I'm being forced to go to the dark side. I have a new phone pre-ordered as my current cell phone battery last 10 to 15 minutes. And the new phone does not have a headphone jack. I stream more music than I care to admit in spite of having months worth of physical copies. My home setup speakers consist of magnepanes and klipsch speakers with Harmon Kardon and Marantz receivers respectively and my current headphones are a pair of Sennheiser cans. The only bluetooth speaker that I currently own is a Klipsch kmc3.
I'll get a usb-C to adapter to be able to stream through my receivers while at home
I'm not looking for peak sound quality out of the earbuds, as I suspect that the only last two to three years either due to battery or syncing issues or being lost, but I don't want something that's going to sound offensive to me. I know that often there are budget friendly options on Amazon that people with higher quality stuff rave about with regards to the performance per the dollar. I'm currently looking at the Klipsch McLaren ones, knowing and acknowledging that they're overpriced in part due to the McLaren partnership and licensing. Though I don't have a huge issue with that as they're supporting motorsport. But due to the expected longevity of earbuds, it's definitely a situation where the 80/20 rule applies. If I can get 80% of the performance at 20% of the cost, it's a slam dunk, no brainer. Recommendations of Bose or Beats options will have me discounting any and all recommendations by the poster with regards to anything in any and all future inquires.
tuna55
MegaDork
10/8/20 2:02 p.m.
I have these and love them. Initially the earpieces fell off too easily, but I wrote 1More, and they sent me new ones that were way better. They also have noise cancelling, so my hour long drives in my super loud car got way more tolerable.
https://usa.1more.com/products/1more-dual-driver-bt-anc-in-ear-headphones
Make sure they fit.
I liked the cheapos I bought last week.
First time I took off the face diaper one went into the bushes with just the lightest brush of a finger.
One hour of use and gone.
Soon as I can afford it I'll replace with the gym style with thin over the ear stems.
I still have the right side but I'm too miffed to use it.
I love my air pods. They are so easy to set up and use. It is also nice to seamlessly switch from ear to ear or both ears. I use mine for 4-5 hours a day. I will get the pros soon.
NYN
I have the Raycon e55. Very happy with them. Lots of sizing cups to choose from. I use them at the gym, in the garage and in loud cars. Pretty long life. They have a small hard carrying case that charges them automagically and that can be plugged in whenever.
I have the Samsung Galaxy Buds+, and I previously had the regular Buds. I love them, they stay in, they sound good (admittedly, I mostly listen to podcasts, not music), and the battery life is excellent. I just wish they had better water resistance. I wear them when working outside, and I can get pretty sweaty.
Pro tip: Whatever you get, invest in a set of Comply foam tips. They are basically memory foam tips that replace the rubber ones that most earbuds come with. Not only do they fit much more securely, they also do a better job of noise isolation.
tuna55
MegaDork
10/8/20 2:51 p.m.
Well there you go, seven responses and seven different opinions. Buy a Miata.
Came here to recommend Bose, but that's partially because mine were free. I would suggest, politely, that you not totally disregard them outright. I have a fairly good ear, and they do sound really good, but for me, not $150 good. Ymmv.
In to see good cheap suggestions because I like blowing money in stuff I don't need.
I've had several different 'around your collar' Bluetooth sets like some of the ones above. I find them impossible to use, they always seem to slide one way or the other and end up pulling tight on one side and pulling out the other. It's even worse when lying on your back under a car, they seem to catch and pull out all the time, even worse than wired ones, which if you slip the wire down your shirt stay in place through anything I can throw at them. Also non of them have lasted worth a damn and have short battery life, although that could be I was trying the lower end of the quality range ($20-$30).
I never though I would spring for a set of air pods, but I bought my wife a new iPad for her birthday and got a set free. Oh my, what a revelation. The sound is so so much better than I though, they never fall out or come lose, they fit my ear perfectly. One great thing about the hard plastic rather than little rubber rings is that your ears don't get sore from wearing them all day when sweating doing manual labor outside. After a few sweaty hours with runner buds the skin in my ear gets sore, not so with the air buds. The one issue though is they are not waterproof and I killed on by dropping it in the bath. So now I'm deciding between coughing up $130 or trying something else.
So rather than give a solid recommendation, I'm also looking for some decent quality, solid plastic not rubber, blue tooth in ear, non wired pods. Recommendations?
I also hate the bluetooth earbuds with the " collar" and the bluetooth earbuds with the wire between them. In both cases, the design seems optimized for ripping the buds it off my ears.
