- Great sound
- Strong bass
- Wide codec support
- Comfortable, secure fit
- Low latency
- Average ANC
- No wireless charging
- No smart wear detection
The SoundPEATS Air5 Pro+ pushes clarity and punch with its xMEMS hybrid drivers, delivering a crisp, fast sound that feels unusually refined for everyday buds. ANC is fine rather than fantastic, but the strong connectivity, low latency, and reliable call performance make them a surprisingly polished upgrade.
If you’ve followed budget and mid‑range earbuds at all over the last couple of years, you’ve probably noticed SoundPEATS quietly getting a lot more serious about sound.
The Air5 Pro+ is very much that story in earbud form. On paper it looks like something a “big” brand would happily charge twice as much for: a 10 mm dual‑copper dynamic driver, a MEMS micro‑speaker for the highs, and a built‑in Class‑H amplifier, all wrapped up with LDAC, Snapdragon Sound (including aptX Lossless), LE Audio and Bluetooth 5.4.
The pitch is simple: instead of throwing money at every possible “Pro” feature, go all‑in on audio performance and keep the price reasonable.
The list price is $129, but it’s already been hovering around the $90–$100 mark with launch deals, which is dangerously close to what the original Air5 Pro cost.
I’ve spent time using the Air5 Pro+ across daily commutes, gym sessions, and a bunch of late‑night listening. SoundPEATS likes to break things down into ten categories with actual scores, so I’ll roughly follow that logic here, but in more of a narrative way.
The short version is that this is one of their best-sounding all‑rounders to date, with some clear sacrifices you need to be okay with.
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SoundPEATS Air5 Pro+ Specifications
| Drivers | xMEMS micro-speaker (treble) + 10mm dual-coil dynamic driver |
| Amplifier | XAA-2000 Aptos Class-H power amplifier |
| Chipset | Qualcomm QCC3091 |
| Supported codecs | LDAC, aptX Lossless / aptX Adaptive, LC3 (Snapdragon Sound compatibility) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.4 (multipoint supported) |
| Active noise cancelling | Adaptive ANC (advertised up to ~55 dB attenuation) |
| Microphones | AI-enhanced multi-mic system (wind-reduction tech) |
| Battery | ~6 hrs per charge (earbuds, ANC off); ~30 hrs total with charging case (fast-charge 10 min → ~2 hrs) |
| Charging | USB-C (no wireless charging) |
| Latency / Game mode | Low-latency mode (~60 ms reported) |
| Water resistance | IPX5 |
| Frequency response | 20 Hz – 40 kHz |
| Weight | Single earbud ≈ 4.8 g (case weight varies by region) |
| MSRP | $129 (street prices and promotions vary) |
Design, Comfort, and Fit
Physically, the Air5 Pro+ doesn’t reinvent anything. It uses the exact same shell and case design as the earlier Air5 Pro, just in a slightly different finish. That’s not a complaint. The buds are on the compact side for a stem‑style design, and the ergonomics are excellent.
They sit snugly without needing to be jammed into your ear canal, and I noticed very little of that suction or pressure feeling you get with some tighter in‑ears. Over two‑hour listening sessions, I never felt the urge to pull them out to “let my ears breathe,” which isn’t something I can say about every ANC earbud.
The one limitation is the tip selection. You only get three sizes of silicone tips in the box. I ended up on the largest size and, with fairly big ears, I could probably go a fraction larger if there was an XL in there. Most people will be fine, but if you know you have tricky ears you might want to budget for some third‑party tips.
In terms of security, they behave like good stem earbuds should. In the gym they stayed in place through weight training and a few short treadmill runs. There is some “body noise” from your footsteps and movement, but it’s in the normal range.
They’re IPX5‑rated, so sweat and the occasional rain shower aren’t a problem, though you definitely shouldn’t be swimming with them.
One thing to note: if you like running with transparency mode turned on, the microphones pick up wind very easily. Even a moderate breeze can sound like a storm in your ears, which becomes a recurring theme with these mics.
