Enacfire A9 review

I’ve never been a fan of wireless earbuds; my massive, oddly shaped ears do not play well with earbuds. So when the Enacfire A9’s arrived, I begrudgingly popped them in, and to my surprise, earbud conversion therapy began in earnest. I’ve tried many earbuds from Beats, Bose, Anker, and many others. And frankly, I’m impressed with these dirt-cheap Enacfire buds. A pair of $50 earbuds have managed to do what the premium brands couldn’t -- deliver a comfortable fit, solid active noise cancellation, and good battery life in a stylish design.

Enacfire A9 earbuds pricing and availability 

The Enacfire A9’s are available on Amazon for $49.98, and I’m shocked by all you get for your money; these thumpy lightweight earbuds are a steal. They come in black, with a matching black charging case that’s good for four charges and a USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable.

Enacfire A9 earbuds design

The Enacfire A9 buds are comfortable, lightweight and sleek. The buds are made from black matte plastic with a glossy tip at the ends. In my opinion, they look better than the AirPods Pro. Each earbud stem has an indicator light with the company logo stamped just below in gray. Small ports at the top and bottom of the stems give away the dual microphone locations.

The part of the bud that sits in your ear is round and has a rubber ear tip attached to the end. Each bud has an R or L to denote which bud goes where. The A9 ship with several ear tip options in case you need something larger or smaller. The default tips gave me a great fit so they’re what I used throughout testing. The buds weigh 0.2 ounces and measure 1.3 x 1 x 0.8 inches, which puts them on a par with the AirPods Pro (0.2 ounces, 1.2 x 0.9 x 0.9 inches).

The A9’s charging case measures 2 x 2 x 1 inches, which is a bit smaller than the AirPods Pro (2.4 x 1.7 x 0.9 inches). Just like the buds, the case is mainly composed of matte-black plastic with a nice pop of gloss along the interior portions that house the buds. Once again, you’ll see the company logo in gray, but this time, the company name is spelled out and there is a status light directly above it. The USB-C charging port sits at the bottom of the case.  

These little beat hustlers are rated to IPX7 waterproofing in case you get caught in the rain or break a sweat while jogging, running around, or my favorite, randomly dancing on the streets, parks and subways of New York City. The buds can also withstand being submerged in up to a meter of water for a maximum of 30 minutes. In addition to the spare eartips, the A9 ships with a USB-C-to-USB-A cable.

Enacfire A9 comfort

As I previously mentioned, due to my large ear size and shape, finding a comfortable pair of earbuds has been a journey Dante would avoid and choose hell instead. Thankfully, the Enacfire A9’s have been comfortable to use. Although the slightly bulbous ear cavity, where the drivers are held, may cause others discomfort, they rode perfectly on my ears and I like the overall design. 

The various rubber eartips give you ample selection to pick a fit that works best. I found the default tips to work perfectly for me; the rubber tips created a nice snug seal and never became uncomfortable.

I got on our treadmill to test the fit during activity and the Enacfire A9s never popped out or felt as if they would while I was jogging or briskly walking. When I spun my head around in either direction trying to shake them loose, they remained firmly in place and thumped bass that kept me pushing forward.

Enacfire A9 setup

Connecting the Enacfire A9’s to my iPhone 11 was a breeze. I simply pulled them out of the supplied charging case, visited the settings on my iPhone, chose Bluetooth, and there they were, joyfully waiting to be selected and connected. It took a matter of seconds to start enjoying these little bass pumpers. 

Connecting the unit up to my computer was a little trickier as my laptop couldn’t find them via Bluetooth initially. I tried several things, from putting them back into the charger to rebooting my computer. It turns out I just needed to disconnect them from my iPhone first, then Eureka, problem solved.

