Earin A-3 review: Tiny but mighty wireless earbuds

These petite earbuds are great for music but not great for calls

Earin A-3 review
Bottom Line

True wireless earbuds don't need silicone ear tips to shine and the Earin A-3’s prove that with their “open” design that still manages to be comfortable and sound great. Unfortunately, while the Earin A-3’s sound wonderful, they come with some caveats - they’re not suitable for workouts nor are they very good for calls. However, if you hate plugging your ears with silicone ear tips we'd certainly recommend considering the Earin A-3’s.

Pros
Comfortable
“Automatic placement” means buds work in either ear
There's auto-pause/play
Sweat/Water-resistant
Wireless & USB-C Charging
Sleek charging case
Clear and detailed audio quality
Cons
Subpar microphone
Light on bass
Minimal noise isolation
Touch controls are tricky to use
Not suitable for the gym since they easily fall out
App is limited
3.9

Earin was the first to release true wireless headphones, and we loved their tiny Earin M-2’s, so it makes sense that their latest buds are another innovative first. To that effect, the Earin A-3 true wireless earbuds are among the smallest and lightest minimalistic pair of true wireless buds on the market, and they don’t care which ear they go in! “Automatic placement” means Earin can figure out which ear it’s in, so that’s one less thing to worry about! Furthermore, fans of the original AirPods design may love these A-3s because they also feature an “open” design that lacks silicon ear tips. Keep for our Earin A-3 review.

Design

The Earin A-3 buds are indeed super small and light. They’re about the size of a fingertip and look a lot like the original Apple AirPods without the stem. The Earin A-3’s don’t use any silicon ear tips but instead, you get an ergonomic design that sits naturally in your ear. Their natural fit and lightweight design make them very comfortable. I have finicky ears when it comes to earbuds, yet the Earin A-3’s stayed in-ear perfectly except for when running and performing more intensive gym movements. Unfortunately, given their shape and fit, these are the type of headphones that can fall out and bounce literally anywhere (watch out for sewers!). The buds are also IP52 rated, so they’re sweat, splash, and dust resistant.

Features

As mentioned, there’s no right bud and left bud, there are just two ear-agnostic buds. The tech figures out which ear they’re placed in, and it works immediately. If you’re listening to a song and switch ears, it will automatically adjust. This is a nice convenience feature, but we found their small size makes them a bit trickier to handle and put in your ears. You do get used to this though.

These svelte buds also have built-in touch controls so you can pause music and skip tracks, though it really takes some getting used to and is still a bit finicky to operate. There’s also an app that lets you configure these controls. The app doesn’t do much else other than manage firmware updates.

Battery life

The A-3 batteries last a healthy 5 hours while the charging case brings it to a whopping 30 hours in total. The charging case charges with both USB-C and wirelessly with a standard wireless charger. The charging case is also minimalistic and svelte, and only a drop bigger than the AirPods case. It’s plenty small and very pocketable.

Sound

Open designs pretty much guarantee a few things: they’ll let some noise in, they won’t plug your ears, and heavy bass will be limited. This is all true with the Earin A-3’s. They’re really comfortable and easy to wear, but they let a decent amount of ambient noise in.

Other than being a bit light on bass, they actually sound amazing. They’re rich and very detailed, but heavier on the mid-range than the lower range. That said, most will get used to this very quickly and should be really pleased with the audio quality. Unfortunately, the microphone quality is not nearly as good as the music quality. To that effect, the Earin A-3’s are usable for phone calls but sound worse than most speakerphones.

Earin A-3 review verdict

We’ll hand it to Earin, originally a pioneer in the wireless earbuds market, they didn’t let the flood of true wireless buds that came after them swallow them up. Instead, they have brought something fresh and new to the market with the Earin A-3’s that some people will absolutely love. To that effect, the Earin A-3s are impressive and beautifully demonstrate that silicon ear tips aren’t required on premium true wireless buds. They’re also crazy comfortable and easy to wear. Despite being light on bass and having weak noise isolation, the audio quality is rich and enjoyable too. The Earin A-3 earbuds are currently available for $199 in black or silver.

UPDATE (March 6, 2024): Although there has yet to be an official announcement, several reports suggest that Earin, as a company, has been dissolved.

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