Truefree F2 Open-Ear Headphones, Air Conduction Bluetooth 5.3 Wireless Headphones for Sports, 15 Hours of Playtime, 16.2mm Enhanced Bass, Dual Mic, Multipoint Connection, App Control, Running, Cycling

Comfortable, great sounding ‘open ear’ headphones for the Sport Minded.
A short while ago I decided to purchase a set of ‘open ear’ headphones. Namely the ‘True Free 01’ (also available on Amazon). To be honest I wasn’t expecting much, considering the ‘budget friendly’ price, but I was truly astounded at how good they are compared to some of my other more expensive head phones. If, like me, you are not keen on wearing phones that plug directly into your ear canal then you have two options; You either need a set of ‘bone conduction’ phones, these work by transmitting sound vibrations through the bones of your skull instead of through your ear canal or, as is the case here, a pair of phones that sit just over your ears with tiny speakers directed at your ear canal. True Free appear to be continuously improving their range and have recently updated their open ear headphones – see also, ‘True Free 02.’So, from what I can see, they have developed these new ‘True Free F2’ phones for the sport-minded of us. I’m not sure why they didn’t clarify this further by calling them ‘True Free Sport?’ Although they look similar to bone conduction phones they are in fact, open ear phones that rest on the ears, connected by a firm rubber neck band which helps to keep them in place when doing work outs or running etc. The obvious advantage of phones like these is that you can listen to music or podcasts while out and about cycling, walking or running and yet still hear your surroundings which is an added safety aspect.Included in the box is a small instruction manual for use and a link to a free, ‘dedicated app’ which can be installed on your mobile. (More about this soon). A charging cable is also included. The manufacturers claim that these phones will remain charged for up to 15 hours, which when you think about it is pretty amazing! Straight out of the box it took me about 45 mins to fully charge these.The F2’s connect to your phone or Walkman, via the latest 5.3 Bluetooth tech. Connecting to my iphone was no issue at all. There is a small play button on the stem of the right ear phone which you simply hold down for 3 secs which enters them into Bluetooth pairing mode (you will notice an alternate flasing LED). Alternatively if you are wearing the head phones when powering on you can hear a woman’s voice say ‘Power On, Connect’ which is very handy. Either side of this button are ‘plus and minus’ buttons which are used for increasing/decreasing the volume level. The buttons are suitably raised so they are easy to feel if you’re in the middle of a cycle or run, saving you from having to remove the phones to make changes.When wearing these headphones at home they also connect to Bluetooth equipped Smart TVs and computers.One thing I noticed when watching YouTube on my mobile was no time lag with the audio. This is often a pet hate for me but with these headphones, everything was in sync. Bluetooth 5.3 is a real improvement.So how do they sound? Straight out of the box they sound great! Clear with no distortion. However, if like me you have a bit of a hearing loss issue then this is where the optional app comes into play. The TrueFree app is extremely good and works with their range of headphones. The app will identify which set of phones you are wearing and adapt accordingly.There are lots of built-in graphic EQ settings for speech, music etc but the clever part for me is the ‘Hearing Test.’The hearing test works by transmitting a sound wave at each of the hearing range frequencies, from bass through to treble. (See pic). Each frequency is played back to you in turn and you simply tap when you start to hear each sound. This then adapts to your particular hearing range and is stored within the app. So the sound you hear is custom designed for your ears. Clever!What are they like to wear? Well, so light and comfortable that you can easily forget your wearing them. Just like when you forget you’re wearing a pair of glasses. Sometimes I forget that I am still wearing them, even when not in use. I should perhaps mention that these sit well even if you wear glasses, as I do. (see pics).Apart from wearing these devices for listening to your favourite tracks or podcasts you can also use them for phone calls without having to pull your mobile out of your pocket. There are two built in microphones which pick up you voice I’ve had no issue with using them for calls.‘Multipoint pairing’ as stated in the specs means that you can connect these phones to more than one device and your settings are saved. So I can remain connected to all my devices at once, switching from say my mobile, or TV or PC without having to repair via Bluetooth each time.What’s the bad then? If I could suggest to the manufacturers just one ‘small’ change it would be that I would love it if the short wire stems which connect to the speakers could be designed to be slightly more flexible? Sometimes I wish I could bend the speakers slightly away or slightly nearer my ears and for them to stay in the position set. A bit like when you bend a pipe cleaner and it stays exactly how it is moved. I mean we all have differently shaped ears, mine are pretty big. That said, you can easily make suitable sound setting changes via the app.So, all in all, a fantastic pair of great sounding, comfortable open ear headphones. Great for the gym goers. So good I recently got rid of my more expensive ‘Shokz’ as I found myself much preferring these! It seems I have become a bit of a True Free fan!