Enacfire A9 earbuds controls

The A9 has touch-sensitive controls near the top of both the right and left earbud. Tapping the right bud once pauses whatever you’re listening to while double-tapping skips forward to the next song or accepts/ends a call. You can tap once to enable/disable the noise canceling with the left bud. You can also turn on the ambient audio setting or turn it off with a couple of taps, as well as take or end calls. Lastly, if you tap and hold, you can activate your digital assistant (Siri or Google Assistant).

Enacfire A9 active noise canceling and Transparency mode 

The Enacfire A9 buds come with active noise canceling and smart noise-detection microphones that are supposed to distinguish between ambient sounds and produce equal amounts of anti-sound to neutralize them before they reach your ears. The feature works extremely well. 

The other cool technology included in the A9 is a transparency mode which enables users to hear external sounds clearly without having to pause music or whatever audio source they’re currently using. Switch from ANC mode to transparency mode is a snap, requiring one single tap. Transparency mode is a great option to have if you’re out and about in New York City as it helps you hear oncoming traffic and helps you remain aware of your surroundings to keep you safe.

Enacfire A9 earbuds audio quality

With the A9, you get way more than you pay for; with deep, deep bass, as well as excellent mids, and highs at this price range. The 10mm drivers in the Enacfire A9 kick some major butt. I loved that deep bass while listening to Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” and hopped up out of my chair to twerk; ok, maybe I didn’t twerk, but I was dancing because the audio quality had me feeling those bumping lows. 

I then switched it up and started listening to Celia Cruz’s “La Negra Tiene Tumbao.” The low-end was robust while the horns in the background were rich and Celia’s voice was clear and powerful as always. Lastly, I closed out my music listening with the greatest band in human history: Earth, Wind, and Fire. When “Let’s Groove” kicked in, I experienced the bass drum, the bass guitar, the horns, and Phillip Bailey’s falsetto as they were meant to be heard. Maurice’s smooth vocals were melodic perfection, so once again, I was up dancing and remembered what it was like to be at a club. 

I also watched Iron Man 3 on my smartphone and was treated to clean, crystal-clear vocal audio. Explosions were nice and weighty, special effects were accurately reproduced, and objects moving around in scenes came from their direction, adding to the surround sound experience.

Enacfire A9 earbuds battery and Bluetooth

Enacfire hasn’t shared battery life estimates, except to say that the charging case will give you 32 hours of charge. I averaged 8 hours and 30 minutes on a single charge, which consisted of listening to music and chatting on the phone. When they finally died, I put them back in the case to charge for around 20 minutes and got a few more hours out of them. So the battery is all-day strong, and since the charger is tiny and fits in a pocket, that works for me. The A9 refuel pretty quickly, usually delivering a full charge within an hour in its case The A9 uses Bluetooth 5.0, which delivers approximately 100 feet of range. The earbuds pretty much worked wherever I walked off to in our apartment. However, I couldn’t test past 100 feet. I walked outside to start my barbecue grill, which is about 50 feet away in the backyard and didn’t experience any loss of connection.

Enacfire A9 earbuds call quality

In my experience, earbuds are more for listening to music or watching videos than talking on the phone. Over the past week, I took and made multiple calls with the Enacfire A9’s and switched on the noise-canceling feature. I am happy to report that the four-mic setup works very well, with everyone reporting back to me that I sounded clear, and even on a windy day, the noise-canceling did an excellent job of keeping the wind gust noise out and my voice was clear and loud to those on the other end of my calls.

Enacfire A9 earbuds bottom line

I started this journey with Enacfire A9’s hellbent to dislike them and then tell others to avoid spending money on these affordable wireless earbuds. However, the A9’s taught me a valuable lesson about having preconceived notions and are now my daily earbuds of choice. 

With thumpy, bottomless bass, crystal clear audio reproduction of every kind, solid noise-canceling performance, touch controls, and up to 32 hours of usage when you carry the charger in your pocket, there is not much to dislike about them. I highly recommend them, and at $49.98, you will be hard-pressed to find a better deal or sound quality at this price point.