Soundpeats Breezy open ear wireless earbuds review

REVIEW – I have tested alot of headphones/earbuds here at the Gadgeteer over the years.  I have owned every form factor that you can imagine, and just about every price point as well.  I have my favorites, and which pair I use pretty much depends on the activity that I am planning on doing.  The over-the-ear Soundpeats Breezy Earbuds are meant to attract those folks who like to be active outdoors and listen to music, and be aware of their surroundings by utilizing the ‘open-ear’ design of the earbuds.  They are priced at $39.99, so my expectations are not that high, but let’s see how it shakes out!

What is it?

The Soundpeats Breezy are over-the-ear earbuds that have an ‘open-ear’ design where the speaker hangs just outside the ear canal.

What’s included?

• Soundspeats Breezy Earbuds
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable, 10 inches long
• user manual
• Charging case

Tech specs

Design and features

The Breezy Earbuds have an over-the-ear design, so they pretty much stay in place no matter the physical activity, as long as you don’t go swimming.  The IPX4 rating means you can splash some water on these, but you won’t be immersing them.  The earbuds design is ‘open-ear’, which means the speaker hangs just outside your ear canal instead of inside the ear canal.  This means that you trade deep, rich sounds for the convenience of being able to hear background noise around you.  And that also means that if you turn up the sound too high, folks around you will be able to hear your sound.  So keep this in mind if you plan on using them in an open office space with lots of other people around, or in a library.

The graphic design of the earbuds is pretty cool, with sort of a carbon fiber look to them. And one of the design features that Soundpeats promotes is that you can adjust these earbuds up to 90 degrees so that no matter the shape of your ear you can find an angle to get the speaker right beside your ear opening.  I found this to be true, and the adjustment is quite easy to use. The metal charging leads are on the inside of the earbud, the same side as the speaker, and there are magnets inside the earbuds so that when you place them into the charging case, they will snap into place with the charging leads in the charging case.

The case is also incredibly thin and small, and can easily fit inside any pockets. The only thing you’ll find on the outside of the case is a USB-C charging port on the back, and a single small LED charging indicator on the front. I have long griped about these small LED charging indicators, and this one is no exception.  I don’t like them.  But this is the best you’ll get at this price point. On my phone, I have a widget that shows me connected Bluetooth devices and how much battery is left, so I ignore that little LED indicator.

When you open the charging case the earbuds immediately connect with your phone.  I would prefer that the earbuds connect with my phone AFTER I remove them from the case, because the voice prompt in the earbuds tells you when they are connected.  So if you don’t remove the earbuds immediately upon opening the case, you might miss the voice prompt before you can get them placed on your ears. It’s a small thing, and probably wouldn’t bother most people, but I do point that out.

The hook that goes around the back of your ear is soft rubber, and very comfortable.  In fact, you probably won’t even even notice them at all. The controls for these earbuds are on the smooth outside of the earbud. There are no physical buttons of any kind on these earbuds, so everything is controlled by touching your finger either to the left or right earbud and tapping. This is where my biggest complaint is.  I understand that having physical buttons means that something could certainly go wrong, and if moisture gets into a button it could ruin the earbud. But I find that touch controls on earbuds can be frustrating because of stray touches.  You reach up to adjust the earbuds, because of course that is one of the features that Soundpeats says is great, but when you are adjusting them you almost always end up doing something to the music… pausing, skipping, adjusting the volume, etc.  And it’s something you’ll just have to get used to.

Now, a word about the sound quality. When using the Breezy Earbuds for phone calls, don’t expect much. Soundpeats says there is AI-powered noise cancelling present, but my experience of trying to have phone calls in noisy environments wasn’t great.  I mean, a quick phone call is ok but I wouldn’t be having a long conversation with these earbuds. Because of the open-ear design you’ll probably end up turning up the volume up higher than normal to hear the music.  I found that the bass sounds are not that deep, and the treble sounds aren’t that sharp. So the range isn’t that large, but again, these budget earbuds aren’t supposed to knock your socks off with deep, rich sound. I also found that if I turned my phone sound all the way up, the sound was slightly distorted.  The sound is decent, but set your expectations appropriately.  I traveled last week with my Breezy Earbuds, and on the plane I had trouble hearing the sound with them because the background noise of the airplane engines was just too loud. So for airline travel, I will take my headset with ear cups that cover my ears!

Finally, I will mention the smartphone app, called PeatsAudio. You’ll find an equalizer feature in there, which is pretty neat. There are presets already in there for rock, pop, classical, etc. There is also a setting for ‘base boost’, ‘base reduce’, and ‘treble boost’.  I found that those do adjust the sound just enough for me to tell, and there is a custom option so that you can create your own EQ.  So that’s pretty neat.

What I like about the Soundpeats Breezy Earbuds

• Over-the-ear form factor is great for using during physical activity.
• Open-ear design allows you to be aware of noise around you.
• The charging case is very small and portable and provides numerous charges for the earbuds.
• Earbuds adjust 90 degrees to fit just about everyone’s ear shape.

What needs to be improved?

• Because of the open-ear design, if you turn the volume all the way up to increase the sound, you will get distortion.
• The single LED charging indicator is incredibly small and marginally useful.
• Touch controls can be frustrating to use because of stray touches.

Final thoughts

The Soundpeats Breezy Earbuds are a budget entry into the open-ear headphones space, and at $39.99 it’s hard to complain about much. These are so cheap that they would be easy to replace. The touch controls did leave me wanting more, just like all the other touch-control earbuds that I have used. These earbuds are small, which of course is nice, but that means that using the touch controls can be frustrating at times.  The charging case is great, and provides many days of charging to keep you going. The over-the-ear form factor is great for just about any physical activity you want to engage in (except swimming!), and they are sure to stay in place over your ears. The open-ear design means you’ll be able to hear your surroundings, but that also means you won’t get the excellent sound quality and deep, rich sound, and if you turn the volume all the way up like I did, you’re gonna get some distortion.  In fact, I would rate the sound quality as just average.  So the audiophiles among us are going to want to skip these.  Finally, the call features are marginal at best, and despite what Soundpeats says about having AI-powered noise cancelling, my opinion is that you’ll have to use these to take phone calls sparingly. I think that if you just want to go outside and walk the dog or take a run, and be able to hear cars coming your way while you listen to music, at this price point you’ll be happy.

Price: $39.99
Where to buy:  Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Soundpeats. Soundpeats did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.