What earbuds do you recommend?

[Fizzzzle]

Tonight I  lost one of my Jabra Elite 75whatevers. They're black, I dropped one as I was putting it into my ear, it was midnight, I looked for like 15 minutes and never found it. So, uh. yeah, it's gone. Unless it's still there if I walk by there in the morning.

 

ANYWAY, assuming it's gone forever, what do you use/recommend? I can't fucking stand airpods, they don't sit in my ear very well at all. I've had raycons, they're okay for a cheap alternative, but they're not great.

[Bacon]

I hate how blue tooth earbuds have all this shit that I don't care about. I don't need any other functions other than audio. I don't want all this dumb bullshit. It is why I still use wired with an adapter. Shit is more expensive than my 558.

[Slug]

I'm not a big audo dude.  I like to balance value and functionality with decent sound.

 

For general day-to-day listening I use Skullcandy Sesh.  They are inexpensive and sound good and do all the things I want them to.

 

For activity I have a pair of Plantronics BackBeats similar to these; they are the only line of buds that I've found that effectively stay in my ears while running/jumping.  Because it sucks to be finally hitting your groove a few miles into a run and a bud pops out and you gotta stop and search for it. 

[Keyser_Soze]

48 minutes ago, Slug said:

I'm not a big audo dude.  I like to balance value and functionality with decent sound.

 

For general day-to-day listening I use Skullcandy Sesh.  They are inexpensive and sound good and do all the things I want them to.

 

You don't care about the sound just if you look cool

[Chris-]

I have an older version of Beats Flex and I really like them...Sound quality is nice, pairs really easily with my phone/computer. Affordable too. 

[Slug]

23 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

You don't care about the sound just if you look cool

I got 'em for all the lookie-loos who lean in real close and stare into my ears as I'm walking around. 

[Joe]

4 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

Tonight I  lost one of my Jabra Elite 75whatevers. They're black, I dropped one as I was putting it into my ear, it was midnight, I looked for like 15 minutes and never found it. So, uh. yeah, it's gone. Unless it's still there if I walk by there in the morning.

 

ANYWAY, assuming it's gone forever, what do you use/recommend? I can't fucking stand airpods, they don't sit in my ear very well at all. I've had raycons, they're okay for a cheap alternative, but they're not great.

 

I have those too. What do you think of them? Quality is amazing, but I find them uncomfortable.

[Fizzzzle]

8 minutes ago, Joe said:

 

I have those too. What do you think of them? Quality is amazing, but I find them uncomfortable.

The Jabras? The sound quality is awesome. I didn't have problems with comfort, but they didn't pair with a couple of my older devices like my chromebook or my bluetooth transmitter. And I basically had to reset them every time I wanted to pair them with my PC. A lovely pain in the ass, basically.

[Chairslinger]

8 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

Tonight I  lost one of my Jabra Elite 75whatevers. They're black, I dropped one as I was putting it into my ear, it was midnight, I looked for like 15 minutes and never found it. So, uh. yeah, it's gone. Unless it's still there if I walk by there in the morning.

 

ANYWAY, assuming it's gone forever, what do you use/recommend? I can't fucking stand airpods, they don't sit in my ear very well at all. I've had raycons, they're okay for a cheap alternative, but they're not great.

 

 

Couldn't you find it by sound? My Samsung Galaxy buds have an option to remotely beep them from the phone, but barring that couldn't you have found it by just blasting some really loud music through it and locate it by sound?

 

Judging by your post and depending on the battery life of the buds time is probably running out on that as an option if it hasn't already.

[Fizzzzle]

1 minute ago, Chairslinger said:

 

 

Couldn't you find it by sound? My Samsung Galaxy buds have an option to remotely beep them from the phone, but barring that couldn't you have found it by just blasting some really loud music through it and locate it by sound?

 

Judging by your post and depending on the battery life of the buds time is probably running out on that as an option if it hasn't already.

I tried the music idea, I couldn't hear anything. I live in the middle of the city, though, so it's not terribly surprising. The Jabras naturally just shut off after about 30 minutes of no input, so the battery actually lasts incredibly long if there's no sound coming through. I've had them out of the case for a like a day and a half before and they still have life left.

[Brian]

[Bloodporne]

On 4/8/2021 at 4:57 AM, Fizzzzle said:

Tonight I  lost one of my Jabra Elite 75whatevers. They're black, I dropped one as I was putting it into my ear, it was midnight, I looked for like 15 minutes and never found it. So, uh. yeah, it's gone. Unless it's still there if I walk by there in the morning.

 

ANYWAY, assuming it's gone forever, what do you use/recommend? I can't fucking stand airpods, they don't sit in my ear very well at all. I've had raycons, they're okay for a cheap alternative, but they're not great.

I have some studio-quality recording ear buds but completely forgot the model right now. I'll check when I get home if you're not in a rush to make a purchase. They're great quality and around $110?

