Retail Price: $73.00

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Disclaimer: Linsoul sent us a unit of the KZ AS16 Pro earbuds free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.

When it comes to headphones and earbuds, I would be lying if I said I prefer wired products over wireless ones. However, I can still respect a good wired bud, and in some ways, they are nostalgic to me. I was indeed alive when wired was all we knew. I also know there are people out there who prefer wired earbuds because the wireless ones are just too easy to lose. This time, I am trying out the Linsoul KZ AS-16 Pro earbuds. Let’s get into the review!

fit and comfort

When it comes to earbuds, I am rather picky. My ears tend to get irritated pretty quickly, and that is also the case with these KZ AS-16 earbuds, unfortunately. Even with the smallest tip on, I can only wear these for about an hour, maybe two if I’m distracted enough, before they just become unbearably uncomfortable and make my ear canals feel sore. This isn’t a surprise to me, though, as I’ve never liked this style of earbuds with rubber tips. My ears tend to be less sensitive toward Apple or Google-type earbuds that just tuck into the ear canal but lack noise cancellation.

I don’t find the KZ AS-16 Pro earbuds comfortable in general, but they are even worse to sleep with. The turquoise casing around them is cute but a bit bulky, so if you try to lay on your side, it really just jams into your ear in a very unpleasant manner. This is true for most earbuds, but once again, buds shaped like the Apple or Google ones are the most comfortable for sleeping in my experience; this sort of thing is important to me as I sometimes like to watch ASMR while trying to sleep. I know many people also listen to music to fall asleep. Though I personally don’t think these are comfortable for sleeping or for everyday use, if you tend to like earbuds with rubber tips, then you might disagree.

It’s also worth noting that these fit quite snugly. Even without the wire hooking around the ear, I don’t think these would fall out too easily. Because of how snug they are, I could see these being good for some types of workouts. Of course, these are wired, so any workout that would pull on the wire wouldn’t… work out (see what I did there?).

sound quality

I don’t consider myself an audiophile, nor do I have any fancy tools that can measure the stats of the different audio devices I’ve tried. All I can go off of is how things sound to me. To me, these sound great! Music sounds crisp, clear, and high quality. Because the KZ AS-16 Pros fit so snugly in the ear, they’re also noise-canceling.

However, I have had somewhat of a strange experience with these: when I first started using them, they had this weird white noise sound that played in the background. I would hear it with any type of audio, whether it be music, a YouTube video, or a movie on Netflix. If I paused my audio, the white noise would also go away a few seconds later. This was the case on both my Windows PC and my Chromebook. However, this white noise was not present when the headphones were plugged into my smartphone. Thankfully, the white noise did go away. It was quite strange, but after using the earbuds for some hours, the white noise was just gone and didn’t come back.

price

If you want to buy these on Amazon, they’re $73 which I think is totally overpriced. The manufacturer’s website will route you to AliExpress where they are $56, which feels a bit fairer. Personally, I still wouldn’t pay that price because they are uncomfortable. I also think it is possible to find comparable buds for cheaper. For example, I would argue that the KZ AS-16 Pros are not much better than my old-school wired Apple earbuds (which I’ve had since like 2015); the sound quality on the Linsoul buds is slightly better, and the Apple buds aren’t noise-canceling, but the Apple buds are also only $20 and are readily available at Target. These KZ AS-16 Pros do have nice sound quality, are great at noise canceling, are not likely to fall out of your ears, and do have a sleek design. However, there is nothing unique or different about them; they are basic buds that don’t even have a built-in microphone. If you think they are worth $56, then I would say go for it. But for me, they just aren’t worth it.

Final Thoughts

The KZ AS-16 earbuds are a decent set of wired earbuds. The turquoise casing is pretty, the sound quality is solid, and the rubber tips provide impressive noise cancellation. The hook-over-the-ear design paired with the snug fit means these buds likely won’t be falling out of your ears. However, I find the hooking design to be a bit inconvenient and the snug fit is uncomfortable for me personally. If you’re someone who tends to like rubber-tipped earbuds that fit snugly, then you may still like these. At the end of the day, they definitely aren’t for me, but I don’t think they’re a bad product. They just don’t suit my own personal preferences for earbuds.

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Seri

A writer by day and gamer by night, Seri’s most prized possession is her computer. In fact, she built her desktop PC herself and repaired her college laptop with nothing but Google, Reddit, and determination to guide her. This do-it-yourself attitude was born from frugalness, so if you see Seri raving about something, it’s probably worth the price.