HP isn’t a name most people associate with the best wireless earbuds, but since they acquired Poly back in 2022, the brand has been expanding beyond its solely business-focused product lines and dipping further into the consumer market. The Voyager Free 20 is HP Poly’s first pair of earbuds that resemble many competitors, with its stylish design and a $150 retail price. While they’re taking advantage of the company’s expertise in call quality and performance, some areas require a bit more attention.

Price, availability, and specs

HP Poly products are mostly aimed at business customers, so it’s a surprise to see the Voyager Free 20 earbuds retailing for $150 to match many other upper-midrange competitors. Availability is currently limited to Amazon and HP’s website. However, if you’re inclined to make a large order, HP's business sales team will also work with customers for bulk purchasing.

At the time of this review, HP is running a sale that knocks $20 off the price.

What’s good about the Voyager Free 20 earbuds?

Ready to go the distance

Earbud comfort is one of the hardest things to measure, but it’s easy to understand how few companies get it right. Most of the buds I’ve tried are wearable for an hour or two before fatigue sets in, and a couple have been so bad I wanted to tug them out in as little as 20 minutes. However, something about the Voyager Free 20 buds keeps them from bothering my ears for longer than usual.

I didn’t complete an all-day listening session, but I did wear them for a bit over two hours while cooking and didn't feel any appreciable ear fatigue. That’s already breathing some rarefied air, so to speak. I don’t know that they’d still be comfortable by the end of eight hours at the office, but I would give them better odds than most other buds.

Battery life is the other side of a long listening session. The Voyager Free 20 buds are rated for eight or twelve hours, based on ANC usage. In my usage, that estimate may be a little optimistic, but it’s still better than many earbuds on the market, especially for how light they are. And if you’re leaving ANC off or dropping the buds into the case during a break, they’ll easily last a whole workday and beyond.

Speaking of ANC, noise reduction is comparable to many upper-tier buds. In fact, among the buds I’ve reviewed, HP Poly is still the best for ANC performance thanks to the Voyager Free 60+. The Voyager Free 20 buds aren’t quite as effective, but they’re close enough that I doubt most people would care about the difference. However, I should note that the Transparency Modes are nowhere near as good as they were in the Voyager Free 60+, and they’re basically just amplifying noise.

Call quality is similarly great, owed largely to the real-time processing that cleans up the audio for both ends of the conversation. There’s a distinct reduction in background noise while voices enjoy a decent boost in clarity.

Bluetooth performance also chalks up a couple more wins. First, the range and signal throughput are surprisingly good. I’m not sure how HP Poly is doing it, but these and the Voyager Free 60+ were abnormally good at long ranges and picking up a signal through walls and other obstructions. I’m also pleased to see multipoint enabled, so two devices can be connected simultaneously with one playing music or other audio, and the other can break through to play notification chimes or alert you to phone calls.

Finally, I want to give some attention to the charging case. It’s not a masterpiece, but looks more stylish than expected from a product built and designed under HP’s roof. The shape is reminiscent of that period when Samsung made everything pebble-shaped, and the glossy black lid draws attention to the company logo in a way that starts to feel genuinely fashionable. Unfortunately, this comes with the caveat; the glossy surface is a bit of a fingerprint magnet and scratches fairly fast. I haven’t had that much time with the buds and can already spot several faint micro scratches.

What’s bad about the Voyager Free 20 earbuds?

Not my first choice for music

If there’s any single aspect where I have reservations, it’s the music-listening experience. There’s no outright problem with audio quality in isolation, but when I compare it head-to-head against some other earbuds in the same price tier, the Voyager Free 20 buds sound compressed and somewhat shallow.

The best way I can illustrate this in words is to liken most music-oriented earbuds to the quality of listening to CDs, and the Voyager Free 20 is more akin to a good FM radio station.

I attribute this to two things. First, these 10mm drivers are tuned to perform well with podcasts and calls where most sounds come through in the mids, but they hit a limit with the tonal range of some musical genres. This is mostly evident in the bass response, which comes across as fairly timid and lacking in energy.

Blame must also fall on the HP Poly app, which only offers three EQ presets: Bass, Flat, and Bright. This was also a weakness for the Voyager Free 60+ earbuds, but I was inclined to give those a little leeway because they seem to have a more innate dynamic range. Ultimately, I don’t have anything against presets, but it doesn’t feel right when earbuds are priced over $100 and cannot create a custom EQ curve.

With all that said, it’s important to remember these earbuds are aimed at office workers who will likely spend a lot of time in video conferences and calls, not necessarily music lovers looking for the best sound.

Another disappointment in the software situation is aimed at the desktop app, which I considered a really cool and very rare Voyager Free 60+ perk. I’m not sure if there’s a reason for this, but the software is required for updating the firmware of the Voyager Free 20 charging case, but not the buds themselves. And it can’t be used to change settings on either the buds or the case, not that the case has anything to configure. The desktop app should really have control over the buds, which should be fixable with a software update, so I hope HP Poly resolves this.

Finally, a couple of lingering nitpicks about the hardware. I found the buttons require a bit more pressure to click than they probably should, so I feel like I’m pushing the bud harder into my ear each time I press. And, as I mentioned earlier, the glossy lid of the charging case is prone to fingerprints and micro-scratches that will eventually add up, yielding a pretty worn with several months of regular use.

Should you buy them?

Designed for the office, not for the enthusiast

The Voyager Free 20 earbuds are really good — they are — but given their $150 price tag, I expect them to be closer to great. There's no deal-breaker here; it's just that the competition is so incredibly strong at this price that there's very little room for error.

Comfort and call quality are the main draws, and these buds pull marginally ahead of most others. And if you plan to wear them most of the day while listening to podcasts or conducting calls, these might be the buds for you. But when it comes to music quality and feature parity, many other buds have more to offer at the same or lower prices.