Fairphone Fairbuds XL Wireless Headphones Review

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL are closed-back, over-ears with a unique modular design. Many aspects of their construction are designed to be dismantled and replaced, though you wouldn't know it based on their sleek, rounded look. The only hint of their modularity comes in the form of the accented, exposed cable that connects the headband to the earcups. They come in two color variants: 'Green' and 'Black'.

These headphones are decently comfortable, thanks to their large, well-padded earcups. The deeper cup size is accommodating of larger ears and the supple padding does a great job of spreading the clamping force of the headphones around your head. However, this comes at the expense of some additional heft; these over-ears weigh a fair bit more than competitors like the Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless, meaning more pressure is applied to the top of the headband. The larger earcups and exposed cables can cause some discomfort, creating more pressure points against your head, especially if you wear glasses or have thick hair. The motion range of the pivots also means that you might not be able to extend them as far as you'd like, especially if you have a larger head.

The physical controls are intuitive and easy to use. There's an ANC button and joystick on the right earcup that give you the ability to control most parameters beyond the EQ, which can compensate somewhat for the limited functionality of the companion app. Simplicity is the name of the game here, and thankfully, the two buttons are responsive and well-differentiated from each other. That said, it's easy to move the joystick in the wrong direction if you try to input a command hastily. There's audio feedback for when you hit min/max volume and for when you're skipping through tracks, as well as a voice prompt that tells you when you switch ANC settings. You can see a video of how the controls work here.

These headphones aren't very portable, as you'd expect with larger over-ear designs. The cups don't swivel to lay flat, so they'll take up a fair bit of real estate in a bag or suitcase.

These headphones come with a basic carrying pouch, made of a thick, Goretex-like material that's lined with a plusher material. The pouch is secured via a simple drawstring that doesn't feel quite as secure as a zipper.

The build quality on the Fairphone Fairbuds XL is good, with the additional bonus of having modular components that can be individually replaced. You can purchase new parts from the manufacturer's website or via a handy interface in the companion app. The materials used are indicative of Fairphone's commitment to sustainability, with a mixture of recycled plastic, vegan leather, recycled aluminum, and even FairTrade gold incorporated into the supply chain. Despite the modularity of their construction, these headphones are solid and well put together, with yokes that move smoothly without creaking. The headphones are rated IP54, meaning they're resistant to dust damage and water splashes.

They're decently stable headphones that'll stay in place if you're just ambling around the house or running errands. That said, the smooth vegan leather headband padding can cause the headband to slip off the top of your head if you find yourself running to make the last train home.

• Fairphone Fairbuds XL Wireless headphones
• Quick start guide
• Carrying pouch

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL have a relatively balanced sound out-of-the-box that lends itself well to a range of genres and audio content. There's some subtle over-emphasis in the low-bass that adds rumble and thump to basslines without making them overwhelming. The balanced mid-range helps render vocals and lead instruments with detail and clarity, preserving their intended character. The treble response is quite inconsistent by comparison and reproduces sibilants in a more haphazard way, depending on their pitch. There are also some sound customization options available via the app where you can tweak the sound profile using a 5-band graphic EQ or cycle through presets. It's worth noting that using the 'Studio (Max)' EQ setting while at max volume can cause some clipping, though.

As with other ANC-equipped headphones, the sound profile does change somewhat when ANC is on/off, though there's not much change between ANC and Ambient Sound modes. Finally, engaging the mic brings about a noticeable drop in volume and sound quality in the headphones' sound profile.

The frequency response consistency is middling as these headphones' deep earcups can cause features like long hair or glasses to interfere with creating a tight seal. Test four on the graph is indicative of what users with long hair will encounter, as bass delivery suffers when this seal is broken. Users who wear glasses won't have as much of an issue. If you take the time to adjust the fit on your head, you'll experience more consistent audio delivery between listening sessions.

The bass accuracy is excellent with some very slight overemphasis across the low-bass range that can help bring out the fundamental frequencies of kicks and 808 basslines. Basslines, like the dubstep-indebted wobbles found in James Blake's song, Limit to Your Love, sound vivid and rumbly without overpowering the rest of the mix.

The mid accuracy amazing. The response is balanced across almost the entire range, with a slight overemphasis in the high-mid that can bring out clarity in vocals.

The treble accuracy is decent, though it's a little inconsistent across the whole range. The peak in the high-mids carries over to the low-treble, which helps vocal articulation come through. There's a dip in the response between the low and mid-treble that can dull ride cymbals and other sibilants, though. Higher-pitched sibilants, like the recurrent open hi-hat splashes in Cream's I Feel Free can become grating however, due to the overemphasis at the top of the mid-treble.

The peaks and dips performance is okay, meaning these headphones control their own sound profile better in some ranges than others. There's a peak in the low-bass, followed by a slight dip in the mid-bass that brings out the fundamental frequencies of bass notes. While the mid-range is relatively even, there's some inconsistency in the treble range, with a peak in the low-treble that accentuates the upper harmonics of vocals and guitars. This is followed by a small dip between the low and mid-treble that dulls lower-pitched sibilants, like washy ride cymbals. The sharp peak at the top of the mid-treble can cause higher-pitched sibilants, like splash cymbals and metal shakers, to sound brittle and harsh.

The imaging performance is great. This is the first product from Fairphone that we've tested, so we don't have much of a reference point for their quality control and ergonomics, but our unit's L/R drivers were well-matched in group delay, amplitude, and frequency. While there's some phase mismatch in the low-mids and at the top of the treble range, it's not audible in everyday audio content, so all in all, these headphones reproduce each layer of audio clearly and accurately. Imaging tends to vary between different units, so your experience may differ.

The passive soundstage performance is disappointing, as you'd expect from closed-back over-ears. It's not particularly wide or spacious sounding, so audio sounds like it's coming from inside your head rather than from speakers positioned around you.

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL have an okay weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's a bump in both drivers in the mid-range, both at regular and elevated listening volumes. It's tough to notice in real-life audio content, and other frequencies fall within good levels, so audio reproduction is mostly clear and pure.

These are the settings used to test the Fairphone Fairbuds XL. Our results are only valid when using them in this configuration.

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL have an excellent full-range noise isolation performance. Considering that Fairphone is a relative newcomer to the headphones space compared to legacy brands with high-tier ANC technology like Sony and Bose, the combination of the ANC system and their passively isolating design does a great job of cutting out external mid and treble range noise. While they do a less impressive job of cutting out bass frequencies, they'll still provide some respite from sounds like bus engines rumbling. The ANC button on the earcup lets you choose between ANC on, off, or Ambient Sound mode, which filters in some external noise. You can see how these different settings affect the noise isolation performance here.

These headphones perform consistently well when it comes to isolating you against common scenarios. They do a decent job of cutting out the roar of plane engines and the hustle and bustle of office environments. They perform better when it comes to attenuating car horn honks and other vehicular noise heard on a busy street.

Wind noise is difficult for headphones to mitigate as it directly interacts with the ANC's microphones. This can cause the ANC system to create a loud, annoying noise in an attempt to cancel out the wind noise. Given the lack of a wind-noise reduction feature, users are better served switching the ANC off during windy spells.

They have a good leakage performance. Escaping audio is mostly concentrated in the mid-range, so leakage sounds a little thin and tinny. That said you prefer to listen at high volume, your tunes shouldn't disturb anyone, unless you're in a quiet environment like a library.

The microphone's recording quality is just okay. The response is effectively high-passed, so your voice sounds thin and lacking in body. There's some treble roll-off, though overall, your voice will err towards sounding bright.

These over-ears have a sub-par noise handling performance. They do a passable job of separating your voice in moderately noisy environments, though your voice can still sound distorted and disjointed. That said, you'll be easily drowned out by louder noises, like onrushing traffic.

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL's battery life performance is good overall. While there's no power-saving feature that can help preserve battery life, these headphones are able to achieve a little over 28 hours of battery life with the ANC on. This seems consistent with the manufacturer's claims that they'll last 26 hours with ANC enabled and 30 hours with it disabled. Battery life will vary according to use, though, so your experience may differ. Unlike with other manufacturers, you can always buy a replacement battery directly from the manufacturer if yours loses its ability to hold a charge over time.

The Fairphone app is designed to provide a very basic level of customizability, as you can see here. You can check the battery level or view an interesting visual representation of the headphone's modular design (which conveniently links to the website in case you need to purchase a replacement part). You can also switch between a few EQ presets (somewhat confusingly named after famous cities rather than sound profiles) and tweak the sound further with a 5-band EQ. There's an option to initiate a firmware update too. While you can see instructions for the physical controls, there's sadly no way to re-map them via the app.

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL can be used with a wired connection. However, rather than opting for a more traditional TRS connector, wired connectivity comes in the form of a USB-C port. All manner of cables, including a USB-C to TRS cable, are available for purchase from the manufacturer's site, but none are provided with the headphones. We used a USB-C to USB-C cable to test our unit and found latency to be very low using this connection.

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL have decent Bluetooth connectivity. While they support multi-device pairing with up to two devices, there's no integration with Google Fast Pair or Microsoft Swift Pair. A few codecs are supported, including SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX HD, but there's no support for aptX Adaptive. Latency is on the higher side using both SBC and AptX and the omission of AptX Adaptive or any other low latency mode means that you can run into some sync issues when watching videos or gaming. Apps and devices compensate for latency differently, so your experience will vary.

The Fairphone Fairbuds XL are fully compatible with PCs via Bluetooth. You can plug them in via their USB-C port into your PC's USB interface or with a USB-C to TRS cable for full audio and mic support, though neither of these cables are supplied by the manufacturer. We haven't been able to test this connection type yet.

These headphones have full compatibility when you plug their USB cable into your PlayStation console's USB port. You can also purchase a USB-C to TRRS cable via Fairphone if you want to plug them directly into your PlayStation controller. However, we haven't been able to test them with this connection type.

These headphones aren't compatible with Xbox series consoles via a USB connection. However, you can purchase a USB-C to TRRS cable directly through Fairphone, which you can use to plug into your Xbox controller for mic and audio support. We haven't been able to test this connection type yet.