Fairphone Fairbuds XL Headset Wireless Head-band Calls/Music USB Type-C Bluetooth Black

The headphones are overall pretty good, not the best I've used but they're decent. The music is clear, they look great. I think the comfort will increase as I get used to using noise reducing over ear headphones. The only downside is when they're connected to two devices (the main reason I bought these ones), when there is a notification on one device while listening to music on the other, there's a brief, awful crackly noise before resuming music. A bit annoying, I don't care a huge amount about it but I know it would bother some people too much

I am higly disapointed, i knew i was buying the product for it's sustenability, but i was expecting it to be all around way better as i won't be using it.First, it's not confortable, it get warm quickly and have barely any breathability.The closed back design, unlike other, make it quite echoy, and any rubbing from your hair or head wear on the plastic will be quite noticeable.The default noise floor is very hard to determine as the device minimal volume is crazy high. On my galaxy note 9 and my laptop the headset won't emit any sound under 9% of volume, like if it was on mute. Then it's immediately slightly higher than my normal confortable listening level.That mean no podcast or calm music late at night for me. (Or with a jack, no volume issue with it, but ... MoreI am higly disapointed, i knew i was buying the product for it's sustenability, but i was expecting it to be all around way better as i won't be using it.First, it's not confortable, it get warm quickly and have barely any breathability.The closed back design, unlike other, make it quite echoy, and any rubbing from your hair or head wear on the plastic will be quite noticeable.The default noise floor is very hard to determine as the device minimal volume is crazy high. On my galaxy note 9 and my laptop the headset won't emit any sound under 9% of volume, like if it was on mute. Then it's immediately slightly higher than my normal confortable listening level.That mean no podcast or calm music late at night for me. (Or with a jack, no volume issue with it, but then why buying this)Sound quality, outside of the mecanical noise, is ok to me, i'm no audiophile.The "sound profile" are very weird... city name, not very explicit and requiere the app to switch ... give user an EQ, not what ever this is.Then ANC...It's a feature on the box... but it's' quite the downgrade !It does help a bit with whooshing sound like AC, but that's it, it does nothing for noise, talking, city noise like car... and it bring a very high and noticeable hiss or noize.Sadly there are no way to have it disable all the time and it will be back on the next time you turn the headset on.Mic isn't good from what other tell me but it could be a bluetooth generality as i am comming from a modmymic.Finaly, i wanted to order a replacement battery at the same time as the headset to avoid another shipping co2 cost, but they don't have itnon their shop...I will now have to debate betweend the carbon cost of returning it (will it be repackaged or go to the bin ?) Or having it stay in a box for ever...

Good quality materials and finish. Audio good for bluetooth headphones. Headband slightly too tight for my head, band is adustable for position but not pressure, leads to good ear contact and therefore noise exclusion though. Appreciate the 'ambient sound' mode in case I need to hear 'outside'. Setup and pairing is simple, nice to know it can pair to multiple devices without issue ( PC and tablet ). Good battery life so far. Might be my cable or Windows being rubbish but audio is a bit tinny (even compared to listeng to PC via bluetooth) when listening wired via usb cable. A little pricy but should last, being designed specifically for repair & replace. Glad to support the sustainability and right to repair ideology.

Honestly, I am disappointed. If they manage to replace mine under warranty, and fix most of the papercuts in a firmware update, I could recommend them, as not perfect but decent headphones. But right now they are a really flawed product.TL:DR the annoying things that could be fixed with software are:- the minimum volume is still too loud- switching between ANC modes is way too slow, I want to click twice and immediately be in ANC OFF, not have to wait 5s before each click- the headphones turn themselves on while in my bag, and stay on with ANC on, draining battery- the headphones don't turn themselves off after all devices have been disconnectedAnnoyances with the hardware:- my joystick was broken out of the box, it takes 5 tries for a click to be registered, ... MoreHonestly, I am disappointed. If they manage to replace mine under warranty, and fix most of the papercuts in a firmware update, I could recommend them, as not perfect but decent headphones. But right now they are a really flawed product.TL:DR the annoying things that could be fixed with software are:- the minimum volume is still too loud- switching between ANC modes is way too slow, I want to click twice and immediately be in ANC OFF, not have to wait 5s before each click- the headphones turn themselves on while in my bag, and stay on with ANC on, draining battery- the headphones don't turn themselves off after all devices have been disconnectedAnnoyances with the hardware:- my joystick was broken out of the box, it takes 5 tries for a click to be registered, so turning them on or off is a pain, and I can't use pause. I hope warranty fixes that, but how common is this issue?- the earmuffs are not thick enough, my ears are not that sticking out from my head, and yet the hard plastick of the inside of the headphones is pressing on them and causing pain after 2-3h of wearing.The longer version:The headphones are really beautiful in my opinion.The sound is alright, I expected a bit better for the price, sound could be a bit more detailed, but overall not bad. ANC is alright too. The problem is the volume doesn't go low enough in my opinion.The headphones arrived well packaged, but with broken click on the joystick. The warranty process was much slower, I got first generic reply after a day, which is OK, but then to get second one actually about my issue I waited a week. And I only got offered to return the headphones so they are inspected, and if they can confirm the issue, I will get a new one. Which I guess is OK, but I just bought a modular product, why couldn't they just send me the replacement joystick? Much more sustainable and I wouldn't have to part with my still partly functional headphones.

