When I got my hands on Fairphone’s new over-ear headphones, the Fairbuds XL, one of the first things I did was take them apart. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because if there’s one thing Fairphone does well, it’s building a product that can’t just be taken apart, but actively enjoyed taking it apart. And I am happy to say the same here. I unscrewed the plastic tab, pryed open the metal clasp, unscrewed the good old Phillips screw, and was left with over-ear headphones neatly broken down into about a dozen components.
This modular construction is more than just design flexibility (but let’s be clear, which is impressive), rather than buying new ones if parts of your headphones start to break down over time. , an attempt to be able to replace a failed module. Headphones are €249 (£219, about $273). Hardware failures are covered by a two-year warranty, and like Fairphone’s smartphones, parts can be purchased directly from his Fairphone. Also, like Fairphone’s smartphones, the headphones will be available in Europe, but not in the US.
Fairbuds XL are cleverly designed and feature-rich with active noise cancellation and water resistance. But like all Fairphone products, these sustainable elements seem to come at a price. This means that the Fairbuds XL feel uncompetitive at a relatively premium price point, based solely on sound performance.
Despite their modular construction, the Fairbuds XL headphones look like relatively normal wireless over-ear headphones. Even though he leaves the cable connecting the two earcups visible for easy removal, the Fairphone manages to make it look like a flourish of design rather than sacrificing serviceability. doing. The right earcup has joystick controls, noise-cancelling buttons, and a USB-C charging port, but it doesn’t have its own 3.5mm headphone jack. The left earcup has no external controls, but has an internal user-replaceable battery. My review sample was green, but the Fairbuds XL are also available in black.
We’ll talk about the controls and the lack of standard audio jacks in a moment, but before that, we have to talk about the fun process of taking the Fairbuds XL apart. The outer ear cap covers can be easily pried off to release the plastic clip, and the ear cushions can be removed by turning counterclockwise. The cables between the speakers are easily detachable, and the ear cups are each held in place by a pair of screws. Finally, the headband can be disassembled by sliding it out of the cover, and the base of the headband can be removed with a small metal lever.
The disassembly process hasn’t been entirely painless, and there were a few moments when I was terrified that the headphones would break before the clips could come off. But I prefer these over headphones that are so easy to take apart that they fall apart in your hands. It’s also nice that it’s rated IP54 for dust and water resistance, so even a little rain or sweat doesn’t hurt, despite its modular construction. This isn’t bad, considering water resistance isn’t a given even for high-end headphones. (For example, Sony’s WH-1000XM5, Bose’s QuietComfort 45, and Apple’s AirPods Max don’t have his IP rating.)
This ease of disassembly and the availability of spare parts means it should be possible (in theory) to keep these headphones in good working condition for years to come. However, the exact timeframe will depend on how long Fairphone has the parts available, and the company has not given a clear guarantee at this time on how long it will last beyond his two-year warranty that comes with the headphones. . The company expects headphone spare parts to be available for a similar period of time as smartphone spare parts (Fairphone 4 spare parts, for example, promise six years), but can’t offer a stronger warranty. It’s a pity.
A joystick on the right earcup is the perfect way to control your Fairbuds XL. Inspired by similar buttons found on Marshall headphones, holding the joystick turns the headphones on and off, up and down controls volume, and left and right skips tracks. It’s simple, easy to find with your thumb while wearing headphones, and much more reliable than competing swipe-based controls and buttons that require up to three presses to skip tracks. A separate ANC button activates noise canceling and transparency mode and puts the headphones in pairing mode.
I don’t really like the lack of a dedicated 3.5mm port. Instead of allowing the Fairbuds XL to be used as wired headphones with a traditional 3.5mm cable, the Fairphone offers them via a USB-C port, similar to what Apple offers via the AirPods Max’s Lightning port. provides a wired connection that In theory, you should be able to use any number of aftermarket dongles and USB cables to connect your headphones to your source device. But in practice, the vastly different specs of these aftermarket he accessories (and inconsistent labeling by the manufacturer) meant it was a hit or miss with the cables and dongles I had. I’ll probably buy Fairphone’s €12.95 (£11.95) 3.5mm to USB-C cable to avoid the hassle.
Fairbuds XL support multipoint connections. This means you can connect to two devices at the same time, such as a laptop and a smartphone, and switch between them as needed. Once set up, the implementation is stable with very little lag when moving between devices. However, it was a little difficult to actually connect to two devices, and I felt like I had to go through trial and error to get there. As far as I know, you have to put the headphones back into pairing mode after connecting them to the first source device. And basically ignore any “disconnected” notifications that play. I turned them off and on again and the connection to both devices was established seamlessly.