Controls and Everyday Usability
SoundPEATS has done a nice job with controls on the Air5 Pro+. The touch areas on the stems are responsive, and more importantly, they’re customizable in a way a lot of more expensive brands still won’t allow.
Each earbud supports single, double, triple taps and a long press, and in the app you can assign almost anything you like to those gestures: volume up and down, track skipping, play/pause, voice assistant, game mode toggle, and switching between noise control modes. Once I’d set them up how I wanted, I rarely needed to touch my phone.
There are a couple of quirks that take the shine off, though.
First, you’re locked into cycling through ANC on → ANC off → transparency in that order. There’s no way to change it to just ANC ↔ transparency, which is how a lot of us actually use our buds day‑to‑day.
Second, when you answer a call, the buds automatically turn ANC off and you can’t override that behaviour, either via the touch controls or in the app. If you like to take calls with ANC still engaged to hush your surroundings, you’ll find that limitation annoying.
Another odd omission at this price now is wear detection. There’s no sensor to auto‑pause when you remove a bud or resume when you put it back in. Once you’ve had that, losing it does feel like a downgrade.
Connectivity and Latency
Where the Air5 Pro+ really swings above its weight is connectivity. They’re running Bluetooth 5.4 and support pretty much every codec you could sensibly want today.
Standard SBC and AAC are there, of course. On Android, you can switch to LDAC for high‑res. If you’ve got a Snapdragon Sound‑equipped phone, you unlock aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless, which lets you push effectively lossless audio over Bluetooth. LE Audio support is built in as well, using the more efficient LC3 codec.
In practice, that means that whether you’re on iOS or Android, old phone or brand‑new flagship, the Air5 Pro+ can take advantage of whatever your device is capable of. On a Snapdragon Sound phone in particular, they feel comically over‑equipped for the asking price.
Multipoint is supported, and it works the way you’d hope. I had them paired to a laptop and a phone at the same time; pausing music on the laptop and hitting play on the phone would hand audio over cleanly.
There’s also a dedicated gaming mode for cutting latency down further. SoundPEATS has a good track record on latency, and I didn’t notice any lip‑sync issues while watching videos or playing casual games.
You can also use either earbud on its own in mono mode, and it will play both left and right channels through that single bud, which is handy for calls or podcasts.
Honestly, in terms of codecs and connection stability, this is a 9 out of 10 situation. You’ll struggle to find much better at this price, even from bigger brands.
App, Customization and Extras
SoundPEATS’ app has gradually transformed from a basic companion to something surprisingly deep. With the Air5 Pro+, you get pretty much the full suite of options – you just have to accept a few rough edges.
The first rough edge comes immediately: you have to create an account and log in to use the app at all. For earbuds, that feels unnecessary, and I’d much rather see a “guest mode” for people who just want to tweak EQ and controls.
Once you’re in, the main screen shows battery levels for each earbud and the case, your current noise control status, and toggles for multipoint and low‑latency mode. You can also turn touch controls off completely if you keep brushing them accidentally.
The noise control section lets you switch between ANC, normal and transparency, and, when ANC is on, you can choose specific strength profiles: indoor (light), outdoor (medium), and traffic (high).
There’s also an adaptive mode that adjusts intensity on the fly based on what the mics are hearing. In my experience, adaptive tended to give the strongest overall cancellation, so I mostly left it there.
The EQ section is where things get more interesting. There’s a simple hearing test that plays tones at various frequencies and levels and builds a personalized curve. In my case, it didn’t radically improve anything, but it’s a nice option if you want a quick “set and forget” tweak.
Beyond that, you’ve got a bunch of built‑in presets and a 10‑band manual EQ, which is where I ended up spending most of my time, shaving a bit of bass and giving the mids a nudge.
On iPhone, there is a minor quirk: after adjusting the 10‑band EQ, the sound occasionally went a bit strange until I backed out of the EQ page and went back in. It’s not a deal‑breaker, but it does make the app feel a little less polished than it could be.
There’s also a small “extras” menu hidden behind an icon where you can adjust the volume of voice prompts, manage codec behaviour on Android, run an ear fit test, and trigger a “Find My Earbuds” function that plays a loud beep and can show their last known location.
