Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 – Review
By Steve Crabtree, February 2024
There’s something special about loving music and enjoying your own company. The two go hand-in-hand, don’t they? And that can only be bettered by a better sound that enhances the experience, so I’m always on the lookout for ways to fill my ears with the best sound possible.
Edifier have brought out the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2, a nice looking pair of earphones that promise much, both in terms of features and sound quality. So, for me, that was all I needed to know to want to check them out. And a shiny new pair arrived at my door, waiting to be opened and tested…
What’s in the box?
- 1 pair of Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2
- 1x charging case
- USB-c charging cable
- 7x pairs of ear tips
- 1x cloth carry bag.
“Premium Sound Quality”
I’d decided to give these a good going over after charging them up overnight, and popping them in my laptop bag, ready for a walk home from a client the following day. This client (a good guy) lives in my town, and he’s about an hour away on foot. I’d decided to walk home from there, passing through some lovely views that the Calder Valley gives you, and it’s a nice three miles or so.
After saying goodbye to my client, I popped the buds into my ears and set off on the journey walk home. They paired up to my phone super-quickly, and I flicked through Spotify. I put Shed Seven’s album, Instant Pleasures on random to accompany my walk, and see what the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 were all about. And as ‘Nothing To Live Down’ kicked in, my eyebrows raised… in a good way.
A crunching guitar, then a deep, fast drum beat… the first thing I got from these earphones is that they give you a premium sound quality. Like you’re in the recording studio as the track is being put together. I felt really submerged in the song, and more so than I have done with my usual pair. As far as first impressions go, these had really hit the spot.
“The baseline sounded delicious”
Impressed? I was. And that was just after one song. I flicked through to ‘People Will Talk’, a number with a clean lead guitar riff, a funky bassline, and a crisp hi-hat that complements the drum beat really nicely. (And it’s a brilliant song too.) But here’s where the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 came in to their own. The bassline on that sounded delicious. The hi-hat was exquisite. The vocal was nice, and the listening experience was just stunning.
I’d found a pair of earphones that I liked from the off, and gave me the sound I crave for when music is the order of the day.
I’d also got this sort of seal around my ear holes, away from the outside world. This definitely adds to the output and the experience of listening to tunes, and when you’ve got seven sizes of ear tips to choose from, everyone’s ears will benefit.
What Edifier say…
In the new NeoBuds Pro 2. Edifier is introducing its latest patented technology, the Edifier Wide-Band Multi-Channel ANC. This Active Noise Cancellation delivers a wider and deeper noise cancellation to -50dB depth and 5kHz bandwidth, adding an independent feed-forward channel that applies the noise reduction ability of the Knowles RAN Balanced Armature Driver to Hybrid ANC channels.
“A fantastic pair of earphones”
Delving a little deeper into what the NeoBuds Pro 2 can do, the noise cancelling function is something else. By downloading the Edifier Connect app, you can choose a level of noise cancellation that lets you have a little bit of background noise, or pretty much gives you nothing at all. To test this out, I stopped the music and stood at the side of a busy road where the traffic was whizzing by. Cars, motorbikes, buses, and lorries – you name it, they were all audible.
But, with the touch of a screen, I changed the medium noise cancellation to high noise cancellation and I said “wow” to myself. It’s like getting doormen on your ears to keep out the riff-raff of sounds. You hear it close things out, and pretty much nothing was getting through. It was like I’d closed a door on this traffic, setting foot inside and going to the back of the building.
Add to this a host of other feature for audiophiles such as the Spacial Audio option with visualised head-tracking, wearing detection and customisable graphic equalisers, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic pair of earphones.
But, whether I was playing around with the features or not, it’s all about the music. And this piece of kit is just a gift to the ears.
The Technical Stuff
- Edifier Wide-Band Multi-Channel ANC – Edifier’s new patented technology – allows the extension of the noise cancellation depth to -50dB, and the noise cancellation band width to 5kHz.
- Spatial Audio with Visualized Head-Tracking.
- NeoBuds Pro 2 supports music streaming over Bluetooth with up to 192kHz/24bit for the first time, using the latest LHDC 5.0 HD codec.
- Distinct from other noise cancellation earphones on the market, the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 are Hi-Res Certified, boasting a Knowles balanced armature driver, composite diaphragm dynamic drivers and LDAC, LHDC, SBC and AAC audio coding.
The verdict
The Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 is my second Edifier product, and I absolutely cannot speak more highly of this brand. For me, rich sounds, luxurious bass, and clear audio is a must for listening to music. And twice Edifier has delivered this to me, causing a jaw-dropping reaction when it’s played my tunes.
I’ve often found Bluetooth earphones to be a touch on the quiet side, but you don’t get that with these. I’m seriously pleased that I came across this pair. They let me feel the music, not just listen to it. And when you try them out, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Hats off to Edifier. They certainly know how to please music lovers.
The Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 are available to buy from amazon.co.uk. RRP, £129.99
