ZDNET Highlights
- The SoundPits Air 5+ Pro earbuds are available at Amazon for $103
- These earbuds offer audiophile sound on a budget
- The Air 5+ Pro earbuds deliver tight bass, smooth mids, crystal highs, and a nice wide soundstage.
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Soundpits.
This is a name you’ve probably never heard of.
In a market filled with earbuds of all price points, features, and quality, it’s easy to understand why you’ve probably never heard of this company.
Let me see if I can improve it.
I’ve tested several budget-friendly earbuds from Soundpeats, and have always been impressed. Whether they’re on the low end of the pricing spectrum or heading toward the midrange, Soundproof’s earbuds and headphones never fail to impress me.
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Naturally, when the company sent me air 5+ pro earbudsI got excited. I tested the previous earbuds in this line (the Air 4 Pro) and found them to be an excellent option for audiophiles on a very tight budget. The earbuds produced tight, tight bass and well-balanced highs and midranges. The sound wasn’t irritating to my ears at all (even after listening for long periods of time), and it was easy to get a good seal.
As you might expect, the Air 5+ Pro earbuds take the previous iteration to the next level.
Let’s see how well their performance was.
my experience
Once I unboxed them, I found the Air 5+ Pro earbuds to look like Soundpeats devices. They are polite and don’t draw attention to themselves. These (like most of Soundpeats’ devices) don’t look premium, which is one reason the sound quality is so amazing.
The Air 5+ Pro earbuds feature an xMEMS Cowell solid-state micro-speaker, which uses a silicon MEMS actuator instead of a traditional voice-coil driver. This allows the speaker to respond in microseconds with very little distortion. That speed and accuracy helps reveal subtle transients, clearer high-frequency detail and more accurate imaging.
I decided not to connect the Air 5+ Pro earbuds to the Soundpeats app to see how well they perform without adjustments. I was really impressed with the sound.
The Air 5+ Pro earbuds took the sound of the Air 4 Pro and refined it, so the earbuds produce even tighter bass, smoother midrange, and more crystalline highs.
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One of the first songs I played was “A Principal God” by Voices from the Fuselage. It’s a haunting piece of music that begins with a playful exchange between piano and synth, and the pinging from left to right is seamless.
When the tune really starts, you get a nice soundstage, with guitars and keyboards around the perimeter and drums and vocals in the center. It’s a nice balance that works beautifully, and really shows itself at the end of the track, which is one of my favorite lyrics of any song I’ve heard so far, highlighting the sweetness of Ash O’Hara’s voice.
Did I mention these earbuds are comfortable?
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
There’s a moment near the end where Ash’s voice rings out, and I’ve never heard it so clearly with other earbuds. It’s a gentle reminder that nuance is very important in music, and the Air 5+ Pros handle it with aplomb.
Next was Rush’s brilliant “Tom Sawyer”. The Moving Pictures album never fails to sound good on any device, but the Air 5+ Pros really helped bring out the brilliance of this song, especially in relation to Neil Peart and Geddy Lee, where the low end was tight and refined.
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Finally, I performed AC/DC’s “Back in Black”, which is considered the gold standard for sound engineers around the world. Whenever an engineer needs to check the acoustics of a sound room, he uses this track.
The Air 5+ Pros really reminded me why that is. Everything about the song was put on incredible display through these Soundpeats earbuds. This was especially true after cranking the volume up to 50%. Between Angus and Malcolm Young, the guitar sound is incredible, and the Air 5+ Pro earbuds are truly fantastic.
ZDNET’s shopping advice
the most amazing thing about air 5+ pro earbuds (As with almost all of Soundpeats’ devices) is that they’re currently selling for just $103 on Amazon. Finding such good sounding earbuds at this price shouldn’t be a big deal… but the Sonpeats have proven that it can be.
If you have a friend or loved one who has been asking for a good pair of earbuds, don’t sleep on the Soundpeats Air 5+ Pro. They may not look fancy, but they definitely play the role.
Specifications
- Bluetooth: 5.4
- Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3091
- Driver: 10mm composite bio-diaphragm driver (PU+PEEK)
- Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): AI-powered Adaptive ANC, noise reduction up to 55 dB
- Microphone: 6 microphones with AI ENC and Qualcomm cVc 8.0
- Codec Support: LDAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LC3, AAC, SBC
- Battery life: Up to 7.5 hours per charge (ANC on), up to 37 hours with charging case
- Battery capacity: 35mAh per earbud, 520mAh for charging case
- Charging: USB-C
- Water Resistance: IPX5
- Weight: 4.8 grams per earbud
- Connectivity: Multipoint connection support
- App Support: Soundpeats app for EQ, codec toggle and mode controls