Right now, the missus and I both have Samsung Galaxy Buds+. Before this, I had the Jabra 65t, and she had the Jabra 75t.
The Jabra 65t was a review favorite in 2018-2019. They're a generation behind current, but they're very comfortable, and have really good microphones. I've seen deals on them around $40 refurbished. I'd still use mine if I hadn't left them in a pocket and laundered them. They still sorta worked, actually.
The Jabra 75t is just the next generation of the 65t. My wifed loved hers until one straight úp fell out of her ear and she couldn't find it.
The Samsungs have a nice winglet design that helps retention. I prefer Jabra's use of buttons over Samsung's capacitive touch controls. Otherwise, I'm pretty pleased. MKBHD on YouTube reviewed them and called them the go-to product. That is, they're a well-rounded choice that does everything well, so they're an ideal place to start.
If I wanted a cheaper pair but not refurb, the Amazon Echo Buds look good, with regular sale prices putting them at $90, and Prime day coming next week. Amazon licensed Bose active noise cancellation.
Currently using Apple AirPods pro for its noise-canceling and sweat-resistance features. Been using it for 10 months now :)
In reply to Mike (Forum Supporter) :
Mike, so any of the ones you mention have a hard plastic shell like the Apple AirPods? IT's something I thought I'd hate, but I'm never going back to the little rubber/silicon donuts now I've had them.
is there a simple bluetooth box that you can use with your old plug-in headphones
plug your headphones in to the bluetooth box and stick it in your pocket//////
Just a thought !
I use these when I need them:
https://www.status.co/products/btstructure?variant=13852963831860
They were worth it at non-sale price I paid. Battery is really good and sound quality is really excellent for the price (dual drivers).
And they come with 3 different sizes of nice, soft rubber for the part that goes in your ear (eartips) and also the part that helps hold them in the outer part (wings) as well. As noted by the two arrows I added to this screenshot.
Mndsm
MegaDork
10/9/20 11:14 a.m.
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/sennheiser-cx-sport-wireless-earphones-review
I just bought the sennheiser cx sports. After the performance I got out of my gaming headset, I decided to try sennheiser a second time after suffering the same no 3.5 jack malady. I am not disappointed, though the string connecting them is a bit small for me, because I have a giant stupid head and a lot of hair.
In reply to Mndsm :
I wear a size 8 fitted hat, without hair, so I can comiserate.
Mndsm
MegaDork
10/9/20 11:20 a.m.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Mndsm :
I wear a size 8 fitted hat, without hair, so I can comiserate.
Sidebar- what do you wear for a track helmet? I have an absolute bear of a time finding a lid- and I too wear a size 8 fitted.
There are quite a few on sale for the Amazon Prime Days Oct 13-14. Some you can get now at that sale price. I picked up the Sony ones for $70-some dollars yesterday. I've used them for 45 minutes and so far aso good.
In reply to Mndsm :
I have a g force full face, but the crew at OG Racing does some replacement of foam inserts to get me additional space. The inserts are definitely the key component more than the brand helmet itself. It being safety equipment, I leave it to them to do instead of rolling to poptronics house of foam and doing it myself.
I ran through 4 or 5 sets of Powerbeats Pros before I got one that was marginally OK - They all had pretty bad issues and firmware updates that would make them stop working with Garmin and Android. Seriously - why do headphones have firmware updates? Only thing that was nice about the Powerbeats Pros was they had physical buttons instead of touch sensors.
Then I had the JBL something or other wireless bluetooth. Miserable pieces of crap.
Now I have the J Lab Epic Air Sport and they have been 100% awesome. Cant speak highly enough of them.
Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Mike (Forum Supporter) :
Mike, so any of the ones you mention have a hard plastic shell like the Apple AirPods? IT's something I thought I'd hate, but I'm never going back to the little rubber/silicon donuts now I've had them.
They all have three sizes of silicone ear inserts.
I almost bought the Galaxy Buds Live, which mostly interface with your ear using hard plastic. I skipped them because reviews suggested the passive noise blocking was weaker, and I wanted to use them on the plane.
I hate to bump this, but it seemed relevant. The deal came up in one of my tech blog feeds that Galaxy Buds Live are $135 at Woot if you're a Prime member. I think it's a Prime Day thing, but I'm not sure.
https://sellout.woot.com/offers/samsung-galaxy-buds-live-wireless-earbuds-1
