Anc earbuds that will stay in your ears

[Baboontyme 2825]

The boys in my family must have mutant ear canals. When I was looking for a good pair of workout earbuds a couple of years ago I couldn't find any that would stay in my ears even with different sized tips. I finally settled on the Powerbeat Pros with the hook and they have great sound but no ANC. Got my 13 year old a pair of ANC buds on sale by Phillips but they don't stay in his ears, even trying all of the different tips. Absolutely want ANC for him as he's got some anxiety issues and random noise bothers him. Don't really want to spend $300 if I don't have to and I don't think airpod pros or whatever are going to stick in his ears any better than the Philips set we already have. 

I turn to the surl for recs.

[Rimbo 26139]

Bought my son and I each Jabra Elite 75ts. They sound amazing, have insane battery life, and come with multiple pad sizes. Only in-ear buds I've ever actually enjoyed using.

[pops 7007]

Go to Amazon and get some memory foam tips. They are basically the same material expanding ear plugs are made out of. 

I got a pair of galaxy bud pro 2's after my original galaxy buds shit the bed. I hated the tips and none of the sizes worked. Was going to return them when someone gave me the above advice. Best 15 bucks I've spent in a long time. Sound is better,  fit is better,  anc works better and I can leave them in longer without my ears getting sore. 

[Elvis 3375]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KFPPJ3Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

These have been pretty good for working out and yard work.

[52-80 19262]

that all the different tips are rubber/silicone tubes in different sizes means they wont necessarily fit if you are unusual ear shapes.

just get foam tips.  roll them tight and let them expand back out ,like youre putting in sound protectors.  presto blamo.

[Sam Lin 3561]

If you have very oddly shaped ear canals, or listen for serious lengths of time (>6hr continuous), or consider having a set of custom earmolds made for whatever choice of earbud you prefer. A good earmold blocks more sound than any earplug, the headphones sound better because the ear seal is perfect, and the perfect fit means you never get a sore spot or discomfort even after extended wear. You may find ANC to be totally unnecessary with an earmold (which is also a potential downside, if you need to hear your ambient for safety or for communication like in an office or riding a bike). But to give an idea, I listen with custom earmolds and usually have my device set to the lowest volume, one notch above zero, even in fairly noisy environments like machine shop or airplane cabin. I can wear them for 12hrs straight, zero discomfort, totally forget they're in.

Cost is the obvious downside - audiologist charges 60-100 to make the impressions, then the earmold company charges another 100-200 to make the earmold, and then you still need to buy the earbud to install in the earmold. And then you're "locked" to that earbud - if you ever change brands, you need to make another earmold (no need to do a new impression though, the earmold maker will usually keep your impression on file for X number of years).

Here are some example providers, not a recommendation:

https://www.plugup.com/bluetooth_custom_ear_molds_p/bt.htm

https://www.averysound.com/as.bluetooth_cell_phone_earpieces.html

Again, if you have very oddly shaped ear canals, this is really the best way to go.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10357]

They aren't in your ear, but I love my SHOKZ bone conducting headphones that I got for similar reasons (and safer when running outside)

[Lurch 5931]

For AirPods, i came across the suggestion for using the original tips on top of aftermarket memory foam and it’s worked quite well for me.

[Francisco 2.0 32431]

I can't recommend these highly enough,  no matter what earbuds you use:

 

https://www.complyfoam.com

 

 

 

 

 

[Baboontyme 2825]

We got the Jabra elite active 7s, similar to what @Rimbo recommended. They seem to stay in well for him. I ordered some generic memory foam tips from Amazon and we're going to try them out and see if they improve the fit or anc. 

