Bluetooth Ear Buds

[Beantown Express 2.0 6568]

I couldn't find a thread on Ear buds/headphones so I thought I would start one.  Need some recs on the best Bluetooth ear buds to use with my iPhone.  I currently own some Bang & Olufsen Beoplay 8's which have great sound but the left earbud keeps dying while I am out and about and it is really pissing me off.  Looking for something that is wireless with great sound but also good call sound quality as I switch between listening to music and making phone calls.  I also use them when exercising so add that in to what I am looking for.  Every review I look at on Amazon for Air pods, Bose, Sennheiser, Beats, Jabra, Sony all vary so much from greatest ever to total pieces of shit/don't buy.  I was hoping Surly could weigh in on the subject and I could get some "real" reviews.

[crash_davis 23162]

best earbuds review site on the net. this dude buys most of the buds that he reviews. honest reviews.

https://www.scarbir.com/

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by crash_davis

[crash_davis 23162]

for most of the buds, voice calls are an afterthought. most sound like shit for voice calling. 

however, the new samsung galaxy buds live (the beans) have THE BEST voice call quality that i've heard in watching copious amounts of earbud reviews on yahoo.

good video showing the difference in voice quality. 

 

[Jerry Callo 8839]

I have a pair of Jabra Elite Active 65t which are great.  Long battery life, good sound, sweat proof, and 4 mics for better voice call quality.  I think there is a Elite 75t now.

[RPM 26431]

I bought a cheap pair off Amazon ($24 w/coupon) and they kick all kinds of ass. They're made by OKG, have impressive sound, battery lasts about 5 hours of continuous use, case holds 24 hours of charge. 

[crash_davis 23162]

Most earbuds now have decent to great SQ. The issue is mic and call quality. 

At minimum, the earbuds should have BT5.0. APTX and latest QC chipset is a bit misleading because it really depends on the drivers in the earbuds. I have a great pair of dual driver earbuds, Bass is tight, sound staging is impeccable, everything sounds clear and balanced. Mic sucks and fit is just OK. But I got it for $40 so I'm not complaining.

Last week I just bought a OG airpods clones because I don't want the in ear sealed earbuds for working out. The sweaty, dirty, closed seal of the rubber fit led me to have repeated ear infections. The airpod clones cost $15 and the SQ is amazing for open earbud type. Haven't tried the mic. Long story to say that most earbuds even at $15 is probably going to have good SQ. They are a little bigger than airpods but if you already are wearing douchepods, does it matter the size?

https://www.techbargains.com/deals/pleson-bluetooth-earbuds

 

The issue is how much does OP care about mic and call quality. 

Edited August 13, 2020 by crash_davis

[Hate 20164]

I have the Airpods and love them.  They sound great, are comfortable, and I've had no issues with phone audio. 

[Dbeasy 15241]

AirPod pros were fantastic until five days ago, when they developed a cracklings noise. Google it and many are having this issue.

[Beantown Express 2.0 6568]

Thanks for the all the advice.  Decided to go with the new Sennheiser Momentum 2 ear buds.  Ordered them on Amazon this afternoon and they were delivered within 2 hours.  The sound on these is quite incredible.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

I have a long, expensive history with wireless IEMs.  I've had a ton of cheapies like Soundcore Liberty and other Chinese disposable junk, but here are just the highlights:

First for me were the B&O E8s.  They were great mostly because they were the first high-end "total wireless" buds and they worked out of the box without issues.  Butthey're really hard to fit properly.  Sometimes I just can't get bass at all due to the shape and how they fit in my ear.  It's kind of a known point of discussion on head-fi that they just don't fit well for a lot of people.  Even when you do manage to fit them, they sound pretty anemic compared to what's out there now.

So I got the Earin M2 next.  They are the coolest I own hands down from a gadget standpoint.  Cool case, tiny buds, cool features, great app (best EQ and tuning by far).  They even sound good on calls.  But they sound like shit on everything else.  Like a speaker right before it blows.  Bloated and muffled.  Think "free headphones" sound.

