Like many of Denon's previous true wireless earphones, the $349 PerL Buds Pro deliver exceptional audio quality but fall short in other aspects. Among their biggest flaws are an unwieldy fit, underwhelming active noise cancellation (ANC), and a high price. You're much better off with any of our Editors' Choice winners in this price range, inclduing the $249 AirPods Pro for seamless Apple ecosystem support, the $299 Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds for class-leading ANC, or the $299.99 Sony WF-1000XM5 for adjustable, audiophile-friendly sound.
Design: Big, Heavy, and Somewhat Uncomfortable
The Denon PerL Buds Pro look unique. Rather than using stems or bulbous ends like most other models, they opt for a flat, circular shell that hides everything going on underneath. This large dish is about the size of a quarter and provides a convenient canvas to operate their touch controls, even if they aren't always as responsive as I expect. The Microsoft Surface Earbuds have a similar design.
Behind the dish, the earbuds taper down to slot into the ear canal. Denon provides four pairs of silicone eartips and a pair of foam tips that passively seal out external sound. The box also includes two sets of ear wings that help secure the fit. I found the wings essential since the earbuds stick out quite far and are rather heavy (just under 0.3 ounces each); they are likely to sag and fall out of your ear without the wings.
Despite all the accessories, getting a good fit can be tricky. I had to try several combinations before I found what felt best and most secure. Even then, the earphones still sometimes slipped enough to break the seal over my ear canal. A consistent seal is critical for ensuring optimal audio and ANC performance. More problematically, however, I felt a bit of pain in my ear due to the stiff eartips after the first several uses.
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Internally, 10mm dynamic drivers with triple-layer titanium diaphragms deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 40kHz. The earbuds support Bluetooth 5.3, the AAC, AptX Adaptive, AptX Lossless, AptX Classic, and SBC codecs, and multipoint connections with up to two devices. That's an excellent range of codecs, though the hi-res LDAC option is more widely available across Android devices.
The outer panel of each earpiece supports single, double, and triple taps, along with a double-tap-and-hold gesture. You can configure them to handle a wide range of functions via the companion app, including playback, volume control, track navigation, voice assistant access on your connected device, call management, and toggling the Social (transparency), Immersive, or Spatial Audio modes. Meanwhile, tapping and holding initiates Bluetooth pairing after two seconds or resets them after 10 seconds.
The PerL Buds Pro sport an IPX4 rating, which means they can resist light splashes of water. The aforementioned Bose and Sony models have the same rating. The AirPods Pro, with their IP54 mark, at least add a level of dust resistance. If you want noise-cancelling earphones specifically for exercise, check out the IP68-rated Jabra Elite Active 8 Gen 2 for $229.
Denon says the earphones should last roughly 8 hours per charge, and my testing indicates that estimate is accurate. But you still need to be cognizant of running down the charge of a single earbud if you tend to listen that way. Note, too, that this figure will decrease if you enable ANC or opt for one of the data-heavy codecs. The Sony earbuds have the edge here since they can run for up to 12 hours with ANC off. The case for the PerL Buds Pro holds up to 24 hours of battery life and can provide one hour of playback after just 5 minutes of charging. You can recharge the case by plugging in the included USB-A-to-USB-C cable or placing it on a Qi wireless charger.
App Experience: A Slick Design With Lots of Settings
You need to download the Denon Headphones app (available for Android and iOS) to access many of the PerL's features and customize the experience. But before you get started, you must provide your email address so the app can send you a setup PIN. The app doesn't facilitate a streamlined setup experience, so you must head to your phone's Bluetooth settings for the initial pairing process.
At the top of the main page, the app provides access to an adjustable five-band EQ, lets you set up several user profiles, and shows the battery life for each earpiece but not the charging case.
Front and center is a large graphic for the Personalised Sound feature. Essentially, the earbuds can measure your ears and boost certain frequencies to achieve a balanced sound. The process takes just a couple of minutes to complete and then creates a profile you can easily toggle. In my case, the earbuds boosted the extreme lows and the treble. Toggles for the ANC/Social and Spatial Audio modes, along with a slider for Immersion mode (which essentially adjusts the bass level), are at the very bottom. You must head to the settings menu to turn off the ANC/Social modes entirely.
While the effects of the Personalised Sound profile and Immersion modes are readily apparent, I couldn’t plainly make out what the Spatial Audio mode was trying to accomplish. It mostly seemed to be pulling some of the stereo effects inward to create more distinct front-right and front-left channels. Tracks with good stereo panning sound expansive even without this feature active, so it doesn't seem worth using.
Head to the settings to set up multipoint connectivity, adjust the touch controls, and enable a volume limiter (useful given how loud the earbuds can get).
Noise Cancellation: Unimpressive and Inconsistent
The PerL Buds Pro let through quite a bit of sound and performed inconsistently in noise cancellation tests. For instance, when I started using the earbuds with a loud fan running, they didn't do much to cancel out the noise. But they managed to cut the low-frequency droning when I turned the fan down and then gradually brought it back up to the original speed. The earphones also failed to considerably mitigate dynamic, higher-frequency noise like from a busy cafe. In those scenarios, much of the environmental sound melded with whatever audio I was playing.
Anecdotally, activating the ANC with both earbuds on sometimes seemed to enable it just for one side until I cycled through the settings again. If you want the absolute best ANC performance, the more affordable Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are the way to go.
The Social mode successfully lowers the playback volume of your music, but it boosts environmental volume levels beyond what's natural and creates some dissonance.
Sound Quality: Exceptional for Music, But Not Calls
The Denon PerL Buds Pro produce superb audio. They unquestionably have the range to pipe every note of Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty.” into your ears, handling everything from the vocals and higher-pitch background instruments to the deep sub-bass with aplomb. They simply don't miss a note of the sub-bass, even at the default setting. Pumping up the lows via the Immersion slider or EQ makes them sound overwhelming, but this is a testament to their adjustability.
On The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the bass rhythm and sub-bass beat combine powerfully while the synth melody soars with bright, piercing detail. The vocal harmonies exhibit an impressive balance.
For a tune like Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” the Personalised Sound and Immersion modes can push the bass way forward, as mentioned. With the default sound, however, the drivers center Callahan’s baritone vocals wonderfully and allow the various instrumentation to pounce in from either side with dramatic effect. The song carries a great sense of energy and plenty of nuance.
That subtlety comes in handy for John Adams’ The Gospel According to Other Mary, especially at a section toward the end of Act 1 Scene 3, in which the orchestra slowly builds from silence to a cacophonous roar. The PerL Buds Pro render the full might of this movement quite well.
Despite their superb audio chops, the mic array (each earpiece has two normal mics and two bone conduction mics) doesn't meet expectations: My voice sounds soft and compressed on test recordings. The mics cancel some noise (like the wind from a fan) well enough, but they struggle to effectively isolate my voice in environments with lots of background chatter. The Apple AirPods Pro and Sony WF-1000XM5 lead the pack in terms of mic quality.
Verdict: Not Very Well-Rounded
Denon’s PerL Buds Pro seriously excel when it comes to sound quality, but they can't otherwise keep up with the competition. For instance, they don't feel comfortable in the ear, they can't cancel distracting noise with consistency, and they fail to capture voice audio crisply. We recommend the AirPods Pro for dedicated Apple device users, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds for noise cancellation fanatics, or the Sony WF-1000XM5 for audiophiles; all are Editors' Choice winners that cost less than the PerL Buds Pro.
The Denon PerL Buds Pro sound terrific, but their cumbersome design, inconsistent noise cancellation, and high price prevent them from competing with more well-rounded true wireless earphones.
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