Fairphone refreshes its good-looking, repairable headphones

Colors like black and white for gadgets are classic, but when a company brings out a different color without it looking gaudy, they tend to stand out. That is what I felt when unboxing Fairphone’s new $229 Fairbuds XL over-the-ear headphones in the forest green shade.

The new headphones, which also come in black, compete with others on the market, like Nothing Headphones (1), Sony’s previous gen WH-1000XM5, and Sonos Ace. While some of those offer better sound and noise cancellation capabilities, Fairbuds XL would be a good bet if longevity and repairability matter more to you.

The new devices are an update to the Fairbuds XL with noise cancellation, first launched in 2023 and designed with repairability in mind.

On these headphones, owners can replace the battery, cushions, speaker covers, headband, and drivers on both the new and older models. To make repairs, you can easily open up the headphones with a guitar pick or a credit card and a basic screwdriver. The company has tutorials on its YouTube channel to guide you through the process.

The new iteration carries that same ethos but includes some subtle design changes as well as a driver upgrade to improve performance. Specifically, the company said that the driver size is still 40mm, but it’s been upgraded with better magnets for improved bass.

Despite installing new drivers with enhanced bass, the overall sound signature is largely neutral. Both mids and vocals came through while listening to songs. For instance, some of the tracks on the “K-Pop Demon Hunter” album have some bass-heavy sections, but that didn’t cloud the vocals or synth.

The design changes include making the speaker-to-speaker cable and the joystick green instead of orange. The company has new ear cushions with mesh material for more comfort. It said that the smoother ear cushion gives you improved voice isolation, but the mesh also makes it more comfortable for long-term wearing.

While I didn’t have the chance to test the first iteration of the headphones, I have worn the current pair for hours at a stretch and didn’t feel any sweat or discomfort.

Fairphone has included a tactile button and joystick to control media and switch between different noise cancellation modes. You can use the joystick to play and pause, control volume, and switch to the next or previous track. The button also acts as a switch for pairing mode and lets you cycle between noise cancellation modes.

Fairphone is not alone in prioritizing a functional button. Other hardware makers, like Nothing, are now concentrating on adding handy buttons to their headphones, and it’s a welcome move.

The Fairbuds XL offer very robust active noise canceling. While I work from home, there is a lot of noise in the neighborhood, and I prefer to wear noise-cancellation earbuds or headphones. You won’t get AirPods’ level of noise cancellation with these devices, but the experience was still good.

Fairphone CTO Chandler Hatton said that the release cycle of the headphones and backward compatibility is a conscious choice.

“We can release the products faster. This is a conscientious decision to do it a little bit more slowly. We’d like to show the industry that it’s not necessary to push products out of the market by introducing a new one, because this creates the cycle of what’s sometimes referred to as planned obsolescence,” she told TechCrunch over a call.

The company noted that it uses fair-mined and recycled materials to build these pairs of headphones. To reduce packaging waste, its box just contains a simple protective pouch and the headphones themselves, along with a quick start guide.

This company claims the device’s battery life is up to 30 hours, but this is reduced if you have active noise cancellation on.

The lack of a headphone jack in favor of USB-C bugged me a bit. Even if you don’t want to add extra accessories to your package, adding support for a standard audio jack is something that could also make the headphones compatible with more audio devices. (You can pick up a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle from Fairphone at around $15.)

Fairphone has gone through a few executive changes in the last two years. The company said that the new management wants to prove that it can produce and distribute gadgets at scale, and the U.S. expansion is part of that plan. The headphones are one of the company’s first products to get a full release in the U.S. and will include support for replacement parts and a three-year warranty.

While consumers can buy the Fairbuds XL on Fairphone’s site, the device will launch on Amazon later this month for U.S. customers, along with the company’s $99 wireless earbuds.