Next was the Master and Dynamic MW07.  Beautiful looking, almost like art - the grey terrazzo slabs in the shiny chrome case look like they cost a fortune.  Actual physical buttons for volume and pairing, which is so much better than touch control.  And the sound is fantastic on almost everything but an iPhone - because they don't support AAC and iPhones don't support aptx.  So they don't get much use from me since my iPhone is my primary source.  I'll probably part with them but they're nice to look at.

So then I bought the Momentum True Wireless from Sennheiser.  Hands down, they have the best sound.  It's really not even close.  Almost as good as a nice wired pair of headphones.  But they have a fatal flaw - they drain battery (both buds and case) whether you use them or not.  I'd use them, put them in the case and go to a meeting, then come back 3-4 hours later and they were dead or close to it.  So you basically have to keep the case plugged to a charger all the time.  They also have the worst touch controls of any of the ones I've tried.  Oh, and the app's crap if you care.  But I kept them and still use them at home because they just sound so good.

I recently tried the Momentum True Wireless 2 - they seem to have mostly fixed the battery drain thing, but they just don't sound as good as the first gen.  So much worse that I returned them.   I'd put their sound a distant fourth with the first gen the clear frontrunner.  They're the only ones on this list I don't still have.

In the end, the AirPods Pro won (at least so far) as my "daily driver."  The ease of use is off the charts for an iPhone or iPad (and even AppleTV while the wife is asleep), they're a lot smaller and more portable in the case than any of the others, the touch controls work the best, the battery life is the best overall, and the sound quality is surprisingly good if you get a good seal.  The regular AirPods were total crap, but these are so much better.  I'd put them right behind the MW07 as the third best sounding, and in first place on everything else by a mile  - except maybe the controls (second to the MW07).

[Irish Wrist Watch 1413]

I have some Mpow Jaws. Shitty microphone. volume too low on music. Avoid at all cost.

[Baboontyme 2840]

I bought and either threw away or returned about 5 pairs before I said fuck it and bought the Powerbeat Pros. Everything was too quiet, didn't stay on my ears, shitty sound quality, etc. They kick ass and I'm glad I spent the money on them. Of course, I was looking for something to wear while working out, back when going to a gym was an actual thing. 

[Gator Dave 14]

On 8/13/2020 at 10:55 AM, Jerry Callo said:

I have a pair of Jabra Elite Active 65t which are great.  Long battery life, good sound, sweat proof, and 4 mics for better voice call quality.  I think there is a Elite 75t now.

+1

[Smax 3800]

I have a pair of Jabra Elite Active 65t which are great.  Long battery life, good sound, sweat proof, and 4 mics for better voice call quality.  I think there is a Elite 75t now.

I have these too, they're good just wish they were louder

[52-80 19283]

If you have iPhone, buy airpods pro.

If you don't have iPhone, buy iPhone and then airpods pro.

 

I have the Jabra 65t.  It has frequent wonky connection issues (which is likely my Huawei phone which is aggressive with battery management).  And then often the left and right buds don't pair together.

 

Other than that, it's decent.

 

[Beantown Express 2.0 6568]

On 8/14/2020 at 4:46 PM, 52-80 said:

If you have iPhone, buy airpods pro.

If you don't have iPhone, buy iPhone and then airpods pro.

 

I have the Jabra 65t.  It has frequent wonky connection issues (which is likely my Huawei phone which is aggressive with battery management).  And then often the left and right buds don't pair together.

 

Other than that, it's decent.

 

I have an iPhone and so far the Sennheiser’s are fantastic.  I think they sound great and they connect to my iPhone as soon as I stick them in my ears.  They are easy to use and pretty comfortable also.  The only issue I have, and maybe it’s my bad hearing, but I need to turn them up almost all the way or all the way to get the sound I am looking for.  Not sure if that is normal or not but everything else about them is awesome.

[Your Mom 4883]

I have the Jabra active elites and I have all kinds of connection problems with them. Sometimes I connect them to my Garman watch for music from it, other times I connect them to my phone.  It has problems pairing to a new device if I change it like that every single time. And even if I’m not switching to a new device it’s still has problems about a half the time pairing to the same device it was on the last time. I ended up going with the AirPods Pro after that. It works so much better with both my phone and my watch.  I’m no audiophile but when I play music it sounds good to me and when I sit in the back of an airplane it drowns out a pretty good amount of the engine hum.

