The Edifier W240TNs have a very plain bullet-style earbud design, but the hardware tucked away inside is much less run-of-the-mill. Rather than a single speaker driver, Edifier has opted for a 6mm and 10mm coaxial driver combo. Multiple drivers are less surprising in wired in-ear monitors, and this same coaxial arrangement is common with automotive speakers.

It’s a well-established technique to get better sound when you have limited space, which is probably why Anker has been doing it for years with its Soundcore Liberty Pro line. At just $80, the W240TNs are significantly cheaper than Anker’s latest wireless Soundcore Liberty Pro 3 earbuds — but cheapness doesn’t come without compromises.

The W240TNs still have niceties like those coaxial speaker drivers, active noise cancelling, and Bluetooth 5.3; however, they conspicuously lack something – a decent Bluetooth codec. When I say that, I don’t mean, “I wish these earbuds had aptX Adaptive or LDAC.” I mean they don’t even have AAC. The W240TNs are just limited to SBC. But after many extended listening sessions, I’m starting to think most of the negative perception of SBC comes from other, lower-quality earbuds.

Edifier W240TN: Design, hardware, what's in the box

From the outside, the Edifier W240TNs look very unremarkable. The gloss plastic finish in either white or black (with matte gray accents meant to resemble anodized aluminum) fits the appearance of plenty of budget buds. Also, the buds and charging case feel relatively light, but not to the point of feeling insubstantial and cheap. And while there’s nothing but plastic in the construction, the IP55 rating means that Edifier hasn’t just cheapened out on the build quality.

Instead of touch controls, the W240TNs have physical buttons, which I absolutely love. The buttons are easy to find and don't require so much force to press that it feels like you're jamming them into your ears. Plus, the ring around the button gives you plenty of ways to comfortably hold onto the bud while doing multi-press controls.

Most true wireless buds have more distinct left and right bud designs, aside from the mic holes; however, the W240TNs use the same mold for both buds. This is a little unusual but not a negative unless the L and R legends rub off the buds. The controls are also the same between both buds, which makes things easy to remember when you're using either one in solo bud mode.

But if, like me, your instinct is to double press the left bud to go back a track, the controls will take a little getting used to. You can remap the controls in the app to some degree, but by default, the rest of the button commands are play/pause on a single press; assistant on a triple press; and a single long press will cycle through ANC on, ambient sound on, and ANC and ambient sound off.

Edifier W240TN: How do they fit?

With four sets of ear tips from extra small to large, the odds are fairly high that you can find your fit with the W240TNs, even if you've got smaller ears. Also, the bud tips are a little closer to oblong than round. While the buds stick out of the ear quite a bit, the part that sits inside your ear's concha is small, giving you plenty of room for adjustment.

There are plenty of fit options and room to reposition the buds in your ears, but they don't always stay where you put them. While the buds never quite fell out of my ears, they did get loose every time I did cardio. Even when I just sat down for a listen, the W240TNs didn't feel very secure in my ears and would need readjusting every once in a while.

Edifier W240TN: All about the charging case

The Edifier W240TNs' case is a standard flattened pill shape with a matte finish. It's super lightweight because of its plastic body, so your USB cable might be heavy enough to pull the case off whatever table you charge it on, even with the buds in it.

The battery has enough juice to recharge the buds three times and can be recharged via the USB-C port on the back. Of course, wireless charging would be nice, but it's unexpected from buds this affordable. Next to the type-c port on the rear is the pairing button.

Edifier W240TN: Sound quality, features, battery life

As I alluded to earlier, the W240TNs feel very limited since they only have access to SBC, even though they also have Bluetooth 5.3. However, they sound far and away better than every other pair of SBC-only earbuds I've listened to, and even plenty of AAC buds, so the better codec support isn't overcoming the cheap hardware those other buds have. This praise only carries the W240TNs so far, though.

I do most of my music listening with lossless or high-definition tracks, so the low-spec codec of the W240TNs was immediately apparent. I'm not saying the buds are bad, just that they lose details you might hear with more expensive, higher-quality earbuds. (However, listening to a service with lower quality tracks like YouTube Music makes this weakness irrelevant.)

