If there’s one thing wireless earbuds and headphones are not known for, it’s being repair-friendly. They’re often loaded with glue, meaning the individual parts—outside of maybe silicone ear tips—aren’t easily removable or replaceable, especially by yourself at home. As a result, there’s another thing that they’re not known for, and that’s being easy on the environment.

Because components like batteries aren’t easily replaceable, when something goes wrong with a pair of wireless earbuds (say, the battery dies or degrades to the point that you can’t use it anymore), they’re often doomed for the landfill. All that easy obsolescence is enough to make a right-to-repair advocate shed a single, glue-free tear.

The vast majority of wireless earbuds—even the ones that sound fantastic—are guilty of this, but not all. For anyone who hates the waste more than they love the shiniest new gadget, there is a clear option, and it’s the Fairbuds 2.

The Fairbuds 2 are repairable from top to bottom and they don't use any PFAS on the exterior, but the sound and ANC are just okay.

Before we get into the repairability of it all, let’s talk sound.

The $119 Fairbuds 2 are the next iteration of Fairphone’s repair-friendly wireless earbuds, and they come with a few improvements over the original pair. One of the biggest is the sound quality. In the sequel, Fairphone opts for 11mm bio-cellulose dynamic drivers, which are both eco-friendly (they use “light organic fibers” instead of plastic or metals) and designed to improve on those of the original.

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