AKG N400 True Wireless Bluetooth Earphones ANC Canal Type (Black)

Airpod Pro killers. I don't say this lightly. I have been looking for Airpod Pro killers for a while, and believe I've finally found them here. What is wrong with the Airpod Pros? They sound "ok". That's it. Everything else about them is great (ok maybe I'd like enough battery life to get me from TSA checkpoint at airport 1 to the parking lot of airport 2, but I really don't mind charging for 10 minutes every 5 hours). But the sound quality is just ok. What I wanted was Airpod Pros with better sound, if that was even possible.I feel like I've mostly found that here. The AKG N400s sound great. I have two sets of IEMs that I use regularly besides the N400 and Airpod Pros; Fiio FH5, and Moondrop Blessing 2. The Fiios are on a set of Bluetooth ear hooks (Fiio UTWS3), and the Moondrops are used wired.The N400s sound noticeably better than the Airpod Pros. This isn't like a little bit here or there, you don't have to listen really closely, it's readily apparent that there is more detail, more soundstage, more immersion. They are tuned to Harman, and so are a little bit more "exciting" than Airpod Pros, but I think the transducers are actually better, and possibly the electronics as well. They are bigger so none of that is too shocking. I'm not going to go into more about sound, I just find them to sound much better.To my ears, the N400s sound very close to the Fiio FH5 on the Bluetooth ear hooks. FH5 are $200 wired IEMs that don't have an amplifier, a DAC chip, and a Bluetooth chip (or all of that on one chip), along with a battery, taking up space inside your ear, their only job is to sound good, and the N400 comes extremely close to sounding the same even with all of that other stuff included. Incredible.The N400 don't come close to the Blessing 2s, but if you are familiar with the Moondrops you know they are $320 wired IEMs that are regularly considered the best IEMs under $1,000, so that is expected. I include this just to demonstrate that I'm not crazy or a shill.On that note, I have owned and listened to the N400s for several weeks now, this is not a first impression review. Everyone loves everything the day they get it. Those reviews are worthless. I've had some time to think about these and I think they are awesome.What about the other stuff. Well, the Airpod Pros are mostly better at everything else, but these are so close that I choose them for the sound quality. The noise cancellation is good, I would say that the electronics are worse than the Airpod Pros, but they are more normal fitting IEMs and therefore get a better seal than Airpod Pros do, so the end result is the same.The "transparency mode," here called "ambient aware," is not as good as the Airpod Pros. There is a hiss that can be heard whenever its on, and you only hear it in this mode (so its not a Bluetooth hiss, its a hiss only in this mode). It does what it needs to do. If music is on its not a big deal, if music isn't on, take it out of your ears.The app is ok. It takes a few seconds to connect every time you open it. There is a full-up equalizer in there, which is great if you don't like the Harman tuning. Airpod Pros don't have an equalizer (that sound test thing where you pick between three profiles is not the same thing). Sometimes the app doesn't work. I almost never use the app though.The controls are also worse than the Airpod Pros, but I rarely use the controls. The "taps" work very well, the "swipes" don't. The problem is you don't have full control over what actions you assign to what inputs. Tapping the right ear starts/stops/answers calls, etc. That works great. Tapping the left ear does nothing, and can not be made to do anything. If you want to control noise cancellation from the earbuds, you have to assign it to a "swipe" on the left ear. This is extremely unreliable for me, it usually takes me 5-10 tries to get it to work, therefore it's useless because by then I've taken it out of my ear. Fortunately, I almost never want a mode other than "noise cancellation on," and the IEMs remember the previous setting. So mine live with it on and I don't bother changing it unless I'm in the app. That works for me, but could be a dealbreaker if you want to switch between modes without going into the app. This is probably the biggest problem with the N400s.Changing volume is a similar swipe on the right bud, and works similarly poorly. I am so used to using my phone for volume from the Airpod Pros that I don't care about this at all, but I know a lot of people want to control volume from the buds. The phone has tactile volume buttons on it, and is in your pocket or nearby; I don't get why people want to change volume on their IEMs, but if that's you, maybe pass on the N400.The