Sol Republic seems to have had a bit of a lull over the past few years, but the company is now back with a slew of products. Alongside the new Soundtrack headphones, the company has also released a few new true wireless models — including the Sol Republic Amps Air+.
The headphones seemingly have a lot to offer. For starters, they’re one of the few pairs of true wireless headphones to boast noise cancellation. They do, however, come at a price. At $200, they’re certainly not without competition. Are they worth the cash? We’ve been testing the Sol Republic Amps Air+ headphones to find out.
Design
The first thing you’ll notice about these headphones is their design, and they look pretty good. They offer a sleek black-and-grey color-scheme, along with a relatively small charging case that’s easily pocketable.
The earbuds themselves offer an oval shape, and while they look a little bigger than some other true wireless headphones, they actually end up fitting in the ears quite well. Each bud features the Sol Republic logo. That logo actually doubles as a touch surface — and you can tap that surface for playback controls. It’s a great system, and the absence of actual buttons means that you don’t have to shove the headphones into your ears to control playback.
The charging case isn’t tiny, but it can nicely fit in a pocket, which is always handy. On the back of it, you’ll find a USB-C port, while on the front there three LED lights to indicate battery life.
In the box, apart from the headphones themselves, you’ll get the charging case, a USB-C charging cable, and a total of four pairs of ear tips. It’s pretty much everything you’ll need, though it would have been nice to get an actual USB-C cable and a USB-A adapter.
Comfort
The Sol Republic Amps Air+ earbuds may be relatively large, but they fir nicely in the outer ear — and the fact that they have a flatter design compared to some ensures that they’re less likely to fall out during daily use. Now, we probably wouldn’t recommend using these for sports, as they will fall out with heavy movement, but for day-to-day use, they should stay nicely in your ears.
While any in-ear headphones will get uncomfortable after long periods of listening, these actually remained pretty comfortable for hours on end. They’re not perfect, but as far as true wireless headphones go, they’re pretty close.
Sound
Ultimately, these are still $200 true wireless headphones, and as a result you’ll want them to sound good. And, thankfully, they sound great.
The bass response, for starters, is quite good, easily allowing kick drums to punch through a mix, and bass guitars to to offer a smooth, deep response. We were actually surprised at the bass response on offer here, because it really is quite good.
The mid range is well-tuned too. The headphones offer a pretty scooped response, and as a result they’re perhaps not the best choice for audiophiles who want a natural sound. Both the low and high mids are cut back a little, but not overly so, and the resulting sound is still very high-quality.
The highs are quite detailed, perhaps slightly accented by the scooped mids. At times, the highs can feel a little shrill, but again, they’re not over the top, and that feeling was only on occasion. And, we would much prefer highs that get occasionally get piercing to headphones that are lacking in highs altogether.
These headphones also offer noise cancellation, and it’s pretty good. Now, of course, the quality of noise cancellation isn’t quite as good as what you would get from headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, but it’s still pretty good — and should easily cut out some of the traffic noise on your commute.
Performance
The Sol Republic Amps Air+ true wireless headphones connect to your listening device through Bluetooth 5.0, and we found that when connected to a smartphone, they retained a good connection throughout testing. The same couldn’t be said for using them with a Mac.
The battery life on the headphones comes in at six hours with noise cancellation on, however if you turn it off the battery life will get beefed up to eight hours. That’s pretty good — and certainly on the upper end for true wireless headphones.
Conclusions
The Sol Republic Amps Air+ true wireless headphones offer a good sound quality, nice design, comfortable fit, and noise cancellation. In fact, they’re one of the few pairs of true wireless headphones with noise cancellation.
Because of that, if you’re not interested in getting the Apple AirPods Pro, then these are absolutely the best choice for noise cancelling headphones in the $200-or-less price range.
And, because of their good sound quality and comfortable fit, we’re awarding these headphones the Headphone Review Silver Medal.
| Store | Price |
|---|---|
 |
$199.99 |
| Sol Republic | $199.99 |
| Frequency response | Unknown | Active noise cancellation | Yes |
| Driver size | 9.2mm | Noise attenuation | Unknown |
| Driver type | Dynamic | On-ear controls | Yes |
| Design | Closed | Microphone | No |
| Sensitivity | Unknown | Eartip material | Silicone |
| Rated impedance | Unknown | Magnet material | Unknown |
| Total harmonic distortion | Unknown | Water resistance | IPX4 |
| Rated input power | Unknown | Battery life | 6 Hours (With ANC) |
| Maximum input power | Unknown | Wireless distance | 10m (33ft) |
| Wireless connection | Bluetooth 5.0 | Cable length | N/A |
| Wired connection | No | Case type | Charging Case |
| Detachable cable | No | In-the-box |
|
| Weight | 0.27lbs | Colors | Steel Grey, Champagne |