soundcore AeroFit Pro Open-Air Earbuds review

REVIEW – Typical in-ear earbuds are the pinnacle of portable sound, and can deliver an excellent listening experience.  Though by design, they can make hearing what’s going on around you difficult.  This isn’t great if you’re running or biking on the road, or in any environment where situational awareness is important.  For a while bone conduction headphones were the go-to option here, but their sound quality leaves a lot to be desired.  Lately we’re seeing more options that sit in the middle, such as the AeroFit Pro by soundcore.  Let’s have a listen and see what they’re all about.

What is it?

The soundcore AeroFit Pro earbuds are an open-air earbud designed for the wearer to maintain situational awareness while in use.  These earbuds sit outside the ear and use a directional speaker to deliver sound, leaving your ears open to hear the world around you.  soundcore offers the AeroFit Pro in either black, or white.

soundcore is the audio brand of Anker Innovations, which have been in this space for almost ten years.

What’s in the box?

• soundcore AeroFit Pro open-air earbuds
• Charging case
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• Neckband
• Quick start guide

Hardware specs

Design and features

The soundcore AeroFit Pro has a familiar over-ear design, featuring an earhook to secure the earbuds in place.  Each earbud carries the soundcore branding, and a single button interface.  The tactile button interface is really appreciated here, as I regularly have issues with touch-interfaces on earbuds either missing or detecting false inputs.

There is an included adjustable neckband which helps keep the earbuds in place if needed while exercising.  I didn’t have any issues forgoing the neckband while cycling, but I could see it being useful in other situations.  The neckband secures to the earbuds through a magnetic post.

The charging case is lightweight, easily pocketable, and features a satisfying push-button opening mechanism.  There is an LED indicator above the button which provides battery status at a glance.  Somewhat disappointing coming from Anker, who does all things charging, but there is no wireless charging support for the case.

Setup

There isn’t a lot to setting up the soundcore AeroFit Pros.  Opening the case with the buds inside will make them discoverable, and finding them from your device’s Bluetooth interface is all it takes to get connected.

If you’d like to take it a step further, the soundcore app is available for iOS and Android devices.  This will enable customization options for the earbuds, and allow you to keep their firmware up-to-date for the latest features.  There are some thoughtful features in here, such as having the ability to balance volume towards one earbud or another.  While on my bike, I like pushing that to the right side, since my left side is where I’d have cars approaching from.

Giving this shoutout its own line here… thank you Anker for not requiring an account just to connect with the earbuds and change settings, for not nagging me to create one every time I open the app.

Performance

The AeroFit Pro headphones are surprising in all the right ways.  I had tried Bose’s now discontinued iteration of this format in their Sport Open buds last year, but found them uncomfortable and lacking in sound.  My experience with the AeroFit Pro has been the exact opposite – these are absurdly comfortable and the sound is really good.

By sitting outside of the ear, the soundstage is immediately opened in comparison to typical in-ear buds.  The 16mm drivers are able to deliver a satisfying low end, and crisp highs.  The mids can sound almost lost at times, possibly due to the open-air delivery, but not distractingly so.  Out of the box the default ‘soundcore signature’ EQ is a low end disaster, and is the only pre-set EQ in the app.  Spending some time dialing in a custom EQ will go a long way to getting the best possible listening experience.

I was expecting the soundcore AeroFit Pro to have a considerable amount of sound bleed, given where they sit on the ear and that they’re effectively little open speakers.  At normal listening volume in an otherwise quiet room, they did a good job at containing sound to the listener.  At higher volumes than the ambient area would call for there definitely is sound bleed, though that’s not much different than most headphones.

On the bike, I didn’t have any trouble with forgoing the neckband, and in general day-to-day use they’re fine without it.  I could see the need for the neckband with more ‘active’ movements such as running, yoga, etc.

An area that stands to be improved with the earbuds is in mic quality.  soundcore advertises some implementation of AI to help with ambient sounds and mic noise cancellation, but in my tests background noise was a consistent issue.  The mics are decent in a quiet room, and would certainly work in a pinch while out for a ride.  I wouldn’t suggest trying to use these all day for work calls, despite how comfortable they are.

What I like

• Comfort is fantastic
• Sound quality was surprisingly good
• Maintaining situational awareness

What I’d change

• More EQ pre-sets in the soundcore app
• Mics could use some work with ambient noise cancellation

Final thoughts

In all my days, I have never found a comfortable pair of in-ear earbuds.  I’ve tried countless brands, designs, and ear tips to try to find a pair that wouldn’t cause pain after 20 minutes of use.  The design of the soundcore AeroFit Pro earbuds has taken the benefits of bone conduction, married it with a quality sound experience, and designed it for all-day comfort.  I am elated to have a truly wireless earbud that I can actually wear all day, and actually enjoy using.  I really appreciate some of the thoughtful settings options for these headphones, and the long battery life makes them a no-brainer for all day rides on the bike.  soundcore has a great product here!

Price: $169.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by soundcore.