I tried my best not to just be another Apple fanboy and buy their product just because it’s made by Apple. But they just work so much better and I’m happy I switched. 

[Spur08 382]

I hate my Jabras and will sell them if you want. Kill my ears and always falling out

[texasjacket 289]

The beats pro wireless are another pair that just work with apple devices too. I prefer to have the clip over my ear for more secure feeling. 

[BBQ2Bayou 807]

On 8/25/2020 at 8:49 PM, Spur08 said:

I hate my Jabras and will sell them if you want. Kill my ears and always falling out

You a salesman?

[Spur08 382]

You a salesman?

Nope

[A-Tex Devil 2468]

Thoughts on excellent sweatproof wireless bluetooth headphones?  I was using and loving AirPods Pro, but they have quickly and completely deteriorated after about 8 months of use and that seems to be typical (at least for people that were using them during workouts).  I need something more durable.  

I am willing to spend up on Bose, Jabra or Beats, but prefer not to.  I need it be able to deal with sweat, have a good mic, easy charging, and OK with a connecting wire.  Would like noise cancelling/ambient options as well.  

The internet is all over the place, so not seeing consensus.

[Hate 20164]

https://www.klipsch.com/products/t5-ii-true-wireless-earphones-mclaren

[NoName 16645]

On 8/13/2020 at 10:55 AM, Jerry Callo said:

I have a pair of Jabra Elite Active 65t which are great.  Long battery life, good sound, sweat proof, and 4 mics for better voice call quality.  I think there is a Elite 75t now.

you can currently get refurb'd 65t's (sometimes active, sometimes not) for about $40 if you look around either at newegg or direct from Jabra via their ebay page

https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?src=SearchBarV2&q=jabra+65t&searcharea=deals&searchin=first

the 65t's are fantastic and I can't stress that enough. i do not think there is a better deal on true wireless BT buds than these guys at $40 - but then again, i felt that way when they were $75 and $50 as well.

if you are willing to spend more money, then 75t's have gone one some sales and will get an update that pushes some level of active noise cancellation and the 85t's (just announced: https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/22/21449423/jabra-elite-85t-earbuds-announced-active-noise-cancellation-75t) will have an ANC chip on board but will cost $229

you can get refurb'd 75t's for about $100 if you poke around on slickdeals

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by NoName

[NoName 16645]

other places to look/read review that are highly recommended:

The Wirecutter has some iffy staff and reviewers, but their headphones reviewer is excellent - here is their True Wireless recs: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-wireless-earbuds/

their pick is the Jabra Elite 75t, runner up is the Powerbeats Pro (also best for apple users) and under "the competition" they have some info on a ton of others that they reviewed, out of 250+ they have tested

 

Will Smith (the tested guy, not the actor) has recommended using rtings in the past for their reviews, which are super in depth and allow you to compare buds to each other in a ton of great ways:

review page: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/best

"best" overall wireless reviews (includes tethered): https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/best/wireless-bluetooth-earbuds-in-ear-headphones

best true wireless reviews: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/best/by-type/truly-wireless-earbuds

their winner is the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ Truly Wireless

if you want to poke around review or verify/compare a ton of different buds (or even just 2) rtings is great for that.

[Catpfish 618]

A piggyback question...I'm looking for wireless earbuds that I can wear while mowing with some type of noise cancellation ability.  I have a zero-turn so the motor is right behind me.  I have some Walker shooting protection with bluetooth and they work well, but they are over the ear and get very dirty and uncomfortable after a couple of hours.  Bose is coming out with a new quietcomfort earbud next month, so no reviews on them yet.  Airpod pro gets the best current reviews but I was wondering how well they would cancel a motor right behind you.

[A-Tex Devil 2468]

46 minutes ago, Catpfish said:

A piggyback question...I'm looking for wireless earbuds that I can wear while mowing with some type of noise cancellation ability.  I have a zero-turn so the motor is right behind me.  I have some Walker shooting protection with bluetooth and they work well, but they are over the ear and get very dirty and uncomfortable after a couple of hours.  Bose is coming out with a new quietcomfort earbud next month, so no reviews on them yet.  Airpod pro gets the best current reviews but I was wondering how well they would cancel a motor right behind you.

