Only six years have passed since the beginning the first true wireless headphones made the leap from fantasy movies to reality, but now they’re everywhere and seem to be made by every company that has a consumer audio division. One notable absence has been German audio veterans Beyerdynamic until now.
Like others premium audio delayBeyerdynamic seems to have delayed its entry into the true wireless headphone space until the necessary technologies had matured enough to offer its customers a top-notch listening experience.
So the Free Byrd headphones have a sound personalization technology called MOSAYC – attention to detail with Mimi Sound personalization. Accessible via a companion mobile app, MOSAYC performs a two-minute listening test and then adjusts the sound and settings to suit your individual hearing profile before saving that profile directly to the headphones.
A number of equalizer presets are also available in the app for fine-tuning to suit personal tastes, and wireless updates promise to keep the headphones up-to-date.
Beyerdynamics
The headphones connect to the music source via Bluetooth 5.2 with support for aptX and AAC adaptive codecs. Google Fast Pair provides ultra-fast connections to Android devices, and listeners can switch between up to six paired sources without disconnection. Free Byrds are certified compatible with Alexa and Siri voice assistants, and Beyerdynamic has also prepared in low-latency mode for mobile gamers.
Inside the body of each earbud, which roughly resembles a guitar pickguard, is a 10mm dynamic driver that delivers “legendary Beyerdynamic sound” in a frequency range of 10Hz to 22kHz. And IPX4 splash resistance means these Byrds should survive a sweaty workout at the gym or dashing to the shelter during a sudden downpour.
There’s digital active noise cancellation with transparency enabled at the touch of a button, and Qualcomm’s cVc speech enhancement technology provides improved voice clarity during phone calls via the two microphones on each earcup.
Beyerdynamics
Listeners can expect 11 hours of music playback per bud with ANC off or eight hours with power on, and if the music stops abruptly during a walk, a 10-minute quick charge offers more than an hour of use. The included charging case holds enough power for an additional 19 hours of headphone use, and can be topped up via USB-C or Qi wireless pads.
The Free Byrd True Wireless Earbuds are available now for $249 USD and come with five pairs of silicone tips and three foam tips for a comfortable and secure fit.
This will make these buds look less expensive than impressive NuraTrue Pro true wireless headphones when they go on sale, although we can’t say whether they’ll match Nura’s excellent sound personalization options without trying them ourselves. The Free Byrds are also less expensive than the Sony ANC champs WF-1000XM4 buds, but about the same as the last Sennheiser Impulses.
product page: Free Byrd
