Great sound, but wish they were less bulky – Geek Review

True wireless earphones (TWE) are ten cents a dozen, but the ones that stand out from the crowd sound good, fit comfortably, and have decent microphones. Beyerdynamic, known for its high-quality on-ear headphones, took on that challenge with the Free BYRDs, and they mostly succeeded.

The buds are bigger than I would like

Pulling Beyerdynamic’s free BYRDs out of the charging case, I was amazed at how big each of the earphones are. Compared to the sleek design of the AirPods Pro and the small in-ear size of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, the free BYRDs feel like the company added an extra layer to a standard-sized earbud.

All the extra space makes the touch controls easy to use. Instead of detecting the vibration of hitting the earphone, the Free BYRD Beyerdynamic logo is touch sensitive. This allows the headphones to recognize light and strong touches.

The only headphones I’ve tried that come close to the size of the Free BYRD are the Sony WF-1000XM4s. Frequently touted as the best wireless noise-canceling headphones, these are bulky due to the premium speaker and built-in tech. So why are free BYRDs so big? I’m not sure as the ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) isn’t that great, but after a few days of using them I forgot their size.

Note: A Beyerdynamic representative did not comment when asked if the name Free BYRD was referring to the Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

The good news is that despite their significant in-ear presence, weighing two to three grams more than other headphones and lacking ear cups to stabilize the devices, Beyerdynamic’s free BYRDs never felt heavy. Yes, my ears hurt after wearing them for four hours or more in a row, but I also feel that way after wearing the headphones for a long period of time.

And speaking of long periods of listening, the battery life of the headphones was fantastic. Even with ANC on, I never killed free BYRDs in a single session. The company claims 8 to 11 hours of listening time depending on features enabled, an additional 19 hours with the charging case’s built-in battery, and the ability to get just over 1 hour of use after 10 minutes of charging.

When it’s time to charge the earbuds, pop them into the charging case, which uses magnets to align each earbud perfectly with two spring-loaded pins. You can then plug the included half-meter-long (20-inch) USB-C-to-C cable into the back of the case, or place the device on a Qi wireless charger.

Sound is great after a few tweaks

Now let’s talk about the sound quality, as the name Beyerdynamic gave me high hopes for Free BYRD. I’m not an audiophile, but out of the box I found these tuned very well, if a bit skimpy. It all sounded great and I’m sure most people would be happy with the default settings, but I wanted a little more oomph. Fortunately, the company’s mobile app (more on that below) includes built-in EQ settings and the option to customize the sound for your ears using a Mimi audio test.

After customizing the sound for my ears and testing the available EQ profiles, I settled on the “V-shape” option, which boosted the high and low ends. Again, we’ll talk more about the app below, but I wish I could manually tweak the EQ presets to really get the sound right.

We should also discuss Free BYRD’s ANC and Transparency modes. Starting with ANC, I was honestly disappointed in the performance of these headphones. While it definitely removed a decent amount of white noise compared to ANC off, a ton of sound still came through. They don’t isolate as much sound as other earbuds like the AirPods Pro, so ANC can only do so much.

I recommend trying out the eight pairs of eartips that come with the earphones (three of which are made of foam). Finding the right fit ensures that as little sound as possible reaches your ears.

Transparency mode, on the other hand, was surprisingly good. It’s not as good as the one found on AirPods, which lets you talk to others like there’s nothing in your ears, but it’s still pretty clear. The vocals still sound a bit electronic and you can tell that the sound is partially channeled using the Free BYRD microphones.

The microphone is better than average

It is a fact that most Bluetooth headsets do not have good microphones. The main focus of the accessory is usually music and audio playback, and since the microphone is usually quite far from the mouth, not much can be done.

To my surprise, when I called the people wearing the Beyerdynamic headphones, the person on the other end had no problem hearing me. They shared that it didn’t sound like I was talking on my phone, but it was better than most wireless headphones they’d heard on Zoom.

I recorded two mic tests on Free BYRD which you can listen to below:

Microphone test without background noise

Microphone test with background noise

As you can hear in the second clip, when there is noise in the background, something is heard. Fortunately, the free BYRDs removed most of it without distorting my voice too much. I was impressed.

The app should allow you to change touch controls

Everything from EQ settings to firmware updates is live in Beyerdynamic’s MIY (Make It Yours) app (available on iPhone and Android). It’s your one-stop shop for customizing the sound of the free BYRDs and setting which voice assistant you’d like to use (including the option to use Amazon Alexa).

As discussed above, I followed the instructions in the app to test my hearing for a personalized listening experience. I also went in and switched between some of the EQ profiles. Both enhanced my listening experience, although I do wish there were custom EQ controls, even if all they did was let you change the intensity of each profile.

The app’s most significant limitation is the inability to remap touch controls, which is annoying because Beyerdynamic chose touch controls that differ from most of its competitors. For example, if you double press/tap the Apple AirPods, it will skip to the next song. But with the free BYRDs, double tap toggles between ANC and Transparency modes. You have to tap three times, which is used to go back to a song on most buttons, to go forward. I can’t tell you how often I accidentally turned on Transparency mode during my test.

The MIY app has an entire section dedicated to teaching you the various Free BYRD controls, so I don’t see why Beyerdynamic couldn’t use this area to enter customization settings.

Another change I would love to see in the MIY app is in the “Stats” section. When you open the menu, you are greeted with headphone uptime, playback time, phone time, and boot up. Unfortunately, you can only see lifetime stats. You can’t see data for your current listening period, a 30-day average, or anything else.

Should I buy the free BYRD headphones from Beyerdynamic?

The longer I used the free BYRDs, the more I liked them. It took me a while to get used to the company’s oversized in-ear headphones, but the sound quality and microphone quality quickly won me over.

Price is the most significant drawback of these Beyerdynamic true wireless earphones. If you’re willing to spend more than $200 on TWE, consider the Jabra Elite 85t and Apple AirPods Pro. Both offer sleeker designs, best-in-class audio quality, and go on sale frequently.

Another thing to note is that the free BYRDs do not support multipoint Bluetooth. You can pair them with up to six devices and quickly switch between them, but you can’t connect to two devices simultaneously and be able to pull audio from none.

But if you like what Beyerdynamic offers with the free BYRDs, you can buy them direct from the company or Amazon for $249 in black or gray (seen above).