One of the best cheap earbuds I've tested isn't made by Soundcore or Earfun

I've been reviewing earbuds, headphones, and speakers for a long time. One thing I've noticed over the years is that headphones tend to follow trends with sound. Back when Beats first came into being, the sound was bass-heavy to the point of being over-driven and unnatural. That tendency still holds true today, and finding a more neutral-sounding pair of earbuds is becoming harder and harder.

Why would you want a neutral sound from your earbuds? Think of it this way: a neutral sound presents the music as the artist intended. Instead of cranking up the bass, lowering the mids, and raising the highs, a neutral sound (often called "studio sound") doesn't force a certain EQ curve on you that presents the music with a distorted EQ curve.

A studio sound is clean and well balanced.

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Typically, when I receive a pair of earbuds for review -- especially those in the lower-mid price range -- I assume the EQ will follow the trends. However, when I experience a pair of sub-$100 earbuds that deliver a clean sound, I am excited.

That's exactly what happened when I paired the Soundpeats Air 5 with my Android phone. The sound was as clean as any I've heard from earbuds at this price. There was no obvious EQ curve driving any of the frequencies to unnatural levels. I felt like I was in the studio with artists as they recorded their music.

The specs

Dual Certified with Snapdragon Sound and Hi-Res13mm Composite Bio-Diaphragm Speaker
aptX Lossless Audio Decoding
Bluetooth 5.4 for stable, multi-point connectivity, with AAC, SBC, APTX codec support
Profiles - HSP, HFP, A2DP, and AVRCP
Chipset - QCC3091
30 Hrs of total battery life
Intelligent Noise Cancellation
Price - $89 (on Amazon)

My experience

Prior to the Air 5, I had not been a fan of the Apple AirPods design. The reason being is I've always found silicon tips do a better job of creating a seal in my ear. Without a good seal, the sound will suffer (especially on the low end). 

When I inserted the Soundpeats Air 5 (which falls under the AirPods-clone category), I did my usual trick of pulling my ear back, inserting the earbud, giving it a bit of a twist, and releasing my ear. To my surprise, the shape of the Air 5 worked perfectly to create a good seal. I then tapped play on my Christmas tunes playlist (yeah, I'm a sucker for choral Christmas music) and was taken aback by the sound. 

It was clean. Really clean. Like studio monitor clean.

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My mouth immediately turned up in a smile. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sound. Everything I played through the Air 5s was smooth, with a nice soundstage to separate the voices and/or instruments. I won't go through the details of every song I tested with these because every genre sounded equally as clean.

The one caveat I ran into with these earbuds is that I couldn't get them to connect with my Pixel 9 Pro. I was able to get them to connect with my Pixel 7 Pro. No matter what I tried, the pairing was rejected by the 9 Pro. The good news is that after rebooting my phone, I was finally able to get them to connect to the 9 Pro. Other than that one brief hiccup, the Soundpeats Air 5 earbuds were an absolute joy to use.

ZDNET's buying advice

It all boils down to this: if you like the idea of a more studio-clean sound for your earbuds, the Soundpeats Air 5s will deliver without breaking the bank. If, on the other hand, you like exaggerated bass akin to the Beats sound, these earbuds will disappoint. Personally, I'm a big fan of studio sound because it's closer to what the artists originally intended with their music. 

At $89, these earbuds are hard to beat, especially if you want a clean, dynamic sound with good separation of instruments.