Don’t be stupid – Shure Aonic Free review

The Shure Aonic Free are not for everyone. That’s pretty much this post. There is some more nuance to be added to that statement though. So be Shure to read the whole thing.

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So look – you don’t get wireless earbuds for the ‘best sound quality’. If you just want sound, you’d get yourself wired IEMS or headphones. It’s that simple. So why get wireless earbuds?

What wireless does give you is convenience – you know no wires, portability, features – that kinda of thing.

So when we unboxed the Shure Aonic Free – well that did something to our brains.

When you review earbuds – you have a certain standard of what wireless earbuds should like. And our first impression of the case was… that this was a protective box in which we’d find the case and buds. But buds – this was not the case. This case was just the case. With the buds. Putting this in the pocket might get you stopped by the cops or reported for inappropriate bulges.

Nothing says welcome to 2017 like this case. Technically this is ‘portable’ but – come on! You can hardly fit this in most jeans pockets/ And despite the size the case feels flimsy and light, not substantial like the Bose murderbuds. You know we made a lot of jokes about the Bose Quiet Comfort Buds case that were released a couple of years ago because they were ginormous. But this case eclipses that one. And you know – with Bose you can be a bit forgiving, for that case size – you get what is the best noise cancelling on earbuds in the business. But the Aonic Free buds don’t even do ANC!

The buds themselves look ok – Kevin thinks they’re an acquired taste and I think they look nice – like a small piece of candy, but we both agree that these buds are also massive. They’re also a fingerprint magnet and need to be wiped down every so often. Interestingly – when you first look at these buds, you may be forgiven for thinking that these buds have a touch surface. Nope! They have a button up top on each bud. I first thought this was strange. But the more I use it, the more convenient it feels. They can also be used for controlling things like volume, hearthrough and even muting phone calls. And speaking of phone calls, let’s test the microphones.

The video above has call quality samples.

All are fairly clear in quiet conditions. The CX and Shure are by far the loudest in noisy conditions. The Sony has the most aggressive noise cancelling and tries to eliminate a lot of background noise, but sometimes misses some of the callers voice whereas the CX and Shure both go down the same route of just continuing to be loud. This is the same approach these buds take in the wind and with Shure we thought they were fairly usable in the wind.

And what about the other features?

No wireless charging. No in-ear sensor. No IP rating. Forget about multi-device. But device switching works well – just select from the second device and you are connected, no need to pause or disconnect from the first device. There’s no automatic power off if you leave it connected. Also – this uses a primary / secondary architecture. With a twist. The bud you take first out of the case becomes the primary bud. So if you put that one back, the other bud loses connection. Battery life is also ordinary for this size and the fact that you don’t have ANC. You get 7 hours on the case – using the AAC codec.

These come with 3 Comply tips in the box. Really good quality tips, so not the ‘hybrid foam’ tips that Sony uses, but from Comply, the tip manufacturers themselves. No silicone tips unlike the Aonic 215. That’s a shame because we are silicone people in general. But these tips seal well, provide good passive isolation to compensate for the lack of ANC and can be co mfortable if you can find the right size. And you know everyone’s ears are different, so your mileage may vary. But some of the downsides of the Comply tips are related to their longevity – they tend to fall apart from a lot of heavy use. Back to the buds though – the fact that these buds are light also helps with comfort.

The transparency feature called environment mode also works. And it’s all right, but it does produce a lot of white noise. Since these buds don’t have an open design, it’s kinda uncomfortable to talk a lot while wearing them since you will notice the occlusion effect without the environment mode. There are no pressure relieving vents to help you deal with this.

But what I really like is the nozzle that the tips nestle into – it lets you go deep and get a very good, consistent sound.

Now – let’s talk about what the Shure brand is all about – sound.

They sound pretty good. Very neutral. Musical. I mean they have Jacob Collier in their ads. Ok that means nothing. But still. Jacob Collier. Big fan. The idea of these buds being it’s from a brand that musicians use is that you will be listening to music like how the artists intended it to be heard. The best way to describe this sound is – there’s nothing wrong with it. These add absolutely nothing to your music and I found them to be analytical – and that can also translate to bland. They are also quite unforgiving of poor recordings.

And for EQing neutral is a good place to start. If I want to have some fun, the Shure Play app gives me the Loudness preset transporting me to a fun V-shaped sound which is a good starting point and the edit tab allows you to tweak the EQ even more down to the exact frequency, gain and Q-factor. 

Timbres sound good. Bass is present even though it doesn’t extend all the way to the lowest of low ends. Not for you bass monsters out there. As an earbud manufacturer, you have to make choices. You can make your buds bassy or bright or super wide or focus on mids. Shure always chooses to go right down the middle. But here’s the thing – these use APTX, not aptx HD, not aptx adaptive and certainly not aptx lossless. So despite good drivers and a nice tuning, you’re losing some resolution and detail which will be below what you can get from any of the better APTX codecs or LDAC. So for me – they lack a little bit of emotion – if that makes sense?

So who are these buds for?

Well – I’m not Shure. The price is pretty high for the feature set and design. You can find the latest prices in this description and use the links to buy anything you want – not just these earbuds. This will help support our channel, to make more free content for you guys. 

So if you want buds where neutral sound, comfort, passive seal and decent calls are a priority, then these might be for you. But why would you buy these buds instead of the many, many other buds out there at much lower prices? And if portability is not an issue why not buy headphones or wired IEMS or the Bose QC earbuds? 

What alternatives would we suggest? Think of the Sennheiser CX plus earbuds – also from a big audio brand, but with ok ANC to boot. And why not big chungus itself – the Bose QuietComfort Buds? Best ANC in the business with fairly decent sound. Or the Sony WF 1000 XM4 or the Technics EAH AZ60. And hey – save some money and buy the SoundCore Liberty 3 Pro or the Edifier NeoBuds Pro for a spicier sound. And some of the best value is to be had from the older buds – Galaxy Buds Pro, Sony WF 1000 XM3. Or the cheaper brands like EarFun, 1More, SoundPeats.

But again – I know people for whom neutral audio is so important that they don’t care about anything else. Or they’re Shure about Shure and unshure about everything else. Are you that person?

You’ve been pondering your neutrality and we’ve been DHRME. Namaste!