Today, maybe more than ever, having the ability to have clarity in a phone call has become essential in day-to-day life. We are multi-tasking virtually everything nowadays and God forbid you should have to utter the dreaded “I can’t hear you, I’m gonna have to call you back.” Whether you’re catching up with loved ones or closing in on a lucrative business deal, the quality of your earbuds simply matters. There are countless options out there today but we will be taking a look at a select few leading contenders for the best earbuds for phone calls in 2024: Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3, Technics EAH-AZ80, Sony WFXB700, and Apple AirPods Pro 2.
Huawei has been pretty consistent with its cutting-edge devices as of late. For our first review of the day of the FreeBuds’s Pro 3 is no exception. These earbuds have several components that are designed to make a phone conversation easier. They have what they refer to as a hybrid active noise canceling technology that guarantees unbelievable sound clarity and quality even in the busiest of public spaces. They have three microphones and actually include AI algorithms that work seamlessly to help filter out the background noise. I personally really put this one to the test and I thought the ANC passed with flying colors.
The Freebuds Pro 3 ergonomic design gives you a pretty good guarantee of a tight fit that will allow you to wear them for a longer interval of time. Of course, no two ears are built differently but these are probably your best bet regardless of ear canal size. They also have a dual anti-wind structure, which helps reduce wind noise so you can make your calls outdoors. These earbuds sport, the Kirin A1 chipset, which is proprietary to Huawei, that optimizes signal transmission and gives you a lower latency to help improve the quality of your calls.
A few other features that I enjoyed were their intuitive, touch controls that allow you to do all sorts of things from tap and swipe all the way to activating the ANC and awareness mode. These can also be customized using their AI Life app.
The battery life is really solid with the earbuds themselves going up to six hours of playback with the ANC activated and with the charging case, will go up to 30 hours total. It’s definitely one of the best in its class for the best wireless earbuds and is more or less unmatched in the clarity they can provide during your calls.
Pros:
- Advanced ANC
- Intuitive Touch Controls
- Long Battery Life
Cons
- Color Options
- Stem Design
2. Technics EAH– AZ80
If you’ve been around the audio equipment, world for a while, there’s no doubt you have encountered the Technics brand before. I know it was one of the first turntables I ever heard of. For a second review, we are taking a look at the Technics EAH– AZ80 earbuds.
These earbuds have a cool hybrid, and noise-canceling technology, which helps isolate your voice from background noise. The technology at the core of these earbuds is their next-level EAH processing capability. This audio algorithm will actually adjust based on the audio content itself which will give you unparalleled sound reproduction throughout multiple frequency ranges.
These earbuds also have a 3 microphone system alongside techniques superior signal processing so you are insured exceptional clarity during your call even if you were, let’s say in the New York City subways. Not that you would necessarily service down there but you get the idea.
The EAH–AZ80 does give you quite a bit of comfort alongside, a heavy dose of style. They supply several different tip options to help customize a secure fit. I feel like techniques have really gone to the next level and fine-tuned pretty much every aspect of these earbuds. For sure another great option.
Pros:
- Enhanced Audio Quality
- Comfortable Fit
- Adaptive Audio Algorithms
Cons
- Price
- Compatibility
For our third earbud, we will be taking a look at the Sony WF-XB700. These earbuds are simply designed to try to provide the best call quality possible. They have a sophisticated microphone tech that captures the natural sound of your voice with crystal clarity. Sony also has its cutting-edge, extra bass technology. If you do have a voice with lower frequencies, this will allow the person on the other end to feel the depth and richness of your tone.
Like the other earbuds on this list, the ergonomic design of the WF-XB700 gives you a snug fit while cutting no cut corners for comfort so you’ll have no problem wearing these for long periods of time throughout the day. Sony has their own type of Bluetooth technology so that you won’t lose signal as easily as some other techs. What’s interesting about it is that it will actually adjust to your environment to help provide reliable clarity during your calls.
The battery life is one of the areas where these headphones definitely excel. They can go up to 30 hours of playback on a single charge, making them ideal for long trips, or even international travel. These headphones also have a quick charging feature, which will give you about an hour and a half play back with only 10 minutes of charging.
I do think there is a bit of a downside with this model though. That extra bass can almost be overbearing sometimes. Me personally, I like a more neutral response from my headphones but if you like the low-end, then these could be your earbuds of preference! Still, I feel that there is no doubt that these earbuds will easily meet your communication needs.
Pros:
- Powerful Bass
- Battery Life
Cons
- Almost too powerful Bass for some
And of course to conclude we have to give it up to one of the G.O.A.T.s, the Apple AirPods Pro 2. If you have not been able to use these personally, I can assure you they and their predecessor the original Air Pods Pro revolutionized the earbud market. They have a unique feature called adaptive audio controls, which automatically adjusts to things like changing ambient noise conditions, analyzes your volume habits over time to personalize them to you, and knows when you are having a conversation so it can lower your media volume while enhancing voices in front of you. They have two beamforming microphones that help to focus your voice, while simultaneously suppressing external noise. These features help to give you a very natural conversation and feel.
Battery life on this new model has gotten much better which is up to six hours and in the charging case can go for 30 hours total. It also like some of the other earbuds on this list has a quick charge feature which for instance about five minutes of charging will give you an hour of battery life.
Speaking of the case it has Apple’s U1 chip that supports the Find My feature that you may be already familiar with if you have other Apple products. The case also has a spot for a attaching lanyard but this does not come included with the case.
The Apple AirPod Pro 2 also has a new H2 chip which gives you more power while also showing off better efficiency. This chip allows some other tech to come along with it like a new amplifier and digital processing algorithms. Apple also claims that the noise cancellation is twice as powerful as it was before.
The Apple AirPods Pro 2 have very user-friendly, controls and integrate with other Apple devices pretty seamlessly. You can customize the fit with silicone ear tips that they include so you should get a very secure seal. These air buds also have active noise, cancellation, and transparency mode, which allow you to adjust the incoming exterior surrounding noise to your preference. I think these still contend with some of the best earbuds out there for phone call clarity.
Pros
- Much better sound and noise cancelation
- New H2 Chip
- Spatial Audio
Cons
- Looks like the previous model
- Lack of hi-resolution
In the world of earbuds, each of these four can give you a unique blend of some next-level features and superior performance. It will be up to you to choose what you prioritize, whether that be advance, noise cancellation, design features, or ease of integration with your existing devices.