Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen) Cheapest ANC Earbuds Review

The US version of the Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen) was released on May 13, 2021, while the UK version was released on November 10, 2021.

Of course, the headphones from Amazon support the Alexa voice assistant with Bluetooth connectivity. In addition, Echo Buds 2 are equipped with active noise cancellation, which, according to the manufacturer, blocks out twice as much background noise as AirPods Pro. In terms of size, the Echo Buds 2 are 20% smaller than the previous generation of Amazon headphones; the case, in turn, is 40% more compact.

PROS	CONS
Affordable ANC earphones	Sound quality is good, not great
Good and balanced sound	Battery life isn’t the longest
Convenient touch control	ANC could be better
Alexa works fine
Can facilitate a perfect fit

Design

Echo Buds (2. Gen) have a rounded shape; the body is made of matte plastic, you can see the barely visible Amazon logo on it. Unlike many competitors, the manufacturer did not add a “leg” to the headphones. But the case is still large enough to be easily grabbed.

The headphones are 20% smaller than the previous model and the design ditches details like the shiny covers on the front that doubled as touch sensors.

The outside of the earphones is a very plain matte plastic, with no prominent logos or fancy designs. The only mark you will see is a slightly faded print of the Amazon smile.

As we can see, the earphones come with several sets of silicone pads for the part that goes into the ear, but they also come with several ear pads, also called ear-wings , which are used to keep the earphone from moving from the ear. ear even if we exercise. Earrings can be used or not, depending on what we prefer.

Inside, Amazon opted for glossy plastic. Three contact areas for charging are visible on the black surface and markings for the right and left headphones. There is also an IR sensor with which the Echo Buds detect when they are inserted into the ear canal. Inside, a Realtek RTL8763C Bluetooth “system on a chip” is used with an integrated audio codec and an NXP digital signal processor. Amazon has added two external microphones with direction-sensing technology and an internal microphone for each earbud. Two 5.7mm speakers are responsible for the sound.

4 in-canal tips are color-coded differently so that you won’t get confused—regularly installed red nozzles of medium size. Also added are three pairs of optional ear hooks in two sizes.

Ear mounts are put on the body of the headphones and are held quite securely. They should be used if you plan to play sports in Echo Buds.

Build quality is solid, and the headphones are IPX4 -rated to withstand splashes, sweat, and light rain, but not submersion in water. Amazon has taken a greener approach to manufacturing: the charging case (black version only) is made from 21% post-consumer recycled plastics, and 98% of the packaging is made from wood-fibre-based materials.

The charging case is the one that has been updated the most, with a rectangular design with rounded edges similar to that of the AirPods Pro, but wider and longer. It is more elegant, robust and easier to transport than the original. The flip cover has a strong magnet that keeps the case securely closed. On the back there is a USB-C charging port and a Bluetooth button.

As for the headphones, on the inside we have proximity sensors that pause your music when you remove the headphones from your ear, and resume playback when you put them back on.

On the outside we have some capacitive touch buttons that allow us to perform basic actions without having to activate the voice assistant. By default, the actions are configured as follows:

• Play and pause: 1 touch on any earphone
• Next track/answer or end call: 2 taps on either earbud
• Previous track: 3 taps on any headset
• Function to set: hold a long press. These features include native assistant, volume up/down, tap to talk to Alexa, a mic on/mute, and ANC/Passthrough.

The controls are very easy to use and work well. The sound prompts when activating the functions, as it is a great indicator to ensure that the intended commands are carried out. 

However, the flagship feature of Amazon’s headphones remains Alexa voice activation, which allows you to activate the AI ​​robot by saying “Alexa” and following through with your voice command. It works similar to Apple’s famous “Hey Siri”, and the behaviour is just as good. All the petitions I made were recorded quickly.

You can also set Google Assistant or Siri as the default, and while they work fine, the earphones are designed to get the most out of Alexa.

Connectivity

The connection of the headphones is very simple. When you first open the box, you might be tempted to rush in and pair the headphones like you would any other set of headphones, but we recommend installing the Alexa app first. There are too many functions that depend on Alexa to do without it:

• equalizer control
• find my device
• ANC settings
• Activate wake up words
• Adjust touch controls
• Headphone fit test (this is more important than it sounds)
• training data
• Live battery data for each earbud and the box
• Power saving mode

The Echo Buds 2 act as a fitness tracker that records your physical performance. Steps, distance, duration, calories and pace are tracked, and users can create a profile to view their history.

