Design and features:The earphones work with or without the noise canceling feature being turned on. You can use the noise-canceling feature without listening to music. The Echo Buds have integrated microphones as well as music player and call connect/disconnect controls that work with paired Bluetooth devices, and controls to switch between noise canceling and ambient sound monitoring. They support Amazon's Alexa digital voice assistant (which can be activated using the "Alexa" wake phrase) as well as Google Assistant and Apple Siri digital voice assistants (which can be activated using the touch controls) when used with Bluetooth devices that use later operating system versions, have a WiFi or cellular Internet connection, and have the appropriate apps installed. Either earphone can also be used alone for one ear monitoring of Bluetooth streamed audio and telephone communications. According to Amazon this model is water resistant; it comes with three pairs of ear pieces in various sizes, three pairs of ear bowl supports in various sizes, a USB charging cable, and a charging cradle/recharger battery/carrying case.
Sound quality: We found the Echo Buds provides Excellent active noise reduction and delivers sound quality that falls in the Very Good range - it reproduces music and voice very well although it does have some noticeable sonic quirks. The overall sound can be summarized as slightly bassy and somewhat thin. With the Amazon Alexa app EQ tone controls set to flat the bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep, but is slightly prominent and boomy and has a "boingy" (like the sound of a bouncing spring) character. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is somewhat thin, and slightly hazy and grainy. The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is fairly extended, but is a bit smeared (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer sound blurred). This model does a decent job of recovering the room ambience of a recording (the sense of the acoustic space in which the audio program that's being listened to was recorded). While the sound has a decent sense of liveliness, it is somewhat closed (sound-wise it's fairly obvious you have something plugging your ears). The sound quality was pretty much the same regardless of whether the noise cancellation feature turned on or off. The Alexa app EQ controls had a noticeable effect on the sound. These earphones provide Excellent noise reduction across the entire frequency range, but orientation does change the tonal balance of the noise reduction - when the noise is coming from the front the low frequencies are reduced the most, when coming from the sides and back the noise reduction is more even across the entire frequency range. When the noise canceling feature is used a very faint hissing sound is audible in very quiet environments when there is no audio program material to mask it.
Comfort: As typical of in-ear models they produce a sense of pressure in the ear canal opening might be uncomfortable for some. Users with small ear bowls might find that the earphone body does not fit securely into their ear bowl and that the earphones are mostly held in place by the section of the earphone that is inserted in the ear canal. Users with medium and large sized ear bowls will probably find that with or without the ear bowl supports this model stays in place with no problems for casual use and that they are very stable even during vigorous head movement. Users with larger sized ear canals may find that the largest earpieces are to small to provide a good seal; if the ear canals are not sealed properly the sound quality is affected and the bass may be reduced. Some uses might find tapping the touch pads to actuate the various earphone controls drives the earphones farther into the ear canal and may cause ear discomfort.
