Beyerdynamic launched its first true wireless earbuds – FREE BYRD, this month. Of course, for this market that has been hot for five years, this product can only be described as long overdue. After I have used it for about a week, it can also be said that it is also a product that has accumulated a lot. Although it is long overdue, it is by no means out of date.

• $199 – Check latest price on: Amazon US, Amazon Germany or other Amazon countries

Accessories & Battery Life

The entire packaging of Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD is made of paper material. In addition to the earbuds, there is a right-angle Type-C charging cable and 8 pairs of eartips. A total of 5 pairs of silicone eartips are included, corresponding to different sizes from small to large, and there are 3 pairs of memory foam eartips.

For the experience of using eartips, I believe that users with different user habits can find eartips that suit them, and FREE BYRD also uses the catheter of standard dynamic earbuds, and the common eartips on the market can basically be perfectly adapted. The earbuds do not adopt a supportive design, but thanks to the excellent center of gravity control of the product, after finding the eartips that suit you, the wearing firmness is still very good.

In terms of battery life, the battery life of the Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD has reached 11 hours, which is the longest battery life (ANC OFF) at standard volume. But for daily use, the battery life of more than 8 hours is not a problem at all, and the charging case can also charge the earbuds 4 times. The overall battery life performance is also one of the strongest true wireless earphones in the industry. And as a high-end true wireless earphones, the Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD also supports wireless charging, which can be charged directly on the wireless charging pad, or through the Type-C interface on the back of the charging case.

Noise Cancelling & Controls

For noise cancelling headphones, Beyerdynamic had over-ear headphones before, so it’s not a manufacturer with no experience in noise cancelling. On the product of FREE BYRD, its noise cancelling can still reach the mainstream level in the industry. For the standardized scenes of noise cancelling such as buses and subways, there is no pressure to deal with, allowing users to listen to music quietly. Although there are still some gaps in roadside and conventional outdoor environments compared to T0-level manufacturers such as Sony and Bose, which focus on noise cancelling, they are basically the same level as other first-tier brands in the industry. And considering the better sound performance of Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD, the noise cancelling ability it can provide will obviously not make users feel sorry.

In terms of control, earbuds adopts the touch design with the best experience at present, and users can use different touch commands to operate playback and make calls. And both Android and IOS users can download MIY APP in the corresponding software store to get more detailed settings and related information about the product, and there are also complete instructions for touch commands in the APP.

Control of Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD:

• Tap once L or R earbud: Play/Pause music, Answer call
• Long press L or R earbud: Reject call/Wake the voice assistant
• Double tap L or R earbud: ANC Mode/Transparency Mode
• Triple tap L/R earbud: Previous/Next song
• Double tap L/R earbud(second long press): Volume-/Volume+

Sound Quality of Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD

Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD still adopts a dynamic design and uses a 10mm dynamic driver. For true wireless earphones, this size is not too small, which better guarantees its sound quality. The bluetooth version is also equipped with the most mainstream Bluetooth 5.2 protocol, and supports the aptX Adaptive lossless bluetooth audio protocol and Apple AAC protocol. And as a newly launched tws earbuds, it must also be equipped with the noise cancelling function and the noise cancelling ability for calls in terms of calls. So that earbuds can bring users a convenient and comfortable experience in various scenarios.

For true wireless earphones launched by a traditional acoustic brand, sound quality must be one of its very important selling points. The sound quality experience mentioned below is described with the noise cancelling function turned on. But before we start, let me explain that for this product, switching ANC on and off has little effect on the sound. After turning off ANC, the thickness of the sound and the performance of low frequencies will be reduced. Obviously, the tuning of this product is designed and adjusted according to the case of turning on ANC. And I believe that most of the time, ANC is turned on by default in the usage scenarios of daily users.

In addition, in terms of music selection and platform, we mainly use two streaming media platforms, Apple Music and qobuz, both of which use lossless format for listening. The selection of songs is mainly based on the two categories of classical music albums and pop music that I often listen to recently, and it is also the category that I listen to the most with true wireless earbuds every day.

For the sound of Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD, first of all, it is by no means the absolutely neutral or even rigid sound that once left a German stereotype. It is the progress in the same direction as the brand change, the sound has become more modern aesthetic, the overall warmer, the width of the sound field has also been enhanced to a certain extent. Of course, for a true wireless earphone, it is obviously unrealistic to expect it to have the sound performance of the T1 or PRO X series, but you can indeed hear a lot of “heritage” from their sound style.

In terms of the overall sound style, Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD is a sound with a warm overall and a lot of low frequency, but it has obvious high transparency in the middle and high frequency parts. From the ear feel, it is very similar to the standard “smile curve” sound style. In addition to simple tri-frequency, FREE BYRD has a very natural and wide sound field and clear and loose imaging performance, which is a very rare sound on tws earbuds.

For classical music, the Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD has my personal favorite sound performance among the true wireless earbuds I’ve heard so far. Because of its excellent low frequency, it can create a very good sense of surround and low frequency atmosphere in classical music. And the looseness and naturalness of the sound field and imaging also allow this tws earbuds to reach the level that many traditional wired in-ear earphones can achieve. Whether it is the mid-high frequency transparency and low-frequency atmosphere that are valued by small indoor repertoires, or the sound field, imaging, and mid-high frequency separation that are more important to large-scale repertoires, they have remarkable performance. For this product, it’s my favorite of all true wireless earphones I’ve heard so far.

Thanks to its excellent low-frequency quantity, Beyerdynamic FREE BYRD will never let you down in the most popular music genres such as pop, rock, and rap. Excellent low-frequency quantity and clear mid-high frequency details without interfering with each other are a very versatile and balanced ability for the performance of pop music. And from the perspective of pop music, its sound style will be warmer and more low-frequency than classical music. It’s a very interesting way to tune that the vocal characteristics of the two pieces of music are expressed differently. I think it is mainly due to its low frequency characteristics, which shows more quantity in lower frequency bands.

• $199 – Check latest price on: Amazon US, Amazon Germany or other Amazon countries