These Wireless Earbuds Don’t Totally Suck for the Environment
Fairphone, the company known for making more sustainable phones, is back in the audio game with a pair of modular wireless earbuds that are far less crappy for the environment than most.
The Fairbuds 2, which Fairphone made official earlier this month, have a grand total of seven user-replaceable parts in this iteration, including individual earbuds, but also (arguably the most noteworthy) all of the batteries.
Fairphone says that the Fairbuds 2 are the only pair in the industry that lets you replace the battery in both the earbuds and the charging case, which is significant since batteries are often the first thing to go in wireless earbuds and the vast majority of pairs out there have batteries that are glued in place. Once those deplete, most wireless earbuds are essentially totaled. Conversely, Fairphone says its wireless earbuds don’t use any glue at all.
In addition to the modular parts, Fairbuds 2 emphasize the use of recycled plastics and rare metals that it says are extracted by workers with fairer wages. The plastics and silicone are made without PFAS, too, which is a forever chemical that’s been linked to cancer, weakened immune systems, increased cholesterol levels, and more.
As important as modularity and sustainability are, these are still a pair of wireless earbuds at the end of the day, and Fairphone says it has improvements on the audio front, including the use of an 11mm bio-cellulose dynamic driver, which it says is made from “light organic fibers” instead of plastics or metals. That driver is designed to offer “brighter, crisper treble,” while a refined tuning should offer deeper bass, warmer mids, and clearer highs. The Fairbuds 2 also support Sony’s LDAC codec for the first time for hi-res streaming.
The Fairbuds 2 look quite different than the first generation and come with stems this time around with capacitive touch controls. Fairphone says they’ve been redesigned for better passive noise cancellation and are 37% smaller than the first generation, while the case is 32% smaller. Despite that difference in size, Fairphone says the Fairbuds 2 have six hours of battery life with active noise cancellation (ANC) turned on and eight hours with it turned off. That’s an average battery life at best, but potentially a small sacrifice to make in service of a more eco-friendly experience.
Feature-wise, the Fairbuds 2 have hybrid ANC, which Fairphone says cancels 45dB of noise, transparency, and a few preset EQs that you can toggle in the wireless earbuds’ companion app. Ultimately, there aren’t a ton of bells and whistles in this pair of wireless earbuds, but the emphasis is really on the repairability and sustainability, and on that front, Fairphone feels leaps and bounds ahead of competitors.
The Faribuds 2 cost $119 in the U.S. and will be available for purchase starting Nov. 2. They come in green and black.