SoundPEATS Air 4 Review

Design

The SoundPEATS Air 4 have a similar design to the Apple AirPods 3rd generation, with a larger “oval” that tests directly outside your ear canal. I prefer this style of earbud to those that have a rubber tip that must “seal” inside your ear canal, as the more open design allows you to hear what is going on around you.

The earbuds (and case) have a matte black exterior with bronze highlights for the SoundPEATS logo.

Features

• ANC support: I was surprised to find that these earbuds have Active Noise Cancellation support, given their open design. While these earbuds won’t cancel outside noises like those that completely cover your ears, it does help reduce low frequency “hums” and filter out some light background sounds. However, if you’re going on a prolonged flight or in a noisy environment, you’ll probably want ANC headphones that “seal” into your ear canal or cover your entire ear.

• Multipoint connections: One major upgrade from the SoundPEATS Air 3 earbuds is that the Air 4 support multipoint connections, allowing you to pair the earbuds with both your phone and your computer, for example, at the same time. Here are the steps to accomplish this:

  1. First, pair the earbuds to your phone as normal.

  2. With the earbuds still out of the case, turn off the Bluetooth feature of your phone. The earbuds will automatically go back into pairing mode.

  3. On the second device, go to the Bluetooth settings and pair with the Air 4 earbuds.

  4. Once they are paired to the second device, turn the Bluetooth feature on again on the first device. Both devices will now be connected. In this case, if you’re listening to music on your phone and then a call comes in on your laptop, the earbuds will automatically switch over to the laptop.

• aptX support: If your phone supports the aptX protocol (which is certain Android phones but no iPhones at the time of this review), you can enjoy the enhanced sound quality that aptX provides.

• Single earbud use: You can use just one Air 4 earbud at a time if you want to keep one ear open, or if you’re on an extended conference call and need to charge one earbud while using the other.

• Game mode: The Air 4 earbuds support “game mode” which reduces Bluetooth latency while playing games.

Performance

Like the Air 3, the SoundPEATS Air 4 have great sound quality with strong bass and clear mids and highs. Sound might have been slightly tweaked for the better on the Air 4, but not enough of a difference to recommend ditching your Air 3 if you’re happy with them. The AirPods 3rd generation might have a slight advantage over the SoundPEATS Air 4, but it’s so small that most people probably won’t notice.

The SoundPEATS Air 4 also performed very well for phone calls, picking up my voice clearly. I tested this with my white noise machine playing loudly in the background, and the earbuds successfully filtered out the white noise while letting my voice come through.

SoundPEATS Air 4 vs Air 3

While sound quality has been improved slightly in the Air 4 earbuds over the Air 3, the major new feature in the Air 4 is the multipoint connection support. This allows the earbuds to be connected to both your phone and your laptop at the same time, so if you get a call on either device, the earbuds will automatically switch to that device.

SoundPEATS Air 4 vs AirPods 3

The SoundPEATS Air 4 give you many of the features of the AirPods 3rd generation, and even add Game Mode and light Active Noise Cancellation. Still, the AirPods 3 offer tighter integration with the Apple ecosystem with automatic iCloud Switching and slightly longer batter life. Sound quality between the two is nearly indistinguishable, but I would say the AirPods 3 have a slight advantage.

Battery Life

When listening at about 60% volume, the SoundPEATS Air 4 can last up to 6.5 hours on a single charge. The charging case provides an additional 3 charges, providing over a full 24 hours of listening.

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