Beyerdynamic's Amiron 100 earbuds are no slouches in any department, but the competition for your attention and cash is considerable this year. If you prioritise premium build and features, like touch controls, these are for you. If you really need decent noise cancelling and slightly better audio, something like Sony's C710N buds will be a better buy.
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Features
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Audio
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Battery
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Comfort
When the most serious complaint you have about a set of in-ear headphones is the way the case is oriented, you know something’s gone terribly right. That’s the case with the Beyerdynamic Amiron 100 in-ear phones and their, er… case. That’s about the extent of our problems with these premium-feeling earbuds, unless you feel like quibbling about the R4,000 retail price.
As with their on-ear cousins, the Aventho 100s, the Amiron 100 in-ears are an excellent blend of build and audio quality, with a selection of ear-tips to better keep these stem-toting headphones firmly lodged in the holes on either side of your skull.
Beige oval
The buds are designed around the same lines as Apple’s AirPods — Samsung’s also getting into the game — with touch-sensitive faces and a stem extending downward. They all but disappear in the ear, once you’ve performed the slight cranking motion needed to seat them securely. You’ll wear them for hours without complaint, but as with many in-ears, extended use can build up sweaty pressure in the ear canal.
The Amiron 100s are great, but they’re not perfect. We’ve got zero complaints about the build quality, both in the lightweight buds themselves and the case. There is one slight niggle with the case, at least on our part, and it’s design-related. The way the buds slip into the case just feels… off, somehow. Extracting and replacing them feels unnatural, but that’s a minor complaint to have about any headphones.
The remainder is simple enough. There’s a concealed pairing button tucked on one outward edge. A USB-C charge port lives on the rounded ‘bottom’ edge. We’ve said it like that because Beyer’s case has been designed to lie flat, despite what your brain wants you to believe.
Device choice
Initial setup was as simple as it gets. The pairing button helps, with your connected device doing the rest of the work. Installing Beyer’s app for mobile phones or tablets lets you customise and tweak sound profiles, if that’s your thing, but they’ll connect to other audio sources (like games consoles) just as well. We had them paired to more than one device, and that’s where our experience got a little odd.
Swapping between devices wasn’t as seamless as we’d have liked. Connecting to one required finding and selecting the ‘Connect’ button on the other when we wanted to swap over. This may not be a constant issue, but it was what we encountered during testing.
The Amiron 100’s other oddity involves the touch controls, which reside on both buds. We were obliged to actually read the Quick Start guide for a change, because swapping between noise-cancelling, transparency, and off modes just didn’t make sense. Intuitive pokes and prods alternated between swapping modes and playing/skipping music. It wasn’t until we checked the Morse code-like controls that everything made sense.
Volume is handled by long presses, with one bud raising volume and the other lowering it. Play/pause is done conventionally, skipping tracks encompasses both buds (one forward, one back), and hearing modes need a specific set of taps. Too slow or too quick and you’ll do… something else. Still, once you get the hang of it, the touch controls are handy and all-encompassing.
Musical pairs
The highlight, just ahead of the Amiron 100’s build, is Beyer’s audio. We ran them through our usual sonic battery, from brutal death metal to more sedate genres. Whether we were blasting Lamb of God’s Memento Mori, Orden Ogan’s Heart of the Android, or Ola Englund’s Stars & Ponies, the sound presentation was clear and precise. Vocals, even those that were never intended to be made out, were defined against their instrumental background.
Less impressive was the active noise cancellation. It works, as does the transparency, but it could be better. A better performer in this line is Sony’s C710N in-ears, which feature comparable audio quality and superior ANC. Even worse, the price of entry is R1,000 less than Beyer’s efforts. You’re paying for the premium build (and excellent touch controls) here, but you might be better satisfied by improved audio skills at a lower price.
The battery life here is… adequate. You’ll get close to an entire workday of use with ANC off, and a couple of hours less with it on. That’s mostly unremarkable, as in-ears go. We can’t fault it, but it’s not exciting at all. Pity, that. It would have been another tickbox.
Beyerdynamic Amiron 100 verdict
Still, the Amiron 100 in-ears are a complete package. Excellent sound and build are the headliners here, with some of the other features taking a slight sideline in favour of the big points. Sony’s newest mid-range earbuds are cheaper and sound just a touch better, but they don’t have the premium feel that Beyer’s in-ears do.
It may all come down to the fit. The stem design isn’t for everyone, despite what major brands are hanging their hopes on. But if you’re looking for secure, tight-fitting AirPods competitors that work equally well with everything you listen to music through, the Amiron 100s would like to have a word. A clear, precise word.
