Amazon Echo Buds with Active Noise Cancellation (newest model), Wireless charging case, Black

Ticks every box well, but not quite the best. – improving.
EDIT/UPDATE: I cannot say this was a result of my own review, but I have raised my review rating by a star to account for this – it seems Amazon through a software update was able to add support for multipoint bluetooth connectivity. As my millennial friends would say, this is an absolute flex on Google, for they only months ago released their Pixel Buds Pro, with multipoint BT connectivity as a flagship feature, but leaving their a-series, gen 1 and gen 2 Pixel Buds users without the feature.Coming from a technical background, I know this can be difficult for other bluetooth device manufacturers to do, most of the time they’re using off-the-shelf BT adapters which they cannot update the firmware on themselves (they have to talk with whoever manufactured the bluetooth adapter), and in other cases, its impossible to update it without ripping it out of the device first.Amazon is showing Google up by using their control over the hardware and software of the buds to add features never even dreamed of by the team who designed and released these buds (as evidenced by the lack of mention on the product page), and the fact that I received this in a free software update makes my day.For those curious, my buds are on software version 603267242 and the case is on 602808458. You can enable multipoint by going to the settings page for your Echo Buds and using the “connected devices” section to put them in pairing mode. Using the normal pairing mode method (buds in case, lid open, pressing and holding button until blue light flashes), might not cause them to pair in multipoint mode.ORIGINAL REVIEW: Having owned my current pair of Echo buds for nearly a year now, I feel I can give a sufficiently detailed review on them.Case/Chassis:The case itself has a nice sleek design with a slight indent on the side that the lid opens from, allowing you to easily pull the lid open. It’s small enough to fit into my jeans pocket alongside my keys and wallet, without falling or sliding out. It can fit into the vestigial pocketwatch pocket, but only barely and peeks out to a degree. The hinge feels a little weak, as if a strong enough force applied to the lid could bend its connection out of snap it entirely, and it feels a touch loose, the main body of the case has a sort of raised section that fits into an indented section of the lid. This gives the lid strength when held closed by its magnets and redirects any forces applied to the lid into the main body of the case.Sound Quality:Better than my car speakers; with the listening modes such as ANC and passthrough turned off, the sound quality is actually rather pleasant. I have unpaired my phone from my 2019 car and use my Echo Buds exclusively in the car when driving, for music and calls since it sounds so much better. Mind, it is recommended that you use the in-app EQ to turn down mids and treble by one or two ticks to even out the sound profile, especially if you listen to bass-heavy music.Fit:Good enough, there are a few pressure points where the body of the earbuds press against my ears and to achieve the recommended fit I have to use tips that are slightly larger than preferred. I could improve comfort by under-sizing the tips and using the wings to keep them stable, but the wing design would worsen the pressure points between my earlobe and the main body, making that the pain-point. I love the color-matched mesh inside the tips, making it easy to tell which size each tip is, and if I am using asymmetric tips (because some people have asymmetric ears), it can help keep track of which bud goes in which ear. In short, I have a listening time of 1-3 hours before the pain gets to me and I have to give my ears a rest… This isn’t too bad since the battery is supposed to last 4-5 hours (depending on ANC being enabled, and if I reduce the depth of discharge then it can improve battery lifespan (ex: discharging a battery from 100% to 75% twice is better than going from 100% to 50% once).Battery:Truly wireless earbuds have some of the smallest batteries found in electronics, and manufacturers will push them to the limit to hit lovely marketing figures. Google’s new pixel buds pro advertise a listening time with ANC of 7 hours. After a year of use, I can confirm that my Echo Buds are still hitting at least 3-4 hours of listening time with ANC enabled. The case holds about 2 spare charges in it, and I find the combined 9-15 hours of listening to be more than enough for most purposes, especially considering I have to take breaks every 3 hours anyhow.Charging:This is the only failure of the Echo Buds. I like the use of a USB-C charging port, and the optional upgrade for a wireless charging case. After losing multiple phones to charging port failure, I resolve to only purchase