Great running headphones on a budget
At the price I didn’t expect much as there are headphones that look the same that are 3 or 4 times the cost, but I’m pleasantly surprised with these and the family really love them, much to my surprise.I have recently taken up running and needed a pair of headphones that would reliably stay on my head as I tried all kinds of earbuds and have had a few fall out. The design of these looked perfect, so I decided to give them a go.The band fits comfortably over the ear and the headphone part sits outside the ear at a distance of a few mm away from the opening so your ear tubes aren’t completely covered. Instead the sound has to travel the short distance between the speaker and your ear, and you can still hear the outside.After wearing earbuds and over ear headphone for a long time this takes some getting used to, but it’s actually quite cool. You can hear everything around you, so are more aware of your surroundings and when someone talks you don’t need to take your headphones off, which is quite nice.When running you can hear everything AND your music at the same time, so you’re not quite as immersed in the soundscape from your headphones. This may be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view, but it works really well for me.In terms of staying on your head, the design works really well and the band is secure enough that you won’t ever feel it’s going to jump off. As a running headphone set I think it’s really perfect at the price.Another unexpected benefit of this is that my wife absolutely loves these, because she hates putting headphones IN her ear or over her in and this keeps the ears quite open, so she’s really happy with the fit. She says you don’t end up uncomfortable or sweaty with these on, so she’s hoping to go and buy a pair herself.I’ve also let my 9 year old use them and was really surprised that she loved them too. They fit her perfectly as the hand doesn’t need to be adjusted as over ear headphones do and they surprisingly fit onto her ear too, while allowing her to listen when we talk to her.So a big hit for the whole family here!The downsides though are that, because they are open ear headphones and the speaker is not directly in contact with your ear I find that I have to turn the volume up very loud to hear them as they can come across very quiet. It’s fine if you’re doing a Parkrun and it’s quiet surroundings, but walking around in the city I sometimes find I can’t hear a thing and have to push the headphones closer to my ears, so end up walking around with my hands over my ears. Also, the open design means that there is some leakage of sound, so if you’re looking to listen to music in a quiet place, the sound will leak out and disturb others.I’m not sure about this bit, but I think the design is similar to bone conduction headphones, but I don’t think Bone Conduction is a part of these headphones (which may explain why it’s so quiet), so if you’re looking for Bone Conduction, you may have to do more research.Controls are good, and battery life seems to be pretty good so far.Overall very pleased with these at the price as a pair of running headphones and would definitely recommend as a specific running headphone, but probably not as general use, unless just in quiet places like around the house or in a quiet office.

Buy these!
I bought this item again as the 1st pair, I lost whilst on holiday and I was gutted. Easy to set up easy to use. The sound quality is much better than some other headphones on the market. Comfy to wear. True value for money.

Ich hatte die Nase voll von beim Sport oder einfach nur beim Gehen herausfallende Ohrhörer, und Knochenschallohrhörer kamen wegen der Vibration nicht in Frage, also Over-Ears.Ich bin sehr zufrieden, da, egal ob Podcast oder Musik, das Hörvergnügen ist da und gleichzeitig kann ich mich mit Hintergrundmusik auch mit anderen unterhalten. Ich hätte ehrlich nicht geglaubt, dass so etwas möglich ist.Zudem ist das Musik-Genre in der App über den EQ einstellbar, so dass ich immer den idealen Klang für die jeweilige Musik bekomme.Inwiefern teurere Produkte bekannter Marken das alles vielleicht noch besser können, kann ich nicht beurteilen. Für mein Dafürhalten ist aber der TRUEFREE F2 absolut ausreichend.Natürlich ist eine direkte Klangeingabe in den Gehörgang durch In-Ear-Kopfhörer klarer und viel nuancierter, aber das konnte ich mir vorher schon denken. Dennoch vermisse ich bei diesen Kopfhörern nichts. Will ich mehr Nuancen, wird es eben etwas lauter eingestellt, damit Aussengeräusche mehr ausgeblendet werden.Die Verbindung über BT funktioniert einwandfrei (iPhone 13 Mini und 15 Pro), einmal verbunden erkennt der Kopfhörer „sein Gerät“ immer automatisch.Längste Laufzeit am Stück waren bei mir bisher 12 Stunden. Leer war der Akku noch nicht, sodass die angegeben 15 Stunden Laufzeit sehr realistisch sind und eventuell auch übertroffen werden können.Daher: Kaufempfehlung!

Easy to pair. Good sound quality and battery playing time. Another good point is usb -c charging. It’s open air so it doesn’t block your ears.If you like high volume sound, not recommended, because it works like speaker and everybody hear the sound that you are listening. With normal or medium volume, it’s ok and good.