Shure, an American acoustic brand that has been deeply involved in in-ear monitoring headphones and professional microphones for decades, announced the launch of its first true wireless earphone, Aonic Free, last month. Sound quality, even if it does not have ANC active noise reduction, the advertised "sound isolation" function can still effectively isolate noise. You can also use the mobile app ShurePlus Play to enable ambient mode or customize the equalizer, although the size of the headset is not the same. It has not been disclosed, but it has a professional headphone amplifier structure, which can present clear sound quality and rich bass. The headphone body can listen for 7 hours continuously, and the overall battery life with the charging compartment is 21 hours.

Shure Aonic Free is packaged in a round outer box. The word "sound isolating" can be seen on the front of the box. Active noise reduction technology is not used. The back of the box lists product features such as noise isolation, environmental Mode, clear call quality, and 7 hours of battery life, etc., the box is a double-layer design, the upper layer is the earphone charging compartment and manual, and the lower layer has the manual, sponge earplugs and Type-C charging cable.

When I saw the charging compartment of Shure Aonic Free, I felt... B32-1610 This should be one of the largest true wireless earphones at present. The size of 89 x 53 x 32mm is even larger than Sony's flagship WF-1000XM3. If If your pocket is shallow, it may be exposed. Because the bottom of the charging compartment is arc-shaped, it cannot stand and can only be placed flat. Its USB Type-C charging port is located at the bottom of the charging compartment, not on the common rear side. ..Although it is not too much trouble, I still think that if Aonic Free can reduce the size of the charging compartment and change the bottom to a flat surface, then adding Qi wireless charging function will be more popular with consumers! As for the matte black material used for the cabin (it feels more likely to leave oil stains or scratches), the Shure mirror lettering on the top is the only design that can identify this product. If you think it is too low-key, there is also a red version available.

The Shure Aonic Free earphone body is a double-layer structure. The outermost fog-silver shield is full of streamlines. The indicator lights on the surface and the microphone hole for pickup feel quite sci-fi. The width of this shield is almost a 1 yuan coin. The diameter and length are two 1 yuan coins. Like the charging compartment, it feels a bit large. At first glance, you may think it has a touch function, but in fact, the control of the headset needs to be done through the physical buttons on the top of the left and right sides. , the advantage of putting it in this position is that you won't accidentally press it. Metal charging contacts can be seen at the inner end of this shield-shaped structure, and a mirror-black headphone body extends from the center, which means that the charging contacts will not directly touch the skin when wearing it... If anyone cares.

Shure Aonic Free uses Comply's in-ear memory foam earplugs instead of silicone material. The foam earplugs will deform slightly when you squeeze them, and they will return to their original shape after a few seconds. This feature helps to fit the ear canal and is not too invasive to wear. , It is still firm under normal use, but if you wear it for running, you may have to adjust it from time to time... Oh right! Shure Aonic Free doesn't announce IPX water resistance, so it's not at all recommended to expose the earphones to water or to wear them while exercising. The earphones are shipped with M size foam ear tips, and L and S sizes are available for replacement.

The actual wearing instructions are as above. I have to say that this true wireless earphone has a very strong sense of existence. Due to its large size, it feels easier to hook and fall when putting on and taking off the mask... By the way, Shure Aonic Free can be used in one ear.

Since the physical button is set on the top of the shield-shaped structure, it must be pressed with two fingers. If the index finger is used to press it, it should increase the possibility of the earphone falling... I think if the next-generation design does not change greatly, it can be done directly. It will be more convenient to control it as a touch panel.

Shure Aonic Free does not have the ANC active noise reduction function that uses microphones and circuits to eliminate ambient noise, but it does isolate a lot of ambient noise through sponge earplugs. According to official figures, the sound insulation effect can reach 37dB. As for the effect.. .In the quiet office, I can hardly hear the chatter of my colleagues. Walking on the side of the road, the sound of the engine of the vehicle is still a little bit. When I take the MRT, the high-frequency grinding sound and the broadcast in the car are on the 70th. It can still be heard at % volume, and if there are loud passengers around, ANC headphones can filter this out more effectively. I don’t think the overall sound insulation performance is too much worse than ANC headphones, and there is no anti-noise of the latter. The resulting discomfort, and its wind noise suppression is also not bad.

The size of the micro-drive unit carried by Shure Aonic Free has not been disclosed. It is generally guessed that it is the same as Shure's SE215. This true wireless headset provides a frequency response of 21Hz~17.5kHz, an impedance of 20 ohms, and has a professional headphone expansion structure design. The Bluetooth version is 5.0, and the supported codecs are SBC, AAC, and Qualcomm aptX. I mainly use the latter. During the week of testing, only one Bluetooth transmission delay was encountered in a crowded MRT station. In the future, it would be better if LDAC with high-resolution sound quality can be added, but before that, we may have to try to extend the battery life of the earphones.

