And now the final chapter of my headset obsession 2024.

In addition to the Soundpeats Space (over the ear, 123 hours battery!, fantastic noise canceling, very comfortable) I decided to also go with the Soundpeats Air4 Pro for everyday use. I’ll use the over the ear headphones on my 14 hour plane trips next month.

I re-ordered the Air4 Pro after sending back my Apple Airpods Pro (which is 7 times the cost!) and tried these again. The Soundpeats support people are really responsive and friendly!

They were more comfortable than I remembered. I took a walk outside in the wind and they felt very stable, and after a bit basically forgot I had them in.

The music sounded better than with anything else I’ve tried. At a noisy supermarket I tried the noise canceling and while not 100% like the Airpods Pro it killed almost all the sound, and definitely all the irritating sounds. I’ll use normal or pass-thru while walking though, for safety. I actually can’t tell the difference between normal and pass-thru modes.

Update after morning walk today: I see the difference between normal and pass-thru modes. Normal is just noise canceling off. So you do hear ambient sounds when walking, but just if they get through the earbuds. Pass-thru is more active than that, pushing through certain ambient sounds which might not otherwise get through. On the one hand, that might be safer when walking, but can also be annoying because it picks up sounds like winds and sends those sounds through as well. And you can hear things like jets flying in the distance which you might not normally notice. So I think it just depends on the environment and situation which one you might want to use. With the touch control it’s easy to switch between them.

The mic is great! I left voicemail and played it back and it was as good as anything I heard before.

The tap controls (change volume, pause, answer call, skip ahead, change noise canceling mode) are also easy to use. And it actually has a longer battery life (6.5 hours on one charge, 26 hours with case vs 6 hours on one charge, 20 hours with case), more mics (6 vs 4), and weighs less than the Airpods Pro. It also has a larger sound driver and shorter latency than the AirPods Pro,

The case can’t be charged wirelessly, but I think it’s a great bargain. (Note: at this price repurchasing a set if you lose one is half the price of a single earbud replacement under AppleCare+ for the AirPods Pro!).

I had also tried plain old wired Apple earbuds for a few days and frankly found them sort of a nuisance to use. Not only did they not stay in my ears very well, every time I needed to use my phone for something (cashless pay, take a photo, whatever) wires would get all tangled. And they just didn’t sound as good as these.

And that’s all for me on the subject now for now. 🙂

[Update October 13, 2024] My left earbud stopped working. Fortunately Soundpeats support was very responsive. After trying a couple of tests they confirmed something was wrong and immediately gave me a full refund, via Amazon. Now I have to decide whether to repurchase the same item (advantage: I will have spare parts) or maybe try the newer Air5. Or try something else. Or just living with my Shokz OpenRun and the SoundPeats Space for when I need longer, over the ear ANC.

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