Great repairability (of course), and pretty decent audio quality.My old bose qc35 feels a lot softer, but I think that might be because they are just a lot older. The leather caps started tearing and its yellow foam started to pop out, which is what prompted me to buy the fairbuds xl. The videos online about the fairbuds xl showed how easy it was to take it appart, so I figured that if I ever run into this problem with this headset, repairing would probably be a lot easier than with my old bose headset.That said, I tried taking the earcups off from the fairbuds xl, and haven't been able to achieve this yet. I tried, but had to apply a lot of force and was worried I'd break them.If you care about repairability, I'd say the somewhat higher price point is worth ... MoreGreat repairability (of course), and pretty decent audio quality.My old bose qc35 feels a lot softer, but I think that might be because they are just a lot older. The leather caps started tearing and its yellow foam started to pop out, which is what prompted me to buy the fairbuds xl. The videos online about the fairbuds xl showed how easy it was to take it appart, so I figured that if I ever run into this problem with this headset, repairing would probably be a lot easier than with my old bose headset.That said, I tried taking the earcups off from the fairbuds xl, and haven't been able to achieve this yet. I tried, but had to apply a lot of force and was worried I'd break them.If you care about repairability, I'd say the somewhat higher price point is worth it, you'll probably earn that back in the long run.I think some software aspects could be better though, hopefully they can fix these issues with software updates:- Turning the device on and off requires you to press a button for 3 seconds, which is way too long in my opinion.- Cycling through noise cancelling modes (ambient/off/on) requires you to wait for the voice over to announce the new state before you can press the button again, so it takes quite a while to cycle from the on state to the off state.- Bluetooth connectivity is great, I can walk away a pretty far distance from my phone without any stuttering or gaps in the audio.- You can pair multiple devices and seamlessly switch between two connected devices. But it's not possible to unpair a specific device using the headset alone, and not through the accompanying app either. So if you want to unpair a device you have to do that from the other device instead. I have an apple tv set up in the room next to me, which doesn't have a great bluetooth connection (not the fairbuds' fault), so it keeps announcing 'disconnected' every minute or so. Even though my phone keeps playing music just fine.The only way for me to fix this is to either factory reset the fairbuds xl, or to walk into the next room, turn on my tv, go to bluetooth settings and disconnect it from there. Neither of these options are great.I'll update this review if they end up fixing some of these with software updates.

The Earphones look awesome and work well with the app and by using the controls on the ear patch. However, I had to send them back because I wasn't pleased at all with the modes for ambient sound (voice through) and active noise cancelling. Both modes are useless outside if there is only the slightest wind. I also tried them in office where I intended to use the noise cancelling for. There was still a lot of ambient sound coming through (keyboard clicks, collegues on telephone calls etc.). The "normal" headphone mode sounded good but I have the feeling that the price is way too high if you can only use them without the two other modes.

The fact that they're repairable and mostly fairtrade obviously ups the price, I get that. At the same time there are some flaws, that could've been easially avoided in my opinion, which make this headset's price (~250€) just a bit too high: First: the sound is good. It's not superb, but decent enough in my opinion. With the "Boston" Eq-preset you get really clear, crisp sound with good bass and highs. On the other hand, you can't completely customize your eq and are limited to 4 presets, which is kinda disappointing.The noise cancelling is underwhelming at times. The micros pick up even small breezes which don't get filtered out correctly, resulting in a light "white noise" in the background, even if you walk in an enclosed room.The earpads are a bit small for my ... MoreThe fact that they're repairable and mostly fairtrade obviously ups the price, I get that. At the same time there are some flaws, that could've been easially avoided in my opinion, which make this headset's price (~250€) just a bit too high: First: the sound is good. It's not superb, but decent enough in my opinion. With the "Boston" Eq-preset you get really clear, crisp sound with good bass and highs. On the other hand, you can't completely customize your eq and are limited to 4 presets, which is kinda disappointing.The noise cancelling is underwhelming at times. The micros pick up even small breezes which don't get filtered out correctly, resulting in a light "white noise" in the background, even if you walk in an enclosed room.The earpads are a bit small for my ears, but that's probably just for me, because of my big ears I have and won't affect others that much.In general, I'm satisfied, but if it wouldn't be fairtrade and repairable, I wouldn't have paid this price for it. Then ~150€ would be more adequate.

Good for telephone calls and podcasts. Unfit for music.

If you are wanting headphones to use to listen to a podcast or a bookreader on an airplane, then these will be good headphones. The noise cancellation is better than I expected it to be. Almost on par with my Bose QC35 II headphones. They have a solid feel when you wear them without being uncomfortable. They are something you can wear to bed and can even lay on without breaking them. They are also good for telephone calls - the microphone on them is superior to my Bose headphones, which was a pleasant surprise too.These headphones, however, are utterly and completely unsuitable for music in any way. There is an app you can download which allows you to change equalizer settings, but upper frequencies are so poor, and their resolution is so inferior that listening ... MoreIf you are wanting headphones to use to listen to a podcast or a bookreader on an airplane, then these will be good headphones. The noise cancellation is better than I expected it to be. Almost on par with my Bose QC35 II headphones. They have a solid feel when you wear them without being uncomfortable. They are something you can wear to bed and can even lay on without breaking them. They are also good for telephone calls - the microphone on them is superior to my Bose headphones, which was a pleasant surprise too.These headphones, however, are utterly and completely unsuitable for music in any way. There is an app you can download which allows you to change equalizer settings, but upper frequencies are so poor, and their resolution is so inferior that listening to music through them makes you almost want to cry.