SoundPEATS Air5 Pro Review

Design

The SoundPEATS Air5 Pro earbuds have a design to the previous generation SoundPEATS Air4 Pro Earbuds with a shiny black exterior and a gold accent down the stem. They carrying case flips open for easy access to remove and return the earbuds.

The earbuds are comfortable in my ears and SoundPEATS includes additional rubber tips if you find the preinstalled ones are too big or too small. The charging case features a USB-C charging port on the bottom and has a plastic exterior that slides easily in and out of your pocket.

Performance

As is typical with SoundPEATS’ earbuds, the sound quality does not disappoint. I found mids and highs to come through clearly and with a lot of detail on the Air5 Pro. The bass is also powerful, but I found the bass sounds best when the Active Noise Cancellation is active. You can further tweak the sound using different preset equalizers — or create your own — in the SoundPEATS app.

The Air5 Pro also support Hi-Res audio such as LDAC and aptX Lossless as well as Snapdragon Sound. The iPhone doesn’t support these higher quality profiles at this time, so support is limited to certain Android phones.

The SoundPEATS apps also allows you to access other features, such as a “Find My” feature that shows the last location where the earbuds were connected to your phone. You can also use the app to customize the touch controls and upgrade the firmware. The app is still a little rough and some of the pop-up prompts are not translated yet. If your earbuds do not connect on the first try, you may need to force close and relaunch the app.

Like most earbuds, the SoundPEATS Air5 Pro use touch controls that I have found to be hit or miss. They are usable, but I also find myself inadvertently activating them when I reach to adjust the earbuds in my ear. I really like how Apple incorporates “squeezing” the stems in the latest AirPods as I find it more reliable than most touch sensors, and I’m hoping SoundPEATS can incorporate a similar system in a future generation.

Active Noise Cancellation on the SoundPEATS Air5 Pro

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) on the Air5 Pro has been further enhanced to better adapt to your environment, switching focus from lower frequencies to mid-range frequencies as determined by the earbuds. The default setting is Adaptive Noise Cancellation, but in the app, you can manually select from Indoor Noise Cancellation, Outdoor Noise Cancellation, and Traffic Mode if you find that the adaptive mode is not blocking as much noise as it should.

The Adaptive ANC has actually been improved from the SoundPEATS Air4 Pro Earbuds, now capable of blocking up to -55db of noise (Air4 Pro blocked up to -45db). I found the Active Noise Cancellation to be effective on the low frequencies (like the “hum” of an airplane), but less effective on higher frequencies like a kid screaming. Still, they will block enough noise to allow you to enjoy your music or podcast at a comfortable volume.

Air5 Pro Call Performance

The Air5 Pro earbuds have incorporated cVc 8.0 noise cancellation technology for the microphones, which helps enhance call quality by blocking ambient and wind noise while allowing your voice to come through. In my tests with a white noise machine, I found the earbuds effectively removed the noise while still letting my voice come through clearly (well, maybe just a tad bit ‘tinny’). Check it out for yourself in the following test recording.

Battery Life

The earbuds can last up to 7.5 hours per charge, and with the charging case you can get up to 37 hours total of listening time. A quick 10 minute charge can get you up to 2 hours of playback. The earbuds are charged via a USB-C port located on the bottom of the charging case.

SoundPEATS Air5 Pro vs Apple AirPods Pro 2

The AirPods Pro 2 may have a slight edge in sound quality over the SoundPEATS Air5 Pro, but probably not enough for most people to notice, and not enough to justify the price difference. The Air5 Pro offer better Active Noise Cancellation and longer battery life, but lack some features such as Conversation Awareness.

	SoundPEATS Air5 Pro	Apple AirPods Pro 2
Active Noise Cancellation	up to 55dB	up to 35dB
Transparency Mode	✅	✅
Gaming Mode	✅	🚫
Multipoint Connections	✅	✅ (iCloud switching)
Conversation Awareness	🚫	✅
Speaker System	10mm dynamic (PU+PEEK)	Customized Driver with H2 chip
Battery Life	7.5 hours	6 hours
Total Battery Life with case	37 hours	30 hours
LDAC Support	✅	🚫
Water Resistance	IPX5	IPX4
Bluetooth	5.3	5.3
Profiles	SBC, AAC, LC3, LDAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless	A2DP, HFP, HSP, AAC-ELD (Apple-specific)
Single Earbud Weight	4.8g	5.3g

Additional details can be found on the SoundPEATS Air5 Pro product page.