Kind of OT but I bought these and after 3 nights I fucking love them. There are some improvements they could make to the overall ecosystem for sure but they fit nicely in my ears and I don't notice them at all and I'm a side sleeper. I guess I don't need to bring a noise machine with me when I travel anymore. 

https://www.amazon.com/Bose-Sleepbuds-II-technology-Clinically/dp/B08FRR6Z1N

[Francisco 2.0 32431]

5 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

 

Kind of OT but I bought these and after 3 nights I fucking love them. There are some improvements they could make to the overall ecosystem for sure but they fit nicely in my ears and I don't notice them at all and I'm a side sleeper. I guess I don't need to bring a noise machine with me when I travel anymore. 

https://www.amazon.com/Bose-Sleepbuds-II-technology-Clinically/dp/B08FRR6Z1N

 

My wife is on her third pair; she had the original Sleepbuds back in 2018, but those were recalled due to poor bluetooth and battery issues.  Bose gave me a full refund when the II came out (2019), so my wife had those for 3 years.  Eventually, the battery life on those degraded to maybe 5-6 hours a night, so I purchased her another set of the II.  

She swears by them; when I met her, she had to use a sound machine to sleep, which continued on after we married.  Ever her since her first pair of Sleepbuds, she hasn't had to use any white noise machines.

 

 

[Baboontyme 2825]

I like em. I've been sleeping with a box fan bedside since college if not before. The whole app/case/charging thing isn't great but it sounds like those things may be addressed when the 3s come out and those are minor inconveniences for my personal situation. 

[Francisco 2.0 32431]

12 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

I like em. I've been sleeping with a box fan bedside since college if not before. The whole app/case/charging thing isn't great but it sounds like those things may be addressed when the 3s come out and those are minor inconveniences for my personal situation. 

 

The original Sleepbuds and the second generation use the same app, case, etc.  You couldn't tell the two apart from just looking at them.

Like anything, I'm sure there will be a 3rd gen coming along sometime.  FYI; my wife thought of pairing both sets of hers to her phone, so she would have a travel and house set.  The app will only allow one set at a time paired.  

 

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21106]

A little off the original request and the direction the thread has taken, but not far enough to merit a new thread. 

I have some $30 Amazon Earfun earbuds, and they work just fine for my purposes, but occasionally I find them very frustrating because the little tiny charging connection points sometimes fail to make adequate contact with both earbuds while they're charging inside their case, and there's no easy way to tell when this problem is happening - I basically just have to play roulette at the beginning of each flight, and when I lose, I have to make sure that there isn't a micron of dirt anywhere that might impede the connection, and then I have to dig my battery pack out of the deepest recesses of my briefcase and hook them up to charge for a while. 

Any suggestions for earbuds that are especially effective and foolproof at charging? 

[Lurch 5931]

AirPods with modified tips have the same problem, but fortunately there is a charging light to warn you. Whatever you find, be sure to look for that case functionality. I’d have tossed my airpods without it

[Baboontyme 2825]

Same issue with Powerbeat Pros. Fucking annoying. I've learned to press them back into the case before I take them out to put them on to make sure the white light is on and not the red, but if it's the red then I'm still SOL because I'm ready to leave to go somewhere I intend to wear them and now I have to wait 30 minutes for them to charge. That's an impressive sentence. 

[Sam Lin 3561]

My set of Jabra seems to do pretty reliably for charging. Case does have charge indicator LED. Bought them refurb for pretty cheap, I think 30-40?

 

They do have a known issue where the little magnets in the charge case come loose and don't trigger charge reliably, but you can peel the silicone back on the case and re-glue the magnets easily. I have not had that failure on mine.

[Prepuce of Doom 21106]

C'mon, Sam! Used earbuds?! Braver man that I... 

I found some random crap on Amazon that appears to have very clear charging displays, so hopefully I'm good to go. 

[Sam Lin 3561]

Refurb at least for Jabra means you get new silicone ear tips, so I wasn't concerned. $20 is $20 man...

[Prepuce of Doom 21106]

30 minutes ago, Sam Lin said:

Refurb at least for Jabra means you get new silicone ear tips, so I wasn't concerned. $20 is $20 man...

Just the tips?