21

Hello,

I've been using a pair of $20 no-name BT earbuds from Amazon for the last few years and they worked well enough for me, but the quality is starting to show in physical problems. The electronics still work fine but the charging ports have come loose etc. It's time for new earbuds and I would appreciate input.

I use the earbuds only with an Android phone (Google Pixel 6 Pro), and I don't use the assistant or AI or voice commands. My current earbuds have a terrible microphone so I can't make calls with them - improving this would maybe be nice but is not a big deal.

Features:

  • Price - Under $150 maybe? Soft limit I guess

  • Touch controls of some kind - mandatory. (start stop, volume)

  • Wireless charging of the case/battery pack - very cool, would be nice. Not mandatory

  • Case charging connector - USB-C I guess but Micro USB is fine. No Proprietary chargers because I tend to lose cables

  • Built-in assistant / AI / voice control - I won't use it and I don't want it. As long as I can ignore it I don't care what features of this type are included

  • Noise cancelling - Some is better than none but I don't need ultra-deluxe sound deadening 2000 pro 2.0

  • Sound quality - don't care. I'm not an audiophile, and I can't tell the difference between bitrates. I mostly listen to spoken podcasts and audiobooks, only occasionally music

  • Toughness - I won't wear them in the pool or in a sandstorm. I dropped the current ones only vary rarely

  • Shape - I prefer the replaceable rubber ear tips (what are they actually called?) to the hard nubs

top 23 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

Fairbuds.

That's the current best Bluetooth ear buds with user replaceable batteries that can be found at your budget. But they'll be used.

Beyond that, check out ifixit for their repairability reviews. But you won't be paying 150 for anything else, even used. Lowest I've seen fairbuds go for is about a hundred, and they were in good shape. Lowest I've seen the repairable Sonys reach is about 200, used. And don't ask about the bang & olufsen set, which is pretty much the best out there overall that's repairable, though I'd have to look up that model.

With true wireless buds, you either pay for crap that's useless when the battery fails (unless you're seriously skilled with rebuilding such things), or you pay out the nose for stuff you can keep going. What really sucks is that the prices on the better ones that you can't repair aren't even lower than the repairable options.

Having seen people go through high priced buds in a year or two and then the buds essentially die because they won't hold a charge, there's no way in hell I'd ever spend more than about thirty on a set that I can't swap them out without soldering. But you gotta pay up for the ones worth having, or be patient and be willing to buy used. Sometimes you can run across refurbished buds from repairable models as well, and they tend to hit about 3/4 of the original price.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

That's good advice, thank you very much.

[-] Srootus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

How is the sound sync? Ive been keeping an eye on their forum for a while and one thing I keep seeing is when watching videos, the sound to video synchronisation is enough to cause unhappy customers, I'd love to get some at some point but thats a significant wrinkle

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

On the fairbuds, I don't own them, I've only used them on loan for a few days.

That being said, I didn't notice any sync issues on YouTube, or the one movie I watched via HBO's service.

[-] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Which Sony's are repairable?

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

It's the Wf-1000xm3.

[-] swab148@lemm.ee 5 points 2 weeks ago

I just bought a set of Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 for $120, fantastic all around earbuds, but the best feature is that the voice (for when it's pairing and whatnot) can be set to the actual voice of Matt Berry, which is perfect for any fans of The IT Crowd or What We Do in the Shadows.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Ooh, that's a heck of a compelling feature. I'm sure it's not as exciting as well that, but what if it said "This is regular human bartender Jackie Daytona reminding you to keep the volume within safe levels!"

[-] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 weeks ago

Fairphone is making easy to repair earbuds just under $150. You should probably have a look at them of you want a pair of earbuds that last.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Oh I've heard of them, thank you for the reminder.

[-] lukes26@lemm.ee 5 points 2 weeks ago

I've been using the PineBud Pros for a while now and have liked them a lot. They've lasted longer than the airpod pros I had beforehand and the noise cancellation isn't perfectly silent or anything but it's definitely good enough for what I want noise cancellation for. They don't have wireless charging out of the box but there is technically a community project that adds it if you have the skill set to take them apart and modify the case/PCB, but that's obviously a lot of work lol. They also sell individual replacement earbuds and the case if one breaks which is a plus. Pine64 is a pretty cool company too, all of their stuff is pretty community driven and sold with very little markup, and since it all runs open source firmware they'll keep getting updates for a long time most likely (not really applicable to the earbuds unless you manually update them, but still).

[-] mister_newbie@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Can't say enough good things about the Soundcore Liberty 4 NCs I've got (Anker). Sound good, good ANC, good fit, decent battery life.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you very much for the rec.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB2DSVWF

I bought those 6 months ago, so I can't say they're "for life" but I really like them, and they've held up well so far. Looks like the ivory colored ones are the only ones listed now, but the ones I got were black / black case.

I won't ever spend more than $60 on a set of headphones because they either get lost/broken/etc.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Interesting shape, thank you for the recommendation.

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I have Jabra Elite 4 Actives and they have been great to me and meet your requirements. I would look at the newer offerings in that line and consider them as well.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you, friend. These do look nice. Some of the reviews mention having to push on the bottom of the device to turn on the touch controls for volume and play/pause. How does that really work?

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not sure what ones you are looking at. The Elite 4 active(at least my version from over a year ago) don't have any sort of tap or slide control.

Mine have tactile buttons on the outside face. The interface uses presses, press and hold, or multiple presses to control them.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

I was reading about the 7 and 8, but perhaps I misunderstood buttons as touch controls.

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago

The earphone community here recommended earfun to me. A couple years ago I picked up a pair of Air Pro buds, about $80. They've been great.

https://www.myearfun.com/eu

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

I'll check them out, thank you.

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I picked up a pair of xiaomi redmi buds 5. They're like 30 bucks, and they meet all your requirements! They have an app, but it's only a requirement if you want to custom configure the noise-cancelling, voice passthrough, etc etc. They just plain work over bluetooth without an app. The tips are silicon rubber and it comes with 3 sizes, so they're replacable

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Heck, that sounds great. Thank you!

this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
21 points (100.0% liked)

BuyItForLife

3077 readers
1 users here now

For practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS