Amazfit has certainly been on a tear lately with all their fitness-related releases and revisions. While mostly known for their fitness-based smartwatches, they also have fitness and health geared earphones. Their latest is the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro which is the second in their TWS earphone series. What makes the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro different from other TWS earphones are the newly added health monitoring features along with built-in ANC (Active Noise Canceling).
DESIGN
The original Amazfit PowerBuds featured an interesting look with the gradient dots design on the face. They were also a bit bulky due to the integrated heart rate monitoring hardware. With the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro, they’ve been able to cut back much of the bulk but in doing so, the new design looks very much like the Apple AirPods Pro from afar. Up close you can see that the design isn’t quite the same, but at a glance, they do look very similar. Even the charging case looks very similar.
Part of the similarities too is that the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro only comes in white. I do appreciate though that they are matte white and not shiny like the Apple ones.
Other notable design elements include a buttonless design with all the controls being touch-enabled. The touch is different here and requires a bit of a squeeze on the arm part. This makes it so it’s much harder to have accidental touches, which does happen a lot with most touch-enabled controls.
Lastly, the case is fairly compact. Amazfit seems to have done as much as they could to make this as small as they could and I really appreciate the USB-C charging port. However, it would have also been nice if this was a wirelessly charging case as well, which it isn’t. That would have made the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro stand out even more.
SPECS
Now let’s get down to what makes the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro different from other TWS earphones. The main thing is health monitoring. The PowerBuds Pro is able to measure your heart rate with an ear canal heart rate module. It’s integrated with the earplugs which allow more optical sensor light to pass through, enabling a more accurate reading. The PowerBuds Pro is also able to sense when you start a workout and can track speed, distance, time, calories burned, and more depending on the workout you’re doing. Basically, a change in movement will alert the PowerBuds Pro that you are starting a workout. This is thanks to the built-in accelerometer.
The Amazfit PowerBuds Pro is also the first earphones that I know of that can also detect and show the sitting angle of your cervical spine. This is also because of the accelerometer. This helps you improve your posture as well as reminds you to move your neck and relax if sitting for long periods of time.
Aside from the health features, the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro also features active noise cancellation of up to 40dB with three mics on each earbud. This is to ensure crystal clear calls when in noise environments. There’s also a Thru Mode that lets you hear the environment you’re in even while you’re listening to your music. This mode is good for if you’re running or riding a bike and need to also listen out for traffic.
The Amazfit PowerBuds Pro also utilizes new touch controls, but it’s different from others. Instead of just touching it to enable actions, you actually have to squeeze them. I like this as it means fewer phantom touches and accidental taps and only performs actions when you want it to.
Lastly, there is up to 30 hours or more of battery life depending on usage in combination with the charging case
EXPERIENCE
Pairing the Amazfit PowerBuds PRo with an Android device is super simple, especially if you make use of Google’s Fast Pair Service. It pretty much automatically detected them as soon as I pulled out the earbuds. Also, you will need to download the Zepp app to make use of all the features the PowerBuds Pro has to offer as well as using it to update the firmware if need be.
In terms of audio, these actually sound pretty good. There’s a good amount of bass and the highs are crisp and clear. I do like the fact that there’s a built-in Music Equalizer that allows you to tailor the sound to your preferences. There are also presets you can use as well. I’m a fan of the active noise canceling and it really works here. With it on, I can have a vacuum running in the background and I won’t hear it at all. Even a noisy AC just fades away in the background. If you do need to hear background sounds, just long squeeze the shaft and enable Thru Mode.
The Amazfit PowerBuds Pro also has In-Ear Detection with proximity sensors. If you remove one earbud while music is playing, it’ll automatically pause it. Put it nack in your ear and the music will resume. If you just want to use one earbud, you can do that too. Just leave the other one in the charging case.
These also work for your voice assistant which you can enable by triple squeezing the shaft.
Now one of the main selling points of the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro is the health monitoring aspects, but you might never even end up using these. If you have other Amazfit products, you’ll most likely be using your smartwatch for health monitoring and not the earbuds. It’s just easier using the watch because that’s something you’ll be keeping on pretty much all day and not the earbuds. That’s also the case for Cervical Spine monitoring. It’s a really neat feature, but unless you keep these earbuds in all day, you might never even make use of this either.
We’ll just call these bonus features that are neat to have but may not be entirely useful if you have other Amazfit products already.
Despite this, the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro is pretty darn good. The fit is great and they feel way more comfortable than the previous PowerBuds. They don’t feel as bulky and the use of the new touch controls feels more intuitive. The case too is fairly small and easily pocketable and I appreciate the use of the USB-C charging port. A wireless charging case would have been nice though.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So how good is the Amazfit PowerBuds Pro? In terms of audio quality and features, I’d say they’re pretty good. These are great for audio and the ANC helps tune out all that distracting outside noise if you want to be immersed in your music. The health monitoring stuff is a nice bonus, but in all honesty, I’m not sure how much of it will actually get used on the regular, especially since I have other Amazfit products I wear daily that do a lot of the same things.
With that said, you still can’t go wrong with these. They look great, sound great, and the included health monitoring features do help it stand out.
The Amazfit PowerBuds Pro retail for $149.99 and can currently be purchased directly from Amazfit.
