Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds

The Shure Aonic Free is the first true wireless earbuds from Shure, as all previous versions come with an attachment for wires or ear hooks. In Nov 2021, Shure launched the Aonic Free True Wireless earbuds that are truly True Wireless.

Pros and Cons[tie_index]Pros and Cons[/tie_index]

We based on the following advantages and drawbacks by comparing to other alternatives available, such as the Jabra Elite 7 Pro vs Elite Active 85t and JBL Reflect Flow Pro vs Jabra Elite 7 Active. Those earbuds have very detailed specifications, which makes it easier for review and recommendation. 

Below are selective Shure Aonic Free review notes based on some pros and cons listed.

Size

The Shure Aonic Free is big and sticks out of the ear sideways significantly, especially for the model in the photo above. But when on another model below, it appears less protruding but because of the elongated shape, the overall feel for the earbud is “big” by today’s standard.

The Shure Aonic Free is not the first true wireless earbud that is huge, which we can understand if the size is because of other features such as longer battery life. However, the battery life is around the same as most earbuds in our recent review.

The same applies to the charging case, which appears “big” in the video, most likely because of the size of the earbuds. Give such luxurious space and volume available there could be an opportunity for more battery life for both the earbuds and charging case.

Customizable EQ

The Shure Aonic Free True Wireless has preset equaliser which are quite different from other earbuds:

• Bass Boost: Increase low frequencies
• Bass Cut: Decrease low frequencies
• Treble Boost: Increase high frequencies
• Treble Cut: Decrease high frequencies
• Vocal Boost: Increase vocal clarity by emphasizing the vocal range
• De-ess: Decrease local hiss or sibilance in speech
• Loudness: Clarity for listening at low volume. Both the bass and treble frequencies are boosted to make
  the overall sound feel louder.

There is also a custom equaliser setting which differs from others as it allows micro-adjustments of the frequency, gain and bandwidth. For most users, the preset equaliser settings above are definitely more than good enough, especially the De-ess setting, which helps to reduce hissing sound from vocals.

Passive Noise Cancellation

The Shure Aonic Free True Wireless does not have built-in ANC but has a noise isolation case to reduce noise. Some manufacturers call this “Passive Noise Cancellation” (PNC), which in fact it does not “cancel” noise, but block noise by sealing around the ear concha.

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) involves additional microphones to work. It can either be feedback or feed-forward ANC for one microphone, or hybrid ANC if using up to two microphones per earbud. Basically, how noise cancellation work is that the microphones pick up the noise and apply a counter signal to “cancel” the noise. The earbuds with hybrid ANC have at least 6 microphones in total for both earbuds.

The “Noise Control” in the smartphone app is basically the “hear through” mode mentioned by other brands. What it does is to allow ambient sound to be heard, so that you do not have to remove the earbuds to hear someone talking next to you. Shure has adjustable hear through, which is also the same as other brands like Jabra.

Read also:
Differences Between Jabra Elite 7 Active and Jabra Elite Active 75t
Jabra Elite 3 True Wireless Earbud Review

Shure Aonic Free Specifications [tie_index]Shure Aonic Free Specifications [/tie_index]

Read also:
Jabra Elite 7 Active, Elite 7 Pro and Elite 3 Design Review