microphone is fine, you can make calls on it. It has DSP noise cancellation on the microphone that works well enough. Better than most things, worse than the Airpod Pros. These are for music first, and conference calls second, but I wouldn't hesitate to use them for that if they were what I had on hand.Battery life is also ok. 5 hours with noise cancellation on. If they die, put them in the case for 5 minutes, your ears can use the rest.Speaking of the case, there is a lot of words about how they go in the case backwards. If you're at a level where you can't perform the "switch em around" operation in your head on "left and right," these may not be for you.They are pretty comfortable. They go in your ears deeper than Airpod Pros, but average for normal IEMs. They may be less comfortable for you if you can only tolerate the shallow fit of the Airpod Pros. But deeper fitting IEMs mean more passive noise cancellation, and a better seal for bass. It also means the volume can be lower and therefore the battery life can be better (not that it is here). One note on fit that I didn't realize until I got them; look at the picture, see that little wing on the top that looks like its to make the IEM from going airborne above 120mph? That is dumb. But it may be great for you if IEMs always fall out of your ear when you run or something. The good news is AKG includes multiple sets of wings that can replace that, and the smallest one makes it almost non-existant. So for me the racing spoiler is a point against these, but it came with a mitigation in the box, and may actually be a huge plus for others.So in conclusion, the sound quality is much better than the Airpod Pros, and the controls, interface, and functionality are a little bit worse. If that sounds like something you're looking for, this is for you. Also, shop around on price if you know what I mean. There is a mind-numbingly good deal for these exactly where you'd expect to purchase AKG items made by AKG from AKG.

Price: At $85 (are they going end-of-life?) they're an excellent bargain. Compares favorably, sound-quality-wise, with wired IEMs that I've heard in the same price range and a bit higher. I'd say these are 4 stars at their original price, and an easy five stars at the current price.Sound: Neutral-ish (Harman target), great bass response, well-extended. I use the graphic EQ control in the iOS app to pull down mids around 3 dB in the 3-4 KHz and 30-40 Hz ranges (more my preference). If one has concern over treble harshness, they may be able to address it with the EQ.Retention: Very good. So far, I'm using them without any of the retention accessories, and I'm not losing a seal over rough mountain biking terrain. They protrude enough that they could come loose for a side-sleeper, but that's not a concern of mine.Comfort: Good. I moved to the larger retention adapters. So far, I'm ok with the balance between retention and comfort, considering these are inexpensive and not custom-molded.Controls: Ok. By the way, they don't configure them out of the box with the volume swipe gesture, which I recommend enabling in the app right away.Stability: Ok. I have had, in some conditions, had to tap the right to unpause the source for no apparent reason - perhaps an interference issue? It's not generally an issue, though.Range: Pretty good; as good as I'd expect from any integrated BT antenna.Battery life: Good enough for my usage, but not so good that I haven't had to interrupt listening to charge them (once in the last 3 weeks). That said, I'm not an all-day-at-work user, so those people might want longer battery life.ANC: It makes a slightly noticeable difference to me, but not so much that I notice if it's not enabled. The earplugs do most of the noise isolation heavy lifting here.Case: No quibbles here. Puzzling L-R placement, but I quickly adjusted. So far, I've had no issues with IEM-charger connections; I don't know what others are doing that makes it fail for them.Codec: AAC with Windows and iOS, SBC elsewhere (XFINITY set-top box). I have experience with LDAC vs. AAC with other systems, and don't think that's much of a differentiator for IEMs (variations in tuning, transient response, and resolution dominate). Latency, though slightly noticeable with video (as in all other standard BT monitors I've used) is pretty good.[update 2024-05-21]: 2 years in, still going strong. Did I mention that I have mild to moderate ski-slope hearing loss? These have enough headroom for EQ to compensate for it and still sound good, and I can run them with EQ standalone on any BT device, including my Apple Watch. Apple Airpods Pro 2 don't provide standalone EQ, and aren't acceptable for music for me without a newer iPad or iPhone in the chain, so I generally don't exercise with them.