My aunt, who previously gave me the Thumbs-Up Phone Stand and the Fisher FBX262 Wireless speaker, surprised me with yet another gift: the Airbuds Air5 True Wireless Bluetooth earbuds. She received the Air5s (as I call them) as a gift from one of her kids. Unfortunately, she didn’t like them. She said they hurt her ears and didn’t work well. Rather than let the earbuds go to waste in a drawer, my aunt said I could have them.
I was extremely excited to give them a whirl. I was not disappointed.
“Unboxing”
Since the Air5s are technically used, I’m missing a lot of basic details about them. I don’t have the original package or accessories. I don’t know how much they cost or what store they came from. Most of what I know comes from experience and experiments.
From the sparse information I could find online, I think the earbuds may have come from Walgreens. The website has all of the previous models for sale. Their prices range from $20-$40, with the the Air3s, the ones most similar to the Air5s, at the higher end of the spectrum.
Appearance & Fit
The Air5s come in a white square case with rounded edges. It has the Airbuds logo on the front and a microUSB port on the back. Open the magnetized lid, and the white earbuds (also magnetized) are seated inside the case facing each other.
Despite the similar name and case, the Air5s themselves don’t look like the Apple AirPods. They look like a standard earbud head attached to an egg-shaped receiver. You put the tip in and turn the receiver upwards so it settles into the inner curve of your ear. I like this design. The earbuds look less conspicuous when you wear them, unlike the little dangly part of the AirPods.
Maybe my ears are sensitive, but the Air5s feel weird. They’re not exactly…uncomfortable. The rubber tips are soft and flexible. At the same time, they make the inside of my ears itch after a while and I often get those weird ear chills. Worst of all, the rubber tips tend to slip off. One tip even came off inside my ear!
Sound & Usage
The Air5s are fun to use. They give a lot of feedback about what’s going on with them through lights and sound. For example, a female voice announces “Bluetooth connected” and the buds start blinking blue when you pair them with a device. Honestly, the lights make me nervous. The blue light remained visible through the dark gray lining of my hood when I put it on over the buds. That seems like a good way to attract the wrong attention in public, especially if you wear them at night.
The sound quality is good. They’re slightly better than my $1 e-Circuit Earphones, with a tad more bass and none of the hollowness. They sounded awful at first. They were so loud they gave me a headache, and they bogged hard during songs with heavy bass. I understand why my aunt didn’t like them. As it turns out, however, I had to learn how to balance the volume levels between the buds and my other devices. Everything was fine after that.
I like being able to control the music through the earbuds. There’s a little button on the side that you press to trigger various functions. The trick is that each bud does something slightly different based on how many times you press the button:
- One Click = Pause (both)
- Two Clicks = Next Song or Rewind
- Three Clicks = Volume Up or Volume Down
There are two issues with the buttons, though. First, I’m never sure which button to push because the buds don’t have any distinguishing labels on them (like “R” and “L”). I tried putting a dot on the “dominant” one with a permanent marker, but the mark quickly faded from the plastic. Second, the button is hard to press, which forces the bud uncomfortably deep into my ear. I prefer to slip the end of the bud out of my ear so I can press the button between my thumb and index finger.
As a final point, the Air5s can handle phone calls too. I learned this by accident while I was listening to music on the phone. The music fades out and the buds announce an incoming call. You answer and end the call by pushing a bud button once. It’s pretty slick except for two more downsides: 1) callers have a hard time hearing me (though their voices are clear as a bell for me), and 2) the buds call out the phone number instead of the contact name.
Battery Life
According to one source I found, the Air5s have 14 hours of battery life. I didn’t count the exact number of hours, but I listened to the buds on and off for two days before they announced “Low battery” to me. I’m good with that. If I were still riding the bus to college like I did back in the day, I wouldn’t be overly worried about them lasting all day.
The case, as you’ve probably guessed, charges the earbuds. When you close the top with the buds inside, a subtle red light illuminates the inside until they’re fully charged roughly two hours later. The case itself charges through the microUSB port on its back. It takes about two hours to charge as well. I was able to charge the earbuds themselves several times before I had to charge the case.
Note that you can’t charge the earbuds and the case at the same time. Even if the buds are in the case while the case is plugged in, they won’t charge. This is probably a safety measure.
As with their connectivity status, the Air5s make it easy to monitor their battery life. A horizontal battery icon appears in the status bar next to a pair of headphones (iOS) or the Bluetooth symbol (Android). On Windows computers and certain versions of Android, you can see the exact battery percentage in the Bluetooth settings.
I wish there was a way to monitor the case’s battery status as well. I had an incident where the case died right after I put the buds in there to charge. Good thing I was at home, or that would have been a real disaster.
Edit: There’s a small light inside the case between the two buds that blinks red when the case’s battery is low.
Verdict
As a first pair of wireless headphones, the Airbuds Air5 True Wireless earbuds are far better than I expected. My aunt was correct: they don’t always work as well as they should. The sound quality could be better and I probably won’t be using them on calls. But none of those issues can erase the freedom of movement and the fact that I don’t have to take the case off the phone every time I want to listen to something anymore. I use them all the time.