After using high-end $300-plus noise-cancelling earbuds for the last 10 years, I felt I needed a comparison to a budget pair. For the last month, I have switched to the Soundpeats Air6 HS, which, although it incorporates many of the latest innovations, lacks some of the features I have come to rely on.
The Air6 HS costs less than $60 in Australia, which means I could afford to lose six pairs compared to my regular drive. Now I have never lost a pair, but I have spent many hours looking for buds I have dropped in the garden. I do note there is a ‘Find My Earbuds’ setting that uses your phone’s GPS to indicate their last known location. This, unfortunately, does not help in a pile of leaves.
Soundpeats Air6 HS audio quality
On first impressions, the sound quality was great. Soundpeats indicates that a 13mm triple-magnet driver with Hi-Res LDAC is responsible for this, allowing Android users (like me) to hear three times more detail. I am no audiophile, but to my ear, these sounded great.
In the Soundpeats app, you can further customise the sound with an equaliser to control bass, treble, and everything in between. If you have access to media or streaming platforms with Hi-Res audio, you can enjoy higher-resolution files with better audio. Similarly, LDAC is a Bluetooth transmission protocol that enables higher-quality audio to be transferred to earbuds.
Two features I did miss — but for the price, I understand why they are not there — audio does not stop when you take a bud out, and there is no noise cancellation. So, your only option in busy environments is to turn the volume up, rather than cutting background noise out. There is one exception: when on a call, the microphone helps cut background noise so the person on the other end can hear you more clearly.
Design, app controls, and Bluetooth 6
Each earbud only weighs four grams, and I found them comfortable to wear all day while doing weekend chores. I also used them on my morning bicycle rides, where I never use noise cancellation, and found them to be a good balance between hearing traffic, my podcast, and wind noise.
Soundpeats’ earbuds support standard gesture controls: a single tap to adjust volume, a double tap to pause/play content, a triple tap to open an assistant, and a long press to skip forward or back. I found this intermittent to begin with, but in the end, I decided it was a change in sequence from what I was used to, and also getting the finger placement right, which turns out to be on the Soundpeats logo.
The app has all the controls you would expect, but after the initial setup and software update, I have not really touched it again. The battery status is listed within the app for each earbud and the case, but I find myself monitoring this on the case itself. The case flashes a colour when closed, indicating the case battery life, and also flashes a colour when the case is open, indicating the buds’ charge.
The buds support Bluetooth 6, which offers lower power consumption and longer, more stable transmission (i.e. a greater range between your phone and the buds). In the box is a USB-C cable, which I have a whole drawer full of them now, but means standardised charging, which will take up to 1.5 hours for the case and 45 mins for the buds. A 10-minute charge of the buds will, however, give you three hours of listening time. The total listening time between a charged case and buds is up to 45 hours.
These buds are IPX5 water-resistant, so they will survive a rain shower, but do not immerse them in water. Within the app is a ‘Drainage Function’, which plays a loud noise that supposedly helps remove any water that has entered the buds. Make sure you don’t activate this when you are wearing them.
What did I think of the Soundpeats Air6 HS?
The Soundpeats Air6 HS was a surprise package for me. For $60, I was expecting rubbish that I would never use. Instead, I now have a set of earbuds that I am not worried about losing. They produce great sound, and I will continue to use them in environments where I don’t want noise cancellation.
The post These sub-$60 budget earbuds made me rethink audio appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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