The AirPod Pros were great for me as far as noise cancellation (my WFH study is right next door to my daughter's remote learning "classroom," and I couldn't hear a thing).They also have an option for letting ambient sound in clearly.  I loved them for home office calls and for running. But they get dirty, are a pain to clean (sweat/earwax buildup) and really degraded fast.  If used all the time, I think durability is a serious issue at that price point (mine were a gift from a work vendor).  I also had the squeaking issues that folks have talked about and just had to turn ANC and ambient off.

Edited September 24, 2020 by A-Tex Devil

[crash_davis 23162]

i have purchase or owned 13 different earbuds: $230 Airpod pros, $130 Airpods Gen 2, $130 Samsung Galaxy Buds+, to a shitton of sub $40 earbuds.

for sound quality, there is absolutely NO reason why you should pay more than $40-50 for wireless earbuds. you can find some really good SQ earbuds for around $25-30. for my taste (neutral, non bright, non basshead, sound) my $40 soundpeats truengine se earbuds are the best sounding earbuds. they have dual drivers. the sound staging is damn incredible for $40 earbuds. Airpod Pros SQ is decent, but meh for the price. Samsung Galaxy buds+ sound better then the Airpod pros but are still not worth $130. For SQ, my second favorite pair only costs $25. for open earbuds (orig Airpods type), i have a $15 pair that sound so fucking much better than the $130 Gen 2 Airpods. sound is much more rounded and detailed with tighter and better bass.

earbuds are not like sound speakers where cabinet design, build, material and then crossover and speaker type and driver material, etc all play a complex equation in producing sound. there's only so many earbuds drivers and they are house in small plastic houses. there's only so much you can do to SQ. most all earbuds sound decent. it's really hard to find really bad sounding earbuds.

it's up to you how much the other features matter and at what price you are willing to pay. for me, some earbuds fit better than others. some are able to keep a better connection over others, but it really does depend on how many other bt devices/earbuds are near and interfering. like with anything wireless, all of the devices are sharing the same relatively small spectrum of wavelength. the more devices broadcasting and interfering in that wavelength, the shittier the connection.

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by crash_davis

[NoName 16645]

On 9/24/2020 at 9:32 AM, Catpfish said:

A piggyback question...I'm looking for wireless earbuds that I can wear while mowing with some type of noise cancellation ability.  I have a zero-turn so the motor is right behind me.  I have some Walker shooting protection with bluetooth and they work well, but they are over the ear and get very dirty and uncomfortable after a couple of hours.  Bose is coming out with a new quietcomfort earbud next month, so no reviews on them yet.  Airpod pro gets the best current reviews but I was wondering how well they would cancel a motor right behind you.

ive seen folks elsewhere just use good/decent earbuds + ear protection w/ decent sized cups so if it sticks out of your ear there isn't an issue.

[Catpfish 618]

Never even considered that.  Thanks for the tip...but just the tip

[Your Mom 4883]

On 9/24/2020 at 9:32 AM, Catpfish said:

A piggyback question...I'm looking for wireless earbuds that I can wear while mowing with some type of noise cancellation ability.  I have a zero-turn so the motor is right behind me.  I have some Walker shooting protection with bluetooth and they work well, but they are over the ear and get very dirty and uncomfortable after a couple of hours.  Bose is coming out with a new quietcomfort earbud next month, so no reviews on them yet.  Airpod pro gets the best current reviews but I was wondering how well they would cancel a motor right behind you.

I like my Airpods Pro but there's no way they'll drown out a mower motor.  They'll make it more bearable, but there will still be no question you're sitting on a mower.  I use them on airplanes all the time and it quiets the engine hum to a relaxing level but you can still hear it.  A mower right under your ass would be a lot louder.  I've used them with my push mower and been glad I had them but it's still a plenty of noise.  They are really impressive for the amount of noise cancelling in such a small package, but they are nowhere near as quiet as a high end pair of noise cancelling over-the-ear cups.  Even passive cups would be quieter.