Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 Review: Superb audio in a premium package snubbed by battery life

The NeoBuds Pro 2 are currently my favourite TWS buds to date, though not without issues. I know aesthetics are subjective, but it's refreshing to see earbuds that are tastefully designed, look as premium as they feel, and sound as good as the first impression suggests.

So what about the issues? Well, perhaps battery life might be an issue for some, but this will come down to individual use-case scenarios. I work from home most days, with the odd day walking into the office, so most of my listening is done at my workstation or when cooking something up.

Edifier's official page states fairly high-end specs such as head tracking and wear detection, as well as Savitech's LHDC support, which is a direct competitor to Sony's well-established LDAC. Sadly, to make use of LHDC, you need end-to-end support, which, as of today, only a few devices support. My Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra falls off that list, boooo 👎.

Nevertheless, LDAC is fully supported on both my phone and PC and this is exclusively the mode I have been using them in. On the phone, tests were done with both streaming music and local FLAC music. Bear in mind that to get LDAC enabled - it's not on by default on both phone and Windows-- requires a bit of faffing around which I'll go into below.

Out of the box, the CODEC used will depend on what you're connected to. My phone defaulted to using AAC, whilst my desktop PC with Bluetooth 5.3 connected using SBC. Since Microsoft has left Bluetooth audio to gather dust under Windows, we must use alternative means to get the best out of speakers and headphones that support advanced CODECs properly. I found that the Alternative A2DP Driver works perfectly and replaces the built-in Windows Bluetooth driver for audio.

There is a 7-day trial for anyone wishing to make sure it works, and once you are happy, purchase through the banner, which brings the cost to about £7 and is tied to that computer motherboard thereafter. Not the most ideal solution, but it is a solution nonetheless and I guess we are helping support the efforts of a third party that have done something good.

Here is what you should end up with once all is said and done:

On an Android phone (iPhones only support ALAC/AAC), you must go into the Bluetooth settings for the connected NeoBuds Pro 2 and then toggle the button for LDAC. If this option is not visible, then you may first need to enable LDAC options in the Edifier app:

Mine was enabled by default, so I was able to just adjust the setting above to my preference, which is 48kHz, since most of the media listened to is in this sampling rate, and there's no need to use higher sampling rates.

Once done, you need to check whether it's active or not. To do this, enable Developer Options and scroll down to the Bluetooth section to see what the current active CODEC is. If all has gone well, it should show LDAC. This process applies to all Android phones, not just Samsung.

It is worth mentioning that if you pair the NeoBuds with two different devices at the same time, then LDAC/LHDC cannot be used. Enabling the higher res CODECs in the app will disable the dual device pairing mode after a prompt is displayed.

Specifications

Unboxing

Edifier has included seven different eartip sizes which is nice to see. I found that the second-largest tips fit my ears with the correct seal. The rest of the package includes a short USB-C cable, a soft pouch with velour lined interior and the charging case.

The charging case feels solid, the material finish is a matte textured with a fine lustre. The Edifier logo catches the light, and the overall presentation makes it feel like something that costs £100+ - I've owned Cambridge Audio and Sennheiser buds in this price range, and they did not have the same quality feel.

The door on the case is kept secure with magnets, and likewise, the buds are held in their position when charging.

The USB-C port on the back of the case only has a small amount of play when a cable is connected, but this seems about the norm for most devices.

Performance

I found the general performance to be excellent. There is no real delay in switching between sound modes or using the touch buttons on each side. Speaking of which, the touch area seems to cover the entire outer face of each bud, which was nice to see when other brands only give you a small touch area that you often end up missing and needing to repeat actions as a result.

The sound quality is where the buds really shine. I did not even need to mess about with any EQ adjustments, right out of the box in the default mode when connected to the Edifier app on the phone I found the balance of soundstage, stereo imaging, and overall expanse of detail in vocals and instruments to be really well-presented.

Providing the tips you chose create a suitable seal inside the ears, then the NeoBuds Pro 2 sound like you're wearing speakers inside your ears. The bass hits deep without distortion whilst retaining control of vocals and positioning of all instruments. No matter what genre of music I played, the experience was A+.

The comfort of the NeoBuds Pro 2 also deserves a mention. Aside from needing to take them off for a quick charge every 2-3 hours, I had no issues with pressure-related discomfort as is often the case with earbuds in my experience, though every ear is different, so your mileage may vary.

I only have two gripes about the performance, one being the battery life and the second being the volume level. Connected to the PC I must set Windows master volume to 80-90% to get the kind of loudness I am used to. This is about 10% more volume dialed in than other buds I have.

Whilst this sort of battery life would be perfectly fine for commuting to and from work or taking a stroll outside, sitting at a workspace at home just wanting a cord-free listening experience means a long work seamless session is not possible without breaking it every 3-4 hours, depending on your environment, as a full hour to charge is needed to get another 3-4 hours of playtime.

Keep in mind that these are rechargeable batteries, so the more full-charge cycles that are done, the quicker that battery cell degrade sets in, resulting in lower playtime as time goes on as you approach the typical 500 charge cycles threshold, which could easily be within a year.

Latency was not an issue on both PC and phone, and this was without having to use the gaming mode in the app, which lowers latency further.

I did, however, find that maybe once or twice in any listening session, there was a random hitch, as if the buds reconnected to the phone without a full disconnect. The hitch only lasted a split second so nothing too jarring, but worth mentioning.

Software

Edifier's app isn't anything too extraordinary. It offers a limited range of customisation depending on the currently paired headphones, so the app can either be very basic or very in-depth. It also adopts a theme that's light or dark depending on the connected headphones; you cannot manually change this. With the NeoBuds Pro 2 connected, there are several options to play with, taking advantage of the features the Pro 2 has to offer.

The app is also the only way to see what the battery level of the charging case is. Windows and other devices will only show the total battery level of both earbuds as one, not individual buds.

I didn't really check out the spatial head tracking modes in detail, it seems OK, but generally, I find features like this too gimmicky for my purist tastes, some may like it, though.

Conclusion

I really like the NeoBuds Pro 2, not only have Edifier targeted the budding (pun intended) music lover on-the-go, but they've tried to target all ear sizes too by including seven silicone eartip sizes. So, whatever your ear size may be, you're likely to find something that creates that all-important seal to get the best out of these.

The battery life left me wanting more as I found I needed to do a 15-minute quick charge in the charging case every 2.5-3 hours, which is an hour or more sooner than the estimated specs state, with or without noise cancelation enabled. Hell, as I write this review, I am listening to Lo-Fi music on YouTube at a volume of 89%.

I started listening with noise cancelation off as I am at my desktop, the buds were fully charged. it is now 4 hours later, and the battery level is 10%. This is not acceptable as Edifier states the playtime with ANC off should be 5.5 hours. The competition such as the Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless are rated to 8 hours per charge under the same conditions.

Maybe a firmware update can optimize the battery life, I don't know. I will keep an eye on the Edifier app for update notifications as time goes on.

It is a shame because everything else about the NeoBuds Pro 2 is mostly excellent. My mission to find the perfect buds that have all the good bits I've experienced in buds over the years continues.

The price is still quite high for earbuds, not everyone wants to spend over £/$100 on earbuds. Thankfully, Amazon in both the UK and USA have offers ongoing and both markets can grab them for £/$110, every penny counts.