Fairphone rates the Fairbuds XL at 26 hours of playtime with noise cancellation on and 30 hours with it off. That’s a little less than Sony’s XM5s (30 hours with ANC on and 40 hours off), but much better than his 24 hours where Bose rates his QC45 headphones with ANC on. I’m here. In fact, I used the headphones for about two weeks before needing a charge. This includes wearing headphones while traveling on public transport and around the house, but not sitting at a desk for long periods of time.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to wear it for long hours at your desk. The Fairbuds XL are comfortable headphones for eyeglass wearers like me. It wasn’t too tight on my head and was large enough that my ears weren’t uncomfortably pinned down. It’s so comfortable that I’ve even worn it on public transport just for noise cancellation without listening to music, and it did a good job of canceling out the squeaky noise of the London Underground around me. While wearing the headphones around my apartment, I ran into an annoying problem where the clanking of cutlery confused the ANC on the headphones, causing the headphones to pop slightly with each loud clanking. Fairphone spokesperson Anna Jopp said the company is aware of the issue and is aiming to fix it in a future firmware update.
All of this shows that the Fairbuds XL do a great job with most of the secondary aspects of headphones like noise cancellation, battery life and controls, while also maintaining Fairphone’s trademark modularity, serviceability. , which means we also offer sustainable manufacturing. But I’d be lying if I said they look like headphones for 249 euros.
This is not due to lack of codec support. It doesn’t support LDAC or aptX Lossless, but the Fairbuds XL support aptX HD in addition to his AAC and SBC. There’s also a set of 4 equalizer presets you can choose from in the Fairphone app if you want to tweak your sound (see “I agree to continue” section below). However, it cannot be fine-tuned further.
But whether I was listening to the neutral “Copenhagen” preset or the more bassy “Tokyo”, there’s no getting away from the fact that the Fairbuds XL don’t offer a particularly detailed sound. As a result, I mostly stuck with the default “Amsterdam” EQ preset. Fairphone describes it as an “all-round, powerful sound with real presence”. When listening to layered tracks like Paranoid Void’s “Null,” the separation between guitar and bass is less audible with the Fairbuds XL. The same is true for Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight,” where all the strings are less pronounced.
That’s not to say the Fairbuds XL are incapable. Their bass isn’t unnecessarily ringing, nor is it flat and absent-minded.Arctic Monkeys’ “Bryan Storm” throbs and energizes every inch, while Fairbuzz XL passes “Recreating the ending of Royal Blood’s ‘Out of the Black'” Please make the hair on the back of the neck stand up.”
Never wanted to listen to music on different headphones. But the sound you’d expect to hear at this price point lacks fulfillment.
Also firmly in the “not deal-breaking but annoying” category is the Fairbuds XL’s mic performance, which quickly muffles my voice and makes it a bit hard to hear when ambient noise comes in. It has become You can’t trust these headphones for important hands-free calls.
At 249 euros, are the Fairbuds XL good value for money? In terms of the value you get in the box on launch day, the answer is a clear “yet”. The design, controls and noise cancellation are all solid, but the sound quality is close to what you’d expect from a €150 headphone.
But this is Fairphone’s story, but it’s not the whole story. Because when you buy a Fairphone product, your money isn’t just spent on what’s in the box. It also pays for the living wage bonuses paid to factory workers who assemble the headphones, and for the efforts Fairphone has made to ensure that materials such as fair trade gold are used in the headphones.
That money also pays for designs that are easy to repair and maintain over the long term. I especially like how easy it is to replace the battery in the headphones by removing the plastic cover and replacing it with an off-the-shelf €19.95 (£17.95) battery. This feature alone ensures that the Fairbuds XL will last many years longer than the competition. However, without specific guarantees as to how long a spare part will be available, it is difficult to quantify how long it will last, thus determining how much the additional cost is worth. is difficult to do. Given how long Fairphone has supported smartphones, I would be very surprised if spare parts are still not available after 5 years. However, as of this writing, that is not guaranteed.
As with all first generation products offering ‘lifetime’ as one of their selling points, your purchase is a vote of confidence in Fairphone’s continued support for the Fairbuds XL. Even the most repairable design in the world is worthless if parts are no longer readily available in the future. This ongoing support is an important part of the value you get with your €249 purchase. Based on Fairphone’s history, I think there was room for doubt. But I don’t blame anyone who is skeptical of the value offered here.
Photoshoot by John Porter/The Verge
