Fairphone's newest eco-friendly headphones have a feature I wish Bose or Sony would use – and the sound's good too

If you want eco-friendly headphones, then the Fairphone Fairbuds XL (2025) are already winners, with a green resume that’ll keep your carbon footprint small. Plus the sound is fun, they have a comfy fit and the joystick is a music-control gamechanger. There’s a distinct lack of extra features and a few other non-competitive areas like battery life and ANC, but what might put most buyers off is the relatively high price tag.

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  Super-handy control joystick

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  Comfortable fit; fun look

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  Eco-friendly build

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  Few extra features

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  Priced higher than alternatives

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  Lack of sonic nuance

Fairphone Fairbuds XL (2025): Two-minute review

Two and a half years after eco-friendly tech champions Fairphone released its first pair of headphones, the company is back to release… the same pair but better. Sort-of. The new Fairbuds XL 2025 aren’t a 2.0 model of the original cans, but an updated model with a few ...