Know Comfy review: Fantastic-fitting true wireless earbuds

It takes a certain level of confidence to slap a name like Comfy on your new pair of true wireless earbuds. As a company, you must be nearly positive that these buds are going to feel great in every set of ears they come across, or else.

That’s the bet Know made with its $160 Comfy true wireless earbuds, marketing the wearables as a “fit unlike any you’ve ever felt.” Spoiler alert — it’s a gamble that paid off for Know. Double spoiler alert — especially in the case of earbuds, the right fit isn’t everything.

Out of the box

I previously learned with the Calm headphones that Know as a company likes to do things a little differently, and I was expecting something similar in the packaging of the Comfy earbuds. Expectations were met with small touches like a card commemorating the product’s Kickstarter backers and circular sticky notes, and exceeded with a rather provocative (for earbuds) “Listeners make good lovers” piece of artwork and a USB-C charging cable that reads “this side up” on one side of the USB end of the cable and “or this side up” on the other. If there were points to earn for creativity, Know gets them all.

In addition to that USB-C cable, the Comfy earbuds come with a folding quick-start guide and a well-crafted tray of extra earfins and eartips. Those are standard accessories, of course, and the same level of normality goes for the setup process of the Comfy buds. Pull them out of their charging case, find them in your mobile device’s Bluetooth settings, and you’re well on your way to listening to your preferred song or podcast episode.

Bluetooth 5 technology is implemented in the Comfy earbuds, and rightfully so at this price point. As with most earbuds with this technology, I was free from connection issues in the time I spent testing these buds. That includes the time I spent tidying up my backyard while my phone hung out inside the house. With that in mind, I’d say these earbuds have solid range.

Design

Count me perplexed by the design of the Comfy earbuds, because there really is a lot going on here. Right off the bat, I will confirm that they masterfully live up to their name, with eartips that felt at home in my ears even after long listening periods, and earfins that kept the buds firmly in place during daily activities. In fact, wearing these buds felt far more natural than any of the recent true wireless earbuds I’ve tested. But when you pull these buds out of your ears and look at them, it’s hard not to comment on how bizarre they appear.

That doesn’t have to be a bad bizarre, by the way. Rather, they’re simply quite different from most other true wireless earbuds I’ve seen. The Comfy thicken the classic golf tee stem that the Apple AirPods popularized, add an elongated earfin to the top of them, and employ point-less, traffic cone-shaped eartips. Now, there are different sizes for both tips and fins, and again, it is an incredibly comfortable fit for my ears. But it’s clear these earbuds were designed with function, rather than form, in mind.

The charging case for the Comfy remind of me a hockey puck, or maybe an Amazon Echo Dot, depending on which visualization works best for you. It looks sleek enough to take up space on your desk, or whatever your work-from-home surface happens to be. But I don’t think this case is as pocket friendly as the AirPods, or even the Google Pixel Buds 2.

Here’s something I seldom say about true wireless earbuds without physical buttons: I actually quite enjoy the controls of the Comfy. Everything is touch-based, with a swipe up or down on either stem serving as your volume controls. The top of each stem has a touch sensor as well, which will answer or end calls, pause and play music, and switch between tracks depending on how many times you tap it. I had a few mishaps initially, but the Comfy controls eventually proved to be just the right amount of responsiveness to be functional, but not annoyingly sensitive like other buds I’ve tried.

Features

Know says the Comfy earbuds have about seven hours of listening time per charge, with 28 total hours of life with the included case, and I found those numbers to be mostly accurate. Comparatively, those stats are, well, about right. The Google Pixel Buds 2 and Apple AirPods both have worse batteries, but other buds in this price range like the RHA TrueConnect 2, Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy Buds+ all give you more per charge. That being said, the Comfy are reasonably close to these competitors and toss in a quick-charge feature that nets you three hours after five minutes, which allows them to squeak by in this category.

An IPX5 weather resistance rating for the Comfy Buds is a nifty touch, giving the buds effective protection against sweat and jets of water. You can get this same rating in cheaper options like the 1More Colorbuds, or you can spend the same amount of money and get better weather protection with buds like the RHA TrueConnect 2. Just like with battery life, the Comfy do not stand out here. Instead, they’re just decent.

The Comfy earbuds have an auto-pause/play feature, and compatibility with both Siri and Google Assistant. For the third straight paragraph, those are decent features. Unfortunately, though, at this price range, it’s almost required to be more than “decent” to rise above the massive amount of competing true wireless earbuds.

Audio quality

Let’s revisit those traffic cone eartips for a moment. Despite poking a bit of fun at them earlier, they prove to be a valuable part of the Comfy footprint by creating a seal against the outside of your ear canal as opposed to tips that have to be stuffed inside. The result is all the stellar passive noise cancellation you can hope for, without the plugged-ear discomfort that usually accompanies that effect. I was able to listen longer with less interruption from my environment and not experience the kind of fatigue I have grown used to with tighter-fitting buds.

Listening, by the way, was an enjoyable experience overall. I thought the Comfy provided exceptional clarity, and at normal listening levels presented a very palatable sound. That sound started to take a bit of a hit at higher volumes, however, exposing some blindingly bright higher frequencies and low end that wasn’t as clean as I had originally anticipated. Still, those observations don’t affect a generally good sound when it came to standard listening volumes, especially when listening to acoustic tracks. Selections like Midland’s Fast Hearts and Slow Towns proved to me that the Comfy earbuds are capable if you’re not pushing them too hard.

In similar fashion to the features found in the Comfy, call quality with these earbuds was good; it just wasn’t more noteworthy than the countless other true wireless earbuds I’ve tested before them. Both ends of my conversations came across well with the Comfy. But the same goes for the Google Pixel Buds, or the Microsoft Surface Earbuds, or… you get the point. Still, having perfectly serviceable call quality is certainly better than them being extremely poor with them like you would find in the Raycon E55s.

Our take

The Know Comfy true wireless earbuds are the ear-friendly buds their namesake destined them to be. They’re good in other areas too, but not good enough to stand out in a heavily crowded field of alternatives. If these buds were $40 cheaper, suddenly they become a lot more appealing. Their $160 price point, however, makes it particularly difficult for them to stand out.

Are there better alternatives?

The $150 RHA TrueConnect 2 have better features for $10 less, and while they may not be as comfortable, they have a more streamlined look than the Comfy. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro are bulky, less comfortable buds at $150, but they have superb sound and stellar features that compete favorably with the Comfy. Finally, the Jabra Elite 75t focus on sound quality but do offer good comfort and a slimmer profile.

How long will they last?

The Know Comfy come with a one-year warranty, and I can’t think of any reason why these buds shouldn’t last well beyond that timeline.

Should you buy them?

If you want to invest in a pair of ultra-comfy earbuds with features that won’t let you down for the cost, then I think the Know Comfy would be a solid option. But if comfort isn’t at the top of your wish list, there are better-sounding buds with more impressive features at similar price points.