Soundcore AeroFit Pro by Anker

The headband system exerts no pressure on the head or ear canal, as these earbuds rest “freely” in front of the auricle while being hooked behind the ear. When you’re wearing these headband earbuds, they are hardly noticeable, as their weight of twelve grams per side is distributed smoothly without any issues. At the same time, the weight of the earbuds provides a certain amount of stability so that they do not slip out of the wearing position too easily. During sporting activities, support can be further increased by customising the fit of the fully adjustable neckband, and this ensures that the system remains stable even if you are making fast or jerky movements.

Comparison: AeroFit Pro and AeroFit

The Pro model is considerably larger and slightly heavier than the more dainty AeroFit, and this is borne out by the format of the corresponding charging case. While the standard version, which supports the AAC codec and surround sound, uses 14mm drivers, the AeroFit Pro is also equipped with the premium LDAC version, offers spatial audio and has 16.2mm drivers. There are also differences in terms of operation and protection class. The Pro version has push buttons instead of IPX7 certification and touch control, and the earbuds are water and sweat-resistant in accordance with IPX5. The AeroFit standard version is supplied without a neckband.

Battery life

When the AAC codec was used at a high playback volume, the Soundcore AeroFit Pro achieved a run time of 14 hours and 30 minutes. In addition, these open-ear headphones could be fully charged twice in the case and once again with a capacity for a further one hour, resulting in a total runtime of 44 hours and 30 minutes. If the batteries become empty, a charging cycle for these earbuds takes around 90 minutes, while a ten-minute quick charge provides capacity for four hours and 45 minutes. The case’s battery reserve can be restored in one and a half hours using the USB-C to USB-A charging cable that is supplied as part of the package.

Operation

Functions such as adjusting the volume, starting and stopping playback or skipping to the next track are controlled via accessibly positioned buttons on the upper side of the housing. These buttons can also be used to answer phone calls and switch the open-ear headphones on and off, a practical feature, which means that the charging case is not always required for operation. However, it was a shame that the button control was limited to single and double presses. As a result, the remote can only control a maximum of four functions. You can operate the voice assistant and skip back via the app, but you can only use one or the other; you can’t have both functions at the same time. Instead, the AeroFit’s touch control offers six assignment options. On the positive side, these headphones, which support Bluetooth 5.3, can be used over different floors indoors without dropouts, and the connection was stable through several rooms. It was also possible to use these headphones one-sided in single mode, and you can make multipoint connections with two devices.

Soundcore app

The sound control in the app (Android and iOS) includes Spatial Audio, three preconfigured selection options with “Podcast”, “Treble Booster” and “Tone Amplifier” as well as an EQ. This has eight bands for custom settings that can be saved as pre-sets. However, there was a noticeable loss of volume when using the EQ section, which is something that hopefully the manufacturer will rectify. Up to now, the EQ had worked perfectly with Soundcore headphones.

Further customisation options are provided by a balance control, which can be used to compensate for minor deviations in the wearing position caused by natural differences between different people’s ears. This allows shifts in the stereo centre to be corrected, and this function has been very well implemented. In addition to the button control, you can also configure a timer, and there is a beep search function to help you locate the earphones should you misplace them. If you use an Android device that supports LDAC, you can also select the high-resolution audio codec via the headphone settings, and this is ready for use after a firmware upgrade. Multipoint connections can also be activated and deactivated via the app.

Voice intelligibility when making calls

The thing that is really fun when using the Soundcore AeroFit Pro is communication. While the four beamforming microphones ensure clear and natural speech transmission, the open earpiece design creates a highly realistic conversation situation where your own voice can be heard. The microphone technology uses AI and also manages to filter out most wind noise. One exception to this was if you experienced strong gusts from the side; these can still be perceived by the person on the other end of the line but in a reduced form. Loud ambient noises were also significantly attenuated, so the voice was clearly transmitted to the fore, and there was hardly any impairment of speech intelligibility. Communication problems were more likely to occur on your own side if the environment was too loud, this being due to the open-ear design. The person on the other end of the call was able to hear your voice clearly.

Spatial audio

The immersive listening experience is divided into two; a fixed display without head tracking and a version where head movements are tracked. There is a choice of music and film modes. In general, the listening room for music seemed somewhat smaller than the more spacious one for films and games. Differences were also noticeable in the bass range, which had significantly more substance when in film mode. In contrast, the music mode was noticeably brighter and was more focused on the mid-frequency range, which resulted in voices being easier to understand. However, music with an affinity for bass sounded rather weak and tinny, and it worked better with quieter pop and rock ballads. The results in film mode were more convincing, especially when using head tracking. Even though the presentation lost precision compared to the basic sound, a lot of atmosphere was conveyed when listening to sports broadcasts, for example, and this created a feeling of being right in the centre of the action.

Sound

One of the advantages of the Soundcore AeroFit Pro is a wide, spacious sound stage with an open sound character. At the same time, the BassUp technology that they use can impressively compensate for the loss of bass components caused by the open-ear design. The basic tuning of this open-ear design is obviously aimed at fun and is capable of providing a powerful sound for sports use. Although the low bass did not seem quite as rich as with some other wireless in-ear or over-ear headphones, it was noticeably present and did not necessarily come across as thin. In this respect, the reproduction of modern music styles was noticeably richer than when listening with the more balanced AeroFit.

Despite the emphasised bass range, the reproduction in the mid and upper registers had an appealing spaciousness and managed to convey an airy impression without lead instruments or vocals lacking energy and assertiveness. On the contrary, the warm vocal reproduction was extremely precise and had a special naturalness thanks to the open bracket design.

However, the thing that varied considerably, depending on the selected volume level, was a presence in the treble range. This made the sound rather dark and murky at moderate playback levels, as the treble was missing, and the bass response was too dominant. By contrast, if the volume was increased slightly, the playback really cleared up and seemed much more precise, dynamic and spatial. Although, in the upper volume range, the sound image brightened further as the treble reproduction became even more pronounced, this sounded increasingly harsh. The bass reproduction was also noticeably drier, while the vocal reproduction was somewhat leaner.

The basic sound offered the most pressure and power at a medium to slightly higher playback level, and this can seem a little unusual at first. However, in this volume range, all the strengths of these headband earbuds harmonised impressively with each other to produce a lot of enjoyment.

Conclusion

In addition to a high level of wearing comfort, the Soundcore AeroFit Pro were capable of impressing us with a very realistic conversation situation when communicating, which offered excellent voice quality. It was extraordinary how far the bass reproduction of these open-ear headphones reached down into the low bass range by compensating for the design-related loss. In addition, the open headband system allows you to interact with your surroundings both in everyday and sports use. On the negative side, there was room for improvement in the range of functions assigned to the button control. That said, the shortcomings due to loss of volume when using EQ could be remedied with a firmware update.