New Budget King! 👑 Earfun Wave Pro Review vs Soundcore Q45 vs Soundpeats Space

The Earfun Wave Pro seems to be tremendous value for money. That’s because for the price of less than 80 dollars it’s got most bases covered in terms of specs. Up to 80 hours of battery without noise canceling, with noise canceling up to 55 hours, it’s Hi-res certified with support for LDAC codec streaming, although when in LDAC mode, you can’t use one other important feature which is multipoint pairing, that’s because when using multipoint, it falls back into the regular AAC codec.

For those of you who don’t know, multipoint pairing allows you to connect up to two devices at once, and switch between them for music and calls. And you turn multipoint pairing on by using its companion app called the Earfun app. All the settings can be performed here including sound quality settings with an extensive range of EQ presets, or a graphic EQ.

Although the app doesn’t allow you to finetune the level of noise canceling, it does give you a choice of how strong you want it to be, including a wind noise reduction mode. That’s awesome. But not as awesome as this other setting which truly is unique among headphones. I’ve tested so many noise cancelers, and there’s never been one that allows you to really customize most of its control buttons.

Earfun has simplified the controls by limiting the number of buttons, and putting them all on the right earcup. But if you want, you can decide for yourself what those buttons do, with either short press, or long press gestures. You can even make the volume buttons do other things like music controls or noise canceling toggles. This makes the UI of the Wave Pro probably the most customizable in a pair of headphones that I’ve seen.

Not gonna lie, it still feels like they cheaped out on the quality of plastic used here, feels a bit brittle, but under normal usage the headband does feel pretty sturdy, even when it’s being abused the same way I abuse other headphones.

But what about its sound, noise canceling, and mic pickup? Can it really be that good for the price?

In the following tests we’re going to benchmark the Wave Pros to popular budget headphones like the Soundcore Space Q45 and the Soundpeats Space.

Microphone Quality Comparison

Its microphone quality is pretty great in both quiet and noisy conditions, when it was able to cut noise better than the Soundpeats, and amplify my voice louder than the Soundcore, which is important if you want to be heard by the caller on the other end of the line. Listen to the samples.

(Microphone quality tested in both quiet and noisy conditions using really loud cafe noise, and some wind noise from a fan.)

Active Noise Canceling Comparison

In terms of active noise canceling, the Wave Pros are one of the more effective ones in the budget range, definitely more effective than the SoundPeats Space at canceling low frequency rumble, and background chatter under the same noisy conditions. Listen to the samples.

Transparency mode

In terms of transparency, to be honest, this is the worst part about the Wave Pro. There’s definitely not as much passthrough as most competing models, so it sounds like there’s more occlusion. It also doesn’t pass through my own voice, so conversations can sound very unnatural. So even with transparency, you might still have to lift up an earcup to have short conversations, or to be more aware of your surroundings.

Sound Quality Comparison

In terms of sound quality, I would describe its sound as thick and full especially in the mids. Vocals sound crisp and rich in gravity, and its sound staging leans a bit more compact rather than open and spacious. Although its bass is impactful and punchy, with quite a lot of detail, frequency sweeps show that it’s not the most bass heavy budget cans, not as much bass as the Soundpeats Space. But this also means a less boomy sound signature if that’s what you prefer. Its track separation can be described as marginally cleaner than average so there’s very little cross bleeding when listening to faster, more intense music like deep house or synthwave. Compared to the Soundcore Space Q45, since the Q45’s frequency response is more v-shaped, its sub-bass feels heavier, and details in the soundstage feels brighter. But overall, the Wave Pros sound good to me, and they’re pretty genre-blind, giving me plenty of enjoyment listening to different types of music, and watching videos. Listen to the samples.

You can also compare their sound samples to other headphones on loudnwireless.com/soundsamples.

Conclusion

The reason why I dig the Wave Pro is that it gets most of the basics right. It sounds good, powerful noise canceling for the price, Hi-Res certified, and very customizable in terms of sound and the controls, something you don’t get with most wireless headphones, even the more expensive ones. It’s also worth mentioning that these are quite comfortable to wear. The clamping pressure is not too tight, the cushions feel soft and plush, and though the earcups are quite shallow, they’re also wide enough to fit around most ears, even big bunny ears like mine. They’re definitely more comfortable to wear than the Soundpeats Space, which clamps down a lot harder on my head.

Other reasons I prefer it over the SoundPeats Space is the controls being more responsive, its noise canceling is better and the fact that it supports streaming over LDAC, offering much better transmission on Android devices. The biggest reasons to choose the SoundPeats instead is its superior battery life, superior transparency mode, and bassheads will prefer its heavier bass.

The Wave Pro would have been better if it did support LDAC streaming with multipoint, but at this price, I can’t really complain too much. It’s already nailing the basics, so I’ve no problems recommending you look at these if you are in the market for some compelling noise cancelers in the budget range.

In terms of value proposition, I would even go so far as to say that they can compete with the Soundcore Space Q45. Those do go on promo, but even on promo, they’re not as cheap as the Wave Pro. The big advantages those have over the Wave Pro is HearID, which recommends an EQ preset for you based on the sensitivity of your hearing, their earcups are even more roomy, and their excellent transparency mode. I also think the Soundcores sound more exciting. But otherwise, the Wave Pro is still quite competitive in terms of performance and features, since you can customize its controls, and you can’t do it on the Soundcores.

So those are my thoughts of the Wave Pro compared to the SoundPeats Space and Soundcore Space Q45. If you want to know the latest prices of these products, click on the Amazon links below.

Check latest price:

Earfun Wave Pro - https://amzn.to/4cU5c1Z
Soundpeats Space - https://amzn.to/43xRRYZ
Soundcore Space Q45 - https://amzn.to/43VzZYs

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