Noise-cancelling true wireless earphones have improved by leaps and bounds lately, but most pairs (including some of our favorites, like the $250 Apple AirPods Pro and the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds) are quite expensive. By contrast, the Ausounds AU-Frequency ANC earphones are just $129.95. For the price, they deliver powerful, bass-forward audio performance from water-resistant earpieces. As for ANC (active noise cancellation), they dial back deep low frequencies pretty well, but are less effective for higher frequencies, and they produce a fairly audible hiss. For the same price, we prefer Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro earphones, which offer stronger noise cancellation and adjustable EQ in a similarly water-resistant design.
Design
Available in black with an eggshell-like finish, the AU-Frequency earpieces have an AirPods-like stem-based design. They tuck into a considerably larger charging case, however (which we’ll get to shortly). The overall look is simple and the fit is secure—the earphones ship with three pairs of silicone eartips.
The on-ear control panels aren’t embedded into the stem as on the AirPods. The panels are quite sensitive to the touch, which is good in the sense that you rarely have to tap twice to play or pause music, but less so in that adjusting the earpieces can often accidentally trigger playback or pause it. A single tap on either ear plays or pauses music, as well as answers calls. Just putting the earphones in your ears can trigger the play/pause cycle multiple times. A two-second press on either earpiece declines or ends a call. Double tapping skips backward a track (on the left ear) and forward (on the right), and a triple tap on either ear summons your mobile device’s built-in voice assistant. A three-second press on either ear enables or disables ANC. Surprisingly, there are no controls for volume.
The earpieces have an IPX4 rating, once again similar to the AirPods Pro, which means they can withstand a sweaty workout and light splashes, but not much more. You should avoid getting them soaking wet or running them under the faucet.
The charging case has a flip-top lid and four status LEDs on its front face that provide battery life readouts. The case isn’t water resistant like the earpieces are, so you should avoid getting it wet. An uncovered USB-C port for the included, relatively short USB-C-to-USB-A is located on the bottom panel.
Ausounds estimates battery life to be roughly five hours, with the case holding 15 hours. Your results will vary with your volume levels, but these numbers are on the low end of the already modest true wireless battery life scale.
The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0, and support AAC and SBC codecs, but not AptX. Internally, 10mm drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz.
Light Noise Cancellation, Heavy Bass
Like most affordable ANC earphones, the AU-Frequency introduce high-frequency hiss to the equation. It’s not an unpleasant sound (think tape hiss or white noise at a low level), but it’s a mark of less-effective ANC. In a quiet room with no music playing through the drivers, activating the ANC actually makes things louder, as the hiss is quite audible in this scenario.
Hiss aside, the ANC does a solid job of dialing back deep low-frequency rumble, like you’d hear on a plane or train, and a decent job with crowd noise like you’d hear at a busy restaurant. But ultimately, the highest frequencies pass through without issue. The ANC doesn’t seem to have any obvious effect on audio playback, which is good, but we were a little surprised to discover there’s no ambient monitoring mode to let you hear your surroundings, a feature that is becoming increasingly standard.
For audio performance, on tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earphones deliver powerful low-frequency depth. At top, unwise listening levels, they don’t distort, and at more moderate levels, the low frequencies are still robust.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the AU-Frequency ANC’s general sound signature. The drums on this track come close to sounding overly thunderous, but the bass boosting stops just short of sending things into seriously unnatural territory. Both Callahan’s vocals and the drums get an extra helping of low-frequency richness, while the acoustic guitar strums and higher-register percussive hits maintain a bright, crisp presence. This is a seriously boosted and sculpted mix, but Ausounds does a good job of keeping the boosting balanced.
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On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives less high-mid presence (or more bass boosting) than we’re used to hearing, so that its punchy attack gives way to some seriously boosted bass thump. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto—this is a bass lover’s sound signature, for sure, and there is generally enough clarity in the highs and high-mids for things to remain balanced, but the bass does at times dominate the mix. The vocals are delivered cleanly and clearly, without much added sibilance, but at times, they can sound like they’re doing battle with the bass elements of the mix.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, receive too much bass boosting to sound natural. Things don’t sound terrible, but there’s an occasional tubbiness and resonance to the lower-register instrumentation, while the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals still sound crisp, but somehow seem to compete with the much less prominent low-frequency elements of the recording. This isn’t a sound signature for purists, but booming bass lovers will be pleased.
The mic offers average intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, we could understand every word we recorded, but there was some notable Bluetooth distortion fuzzing up the signal. On a clear connection, callers should be able to understand you, but on calls with less reliable signal, the mic might not help matters.
Good for the Price
The AU-Frequency ANC earphones have powerful drivers that often sound as if there’s a subwoofer hidden behind them, which will be appealing to bass lovers. The noise cancellation isn’t particularly strong for higher frequencies, however, and certainly not the reason to buy this pair. For the same $130, the aforementioned Soundcore Liberty Air 2 earphones offer more balanced noise cancellation and audio performance, making them our Editors’ Choice award winner in this price range. For truly excellent noise cancellation, however, you’re going to need to spend more, in which case we suggest going with the AirPods Pro or the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.