Functionally, it’s all here. It just needs a bit of refinement and, ideally, that login requirement removed. As a package, the app and extras sit around a 7.5 out of 10 for me.
Noise Cancelling Performance
On to ANC. I tested the Air5 Pro+ against recorded plane cabin noise and busy café/crowd noise on a soundbar, and then used them in a real‑world gym environment and on public transport.
The overall impression: very solid for the money. It’s not going to dethrone Bose or Sony, but it’s right up there with, and sometimes better than, models that cost significantly more.
Low‑frequency sounds – air conditioning hum, bus engines, aircraft rumble – get knocked right down to a soft background, especially if you use the stronger “traffic” mode or adaptive ANC.
It’s the mid‑range and higher‑frequency stuff, like voices and clattering dishes, that stick around more. Those are reduced, but they don’t disappear. If you’re hoping to completely mute a loud open‑plan office, these won’t quite manage it.
One thing SoundPEATS got right is tonal consistency. Switching between ANC and transparency doesn’t radically change how your music sounds, and turning ANC off entirely only shaves a bit of bass – about a 10% drop, by ear. Every ANC system slightly alters the sound; on the Air5 Pro+, the shift is relatively small.
The flip side, again, is wind. The same sensitive mics that make the ANC and transparency sound open and clear are incredibly eager to latch on to wind noise.
On a still day, ANC is a great help on a commute. In gusty conditions, the whooshing across the mics can be distracting enough that you’ll be tempted to turn it off.
Transparency Mode
Transparency mode is one of the nicer surprises with the Air5 Pro+. It’s genuinely good.
With it turned on, outside sounds are boosted slightly above the natural level, but they remain recognisable and fairly realistic. Traffic noise, voices, keyboard clatter – everything comes through clearly, with very little of the background hiss you sometimes hear on cheaper implementations. It’s very easy to hold a conversation or stay aware of your surroundings without needing to yank a bud out.
Occlusion (that echoey effect of your own voice booming inside your head) is handled decently, too. You’re still aware you’re wearing earbuds, but it’s much less “talking with your fingers stuck in your ears” and more “slightly muffled but usable.”
If there were no wind noise issues, I’d probably score transparency even higher. Indoor, it’s excellent. Outside, on a breezy day, the wind roar can quickly overpower the benefits.
Call Quality
Call quality is often where budget‑leaning earbuds fall apart. That’s not the case here. Each bud carries three microphones, and SoundPEATS clearly spent time on the noise reduction tuning.
In a quiet room, your voice sounds clear and reasonably natural. There’s none of that hollow, gated effect some aggressive noise reduction systems have, and you don’t sound like you’re talking from the bottom of a tin can.
In fake crowd scenarios – recorded café noise and busy street noise played through speakers – the Air5 Pro+ did a good job of pushing my voice forward while damping the background to a manageable murmur. It doesn’t completely erase everything, but people on the other end of the call could hear me without asking for repeats.
With wind and traffic noise layered on, the Air5 Pro+ held up better than the regular Air5 Pro. You can still hear the environment, but speech stays intelligible and the wind reduction does enough work that you don’t sound like you’re in a hurricane.
If you’re someone who takes a lot of calls outdoors or in transit, these will get the job done very well for the price.
Sound Quality
Now to the main reason anyone should be looking at the Air5 Pro+: how they sound.
The driver setup is unusual for this price tier. You’ve got a 10 mm dual‑copper coil dynamic driver doing the low and mid‑frequency heavy lifting, paired with a MEMS (xMEMS) micro‑speaker sitting on top for the highs, all driven by a built‑in Class‑H amplifier. That’s not just marketing fluff; it has a very real impact on how these behave.
First off, they can get outrageously loud. On a test rig, the Air5 Pro+ pushed just over 119 dB at maximum volume. You should never listen anywhere near that for your own hearing’s sake, but it does mean there’s plenty of headroom. More importantly, they stay clean and composed at sensible volumes.
