Soundcore Aerofit Pro Open-ear Earbuds
Many brands are pushing open-ear earbuds to a more comfortable, better-sounding level. Soundcore, as a newcomer in this category, has a new product to offer, which is the Aerofit Pro. This is their first earbuds of this type, but with a much more mature and better design, and innovative strap for better fit, alongside their years of experience in acoustics, this can be your next earbuds for all kinds of use.
The Form Factor
Open-ear earbuds have come to a stage where the shape is pretty much the same, I would argue that even if they are bigger than in-earbuds, there shouldn’t be any complaints about them, because they have become a lot thinner and less bulky than before, and the weight distribution is also very good already.
Although I said the form factor of this kind is much alike between one and another, Soundcore still has a big step ahead, I mean this pair of earbuds takes every good thing from open-ear earbuds, and then upgrades them to a new level. In detail, the Aerofit Pro has a very sleek design in most of the parts, every piece is rounded, including the tail that goes back to the back of the ear, and the speaker unit at the front. There is a slightly sporty print on the plate facing the outside, this just adds a little energy to the overall aesthetics. The speaker unit is not entirely flat, rather sticks out a little bit, and facing down if looking closely into that, I think it helps with the directional sound. The material used across the entire body is skin-friendly, so wearing them for a long time will be a lot more comfortable.
The most interesting and innovative part of the earbuds is this detachable titanium neckband, this has been the first in this category. It is a combination of traditional wireless Bluetooth headphones and sports earphones, some brands have tried to do that, but none of them has done it in a perfect way like this. This neckband is made of titanium inside and braided at the outer layer, and the knots enable the band to be flexible. So the neckband has many benefits, the first being the secure fit, once the band is adjusted to the best fit, it will be very secure, neckband on old bone-conduction headphones or normal sports headphones are longer, so it can fit as many people as possible, but that comes at the cost of creating a burdensome experience since the band will shake up and down quite a lot, but this neckband solves the problem. Next, it is detachable, you can certainly do intense sports with the neckband on, but you can also do light training without that. This can be very convenient, but I think this is part of the reason why the earbuds only have an IPX5 waterproof rating, rather than IPX7 like its small brother the Aerofit. One thing to mention here is that you can kind of feel its existence the first time wearing them, so this is a habit you need to build with this neckband on.
The charging case is bigger than some in-ear earbuds, but still manageable to be held in hand, and it won’t be bulky being in the sports pants. But the essential point of sport earbuds is the running time, these earbuds have 105mAh X 2 inside, and 750mAh in the charging case, it claims to be able to play music for 14 hours per charge, and 46H with the case, which is more than enough for a whole workout session, or even run a marathon! The case has a magnetic clip to it, the security is nice and snug. Still, there is one thing I have to point out over and over again, which is that it would be better if the spring were less strong, so whenever it pops up, the whole unit won’t fall off the hand, the solution for now is to hold the case two-handed when you try to open the case.
Sound Quality
Specs-wise, the Soundcore AeroFit Pro headphones have 16.2mm drivers, this is a bigger size driver than others, and this could compensate for the sound loss of open-ear earbuds a lot. titanium-coated domes. As mentioned earlier, there is a subtle change of shape on the speaker nozzle so more sound are rerouted to the ears, and the LDAC tech built inside can help transmit more info than normal Bluetooth. Surprisingly there are multiple sensors to improve sound quality and effectuate spatial audio. There are four mics in different parts of the earbuds, then combined with an AI algorithm to reduce interference of the wind or the traffic, so the call clarity can be excellent.
When listening to some music, some songs with bass content can deliver a good amount of bass depth, but since the ear canal is not sealed, there is still some difference to be spotted. The oversized drivers can reproduce some of the sub-bass well, and the vocal performances on most tracks sound very crisp, with a lot of high-frequency detail. On some tracks with less deep bass, they sound fairly natural with nice depth.
Spatial audio on such earbuds is really unexpected, it’s fantastic to have this when the drivers are not in the ear canal but still can produce such wide stereo sound. When I tried to listen to some remade spatial audio songs, the depth of sound it created has just been leveled up a lot, the soundstage will be enhanced a lot. Moreover, the head tracking can also bring a better dynamic soundstage effect.
Call quality is also another highlight of the sound quality, the AI algorithm contributes a lot to this, so whenever you go out for a run, you can always make a fine phone call with others.
The App
As usual, there are some settings you can twist in the App, such as choosing the preset EQ and controls. The EQ are Spatial audio, Soundcore signature, and Custom EQ. We have experienced the features when testing the Soundcore Motion X600 and Motion 300, so we won’t get into the details.
Verdict
Overall, the Soundcore AeroFit Pro has made fantastic open-ear earbuds, they not only look good, but also deliver really good sound performance. And with such a form factor, it can still make spatial audio and noise-reduction calls happen on them. As the first product in this category, this is the perfect choice for anyone who was hesitant to get one of these, now you have them.
