Beyerdynamic has been producing good audio peripherals for some time now, and has gained fairly a repute within the trade. However, previous to introducing the Free BYRD earbuds, the corporate hadn’t tapped into True Wireless. Released in round mid-2022, the Free BYRD buds function highly effective ANC, heavy bass, and a cushty match. Admittedly, they do have a number of misses, and for the hefty price ticket, the misses could also be a bit onerous to justify; however they’re nonetheless fairly spectacular contemplating they’re Beyerdynamic’s debut True Wireless buds.

Pretty Decent Aesthetics and Plenty of Fit Options

For a primary try, the Free Byrd buds are placing. Beyerdynamic launched the buds in two coloration variants: all-black and grey with black accents. We obtained the latter and fell in love with how they give the impression of being. They sport a reasonably large physique, however aren’t massive sufficient to be categorized as clunky. A skinny strip of LED lighting enhances the buds’ aesthetic and informs you about their battery or connection standing.

The charging case is fairly respectable, as effectively. The sockets host slightly robust magnets and the buds simply slide in with a click on that resonates. Thanks to some room given on the perimeters of the sockets, it is usually simple to pluck the buds out of the case. The case is sufficiently light-weight and effortlessly stowable. I need to say, although, I’d’ve appreciated a steel physique to match the value, and possibly additionally a sturdier lid.

There are extraordinarily few possibilities of you not discovering the Free BYRD headphones comfy. With ear ideas supplied in eight pairs of various sizes, there needs to be a dimension that may go well with you. The smallest one match my ears like a sock and offered a cosy match all through.

The spare ear ideas are supplied in two supplies: foam and silicone. I’d like to provide Beyerdynamic a degree right here for offering materials choices, since each foam and silicone have their justifiable share of execs and cons. Foam isolates sound much better than silicone does, however it isn’t as comfy, simply washable, or sturdy as silicone.

Sharp treble however excessively robust bass

If you want your bass so robust that it may find yourself dominating different components within the combine, then it’s protected to go for the Free BYRDs. These buds pack ridiculously highly effective low-end; a bit too robust for my liking. When corporations overdo bass, it runs the danger of sounding thick at instances. That’s precisely the case with the Free BYRD buds. In most instances, it’s going to sound nice however in the event you placed on a bass-heavy observe or flip the amount all the way in which up, you’ll understand that it’s most likely an excessive amount of for you. It isn’t compact and can sound as whether it is leaking.

The treble is great, although. The highs are brilliant and spacious. They stand out from the remainder of the combination too, similar to the bass does, however not in an equally overdone means. I listened to Jungle by Fred Again on these and had a reasonably good time. Overall, the Free BYRD has a metallic sound profile and a sufficiently extensive soundstage. It isn’t so extensive that you simply’d be capable to discern each single component, however it’s not what you’ll name cluttered, both. I’d fee the soundstage a 7.5 out of 10.

Non-intuitive controls

I’m not the most important fan of the controls on the Beyerdynamic Free BYRD. They function a bit delay and aren’t essentially the most intuitively designed. A single faucet performs or pauses music, whereas a double faucet allows or disables ANC and Transparency mode. You can faucet the bud thrice to skip or rewind songs, relying on which bud you’re tapping. All the remainder of the capabilities require holding. Tapping and holding prompts voice help, tapping as soon as and holding on the second faucet rejects or ends calls, and tapping twice and holding on the second faucet tweaks quantity.

I discovered myself tapping a number of instances with a purpose to get the contact interface to register my finger. In different instances, I’d need to firmly press my finger in opposition to the bud. The want to carry put me off, too. I’d favor my buds to host quantity sliders on contact interfaces. Counting my faucets and ensuring to carry for a exact length on the final faucet was numerous effort. The Free BYRD turned ANC on for me once I was merely attempting to extend the amount. And that’s as a result of, apparently, I didn’t maintain for lengthy sufficient. Beyerdynamic may have put extra thought into planning the controls to cut back the variety of missteps.