Actually play the FLAC file stored in the mobile phone for listening experience. Shure Aonic Free has a balanced three-band and full tone. The mid-high frequency is especially clear and rich, and the low-frequency response is stable and will not overwhelm other frequencies. 《アンコール》( 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > 96kHz model > > 96kHz model > > 96kHz model ">96kHz model">96kHz model">96kHz model">96kHz model">96kHz model">96kHz model">96kHz / 24bit), the female vocalist Ikura treble is pure and clear, with a rounded warmth, and no The background accompaniment stole any style; and in Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd's "Take My Breath" (44.1kHz / 24bit), this disco-inspired piece features electric pianos, basses, cymbals, bass drums and other instruments. The sense of location is clear and detailed, but the depth and volume of the bass seem to be better, but of course, this can be improved with the app's EQ equalizer.

Then look at the ShurePlus Play app. You can see the remaining power of the left and right ears at the top of the "Device" main screen, but the power of the charging compartment is not displayed. The "Noise Control" below it lacks the ANC function, so it is impossible to change the noise suppression function. Strength, but it provides ambient mode and 10-segment level control. When the ambient mode is turned off, the keyboard tapping sound is inaudible. It can only be heard in about 2 segments, and 5 segments are enough to talk to people without taking off the headphones. , but as the level is higher, the ambient noise received is more obvious under the headphone amplification. As for the "Personalization" option, you can assign key functions, beep on/off, and power off when disconnected.

The "Equalizer" option in the ShurePlus Play app can adjust the Aonic Free's EQ equalizer. There are 7 preset settings for bass boost, bass cut, treble boost, treble cut, vocal boost, de-esser, and treble You can also click the "Manual" in the upper right corner to enter the graphic equalizer for customization. The four circular control nodes can be seen in Figure 2 above to adjust the corresponding frequency band. The lowest frequency is 40Hz, the highest is 20kHz, and the gain range is Plus or minus 10dB , and there is a BW value below it is the bandwidth, that is, the influence range of the frequency band (0.2~4 octaves). Also, the Aonic Free sounded a little lower than the previous ones at 50% volume on my Pixel 4 XL, so if you don't want to turn it too loud, it's recommended to cut the equalizer to "treble", it sees through By enhancing the high and low frequencies at the same time, it increases the clarity of low volume listening.

What's special is that the ShurePlus Play app also has a built-in music player, which is convenient for listening to lossless audio files such as FLAC or M4A on the user's device. The music library will be classified by artist, album, song and content type. And can create your own playlist, and you can see the detailed information of the song when playing through ShurePlus Play, such as "FLAC 96kHz 24bit" in Figure 4 above (even with the word Hi-Res in front), the album icon Below is the currently applied EQ equalizer and volume percentage. Personally, I think this feature is very convenient for audiophiles who do not use music streaming applications, or who prefer lossless audio files.

The "Settings" option of the application is for functions such as headset firmware update and user guide, so I won't explain it here.

In terms of call performance, the Shure Aonic Free performs quite well in an environment without strong winds. The sound picked up by the beamforming microphone has almost no distortion. If the surrounding environment is too complicated, the quality of the call will inevitably be compromised. In addition, one thing I find very useful about Aonic Free is the "busy indicator" in the personalized settings. When you wear a call or a Zoom video conference, the outer side of the headset shield will automatically light up red, even if If you don't speak at the moment, others can also know that you are on a call and don't want to be disturbed, which is a function of early Bluetooth headsets.

The Shure Aonic Free earphone weighs 14g on its own and 7g on one side, which can be said to be quite lightweight corresponding to its volume, while the total weight with the charging compartment is 85g, which is also not too heavy... The more headache will be the storage space part is. Although the volume of the charging compartment and the headphone body is too large, the battery life does not match the performance. Aonic Free can be used for 7 hours when fully charged, but this is the result of the 50% volume test. If you listen at a volume of more than 60% , the listening time will be further shortened, so about 7 hours is considered normal, if the total battery life is slightly worse... For comparison, the Audio-Technica CKS50TW I tested last month with the charging compartment provides up to 50 hours of use time.

Although it is large and does not have the ANC active noise reduction that has become standard at the same price, the Shure Aonic Free is still a true wireless earphone that does not hide its flaws. It is comfortable to wear and has a good sound insulation effect. The difference is that the sound quality adjustment focuses on mid-high frequency, which is suitable for listening to popular and R&B types of music. If you feel that the low frequency is not enough, the equalizer of the ShurePlus Play application can also solve the problem. The overall performance has no obvious shortcomings. For a true wireless earphone, it has the advantage of making full use of the tuning advantages of this professional monitoring earphone manufacturer. If you only look at the function and battery life, the price of 6,490 yuan for Shure Aonic Free is indeed a little higher. .