There's a reason why great earbuds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro or the Beyerdynamic Free Byrds sound so great, even if you're just listening to Spotify or YouTube Music: they have great hardware inside. Even with better codecs, the higher bitrates those allow for are kinda wasted if you can't get higher bitrate files. Spotify's highest bitrate Ogg/Vorbis files top out at 320 kbps, and YouTube Music only goes up to 256 kbps, while SBC supports up to 328 kbps. The codec clearly isn't the main bottleneck here, especially compared to cheaper SBC-restrained buds like the J-Lab Go Air Pops.

Although the Edifier W240TNs aren't meant for audiophiles, their v-shaped sound profile can sometimes be fun. The coaxial speaker setup gives them the room to get the bass nice and thumpy without distorting vocals or instruments in the mids and highs. They're definitely not my first pick for critical listening or relaxing with a new album, but they've been great for working out.

If you're used to totally shutting the rest of the gym out with ANC, you're out of luck. The ANC feels less like noise cancelling and more like noise suppression. Though noise was noticeably muted with the ANC on, even droning sounds like the AC still got through. It's better than nothing, but the bud tips' passive noise isolation is carrying the load's brunt here.

Edifier W240TN: Battery life and charging time

With ANC or ambient sound turned on, I was consistently able to get seven hours of listening in on the W240TNs. Turning ANC off isn't a huge boost to battery life, but the extra hour and some change is enough to get you through an entire workday. If you're willing to take a break from your listening over lunch, the case is decently quick at topping up the buds. Ten minutes of charging gives you about two hours of listening time, so you can safely make it to the end of a shift without hearing a low battery warning.

The case has right at two charges in it, giving you right at 21 hours of total listening time with ANC or ambient sound on, or about 25 hours with it off. While you can see the battery life of the buds in the notification bar, you won't get a read on the case's battery unless you put a bud in there. This led to me putting nearly dead buds into a fully dead case a few times and wondering why I got a low battery warning 10 minutes into my workout later that night. Charging the case every other day to avoid this isn't too hard to do, though.

Edifier W240TN: How's the app?

Edifier has a reasonably decent app with lots of controls and EQ options. You just have to be willing to have a quick settings menu in your notification bar to take full advantage of it. Things like ANC, ambient sound toggling, and individual bud and case battery percentages show up in the notification bar menu, along with the EQ and game mode options.

In the app, you can remap the controls of the W240TNs, though there's no option for different left and right bud commands. The double press, triple press, and press and hold options are all customizable. Still, it feels pointlessly limited to have customizable controls, yet you can't map the left and right buds individually.

Edifier W240TN: Should you buy them?

The Edifier W240TNs are far from perfect, but they're also far from a price that demands perfection. While many quality-of-life features are either missing or not as good as you'd want them to be, they're not a bad value. They sound much better than a lot of the other buds in the $100 price range, and the IP55 rating makes them not just gym-ready but also a solid choice if you need to be out in the elements for a while.

Even though I do most of my listening on some of the best earbuds money can buy, that doesn't mean I want to use them while I'm working up a sweat in the gym or doing yard work.

Buy it if…

• You want earbuds that won't die from gym sweat
• You want a decent-sounding set of backup earbuds that won't break the bank

Don't buy it if…

• You want one great set of earbuds for everything
• You want top-tier noise canceling

FAQ

Q: How does the Edifier W240TN compare to the Jabra Elite 3?

While they come in at the same price, the Jabra Elite 3's 6mm driver is only as large as the smaller driver in the Edifier W240TNs coaxial driver arrangement. Both have 2 mics per bud, mono mode, ANC and transparency modes. The Elite 3s have less battery life in the buds, but the extra juice the case has gives them 3 more hours of life overall.

Neither case has wireless charging, both have an IP55 rating, but the Elite 3s come with Google Fast Pair. The real trade-off seems to be the better software behind the Elite 3s, and the better coaxial drivers of the W240TNs.

Q: How does the Edifier W240TN compare to the Creative Outlier Pro?

Creative's Outlier Pros come in at about ten dollars more than the W240TNs, but focus more on extended battery, and less on sound quality. The Creative app gives you more control customization options, allowing custom left and right controls compared to the unified control scheme Edifier gives you.

Even with access to better codecs, the single earbud drivers of the Outlier Pros don't sound as good as the coaxial drivers in the W240TNs. The much larger charging case of the Outlier Pros doesn't just have significantly more power in it, it also has wireless charging and a sturdier metal body.