Out of the box, the tuning leans a little too hard into the low end for my taste. The bass is big, the sub‑bass digs very deep, and tracks with heavy kick drums and synths can start to feel a little boomy. The nice thing is that the 10‑band EQ in the app makes this easy to tame.
A slight reduction in the lowest two bands and a gentle bump to the lower mids completely changed the character for me. Even after dialling the bass back, there’s still a healthy, powerful low‑end presence. Sub‑bass has that satisfying rumble without muddying everything else, and the mid‑bass delivers a tight, punchy thump on kick drums and bass guitars. It’s what I’d call a “slightly bass‑boosted” sound: full and fun, but not outright bass‑head.
The midrange is where a lot of affordable earbuds either bury vocals or make them shouty. The Air5 Pro+ mostly avoids both traps. Lower mids aren’t scooped out, so male vocals and lower‑register instruments have some real weight to them. There’s a slight warmth to the mids overall, which gives them an easygoing, natural feel.
Upper mids have enough lift that lead vocals, guitars and pianos sit forward enough in the mix to stay clear, even when the arrangement gets busy. I threw a lot of fast metal and dense electronic stuff at these, and while they don’t dissect tracks like a good set of wired IEMs, they keep up surprisingly well. Guitars have bite, snare hits pop, and vocals don’t disappear behind walls of distortion.
Treble is where the MEMS micro‑speaker earns its keep. There’s a level of cleanliness and precision in the highs that you rarely see around the $100 mark. Cymbals, hi‑hats, strings, and atmospheric details come through with real clarity and speed. Transients – the leading edge of a drum hit, the pluck of a string – feel quick and well defined.
Crucially, all of this detail doesn’t cross over into harshness. If you’re treble‑sensitive, you may want to nudge the top band down a hair, but I never felt attacked by sibilance or glare, even on brighter masters. The treble has air and extension without becoming fatiguing, which is exactly what SoundPEATS is promising with all that MEMS marketing.
The combination of controlled bass and fast, clean treble gives the Air5 Pro+ a more open soundstage than you might expect. It still sounds like in‑ear monitors, not big open‑back headphones, but you do get a decent sense of width, and imaging is strong enough that it’s easy to point to where individual elements are coming from. Games and live recordings, in particular, benefit from that.
Battery Life and Charging
Battery life is very average. With ANC off and using a regular codec, SoundPEATS rates the buds at up to six hours per charge, with 30 hours total once you factor in the case. In real life, if you’re using ANC and a hungry codec like LDAC or aptX Lossless at sensible volume, you should expect less than that six‑hour figure.
There is a handy fast‑charge feature: drop the buds into the case for 10 minutes and you’ll get around two hours of listening time back. That’s genuinely useful if you forget to charge them before heading out.
Where the “Pro+” branding feels a bit generous is the charging convenience. The case does not support wireless charging. At this price, it’s still not guaranteed, but it’s common enough that I missed it.
Verdict: Who Are These For?
The SoundPEATS Air5 Pro+ is not the best pick if:
- You demand top‑tier ANC comparable to Bose or Sony
- You insist on wear detection and wireless charging
- You want the most polished app and UX in the category
But if you care more about the listening experience than ticking every “Pro” spec box, they’re extremely easy to recommend.
You’re getting:
- Genuinely impressive detail and speed, thanks to the MEMS micro‑speaker and Class‑H amp
- A warm‑leaning but still detailed, non‑fatiguing tuning that works across genres
- Strong codec support, multipoint, and low latency
- Very good comfort, transparency, and call quality for everyday use
SoundPEATS has clearly decided to aim the Air5 Pro+ at people who want hi‑fi‑leaning audio without hi‑fi prices, and on that front, it absolutely delivers. If you can live with a few missing “premium” conveniences, this is one of the most sonically impressive mid‑priced earbuds available right now.
Nick, the Co-founder of Earbuds Arena, is a seasoned freelance tech journalist with over ten years of experience covering wearables, apps, headphones, and gadgets. When he’s not immersed in the tech world, you’ll likely find him unwinding with video games, going for a run, or enjoying a game of soccer on the field.
