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In a world where wireless earbuds are increasingly seen as devices that you toss into the e-waste bin as soon as they stop working, it’s heartening to see companies take the opposite approach with their designs. In a recent teardown of the new Fairbuds 2 by [iFixit] we get a blow-by-blow report of disassembling one of these devices, getting to its rechargeable LIR1054 coin cell, as well as the very accessible PCB should you have to replace a shorted capacitor or similar issue.
Much like with the first version, the 3.6 V lithium-ion coin cell can be extracted simply by pulling on the battery door, which leverages it out of the enclosure. Despite this easy access method and no glue these earbuds are still IP54 rated, so they’re safe to wear when you’re dashing for shelter in a sudden downpour.
To get further into the device, you have to overcome the plastic clips that hold the enclosure together, along with what appears to be a few dabs of glue. Inside it you find the PCB containing the guts, including the Airoha AB1577S, Cortex-M4F-based IC that provides the Bluetooth Low Energy capabilities as well as enabling the touch control and other features.
Below the PCB is the coin cell holder, followed by the only part that saw real glue usage, namely the driver section. Presumably this is the compromise to keep things like sweat out of the device. Even so, after disassembly [iFixit] managed to reassemble the device and the earbud remained in working condition.
The case for the earbuds is even easier to disassemble, using just some bolts to unfasten. The USB-C port is soldered to the PCB which [iFixit] dinged them on, but still gave it a 10/10 on their repairability score.
Compared to Apple’s AirPods this is obviously a whole different world, although recently [iFixit] was somewhat pleased with the most recent AirPods generation being slightly more repairable, with non-destructive entry for a battery swap at least somewhat feasible.
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