Once you’ve installed the Alexa app, open the Echo Buds case and make sure Bluetooth is turned on on your phone. The Alexa app will ask you to sign in to your Amazon account and will ask you to link any of their other services that you may use (for example, Amazon Music HD or Audible). Setup is quick and relatively easy. If you want to connect to another device, you can do it easily. Simply press the button on the back of the case to put the earbuds into pairing mode and connect to them through your device’s pairing protocol.

Although these headphones only support SBC and AAC, they work well enough with either codec that you won’t notice any performance issues when using them on Android. However, the latency is a bit big. There will be no problem when watching a video, but we will notice a little delay when playing video games.

Sound

Audio quality is the biggest area Amazon needed to improve on the first generation of Echo Buds. Even with the equalizer, the sound was inconsistent and didn’t measure up. The company says that the new 5.7mm “high-performance driver” in each of the new Echo Buds offers “higher fidelity in bass and treble.”

The new model sounds better, but the audio enhancements are applied more evenly at low, medium, and high volumes. This new version sounds much better than the original.

The first thing that stands out is the treble, which is much brighter and more detailed. Maybe too bright on some songs. The good thing is that they allow themselves to be equalized well, and we can lower a couple of points with the Alexa app to make them more restrained.

The bass is a bit muted, but we can raise it another couple of points to leave a much more full sound. They have good punch and plenty of body. They’re not overly defined, but they’re fine.

Overall, Amazon’s improvements in sound quality are evident, but there’s still work to be done.

Noise Cancellation (ANC)

Amazon claims that the Echo Buds 2 “cancel twice as much noise compared to the first generation.” And based on my tests, that’s more or less correct.

Each headset uses an array of three microphones (two external and one internal) that reduces the noise that reaches our ears. They silence the noise of car engines, the subway, or an aeroplane engine quite well.

Although as impressive as the ANC is, it’s not powerful enough to eliminate all noise. High-frequency sounds like sirens and whistles will be heard, along with noisy garden tools like leaf blowers and lawnmowers.

Family conversations and TV noise are blocked out at home, while keyboard rattling and doorbell noise are reduced but not gone.

The very positive point is that we can use the ANC even in windy situations. Many poorly designed ANC systems produce a very annoying hissing noise when it’s windy.

The headphones also have the Passthrough function to hear the ambient sound as if we were not wearing the headphones. It is useful when you want to interact and be aware of your surroundings. The microphones pick up voices at a reasonable distance to communicate clearly and allow the public address to be heard. The mobile app allows you to control the amount of noise you want to hear, which is handy. This way, you can reduce the most annoying noises but leave a bit of ambient sound in case we want to hear something in particular.

Handsfree

Call quality is just as good on the Echo Buds 2 as it was on the original. Note, however, that you must have ANC turned on because performance differs greatly when the feature is turned off. The microphones minimize ambient noises and improve the clarity of conversations. Loud noises were still audible on both sides, but they were less harsh on my ears.

Amazon claims ANC stays on automatically when you take calls, but it had tried switching to standard mode to conserve power.

Battery

In general, the battery life of the Amazon Echo Buds (2nd generation) is average;In general you will get 4.5 hours when using ANC. We can deactivate the ANC and the Alexa handsfree to reach a range of 6.5 hours.

The earbuds are fast-charging and can provide up to 2 hours of playtime on a 15-minute charge.

The charging case can provide a battery life of 15 hours, so the total battery life is around 20 hours. The case has a led that indicates the battery level:

• Green: more than 40%
• Yellow: less than 40%
• Red: low battery, need to charge

Qi wireless charging case available

The headphones are available with a typical case that charges via USB-C or a special case that can be wirelessly charged via Qi.

Conclusion!

The Echo Buds (2nd generation) have improved compared to the original model. They are smaller, more comfortable, better fit, and improved sound quality has improved a lot. Also, ANC is good, and handsfree is relatively good.

Of course, it has full integration with the Alexa assistant and can be very comfortable if we use the Amazon ecosystem. There are privacy concerns to be aware of when using the Alexa app. This may not bother you as much as it does for other people, but it’s a really important to keep in mind because these headphones aren’t the same product without Alexa. We understand that it’s almost impossible to offer stats tracking and voice assistant functionality without some level of data collection, but it’s still something to keep in mind.