Looking for a good set of earbuds, less than $100. Use with my iPhone 6 mainly. Don’t need/want a mic built in. One of the biggest complaints i have with my current set is the wires are extremely flimsy and tend to curl up.
Thanks
Is this where I say AirPods and you get mad I’m ignoring your criteria?
(AirPods are awesome)
Best Apple product I’ve purchased in 5 years. Which includes a MacBook Air 2013, and MacBook Pro with Touchbar 2016, a fourth generation AppleTV and a couple of iPhones.
I know they’re out of Jeff’s stated price range, but I cannot overstate how awesome true wireless headphones are. And the way they seamlessly pair and switch between my various devices is awesome. Though the auto-pause when removing one from an ear canal is by far my favourite feature. That, and playing with the case all day long, snapping the magnetic lid open and closed, open and closed, open and closed… it’s hypnotic.
Oh, and they sound really good, too. Not great, but easily as good as the head-fi approved Mee Electronics in ears I was previously using.
Not to turn this into an AirPods thread, but are they they same shape as the normal Apple earbuds? I find the traditional ones Apple gave out to be really uncomfortable, and after using ear buds for a while my ears hurt.
So are those AirPods comfortable? I’d hate to sink a ton of cash into AirPods and have them be unusable.
To answer @JeffL’s quetion: Because of my hatred for normal ear buds, I tend to use what’s called ‘earhook headphones.’ I don’t have any specific recommendations but you can certainly type that into Amazon and have a lot of choices!
They do have the same shape but I found that due the lack of wires I could position them more effectively into my ears. Your mileage may definitely vary, and they will let you try on a (sanitized) pair at the Apple Store if you ask. So find out for yourself!
If you are comfortable with this format then I highly recommend the following:
They are very reasonable and won’t fall out your ear, onto the floor, and be eaten by the dog.
I’m going to be even more that guy and say forget earbuds, get wireless over-ears.
I went through this same deal not long ago. I’m hard on earphones. For work on the road I use headsets, for music at the gym or elsewhere I like earbuds. For home I have some decent over the ear earphones, but even there I get tired of cords, or my fucking dog decides that the connector looks like food.
Here is where I went for help:
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/wiki/recommendations
Pick your type and your price range and go for it.
I love the AirPods but ended up returning mine because they simply didn’t fit well in the gym. The minute I got on a treadmill, they started falling out. For the gym, I went with Power Beats 3, paired with Comply SX-400 sports foam ear tips. Those foam tips are a life changer. I can stay on a treadmill for an hour and never have to adjust the PB3’s. For me that’s a miracle. The PB3’s sound way better than my previous gym headphones, over-ear Sennheiser PX100’s.
I’m also sold on Apple’s W1 chip. The ease in pairing, the excellent BT connectivity… well worth the premium.
What are you using them for? Exercise? Travel? Listening to music at a desk?
I just picked up these last weekend.
They’re pretty large but they have a long battery life and sweat resistance. I’ve had good enough results from Sony that I tend to stick with them for workout music stuff. I had some Jaybirds and they were kind of a hassle, tended to get tangled, always dead, and eventually they broke after a couple of months. These otoh are pretty damn big and I’m not sold on how much extra bass I’m getting here, I think probably the $50 version that are smaller are a better deal.
I just looked this up and these look cool. I mean I didn’t even know these existed until now. I have the 50$ version sans all that other junk and I really like those since I don’t have to have a phone on me to listen to music and they’re water proof rather than water resistant (ie you can wash and swim in them).
Wait, you actually have to wear that thing around your neck and it’s not cumbersome/annoying?
You don’t really feel it, it’s very light, like wearing a necklace.
I was in the market a few months ago for some good earbuds as well. I went with 1More Earbuds. They have a ton of different tips with them, but they do have a mic on the right side. The sound quality is super nice compared to my old ones.
I have one for the gym as well, though mine are much smaller earbuds. They are powered by charging one side, usually, thus the cable connecting the two sides supplies power and audio to the other earbud as well. They don’t normally catch on anything while at the gym, as you put them behind your head. I even squat with mine on, but I’m a rebel.
EDIT: Here is the model I use for the gym.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NZTHGN2
I’m also generally a fan of Sony earbuds. For the price they tend to have the best sound quality, IMO. Particularly the low ranges. So many others, and especially Apple ones, have this hollow sound due to the lower dynamic range. This is, for me, the biggest concern as it drastically degrades the listening experience for a metalhead such as me. Their life spans have been generally decent, and I am hard on them as well, with them being used for frequent and vigorous exercise.
Currently have a set of Motorollas that I use that are ok, but I’ve found the rubber they use to break down quickly due to sweat. Got them for free at work though, so can’t complain too hard, but will go back to Sony when they break.
Thanks for the replies. I would use these for listening to music, audible books, and podcasts at home and while working out and also on flights. So I need something that fits well, doesn’t have much sound bleed (no one likes sitting next to someone on the plane and being forced to listen to what they are listening to) and had decent sound quality.
My problem with the air pods - I love the idea of wireless. However, the Apple ear buds have never fit my ears, they fall out easily, aren’t very comfortable, and perhaps because they fall out easily the sound isn’t so great. The air pods are expensive I suspect from looking at them have the same problems as the Apple ear buds do for me. Also - I like the idea of wireless/bluetooth a lot, but I would need some really good battery life for longer flights.
I’ve never tried anything that looped over my ears or hung around my neck. I’m not sure that wouldn’t be distracting. But never tried.
I’m a convert to this format. I’ve not tried the Mpow model Chappers suggests, but I have an LG Model. The earbuds retract into the housing (akin to snapping back the cord in a vacuum cleaner) so you never have to deal w/ tangled cords. The band around your neck is not at all uncomfortable, and the design allows for better battery life. Work great with any Apple or Android device I’ve paired them to, and they don’t fall out when exercising, they’re designed for exercise.
They probably won’t fix the ‘thin cord, gets tangled’ problem, but it is hard to recommend $50 earbuds when these are just as good:
There is a reason why the various colors of these occupy 9 of the top 10 best-seller spots in earbuds on Amazon.
I’m not always sure that’s a reliable metric. It feels too close to saying McDonald’s clearly must have the best hamburgers. (I’m not critiquing those earbuds - I use crappy $5 ones most of the time, because I can only barely tell a difference in a gym setting between those and some silly $120 Bose earbuds I won in a drawing).