Belkin's Soundform Freedom offers comfort and the convenience of Find My, but comes up short elsewhere.
While I tend to prefer over-ear headphones overall, such as the AirPods Max, that's mostly for at-home use or when I want to spend a few hours working at a nearby cafe. When it comes to on-the-go convenience, you just can't beat the best true wireless earbuds, like AirPods Pro.
Ever since Apple launched the AirPods, many third-party brands came out with their own versions of AirPods-like earbuds, including Belkin. And let's face it — Belkin is no stranger to Apple accessories, as they make some fantastic products like the BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 MagSafe Charging Stand.
I had the opportunity to check out the Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds, which primarily intrigued me because of the built-in Find My integration. However, as much as I wanted to like these earbuds, they fell a bit short in other areas.
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds
Bottom line: Belkin's Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds are comfortable with all-day battery life. It also has Apple Find My integration, but the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired.
The Good
- Small and compact charging case
- Comfortable to wear, multiple ear tips
- Up to 36 hours battery with case on a single charge
- Native Find My integration
- Comes in white or black
The Bad
- Sound quality is not great for the price
- Noise cancellation for calls only
- Touch controls are finicky
$100 at Amazon $120 at Belkin $120 at Walmart
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds: Price and availability
Belkin's Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds are available at retailers like Amazon and Walmart, as well as direct from Belkin. It comes in two colors: white or black. The standard retail price for these earbuds is $120, but as of this writing, you can find them nicely discounted at Amazon for $100.
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds: Third-party earbuds with Find My support
The Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds come in a sleek, compact charging case. It opens up easily, and getting the earbuds in and out of the case is pretty simple. With the charging case, you can charge it via a USB-C cable (Belkin includes one for you) or even with a Qi-compatible wireless charging pad. Charging it up is relatively quick, and with a single full charge, you get eight hours of playtime and an additional 28 in the case — that's a total of 36 hours with an hour and a half of charge.
The most interesting thing about the Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds is the fact that they come with native Find My Integration, similar to AirPods.
By default, the Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds use the medium-sized silicone ear tips, which work fine for me. But if these don't work for you, Belkin provides small and large ear tips too. The design of the earbuds is similar to AirPods Pro, as they are in-ear and also have a stem. The Soundform Freedom has an IPX5 rating, so they are sweat and splash resistant, making it a good choice for workouts.
Your audio will automatically pause and play when the earbuds are taken out and put back in your ears too, which is nice. The earbuds also use touch controls above the stem, though it feels a bit finicky, which I'll get to in the next section.
The most interesting thing about the Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds is the fact that they come with native Find My integration, similar to AirPods. Adding it to your Find My is pretty easy — you just need to hold down the button on the back of the charging case for a few seconds while having the Find My app open. You'll get a popup that looks like when you hold AirPods or AirTags next to your device, and just follow the on-screen directions to add it. However, unlike AirPods, the Soundform Freedom will appear under your Items tab in Find My, rather than devices. So basically, it's more like earbuds with a built-in AirTag.
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds: Sound quality leaves a lot to be desired
One of my biggest dislikes about the Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds lies with the sound quality. For the price, I was expecting these to sound pretty good or even great, but that's not the case. A lot of my music sounded tinny and metallic, though the bass seemed decent. But vocals and other instruments just didn't sound as good as they should be. I was a bit let down by the audio quality compared with other earbuds and headphones I've tested, including cheaper ones.
Considering the price, I was a little let down by the sound quality, and the noise cancellation only applies to calls, not all audio.
On top of that, the Soundform Freedom doesn't even have noise cancellation for your music — it only has Advanced Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) for calls. So if you were expecting to use these to tune out everything else and just immerse yourself in music, then they won't get the job done.
Lastly, I found the touch controls to be a little finicky. For example, you tap the left earbud to lower volume and tap the right one to increase it. I would have preferred to just be able to adjust the volume by sliding my finger up or down on either earbud instead. Like, this could have been implemented with the stem, which is unused and has no functionality other than looks. I often would accidentally adjust the volume or even pause or skip a song when just touching an earbud because I was adjusting the fit, so that's a little annoying.
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds: Competition
The most obvious competitor are the AirPods Pro, which I vastly prefer over these. With AirPods Pro, you get amazing sound quality, Active Noise Cancellation with Transparency mode, Spatial Audio, good battery life, and native Find My integration. Of course, the price point is much higher, but I believe it's worth the price.
Another good option to consider are the Razer Hammerhead True Wireless (2021) earbuds. These have good sound quality for a similar price point to Belkin and are fairly comfortable and lightweight. It also has Active Noise Cancelation, as well as Ambient and Gaming modes for low latency connections, and even have RGB lighting. However, you won't have wireless charging or auto-pause when the earbuds are removed, but they do sound much better.
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds: Should you buy it?
You should buy this if ...
- You want earbuds with Find My integration
- You like charging via cable or wirelessly
- You use earbuds a lot for calls and not music
You shouldn't buy this if...
- You want great sound quality
- You need Active Noise Cancelation
- You don't want to deal with annoying controls
The Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds are good if you usually just use earbuds for calls, as they feature Environmental Noise Cancellation, making you sound crystal clear on calls, even with background noise. These are also comfortable to wear for a few hours at a time, including during workouts, since they have an IPX5 rating. The sound quality is okay, but the battery life will last you a good while on a single charge, and you can charge it up via USB-C or wireless charging pad. Plus, they come with Find My integration.
However, considering the price, the sound quality could definitely have been better, and unfortunately, the noise cancelation only works with calls and not all the time with music and audio. The touch controls are also a little picky and will take some getting used to.
Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds
Bottom line: Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds are good for calls, have good battery life, and even have Find My integration. But the overall sound quality could have been better for the price.
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