[TheLeon]

Last summer, I was fed up with my usual cheap buds and splurged on a pair of Air Pod Pros. I loved them, they worked perfectly, fit in my ears better than any previous Apple buds, and then some time in the last couple weeks I lost them because I can't have nice things. So now I'm back to using some $30 no name garbage buds that are totally fine for my needs.

 

I realize none of that useful. 

[Iculus]

most major retailers have a clearance section. Find one that has headphones/earbuds. I picked up a $300 set of ote headphones from Target for $80. I'm not suggesting that you will find what you are looking for. It's worth a look though. 

[Biggie]

4 hours ago, TheLeon said:

Last summer, I was fed up with my usual cheap buds and splurged on a pair of Air Pod Pros. I loved them, they worked perfectly, fit in my ears better than any previous Apple buds, and then some time in the last couple weeks I lost them because I can't have nice things. So now I'm back to using some $30 no name garbage buds that are totally fine for my needs.

 

I realize none of that useful. 

I have been thinking about upgrading to a pair of the Pros.  Worth it? Does The Leon recommend them?

[stepee]

I kinda want to get the pros some day, wish there was a non gross way to try them out. I got new airpods for Christmas as my old first gen ones were finally losing too much battery and was deciding to get pro or not. I ended up going with regular because I just couldn’t tell if the sound isolating and being more IN my ear would work for me well.

 

What I love about current airpods is I can’t even really feel them whatsoever. I use one airpod at a time usually for work calls and it works fantastic and I’m just not sure how pros would work for that.

[Fizzzzle]

My jabras had the hear-through thing like airpod pros, but I found that having it on meant I couldn't really listen to either what was out or in. The outside noises sounded garbly and whatever I would listen to would be muddled by the outside noise. So I basically never used it

[SimpleG]

Jlab Icons

They are under $40, the sound is fine nothing premier but at that price what can you expect. I like them because of the dust and sweat resistance, I use them on job sites and when I work out. 2 weeks ago I dropped one about 20 feet to the concrete and then it bounced between 2 flights of stairs for another 15 feet with no damage. 

[Fizzzzle]

14 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Jlab Icons

They are under $40, the sound is fine nothing premier but at that price what can you expect. I like them because of the dust and sweat resistance, I use them on job sites and when I work out. 2 weeks ago I dropped one about 20 feet to the concrete and then it bounced between 2 flights of stairs for another 15 feet with no damage. 

I need that premium sound

[Biggie]

27 minutes ago, stepee said:

I kinda want to get the pros some day, wish there was a non gross way to try them out. I got new airpods for Christmas as my old first gen ones were finally losing too much battery and was deciding to get pro or not. I ended up going with regular because I just couldn’t tell if the sound isolating and being more IN my ear would work for me well.

 

What I love about current airpods is I can’t even really feel them whatsoever. I use one airpod at a time usually for work calls and it works fantastic and I’m just not sure how pros would work for that.

I want a pair of Pros so bad. 

[Brian]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

I want a pair of Pros so bad. 

[Fizzzzle]

So, after using Galaxy Buds Pro for a little bit, and after having used Jabras, Raycons, and Airpods over the last couple years, here's my take:

 

 - Airpods don't fit in my ear, maybe they're awesome, but they suck for me. Plus they're the most expensive of the bunch.

 - Jabras - by far the best audio quality of the bunch, but they wouldn't pair to like half of my devices. Also best battery life. They wouldn't connect to my chromebook or my bluetooth transmitter, and I had to reset them every time I switched devices. Best bang for your buck in terms of audio quality, though.

 - Raycons - by far the cheapest, and the audio quality reflects that. However, by far also the easiest to use. The only ones that I NEVER had to reset when switching between devices. They just worked all the time with everything. They are not bad for $75.

 - Galaxy Buds Pro - Second best in audio quality, but worst in battery life. Also they have the same problem as Jabras where you have to reset them every time you switch devices, which is annoying, but they DO pair to everything, at least so far.

 

Also, the charging cases for the Raycons and the Galaxy Buds are terrible and you should replace them with something after market if you can. They basically guarantee that at some point you're going to make the earbuds fly out when you try to open it.

 

So, in summary:

Ease of use - Raycons or Airpods

Battery life - Jabras or Raycons

Audio quality - Jabras, Galaxy Buds a distant second

Price - Raycons, not even a distant second, the next closest are the Jabras and they're nearly twice as much

 

Worst of each:

Ease of use - Jabra Elites

Battery life - Galaxy Buds

Audio Quality - Raycons

Price - Airpods

[Jason]

@Fizzzzle If you have a Samsung phone and have returned the Buds Pro I think the Buds+ are the way to go and they're currently $100.

[Fizzzzle]

35 minutes ago, Jason said:

@Fizzzzle If you have a Samsung phone and have returned the Buds Pro I think the Buds+ are the way to go and they're currently $100.

I haven't returned the Pros, they suit me just fine so far. Every pair of buds I've tried have had  at least one thing I dislike about them. With these ones, the battery life isn't the greatest, the case sucks, and every time I try to adjust them in my ear I accidentally pause whatever I'm listening to. But the sound quality is really good (not as good as the Jabra Elites, but still good) and they actually pair with everything I've tried so far.

