SoundPEATS GoFree 2 Review: Good Sound/Comfort, Moderate Battery Life

REVIEW – SoundPEATS always seems to be busy releasing new headphones and earbuds. Following their Air4 Pro, their latest offering is the GoFree 2.

This is a pair of air conduction headphones that don’t actually go in your ear – they go around and on top. As a result, situational awareness is prioritized.

Thankfully, NerdTechy was gifted a pair of the newly released GoFree 2 to test out. After using them for the past two weeks, I’m here to report on my findings.

I’ll discuss everything I like, don’t like, and my overall experience putting them through the paces. Let’s start with the good.

What I Loved

• They’re very comfortable. I have now used the SoundPEATS GoFree 2 for about 30+ hours total, with my longest listening session being about 6 consecutive hours. Not once did I feel they posed any sort of pressure points or discomfort. Honestly, I tended to forget that I was even wearing them.
• Situational awareness is fantastic. Rather than them going in your actual ear canal, they rest above and beside it. The result is an audio-listening experience that lets you hear your music while still being able to hear everyone and everything around you.
• They look and feel great. I really enjoy the matte black appearance with the silver accents. There’s no loose or tacky parts – everything feels solid and well made. I felt that the matte exterior wicked moisture away with ease.
• Audio quality is decent. I can’t say that these sound better than in-ear buds, but they certainly shine considering they’re not actually inserted into your ears. Bass was present and decent while the mids and highs seemed to be on-point.
• One size fits all. There’s no need to adjust them based on the size of your head or ears. They seem to fit virtually anyone without the need to swap out various tips, hooks, etc.
• Pairing is a breeze. Getting them setup and working for the first time is incredibly easy. Just pop them out of the case, remove the stickers from the charging contacts, and set them to pair with your Bluetooth-enabled device. Each time you take them out of the case, they’ll auto-pair without any extra configuration.

What I Didn’t Love

• Touch controls seemed a little finicky. Luckily, the app lets you completely disable them. While removing them or putting them on, I found that I accidently switched tracks or cranked the volume up without knowing.
• The charging case feels cheap. Although it does have a nice magnetic clasp to it, it does feel a bit plasticky and lightweight. It doesn’t really exude a “high-end” aesthetic.
• Fingerprint magnets. The silver accented areas and matte black seems to attract any small amount of oil and/or fingerprints. The same holds true wit the charging case. If you have even the slightest amount of oil on your hands, you’re going to see it show.
• Battery could be better. SoundPEATS states that there’s “about 9 hours” or battery life. In reality, I found this to be around 5-6 hours, at most. If I kept the volume cranked up, it was even less.
• No space for the cable. The charging case does not have a place to put the cable. With how big the case is, you’d think it’d be easy to incorporate a spot dedicated for bringing the cable along.

Unboxing and Pairing

Taking the GoFree 2 out of the box for the first time, you get everything you need and nothing more:

• Charging case.
• Short USB-C cable.
• User manual.
• SoundPEATS App guide.
• GoFree 2 headphones.

Upon opening the case, they go right into pairing mode. Pairing them was simple, straightforward and uneventful – just the way I like it.

Comfort and Sound

Placing them over your ears is just as basic. Simply hook them around each ear and position the main body over your ears, but not in them. They’ll naturally rest where you need them to be without the need for manual intervention.

Listening to them for the first time was great. It’s immediately apparent that the acoustics were prioritized in their design. Bass is present and the highs/mids are decently nice. Vocals are clear, albeit not quite as vivid as a pair of in-ear buds.

In my opinion, this is acceptable, given the trade-off for the situational awareness they’ll bring you. Simply put, you’ll be able to freely hear the environment around you without having to turn the volume down or take them off completely.

Speaking of comfort, it’s easy to forget you’re even wearing them. For my longest listening session, I used them for 6 straight hours. During this time, I used them to play through my entire Spotify playlist. I used them on a couple long jogs, and never once felt them come loose or fall off from the continuous movement.

I even tried them in “game mode” with some mobile gaming. While playing Wild Rift, I felt that they provided an excellent in-game experience without becoming bothersome. It was really nice to have my ears available and not plugged-up so I could still be aware of what was going on around me.

In addition, no latency issues were present. Everything that was happening on the screen was immediately heard through the headphones with no delay.

Durability

The GoFree 2 are built to withstand a normal amount of moisture and sweat without any qualms.

Their IPX5 rating is a testament to the fact that you can wear these in a torrential downpour or during a snowstorm without having to worry about them leaking. There’s no moving parts or an excess of unnecessary elements.

I tested them while it was pouring down rain and after an hour of exposure, they still worked perfectly fine. Sure, they were drenched and I was soaked to the bone, but they held up perfectly fine.

Now, you don’t want to take them swimming underwater, but for nominal moisture, they hold up adequately without any issue.

SoundPEATS App

I’ve used the SoundPEATS app many times in the past and I must say – it’s one of my favorites. It works well, never crashes, and opens up a whole realm of control and configuration.

Once the buds are paired, open up the app and you’ll precisely see how much battery life is remaining in each one. This gives you clear insight to the duration remaining and if you need to plug them in.

It’s really fun to play around with the various equalizer settings. I spent a lot of timing fine-tuning the custom equalizer to achieve the precise sound I wanted.

At first, it may look a bit confusing, but with some trial and error while you’re listening, you’ll notice a true difference in the sound based on the levels you select.

And if you’re someone who doesn’t want to mess around with all this, using the “SoundPEATS Classic” preset is just fine. It seems to deliver superb sound that sound great with any kind of audio content, without any of the guesswork.

Battery and Charging

Each time I used them, they seemed to last around 5-6 hours in the best case scenario. There were some times where I found them to last 4 hours, but this was usually when they were exposed to cold outdoor temperatures.

Re-charging was easy and took around 2-3 hours with the USB-C cable being plugged in. SoundPEATS claims 35 hours of total battery life with the charging case – but this is far from the truth. I’d say more around 20 hours is a fairer representation.

It’s kind of a bummer that the battery life isn’t up to par, but it’s not a real sore-spot unless you expect listening sessions over 6 hours in duration. Regardless, it would be nice if SoundPEATS would not overestimate the battery life.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, the SoundPEATS GoFree 2 have a lot going for them. Overall, they’re built well and exude moderate quality with only a few marks missing in terms of battery life and the somewhat cheap way they feel.

But then again, you’re not buying high-end, top of the line quality. SoundPEATS is known as a budget brand, so you shouldn’t expect the same quality as Bose, Sony, etc.

The price is moderate. Currently retailing for around $75, they’re not the cheapest but they’re also not the most expensive. Their balance between affordability and features is commendable. All in all, they’re good in many ways and poor with just a few aspects.