Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 review: Understated & underrated

Breaking into the realm of wireless earbuds is a difficult game, especially when Apple, Google et al have a monopoly on those who want to listen to music wirelessly. For a consumer to consider another product on the market, it has to offer something pretty special.

While I’m not quite ready to give up my trusty AirPod Pros just yet, I’m stunned at how remarkably close the NeoBuds Pro 2 from Edifier come to knocking them off their pedestal - and at a fraction of the cost, too.

Sleek and simple

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The NeoBuds Pro 2 are elegantly designed, with our Ivory colourway blending in perfectly with everyday life. Walking down the street, you wouldn’t immediately pick up that I’m wearing a slightly different pair of earphones, with the small footprint largely contributing to this. It also helps them sit comfortably in the ear, with a frankly ridiculous number of rubber tips included to help you find the perfect seal.

The buds are controlled by capacitative sections on the side of each bud, which can be used to change track, control the volume, answer calls, or swap between the noise-cancelling modes. Frustratingly, this was a weak area of the NeoBuds Pro 2, as I could only manage to perform a successful input maybe 50% of the time here. I’d regularly end up skipping music instead of pausing it, or vice versa. 

What’s more, pressing on the capacitative areas means putting pressure on your ear, which isn’t pleasant. We may have mocked Apple when it first introduced the squeezing method of control, but it is certainly a more comfortable experience. It’s not the end of the world, though, as all of these controls can be done directly from your phone or via the excellent Edifier App.

When travelling around, the NeoBuds Pro 2 have a fantastic little case to carry them in, which adds between an additional 12 and 16.5 hours of playback time depending on whether you’re using noise cancelling. The case is made of plastic materials but feels remarkably solid in the hand with a very satisfying hinge. 

The case also has an LED light that’s customisable in the Edifier app, which gamers will likely appreciate as a nice touch. However, the light is extremely bright, lighting up a dark room when you want to put them on charge at night. It was also extremely attention-attracting when opening them on an overnight flight, so a brightness control in the app would not have gone amiss here.

In terms of size, the case is a tad bigger than your standard AirPods case, but it’s still small enough to fit in the coin pocket of most trousers. I never felt like I was lugging something bulky around when transporting the NeoBuds Pro 2.

How do they sound?

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Put simply, these earbuds from Edifier sound absolutely stunning. There’s clear separation between each instrument in my usual playlists, and listening to speech in my hours of daily podcast consumption was simply a treat.

What’s more, these earbuds are loud. I’m used to leaving my volume set to around 75% on most other sets of earphones, but anything above 50% on the NeoBuds Pro 2 was more than enough for me. Audio clarity persists at these volumes too, which was impressive to hear. Diving into the Edifier app, there’s a detailed equaliser for die-hard audio nerds like myself to customise to their heart's content.

The noise cancelling on these earbuds is excellent as well, with Edifier claiming a reduction of -50 dB. I can’t comment on how accurate that is, but I can say that using these on a long-haul flight to LA did wonders for cutting out that constant low engine hum.

The Edifier app allows for plenty of noise-cancelling customisation, with the option to let speech bleed through if you’re working in the office, for example. The audio passthrough isn’t quite as impressive as the noise cancelling, with a white-noise hiss persisting while trying to hear through the earbuds. However, it’s possible to clearly make out the speech of folks nearby while listening to music quietly in this mode, so this feature is a relative success point.

Perfect portable pairing

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Where the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 really shine is in their gaming performance, especially with portables. With between four and five and a half hours of constant playback time, that about matches up with the sort of battery life you see on a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. As such, I put them through their paces on a long-haul flight, enabling the game mode and diving deep into Super Mario Wonder.

The dedicated gaming mode in the Edifier app seemed to streamline the audio slightly, making the already gorgeous sounds of Mario Wonder pop even further. What’s more, there seemed to be almost no audio delay between the NeoBuds Pro 2 and my Nintendo Switch - something that certainly can’t be said for other earphones I’ve paired with the device.

While I didn’t get to try the buds with a Steam Deck directly, I can also see that being an excellent pairing with these headphones. Switching on the noise cancelling and getting lost in a game while on the go was an absolute delight.

All about that price

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On its surface, the feature set and quality of the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 all seem fairly run-of-the-mill compared to other earbuds on the market. However, that’s until you consider the price that these ones come in at.

At £129.99, that’s the same price as Apple’s basic entry-level AirPods - and those don’t even feature noise cancelling. My usual daily drivers are the Apple AirPod Pros, which retail for almost double what Edifier is asking for these earphones. I’m staggered at how close Edifier has managed to get in terms of both quality and features while managing to keep the price as low as it is.

The only real feature that prevents me from swapping to these devices full-time is that they lack the all-important H2 chip that sees Apple earphones swap between iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices seamlessly. If I weren’t using them for work as well as gaming, it’d be a clean sweep for the NeoBuds.

The Verdict

Edifier has done a magnificent job of creating a truly premium audio product that sells for an extremely competitive price. For the money, these buds sound way ahead of their class. Throw in the remarkably stacked collection of features such as noise cancelling and long-lasting battery life, and there are very few reasons to consider other products.

If you’re someone who’s locked into the Apple ecosystem and enjoys the benefits of switching between multiple devices on the fly for work, you likely already own a pair of AirPods anyway. However, if you’re looking for the perfect audio companion for music, podcasts, and gaming, the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 are an unreal choice.

4.5/5

The product was provided by the manufacturer for review.