In addition to smart speakers, Amazon is finally selling wireless in-ear headphones with active noise cancellation in this country – and from 120 euros! We listened and revealed who the headphones are suitable for.
Amazon goes with the Echo Buds a complicated way: The in-ear headphones with noise canceling should not cost much, but actually keep up with significantly more expensive products. On paper this means: up to five hours of running time, balanced sound, active noise cancellation, sweat resistance and comfort. Basically everything you could want from wireless headphones.
The scope of delivery looks very good. The Echo Buds come with four pairs of ear pads, three pairs of ear hooks, and a USB-C cable for the charging case. The ear pads are available in four sizes, so that the headphones should also fit in very small and very large ears. The ear hooks, on the other hand, are intended to ensure a secure hold, i.e. they are a kind of silicone cover for the entire earphone.
Adaptation is (fiddly) manual work
In the test, the customization options caused some frustration at first, because they are particularly easy to customize Echo Buds not. Unlike Apple, for example, where a click mechanism simplifies the correct attachment of the ear pads, you simply pull the attachments on the Amazon headphones over them. That’s okay with the small pads, but with the brackets it caused an increased level of frustration – because the filigree brackets tore when they were attached and were obviously not flexible enough.
The ear hooks of the Echo Buds should ensure a secure hold. However, it is not easy to attach them, which is why one of the covers for the right Echo Bud tore in two places on the first try.
© star / Christian Hensen
The fit is mediocre overall, even the smallest pads pressed a little. In addition, the headphones are visibly sticking out, so you look a little as if you had put the grotesque neck electrodes from Frankenstein’s monster in your ears. You have to like it – the Echo headphones can’t match the elegance of Airpods.
Once the headphones have been personalized, it’s time to set them up. Either you only use the headphones as Bluetooth receivers without smart functions, or you bring them Echo Buds with the Alexa app and, as with the smart Echo speakers, can communicate with Alexa at any time, for example ask about the weather when walking the dog.
Voice commands increase convenience
This worked as reliably as usual in the test, regardless of whether it was about operating smart home devices or switching music. Alexa is and remains the smartest German-speaking assistant – far ahead of Google and Siri.
Apart from voice commands, the headphones can also be controlled with gestures. One tap pauses the music, two taps plays the next track, three taps plays the previous song, and a long press turns active noise cancellation on or off. That works quite okay, except for a few dropouts or misinterpretations Echo Buds serve well in the test.
Noisy suppression
Active noise cancellation, or noise cancellation, is not a matter of course for headphones in this price range. This means that disruptive ambient noises, such as noise on the train or a running vacuum cleaner, can be switched off. This worked well in the test, the headphones produce a strong counter-noise and cover up annoying noises quite effectively. Small downside: If no music is playing, you can hear the active noise suppression at work, a permanent hissing is clearly perceptible. This is far less noticeable with the Airpods Pro.
If you prefer to perceive your surroundings, you can simply switch off the noise canceling. Then the “Passthrough” mode is active, which lets conversations or traffic noise through. By default, you do this simply by adding one of the Echo Buds holding down for a long time – this was not a problem in the test.
Sound and running time (actually) okay
The sound is average, but okay for the price. The Echo Buds reproduce the bass well, while there are better quality candidates for the treble. The sound quality of the Echo Buds In any case. Audiophile listeners should consider buying it.
The runtime is reasonable, but does not set any records. In the test, the audio book was over after almost five hours. Small consolation: after only a few minutes in the charging case, the listening pleasure can continue for several hours.
The headphones noticeably poorly recognize whether they are in the ear or have been put aside. They separated several times Echo Buds in the test, the connection to the audio source was not lost when it was removed from the ears of the test persons. This is particularly annoying because it costs a lot of energy to continue operating and the Echo Buds can sometimes be empty when you put them back in your ear after leaving them open for a while.
By the way, the charging case is available in two versions: If you want to save money, you can get the wired charging case for 120 euros, which is only equipped with a USB-C connection. The Echo Buds including a wireless charging case, which regenerates on each charging pad, cost 140 euros. If you also want an individual solution for this, you can get it for a package price of 158 euros (or 17.99 euros afterwards). Anker Powerwave charging pad with an indentation for the charging case of the Echo Buds and its own display for the respective battery level.
Conclusion Amazon Echo Buds
the Amazon Echo Buds are average in-ear headphones with satisfactory performance. If you want to use the very useful voice commands, you get a solid product at a fair price.
If you are only looking for inexpensive in-ear headphones with consistently good performance, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 for currently 99 euros would be the better choice – at least until the next offer from Amazon for your own hardware.
The introductory price of Echo Buds was only 99 euros for a few days – should Amazon repeat this deal, which can be assumed on days like Prime Day, Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the offer would be even more interesting.
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