It may seem early, but the latest Echo Buds incarnation could well be the ideal stocking stuffer this Christmas for everyone from your teenage nephew to your hip uncle. The built-in Alexa support, customizable tap controls, multipoint pairing functionality, and up to 20 hours of battery life almost make up for the absence of noise-cancelling skills, while those 12mm drivers certainly sound powerful enough to deliver respectable overall audio quality… at a massively discounted price.
Those 20 hours of endurance, of course, are made possible by a bundled charging case, but even when not taking that into consideration, the battery life is pretty respectable (at the very least), at around six hours of uninterrupted listening time. The word “respectable” best describes the IPX2 water resistance and two built-in microphones of the Echo Buds as well, which makes the deal all in all… much more than respectable.