Soundpeats RunFree Lite

Verdict

The Soundpeats RunFree Lite are an inexpensive set of air conduction headphones that provide surprisingly vivid, customizable sound from a design that makes them supreme for runs and exercises.

Introduction

The Soundpeats RunFree Lite are a set of very inexpensive air conduction headphones aimed squarely at runners however made for anybody who wants some audio firm throughout train time.

Together with an open-ear design to maintain you conscious of your environment, Soundpeats guarantees highly effective sound, spectacular 17-hour battery life from a design that’s match to deal with some sweat and rain.

Now there’s not precisely a large scarcity of headphones constructed for sport proper now, however most do sit at a costlier value level than the RunFree Lite. Has this small Chinese language model managed to trump the pricier competitors?

The Soundpeats RunFree Lite is available for purchase from Amazon the place you’ll be able to decide them up for £34.99 / $29.99. That massively undercuts many of the large title bone conduction headphones together with the Shokz OpenRun, OpenRun Professional, Haylou PurFree BC01 and the Naenka Runner Diver.

Design

• IPX4 water and sweat resistant design
• Onboard bodily controls
• Weighs 28g

If you happen to’ve picked up a pair of air or bone conduction headphones earlier than, the design of the RunFree Lite will really feel acquainted. It’s a neckband look with bodily buttons on one facet and an open ear strategy that channels sound in the direction of your ears through transducers with out blocking them like in-ear or on-ear headphones.

The excellent news is that they’re gentle, weighing in at simply 28g, so put that up in opposition to a pair of Shokz OpenRun (26g) for instance, and so they weigh roughly the identical and by no means really feel cumbersome to put on. Soundpeats doesn’t go as sturdy on the water and sweat resistance. It’s an IPX4 design although, which implies it might fend off some sweat and lightweight rain. I used them on runs in gentle rain and for treadmill and common dwelling and fitness center exercises and I’ve not skilled any efficiency or drop-out points.

There are three bodily buttons on the fitting facet of the headphones, letting you flip the headphones on and off, and a mixture of faucets and presses to activate options equivalent to quantity management, skipping tracks, dealing with calls, switching between two calls, and enabling a sport mode. My one criticism right here is that whereas the buttons are a superb measurement, they really feel too shut collectively and after I was on the transfer, and it felt difficult at occasions to shortly differentiate between them. Separating the on/off button and quantity buttons can be the best way to go sooner or later.

Consolation-wise, they’ve been nice. They’re very gentle, and I typically forgot they have been on, although I’ve observed on the odd event throughout for much longer use (over an hour) that I skilled somewhat rubbing from the grilled areas on the headphone arms. It wasn’t on a regular basis, and it didn’t damage, however it was one thing I picked up on.

In the case of charging, there’s somewhat latch beneath the place the buttons that fortunately doesn’t really feel too flimsy and that it would put on badly over time. It does include a case as properly when you don’t wish to sling them into your fitness center bag to finish a fairly stable bundle general on the design entrance.

Options

• Bluetooth multipoint help
• 17 hours of battery life

Getting the RunFree Lite paired and arrange is a breeze. I’ve used them with an iPhone 14, Google Pixel 6a and paired them to the Apple Watch Extremely and Garmin Forerunner 965 watches with out problem.

Soundpeats makes use of Bluetooth 5.3 to verify these connections are steady and quick, and in addition gives multipoint sharing, letting you turn between two paired units, and it labored as properly too.

By way of battery life, Soundpeats talks large numbers. It claims the 130mAh capability battery will get you as much as 17 hours and take 1.6 hours to cost up from 0-100%. That will counsel larger battery numbers than an entire host of air conduction headphones. The Shokz OpenRun Professional and Naenka Runner Diver each promise as much as 10 hours to place that into context. 

In actual phrases although, I’d say these battery estimates are beneficiant and so they ship one thing on par with Shokz and Naenka. For hour-long exercises with the quantity set fairly loud, the battery dropped by 10%. 

That will counsel the battery is extra in the direction of that 10-hour mark than 17. I’m positive when you listened at decrease volumes, you’d get nearer to that mark, however I believe most will doubtless see it match the competitors for battery efficiency.

Sound High quality

• Shiny however not immaculate sound high quality
• EQ included in companion app

I’d say out of the field, you don’t get the perfect of what these surprisingly vivid and peppy-sounding air conduction headphones have to supply. That’s arguably as a result of Soundpeats doesn’t do an amazing job of highlighting the accompanying Soundpeats app, which isn’t important, however does supply higher management over the sound profile and a greater concept of battery drain when you’re not utilizing it with an Android machine.

With the Soundpeats traditional EQ mode there’s no denying they sound somewhat on the muddy facet and so they definitely don’t rival headphones from the likes of Shokz and Haylou for readability and element. You do have some energy and heat right here, which you wouldn’t actually affiliate with air or bone conduction headphones typically. 

Leap into the companion app and you’ll decide from 8 completely different EQ presets in addition to dedicating gaming listening mode or use the customized equalizer and tackle a few of that muddiness and place an even bigger emphasis on a extra finessed sound, with smoother mids and one thing much less harsh sounding on the treble entrance to get a extra pleasing and balanced sound profile.

Crucially, the quantity doesn’t wrestle when it’s essential battle extra exterior noise, whether or not that’s visitors or the sound of the stereo system within the fitness center. I by no means felt like they have been terribly drowned out and I additionally felt fairly conscious of my environment on the identical time. It’s the same story for dealing with calls as properly. Mess around with that EQ and whilst you received’t get the perfect name high quality you’ll discover on a set of air conduction headphones, it’s nonetheless greater than succesful on that entrance.

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We at present haven’t obtained solutions to the questions on this product, however will replace this web page the second we do. You may see an in depth breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability information web page.