Free BYRD is Beyerdynamic’s first dive into the true wireless earbuds arena as their focus had mainly been gaming headphones and high-end headsets. Beyerdynamic looks to pack that quality and pristine sound they are known for and loading up these small earbuds. But is it a good fit?
Style
First thing I notice on the Free Byrd is the color schemes which is like their SPACE speakerphones I reviewed over the spring. They have an all-black version and the one they provided to us is Grey. The case itself is large coming in at 60g and has a flip-open lid. On top is the Beyerdyamics insignia while on the front is a LED light indicator. There is a Type-C port on the back for powering these up, but they also support wireless charging.
Taking the earbuds out you can see they are quite bulky and thick. Surprisingly, they are light though coming in at 7g a piece. They do include foam and silicone ear tips to customize your comfort to your liking which is good. These do have a nice tight fit so helps with concealing your ears from any outside noise.
Battery life is slated at 11hrs without ANC and 8hrs with, while you can get 19hrs additionally from the charging case. I felt the battery life has been on point with the Free BYRD. Seldomly charging it and getting a good length of usage. Speaking of run, these are rated IPX4 for water splashing.
Beyerdynamic Free BYRD come with a USB-C cable and various ear tips.
Features
For this being their first outing with true wireless, Beyerdynamic has equipped their MIY (Make It Yours) app with some decent options. They have a sound profile personalization called MOSAYC. It takes you thru various sound prompts. You can turn that off and on and even add fine tuning to it after. It is a nice audio customization tool to get the best sound for your liking. Also included in the app is ANC settings but also the ability to switch on/off low-latency mode. One highlight I found interesting is there is a statistics portion. It keeps track how many times you started each bud, time spent on the phone, and playback times.
One thing I found you couldn’t customize is the earbuds themselves. They rely on various taps for volume controls, play options and ANC toggling. They are very responsive to the touch though and you get small audio prompts when doing these changes.
Sound / Experience
These earbuds are equipped with 10mm drivers with a frequency of response of 10Hz-22kHz. Soon as you throw the Free BYRDs in your ears you be delighted by the impressive soundstage you get from these. It manages bass heavy tracks like “Eazy” by the Game making you feel every thump and while not sacrificing the vocals. I like to switch between the Original and Brilliance options in the EQ. Surprisingly there is no EQ adjusting though.
Free BYRD has a low latency mode which can be geared more towards gaming. I didn’t too much of a difference while trying it with mobile games such as Call of Duty: Mobile and Fortnite but everything seemed in sync. This would also go for when I watch any video content as well.
ANC does a respectable job of keeping you focused on the music and blocking out your surroundings and this is in part thanks to the seal you get on these in your ear. Only drawback though is these buds are big so they may not be comfortable for all ear sizes especially smaller ones.
Audio codecs supported on the Free BYRD is Qualcomm aptX adaptive, AAC, and SBC while you also get Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. I managed to not come across any distortion or disconnection in my time using them the past month or so.
Verdict
Beyerdynamic’s first entry into the true wireless realm is a late but welcome one. Free BYRD have stellar battery life, nice options via its app and have a nice sound profile mixed with personalized audio options. They could be smaller though as they are up there in size with Grell + Drop. Also its price of $249.99 makes it one of the more expensive earbuds on its level in the market.
