Lypertek Soundfree S20 True Wireless Stereo Earphones Review

You may be expecting a different name on these latest earphones from Lypertek, that being the Levi, but due to issues we don’t need to go into, that name is no more. So, behold the Lypertek Soundfree S20 Truly Wireless Earphones (yes we aren't 100% with the 'Soundfree' name for a pair of earphones either).

Our last review of the Lypertek Tevi (now renamed to Pureplay Z3) back in January 2020, before the world ended, gave surprisingly good results for our first experience of Lypertek with a superb all-round performance in audio quality, features and battery life. All for a decent price of £99. 

The Soundfree S20, due for release on the 23rd February 2021, are a slightly more budget version of the Tevi retailing for £69 and featuring 6mm Neodymium Dynamic Drivers, Bluetooth 5.0 and battery life up to 40 hours with an integrated charging case. It doesn’t quite have the bells and whistles of the Tevi, but given our positive results with that set, we have high hopes the Soundfree S20 will keep up the good work. Read on to see how it performs in our review.

As with the Tevi, the earphones come in a pill shaped charging and carry case. In line with the reduced retail price of the Soundfree S20, the case this time is all black plastic without the attractive stitched fabric design of the Tevi. It doesn’t quite shout premium like the Tevi did, although this time the charging case features the added benefit of wireless charging which the Tevi did not have.

To the front of the case are a row of four LED lights indicating the charge level and to the rear is the USB Type-C charging port. The earphones are only rated to IPx5 this time, so don’t try them in the shower like you could with the Tevi.

The earphones are all black with the Lypertek branding to the outer face and the chrome multi-function button to the side. The button position is unique and is a first for true wireless earphones. The side placement has two benefits, firstly it removes the possibility of accidental button presses when you are adjusting the earphones and secondly it removes the need to press against the earphones when you need to use it, which could disturb your perfect placement or push them further into the ears.

As with most multi-function buttons on earphones, it can be used to play/pause a track, change a track, raise/lower volume, enable or disable voice assistant and the usual call features. Out of the box you get a generous amount of tips to ensure the Soundfree S20 will fit perfectly in your ears, three different sizes of silicone tips and three double flange tips. Along with a USB-C to USB-A cable and quick start guide.

• Bluetooth Technology: 5.0
• Bluetooth Codec: AAC, SBC
• Bluetooth connectivity distance: Up to 10m
• Drivers: High Performance 6mm Neodymium Drivers
• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Play time: Up to 8 hours per use and up to 40 hours with the charging case
• Water Resistance: IPX5
• Charging Options: USB-C and wireless Charging.

The codecs supported are AAC and SBC but the aptX support in the Tevi is not present in the S20. Along with the above, the S20 also feature an ambient sound mode which is activated by three quick clicks of the multi-function button. This works by allowing external sound through the earphones making it easier to talk to people (if you must!) without removing the earphones.

Unlike with the Tevi that featured master-slave switching technology, here with the S20 the earphones are paired together. On initial opening of the box, you simply place the earphones in the charging case, close the lid, open the lid and they ready for pairing with your chosen device. Quite simple and easy to setup. The earphones cannot be paired to two devices at the same time, but you can use one earphone only if you need to, just put the other earphone back in the charging case, close the lid and it will turn off whilst audio is still coming from the other one.

The multi-function button on each earphone was simple to use with the new placement on the side being much more preferable to the usual top mounted button. When using the button, we didn’t feel like we were dislodging the earphones from our preferred position or causing them to tap against our inner ear. The functions from the button were easy to use and quite intuitive.

A single press of the button on either earphone will pause or play, pressing twice on the left earphone will play previous track and the same on the right will play the next track. To lower the volume, you press and hold the button on the left earphone and the same on the right will raise it. You do get a voice notification when you are at minimum or maximum volume.  When not in a call or listening to music, a double press of the button on either earphone will activate the voice assistant.

The call features are just as simple, with a single press of the button on either earphone to answer or end a call and a double press to reject a call. The ambient sound mode is activated by three quick clicks of the button on either earphone. All the above functions worked exactly as expected and unwanted functions weren’t accidentally activated which is often an issue with these multi-function buttons.

 Due to the generous option of 6 different sizes/types of tips, we could find the type to perfectly suit our ears. The fitment was very secure and we didn’t feel like they were going to fall out, even during exercise. The double flange tips we found to be the most secure for exercising (not that there is much of that going on during lockdown!).

For a £69 set of earphones, we were very impressed with the audio quality. It didn’t quite match the quality of the Tevi set but it wasn’t far off. Testing with various sources such as Tidal, Amazon Music, Podcasts and YouTube, the S20 performed well with anything we cared to throw at it. Vocal heavy tracks such as The Sound of Silence by Disturbed, orchestral and rock heavy scores from our all-time favourite Hans Zimmer and a variety of pop tracks all showed what the S20 can do.

In cheaper earphones the audio can sometimes be aggressive and too bright, but this wasn’t the case with the S20. The treble level was about spot on with a good level of definition. We do prefer decent bass and found the S20 to be a bit light for our liking, it didn’t quite have the punch we were looking for, but that’s not to say the bass wasn’t present, as it was. Vocals came across crisp and clear with an overall detailed sound presentation. Despite our slight issue with the bass, £69 earphones are not usually supposed to sound this good!

The battery life was also excellent. Quoted life of the earphones alone is 8 hours with 40 in total using the case. We found the earphones to comfortably beat 8 hours and, with the charging case, they last so long you can easily forget you have to charge them at all.

The only slight negative was with the microphone. It’s never going to be great on earphones, but it was perfectly acceptable for call purposes and didn’t have any interference or breakup. Plus the ambient noise feature didn’t really do what we expected as on other earphones or headphones that setting normally lowers the sound volume so you can hear external noise, with the S20 it only seems to remove the slight white background noise and keeps the volume the same.

NOTE: Lypertek were able to correct the ambient sound issue on the item prior to release.

Lypertek Soundfree S20 True Wireless Stereo Earphones Review