The Beyerdynamic Free Byrd earbuds may be the company’s first attempt at wireless in-ear headphones, but they’ve delivered a polished and refined produce with sound that can compete with the best in this category.

The Free Byrds are the first wireless earbuds from Beyerdynamic, but they sound competent enough that you'd never have guessed. They have battery life that's hard for the competition to match, with the same sound tuning that makes Beyerdynamic's over-ear headphones so popular. While the ANC isn't as good as some other buds in the same price range, it's still decent.

From the strong, meaty bass to the delicate, sweet treble, the Free Byrd gives you almost everything you would ask for in a true wireless made by a brand like Beyerdynamic. In other ways, the plasticky build feels a little cheap for the price, and the ANC and call clarity don’t perform as their competition does. If you can look past some of its flaws, then the Free Byrd has a ton of value for pure sound quality.

Beyerdynamic took its time to enter the highly competitive TWS earbuds category and knew that it had to deliver a home run to be taken seriously; a 98 year track record only goes so far these days and the German manufacturer took a risk of falling on its face if the Free Byrd didn’t deliver.

As Beyerdynamic’s first attempt in the true wireless market, the Free BYRD appear to err on the safe side. There’s plenty that they get right, and not much they get wrong, with the result an enjoyable pair of true wireless buds to use and listen, but which don’t stand out much from the rest of the pack. Here’s hoping that Beyerdynamic builds on this solid foundation for whenever the sequel appears.

These headphones hardly make any mistakes: their sound can be customised thanks to Mimi personalisation, aptX Adaptive delivers sound quality of up to 24 bits and 48 kHz, and Gaming Mode reduces latency so that the image-sound offset is not a problem. It is a pity, however, that Multipoint is missing, and the touch assignment and equaliser cannot be freely configured.

Except for the impressive battery life -- up to 11 hours at moderate volume levels with noise canceling off and up to 8 with it on -- the Free Byrd are closer to the middle of the road in other areas, particularly their noise-canceling performance. But Beyerdyanic has said it made sound quality its highest priority and that definitely shows.

For the company’s first swing, Beyerdynamic’s Free Byrd earbuds deliver fantastic sound with detail and depth, top-tier battery life, and good noise cancellation. I appreciate the overabundance of ear tips that come included, and at least for my ears, they fit well and stayed comfortable over time. But that last point will differ for every person, and I can foresee cases where these earbuds will be a little too stout for some. What’s here is a strong debut in the wireless earbuds market for an established audio brand. I recommend the Free Byrds as they are as long as your ears are the right match. But with some refinements to the onboard controls and maybe a smaller form factor next time around, Beyerdynamic will be right up there with the very best players in the game. That’s assuming, unlike in the song, this Byrd can change.

The Beyerdynamic Free Byrd earbuds are a premium product. And, while they’re not perfect – the performance on calls could be better – they offer all that you would expect in earbuds with this price tag, including solid ANC and transparency mode. Most importantly, they sound good.

When it comes to sound quality, battery life and ANC, the Beyerdynamic Free Byrd are worth their hefty $249 price tag. They’re some of the best-sounding wireless earbuds you can buy, and they last longer than nearly all of the competition. Their handy companion app and plethora of swappable ear tips certainly don’t hurt either.

If you like extra bass in your music, you'll likely enjoy the Beyerdynamic Free BYRD. These earbuds are packed with features such as aptX Adaptive, excellent battery life, and solid active noise cancelling (ANC). However, at this asking price, there are many other great earbuds that you should consider before making your purchase.

The Beyerdynamic Free Byrd earphones deliver exceptional audio and reasonably good noise cancellation, but their app and on-ear controls could use a bit more attention.

The Beyerdynamic Free Byrd have plenty to recommend them — not least their lively overall sound — but at the price better overall ANC performance can be found elsewhere.