AceFast AceFit Pro

It can often feel as though technology has hit a bit of a creative wall. A lot of competing manufacturers tend to offer products that look slightly different and that each do marginally different things too. Phones all look somewhat similar, so do laptops, headphones, cameras, televisions, speaker systems, earbuds, the list goes on. It's precisely because of this that seeing something a little unorthodox can feel like Christmas morning, and this is exactly the case with AceFast's AceFit Pro earbuds.

These are True Wireless (TWS) stereo earbuds that are fitted to the wearer's head via an ear-hook design that basically wraps around a user's ear and doesn't actually ever enter the ear canal. If you're unfamiliar with this kind of design, it can feel very unusual to wear at first, but it does have its benefits... and a few weaknesses.

For one, having earbuds that don't slot directly into your ear canal reduces the effects that can come with this, i.e. increased build up of ear wax and potentially even damage to your hearing. They're also somewhat more secure, despite not feeling that way. What I mean is that if you knock these while putting on a jacket or something, they won't really go anywhere, unlike a more typical earbud which will fly out of your ear and likely land on the floor. The catch is that having a fit that rests on your ear and not inside it means that it never feels secure - even if it is. It always feels as though it's loose and never quite on properly, and also the lack of a sealed fit leads to your music being played somewhat publicly while audio suppression and proper noise cancellation is simply impossible to offer too.

So again, it's a bit of a mixed bag design from a technical standpoint, as if you're a commuter, perhaps someone who frequently rides on underground train services or travels via planes, the noise cancellation systems in AirPods Pro, for example, are almost a necessity. The AceFit Pro cannot compete on this front and in fact I'd go as far as to say that you'd struggle to hear your music or audio in loud environments due to the way these earbuds are designed. But, if you're in more forgiving circumstances, the sound quality that these earbuds offer are actually rather good and provide a full profile and range even when at medium volume. Again, you can go higher and get an even richer and more immersive sound profile, but if you're in a public space, anyone close to you will be able to hear the audio these earbuds produce, which perhaps defeats the purpose of what an earbud aims to achieve in the first place, even if AceFast does claim that they have a directional audio that prevents leakage.

But - and this is the big catch - these are regarded as the AceFit Pro and that means they are built for fitness first and foremost. Now the audio leakage and lack of a seal will become a problem at a busy gym, for example, but elsewhere a lot of what these earbuds do are very admirable. The fit means you won't have to worry about them while running or doing intense activities, the lightweight design means you can forget that you're wearing them after a stint, and the silicone ear hooks with a titanium core and the IP54 dust and waterproof protection means that they're easy to keep clean and will resist sweat. Essentially, they're ideal for fitness purposes, especially when you consider the fact that the Pro model will set you back just under £110, which is less than half of what it'll cost you to get a new pair of AirPods Pro.

This then also leads me to some of the more unique and subtle design choices that AceFast offers here, things that Apple would probably regard as the next great technological innovation if AirPods started offering it. The earbuds themselves have LED lighting that can be activated at will, which will aid a little bit in being visible in low-light conditions, which for the UK is pretty much all the time outside of the summer. The case has a transparent lid with a digital display that enables you to specifically see the charge out of 100% that is available in the case through light up numbers. If you want to change the colours of the lighting on either the earbuds or the case, the accompanying app has all the tools to enable this, with the app also being incredibly streamlined and simple to master, which many competitors cannot nearly claim. My only design gripe here is that the USB-C charging port for the case is on its base, which makes it a bit of a pain to effectively juice up. Would it be nice if it supported Qi charging? Sure, but considering all of the other features and the more reasonable price, I can look past it this time.

Moving on we have the battery life, which I've found to be really competitive. AceFast claims that these offer six hours of charge on the earbuds and then up to 25 hours in total with the included case charge too. I have had no reason to doubt that, and it's more than enough for me to only need to charge it up once every week or so, and usually only for a couple of hours at best. So, when you match all of this up with the ability to connect to two devices at once, the fact that the earbuds can work without needing to be near the case, and the subtle appearance that doesn't stand out and make you look like you belong on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, there's a lot to appreciate here. Are the touch controls a bit of a nuisance? Without a doubt. But when aren't they on small gadgets like earbuds? Bring back buttons!

All in all, the AceFast AceFit Pro earbuds are a very compelling and interesting gadget with plenty of reasons to snag a pair. The main thing to note with these is that these are built for quite specific circumstances and lack some of the versatility that actual in-ear earbuds can provide. But if you're fine with that and live in a quieter portion of the world, you won't go far wrong with these fitness-first earbuds.