Extremely highly effective ANC

Due to the cosy match, the passive noise isolation on the Free BYRD is excellent. Without even taking part in something, they immediately canceled 50% of ambient noise as quickly as I put them in. And I’m speaking about silicone ideas right here. The foam ones, after all, went a step forward and lowered round 70% of undesirable background sounds.

Turning ANC on resulted in round 95% of ambient sound being utterly muted. According to my testing, the ANC on these buds labored equally effectively in canceling each low and high-frequency sounds. I examined the previous with the hum of my dishwasher and the latter with the noise of my roommate doing her dishes within the kitchen. The transparency mode is fairly spectacular as effectively, however options the hiss that’s pretty frequent amongst ambient modes on earbuds.

Noise-isolating mic

Beyerdynamic undoubtedly aced the mic on the Free BYRD. According to my check, my voice sounded crystal clear. Some mics make you sound tinny, whereas others improve the echo to provide it a reverb impact. The just lately reviewed Bose QC Earbuds II, for instance, leaned into that slight reverb impact. The Free BYRD steered away from each of those issues.

My cousin couldn’t hear the loud fan proper subsequent to me once I referred to as her utilizing these buds, and he or she particularly commented on how well-isolated my voice sounded. She additionally needed to affirm if I used to be speaking by way of True Wireless buds, as a result of it apparently gave the impression of I used to be talking proper into my cellphone’s microphone. There have been additionally zero delays in my voice being picked up by the buds.

A very easy companion app

MIY, the companion app for the Beyerdynamic buds, is extremely easy. It doesn’t provide a lot when it comes to capabilities or options you could customise. The residence web page of the app informs you of the battery standing of the buds, permits you to cycle between ANC and transparency modes, and lets you flip Low Latency mode on or off. It additionally supplies earbud stats, which embrace whole uptime, playback time, and so forth. Other options embrace manufacturing facility resetting the gadget and setting a language for voice prompts. Other pages on the app host the corporate’s contact data and tutorials on the buds’ contact controls.

A stutter-free connection

The Free BYRD buds have a novel means of connecting. Instead of plucking the buds out and ready for them to point out up in your gadget, you’re required to faucet and maintain them whereas they’re planted contained in the case. Once you see their LED strips blinking, you may start looking for them in your cellphone’s listing of obtainable Bluetooth units. Beyerdynamic has taken a considerably completely different method when it comes to the connectivity course of, however it’s not a trouble in any respect. In reality, the buds present a fast, clean, and stutter-free connection to your gadget.

When it involves codecs, the Free BYRD options aptX Adaptive and AAC along with the usual SBC. aptX Adaptive means Beyerdynamic is promising you glorious streaming high quality together with exceptionally low latency. AAC means Apple customers can profit from good streaming high quality as effectively. The SBC codec is extra of an ordinary and last-resort possibility. While we’re speaking about connectivity, you will need to notice that the Free BYRDs don’t provide multipoint connection, which suggests they’ll solely join to 1 gadget at a time.

Battery and Water Resistance:

The battery on the Free BYRD buds deserves particular point out. In principle, the buds are imagined to final a complete of 11 hours. According to my testing, they labored for precisely 9 hours earlier than they ran out of juice. However, that’s nonetheless a powerful rating. Especially contemplating that simply 10 minutes of recharging replenishes the buds with a further 70 minutes of listening time, I’d say that Free BYRD’s battery is

fairly usable. Along with the chargers within the case, the full runtime of the buds, as marketed, is 30 hours. Moreover, in contrast to the Bose QC Earbuds II, these buds sport the choice of wi-fi charging. Free BYRDs’ long-lasting battery life and IPX4 water resistance make them ideally suited as a fitness center buddy.

Should I purchase the Beyerdynamic Free Byrd Earbuds?

All in all, I discovered the Free BYRD earbuds fairly spectacular for a True Wireless debut. I’d’ve most popular the bass to be rather less overbearing and the controls to be extra user-friendly. Apart from that, they function a horny design, a variety of match choices, glorious noise-canceling, and a strong mic. Beyerdynamic has performed an excellent job coming into this market.