Wyze Buds Pro Review
2021 has been a big year for wireless earbuds - After the AirPods Pro raised the bar for small, pocketable buds with fantastic ANC in 2019, it seems like every company has been releasing their own take at “pro” wireless earbuds. Enter Wyze, a Seattle based tech company that got started with cheap, effective home cameras and has since expanded into smart watches, vacuums, and, you guessed it, wireless earbuds. So, how well do they stack up to the competition?
As it turns out... Surprisingly good.
Design
If you’ve used a pair of AirPods, Samsung Buds, or any other set of true wireless buds, Wyze Buds Pro will feel very familiar upon first glance. When you’re not using them, they’ll be resting in a matte black magnetic case, that is slightly larger than the AirPods. It’s easily pocketable and feels great in the hand. The case flips open with a satisfying click to expose the buds themselves - Glossy black (I wish they were matte black) plastic with silicon tips, the buds themselves are both classy and discrete. The stems are a little more pronounced than AirPods, but the overall size and weight is very similar. For some reason I can’t quite figure out, I have a slightly harder time pulling them out from the case than I do AirPods - although it’s a minor issue for the most part.
They feel comfortable when in ear - 3 different sizes of silicon tips are included to find the right for for your ears. Everyone’s ears have slightly different shapes, but for me they feel very snug and secure. Jumping jacks and running had no effect upon the buds placement in my ears. Comfortable and secure are what I look for with wireless earbuds and Wyze checks both of those boxes easily.
There’s one aspect of the design that I don’t love: The method they chose for touch controls. Wyze Buds Pro have a small touch sensitive, recessed area on the top of the stem of the earbuds. The actions are customizable, but by default you tap once to pause/play, double tap to skip/go back, triple tap for voice control, or hold to switch between audio modes (more on this later). Finding the location is sometimes hit or miss, but the big issue is that the touch capacitive area is placed where tapping the device pushes them deeper into your ear, which can sometimes be uncomfortable.
Battery and Charging
Wyze Buds Pro are rated at 4.5-6 hours of battery life per bud, with up to 18-24 hours of battery life when you include the case (ANC and transparency modes will knock the battery life to the lower end of those estimates). In my tests, these estimates were accurate. On occasion I would have one bud die before the other, although the quick charge (est. 1 hour playback for 15 minutes in the case) would allow me to top them up for the last hour of a flight.
When it comes to charging the case itself, you’ll likely be glad to hear that Wyze Buds Pro can use either USB-C or QI wireless chargers. Both have worked perfectly in my use and it’s nice to have wireless charging available on a device that falls into the budget category (and without charging extra for the feature).
Sound Profile
Let me start this section by admitting that I am not an audiophile, but I do have high expectations due to the quality of recent competitors. Budget wireless headphones often can have either very flat or tinny sounding effects on your music. Luckily, the Wyze Buds Pro sound very full and make music a joy to listen to. Stereo audio sounds great and they have a surprising amount of base (especially with the optional “Bass Boost” setting in the app). They also can get loud - 70% is as loud as I could handle comfortably.
If you’re looking at a pair of sub-$100 headphones, you’re likely not an audiophile either. I have to be careful here, because unrealistic expectations are thieves of joy, but these headphones sound really great for this price point.
Smart Features
So the buds look good, have good battery life, and sound good! If all you care about are those core features, the Wyze Buds are probably the perfect set of buds for you. The come at an incredible price ($74) and they absolutely rock the basics. However as “Pro” earbuds, there’s a few more things we should discuss.
ANC & Transparency Mode
Active Noise Cancellation is one of those features that is “magical” the first time you experience it. Flying on a plane, traveling by subway, or sitting in an office with noise HVACs, it can make you feel like you’re in a room by yourself when listening to music or watching movies. The Wyze Buds Pro have pretty good ANC - On trains when listening to music at 50%, I can only slightly hear infrequent noises in the distance. It doesn’t quite compare to the AirPods Pro, but it’s close enough that I don’t think it makes much of a real world difference.
Transparency mode is where I think the Wyze Buds Pro could potentially improve - On other premium buds, transparency modes can sometimes make it feel like you aren’t even wearing earbuds. Wyze doesn’t quite accomplish this magic trick, but it’s good enough that you can use it in environments where you need to hear someone say your name or be aware of what’s going on when crossing a busy street. If music is paused, you can easily carry out a conversation with someone, although it sounds like your voice is slightly muffled when you have the buds in.
Both ANC and Transparency modes use the mics from the buds to modify what you are hearing- The unfortunate side effect with this comes when its windy outside (or when you’re riding a bike). At this point in time, the noise from the wind is too distracting and you’ll want to disable these modes completely. This isn’t the worst situation, but it may impact your usage if you want to get these for athletic use.
One additional feature worth mentioning is the fact that the buds will detect when you remove a bud and pause your music for you, then play music again when you put it back in. I feel like I have a 95% success rate with this feature - It occasionally gets caught up for some reason and requires me to hit play on my device again.
App & Settings
The Wyze Buds Pro require you to use the Wyze app for any settings customization, firmware updates, or changes to smart assistant. This unfortunately does require you to sign up for a Wyze Account, which some users may not love. The application itself is fine, allowing you to easily tweak settings - There’s a surprising amount of customization you can do with the device controls, although the tapping discomfort I mentioned above results in me not really using controls very much. I appreciate the bass boost setting, although it makes me wish I had full EQ control. On top of all that, when updating the headphones Wyze provides release notes! What a novel idea that many expensive competitors fail to show users. The only real con associated with the Wyze App is that they sell other products, so you will be presented with a lot of useless tabs if you don’t have any other Wyze devices and the occasional ad/splash screen when they launch new products.
A Few Last Notes
These headphones have a ton of features, and it’s difficult to cover everything - Here’s a quick hit for the remainder of my thoughts about these earbuds:
IPX4 sweat/weather resistance is great for times I get caught in the rain
Connection is strong - I can move into the next room over and still have a solid connection, although it does start to cut out around 25 ft if I’ve left my phone behind
I don’t use these for calls often, but they work in a pinch- To me it sounds like when a phone is on speaker mode or when someone is using bluetooth from a car. Serviceable when your hands are full, but these aren’t great if your primary use is to use them for phone calls.
Switching connections from devices isn’t as seamless as AirPods make it, but you can swap them in ~30 seconds when needed by sticking them in the case and holding down the pairing button
Results
The highest compliment I can give them is that when doing side by side comparisons to AirPods Pro, I often forgot which headphones I had in my ears. When compared to other noise cancelling earbuds, the Wyze Buds are able to stay up with the competition in many ways, although they would fall short to direct comparisons to the AirPods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM4, or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. Once you factor in the price ($74), Wyze Buds Pro are the top contender for budget headphones, or a compelling way to get comparable features for 1/3 the price of the premium brands.
8/10
Liked
Great noise cancellation for the price point
High quality case & buds
Good battery life
Price
Disliked
Transparency Mode could be better
Touch controls cause discomfort in ear canals
Wind feedback when cycling/running
Difficult to use with multiple devices - Multi pairing would be a game changer