set of earbuds, sporting certified Hi-res sound and LDAC technology delivered via a large driver which makes the experience listening to music better than you would expect at this price point. The App allows you to pick from preset EQ settings, or to set your own to your personal preference and using this feature I was easily able to set things so that I really feel like I’m getting the most out of any music I listen to, or to get great clarity for podcasts and video content I might watch whilst out and about.
The volume available to you is more than necessary – I tried (for the purpose of you not having to) turning the volume my phone all the way up and I can’t imagine you’ll every want to actually listen to anything quite that loud, certainly for any amount of time, but there was no distortion and the balance remained very good even at the top end.
Functions that function?
There are a few little tricks hidden away in the Air3 Deluxe HS’. They have a very solid battery life, sporting up to 5 hours of playtime, and the charging case can recharge the earbuds 3 times for a total of 20 hours use if you push them all the way. They also have in-ear detection which will pause your music when you remove a bud, saving a little bit more power, and the case uses USB-C for charging, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find a charger when you need one.
Strangely, the Air3 Deluxe HS has noise cancelling capabilities, but this is only used when you take a phone call delivering a claimed 80% reduction in background noise. Quite why this feature isn’t available more generally I really don’t understand as this would (in my opinion) move this product beyond a significant amount of its competition, but as it stands, just feels like a missed opportunity.
As with any bluetooth headphones, there is a bit of latency when you’re watching video content or gaming, but the Air3 Deluxe HS comes with “Gaming mode” accessed with a triple tap of your left ear. This mode brings the latency down to 60ms, giving a far better experience, albeit this does seem to pull a little harder on the battery life when enabled. For me, as a commuter who enjoys watching films and TV on the move, the balance of life vs quality experience is well worth it as the difference the lower latency makes is pretty noticeable.
Comfort and usability
The Air3Deluxe HS earbuds are lightweight, semi in-ear earbuds that are comfortable enough to wear pretty much indefinitely. However, for different people, the experience will vary based on how well the shaping suits your ears. I suspect I am just about at the worst end of this as unusually for this kind of product, I find with these that they do work loose quickly and occasionally fall out. This is not the case for others in my family who I asked to try them out from this perspective, so I do think it’s just me! If you do find that this is an issue, one of the positives with the Soundpeats set up is that you can turn off the touch controls from within the Soundpeats App, which then means you can push the buds back into your ear when you feel them starting to work loose without controlling your music unintentionally. This actually makes a huge difference to me in terms of how happy I am using these as a daily option, but hopefully would not be necessary for many.
The App also allows you to select from a few preset EQ settings, but also provides the option to create your own set up. I think this is great, as we do all have our own individual preferences for what we want to hear and this lets you dial in exactly what you need. I for example have always struggled a bit with picking out vocals properly, so a little boost to the mids can bring me a bit more clarity, but also adding some bass boost just because I like it!
Are they worth it?
At time of writing, ignoring any deals that might be available, these earbuds come in at £49.99. So, at that price, would I buy them? Honestly, probably not. There are other earbuds in the Soundpeats range that have more functionality for not much more money and I would probably veer off to something with noise cancellation. This is why I’m so surprised that these buds do noise cancellation for calls, but nothing else – at this price point I really think the option should be there even if it drops the battery life a bit!
Looking at it the other way, the sound quality on these buds is great, so would I be upset if I’d decided to buy these at £49.99? Also no! These are good quality buds that pack a decent punch for sound at very high quality. They are lightweight and comfortable, feel well made and of good quality and the ability to create your own EQ profile is really nice!
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