 

I'll stick with these until I inevitably lose them. One thing that I forgot is to order white ones. With black earbuds, you just have to drop one on the ground at night and it's like good luck ever finding it. I dropped one in my own room with the light on and it still took me like 15 minutes to find it, and that was with knowing roughly where I dropped it. Drop one outside in the dark, you're fucked.

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

I haven't returned the Pros, they suit me just fine so far. Every pair of buds I've tried have had  at least one thing I dislike about them. With these ones, the battery life isn't the greatest, the case sucks, and every time I try to adjust them in my ear I accidentally pause whatever I'm listening to. But the sound quality is really good (not as good as the Jabra Elites, but still good) and they actually pair with everything I've tried so far.

 

I'll stick with these until I inevitably lose them. One thing that I forgot is to order white ones. With black earbuds, you just have to drop one on the ground at night and it's like good luck ever finding it. I dropped one in my own room with the light on and it still took me like 15 minutes to find it, and that was with knowing roughly where I dropped it. Drop one outside in the dark, you're fucked.

 

If you drop the entire case this won't work but if you drop one of the Buds while they're connected there's something in the Galaxy Wear app to make them blast a really loud noise to help you locate them.

[Jason]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

 

If you drop the entire case this won't work but if you drop one of the Buds while they're connected there's something in the Galaxy Wear app to make them blast a really loud noise to help you locate them.

 

Edit to be clear I mean if you drop the case and the Buds are in the case. Basically the Buds will have to be connected, which they're not if they're in the case with the case closed. @Fizzzzle

[Jason]

45 minutes ago, BlueAngel said:

That's what I have currently, fantastic for the price although I didn't pay for them I got them free last year for getting my S20 Ultra. I'm eventually going to get the latest and greatest ones but for the time being they rock.

 

It sounds like they've completely abandoned wingtips which is annoying. I've seen some iffy things about the weighting of some of the new ones that don't have wingtips vs the ability of them to stay in your ear/not overly fatigue your ear with the extra weight but without the wingtips.

[Chris-]

I got a new MacBook Air and they came with free AirPods because of their back-to-school deal (grad school rules). They are pretty nice! Part of me wishes I upsold to the Pros because of the fit, but eh, not too distraught over it. 

[SuperSpreader]

Saks off 5th or Nordstrom Rack sometimes have electronics like this heavily discounted. Check the Best Buy online open box section (scroll down for categories)

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/electronics/outlet-refurbished-clearance/pcmcat142300050026.c?id=pcmcat142300050026

[Mercury33]

I’m gonna piggy back off this thread a bit. Any recommendations for good bluetooth headphones? Looking for something I can wear while mowing the lawn so would need to be able to stand up on the sound from the mower and the dirt/sweat that kinda goes with that too

[Kamusha]

I owned a pair of AirPods before upgrading to the Pro. I have larger than average ear holes so the regular AirPods, while convenient and easy to use, never felt completely comfortable for me. But Pros, with the right tips, fit just right. And the noise cancelling works like magic.

[stepee]

20 minutes ago, Rachel said:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDREX15AP-B-Black/dp/B00JG2WRUO/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?adgrpid=60098805270&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu7OIBhCsARIsALxCUaMk-pRTIkM3qKdUQhFebBcy6DsjFQWCaeoW4_LdwUhk7GcKelfXHRoaAqQ3EALw_wcB&hvadid=274738892341&hvdev=m&hvlocint=9009736&hvlocphy=9001337&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=18380802905454347986&hvtargid=kwd-309908651435&hydadcr=19255_9666099&keywords=sony+ear+buds&qid=1628270168&sr=8-5
 

I’ve been using these for years. Mind you they break a lot because either a cat chews them in half or I lose them or crush them somehow. So I’d rather keep replacing $10 ones than like expensive $100 ones. The sound quality is fine and so is the mic. I use the earbuds for phone calls, music, and gaming. Works well all around. 

 

I actually have the same model of cheap Sony’s that seem just like this except mine doesn’t have a mic. I just wanted something cheap hard wired (since I use airpods normally) to connect to my presonus audiobox to hear the live electric guitar/mic back. They work quite well! Good sound quality, comfortable, handles peak volumes well. If I was just looking for a basic wired headset I’d be totally fine with these.

[Rev]

I'm a pretty big fan of my Galaxy Buds Pro. I got them basically free with my phone. I like that I can easily use them one at a time while the other charges. My only real complaint is I wish they could get louder sometimes.

[Fizzzzle]

Alright one thing that officially annoys the fresh baked fuck out of me about the galaxy buds is that instead of a button to pause/play/etc, they use a touch censor that has a hair trigger. If you want to adjust them without pausing whatever you're listening to, you have to be very careful. I'd rather it just be a button.

 

Cautionary tale is over engineering

[TheLeon]

Why buy earbuds when you can subscribe to them?