devices with wireless charging from now on, and that resolution is why I held off on getting the first-generation Echo Buds. Since the case is more vertical than it’s predecessor, that limits the size of the internal wireless charging coil, and resultingly, the buds have issues trying to charge on a charging pad with too large an internal coil. It will handshake, and initiate the charge, giving the user a pleasant blinking green light, and then fail minutes later – this is an issue I saw even with the official Anker charging pad. Worse yet, for some reason the buds seem to always be warm after wirelessly charging for any length of time longer than 5 minutes. I have deducted one star from my review as a result of this.Connectivity / Smarts:The buds are actually fairly nice when it comes to connecting via bluetooth and integration with the Alexa app, Alexa is a pleasant enough assistant and it is nice to be able to turn on and off lights, heaters, AC units, etc as I’m driving away from or towards my home. I have found no issue with the bluetooth connectivity, even in densely crowded areas such as an airplane. Triggering an assistant via a voice command requires their wake-algorithm be running on the receiving device, and since Google and Apple are not going to give Amazon the algorithm required to trigger their assistants via a wake word, this means you’re limited to Alexa for truly hands-free operation. That being said, you can setup the Alexa app to trigger your phone’s native assistant by pressing and holding one of the buds for 2-3 seconds.***THIS POINT IS MOOT, SEE ABOVE***Despite this, there is room for improvement in regards to bluetooth… They need multi-point bluetooth to be really useful. Amazon should want me to be able to swap between my cell phone, and a Fire Tablet, or a Fire TV at will, and ideally even my PC or steamdeck when mine finally ships. Currently, the best option is to pair and unpair it with multiple devices at a time, which is annoying since to pair (without resetting), you must hold the lid open whilst pressing the button until the light flashes blue. This isn’t enough to deduct a star, but Amazon should take it into consideration with the third-gen buds, or in the form of a software update if at all possible.***THIS POINT IS MOOT, SEE ABOVE***Touch controls:At launch, the touch controls were laughably limited in scope, you could only customize what the long touch+hold did. After a few updates, the other touch patterns (single, double, triple) can be customized to an extent, and they’re acceptable if barely. Unfortunately, they’re capacitive sensors, so they can be triggered by anything touching the buds. The Alexa app also provided limited guidance on how best to trigger them, which caused some frustration at first. For those with these buds: you will want to gently but assertively (eg: the minimum amount of force needed for your finger pad to flatten against the surface) press your finger against it for about a half second per press/tap. Do not angrily tap it like you’re hitting a key on your keyboard, it’ll only miss the touch.Microphones:They work, but they’re not the best. They do a good job of filtering out external noise, when talking to someone, but the quality isn’t as good as a wired boom mic, or a wired in-line mic from a wired set of earbuds. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is Amazon’s fault as much as it is just the limitations of the bluetooth protocols and the location of the mics. Apple and their copycats with stems on their earbuds may get a better sound if only because there is a dumb-looking stem bringing the microphones closer to your mouth.Passthrough/ANC:I’ll rate these together since they’re basically inverses of eachother; ANC does a decent job of bringing down some of the perceived sound in your environment… it can make me forget my in-window AC or fan is running. It makes my car and airplane rides quieter, which is always pleasant. Passthrough, is sort of like a budget hearing aid: I can customize how powerful it is, and I set it to be more sensitive than my ears normally would be so I can use them to help hear people far away, or who are wearing a mask. It’s a surprisingly useful tool to have. My only gripe is that there is a soft, but audible level of white noise than can be heard at all times if either mode is on. This disappears if you disable both listening modes, so I feel it is just a result of the processing the buds are doing, and they’re getting confused.Conclusion:Honestly, unless multi-point bluetooth is something you need or want, get these. I’d say get them now, but since it’s Amazon, they’ll go on sale when prime day comes around in July, or whenever else they feel like having a sale. It ticks all the boxes I had for a pair of earbuds when purchasing them, and (with the exception of multi-point bluetooth), it still does after I have experienced them for a year.