Wireless earbud challenge – Crazybaby’s Air vs Bragi’s Dash Pro
Apple may have set the ball rolling with its Airpods, but reviewers were unimpressed with their appearance and lack of features. We test two alternatives for sound quality, design and extras
Though truly untethered wireless earbuds have existed since 2015 – the idea first planted by German start-up Bragi – it wasn’t until Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack and launch its own set of wireless buds named AirPods that things got going.
But Apple’s AirPods haven’t been particularly well received. Most tech reviewers consider them lacking in features, and dislike those elongated legs. This year, floods of Chinese companies have released wireless earbuds, with Shenzhen-based Crazybaby’s Air being the most popular and technologically impressive.
Bragi, too, has released an updated (and much improved) version of its flagship earbuds, named Dash Pro. So we decided to pit the two big AirPods alternatives head to head.
Both sets of earbuds come stored inside a metal charging case. Personally, I find the Crazybaby’s oblong case with pull-out tray a bit more stylish and easier to open, but the Bragi’s shelf-like case has a larger battery, giving its earbuds an additional five charges (to Crazybaby’s four).
Moving to the buds, both are crafted out of plastic and relatively light, but the Air is significantly smaller than the Dash Pro and not as noticeable when worn. It isn’t fair, of course, to knock the Dash Pro’s larger size, since it has 4GB of internal storage built in, as well a host of other sensors, which I’ll cover later in the “additional features” section.