I don’t like them. They are uncomfortable, won’t stay in my ears, and the sound quality does not seem to be good. Give me a decent pair of studio quality headphones any day.
But I am prepared to believe that there just might be some good ones out there? A lot of professional musicians seem to use them these days… though perhaps that’s just for synchronization to avoid the feedback problems with stage monitors?
You probably won’t find any that are as good as the best headphones. But I’ve been using a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort earbuds for a few months and am very happy with them. The “wings” make them stay in my ear very well and they’re quite comfortable. I think the sound quality is fine, but I have enough hearing loss that you shouldn’t take my word for that. But they do get good reviews for sound quality.
I had a pair of Etymotic ER4s for many years which had truly excellent sound. They were neither wireless nor noise-cancelling if that is important to you, though they did have very good noise isolation. I personally found them comfortable and they stayed in my ears far better than any I tried before or since. They were also very expensive.
I have a pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds that I’m pretty happy with. They wedge more into the cup of the ear than into the ear canal and I find them comfortable and stable. I haven’t tried exercising with them or anything so I can’t speak for how well they stay in on a trampoline. But my biggest “issue” with them is more that they’re a little finicky to quickly get out of my ear if I want them out quickly for whatever reason.
They sound good to me but I’m not an audiophile.
If the provided earbud tips don’t work (iPhones have a test for this if you have AirPods), you would need to get some 3rd party tips. I must have a weird ear shape or something because all earbuds sounded like shit to me until I bought some Comply tips. They are much more comparable to over-ear when you get it to fit properly. I’m not saying to buy these but there are solutions and it isn’t crazy to think that you can get great sound through earbuds.
I have those same Galaxy Buds Live. I like them, but the touch controls are basically useless – when they get a little loose and I adjust them, I hang up on phone calls, skip songs, etc. I have the touch controls turned off.
The sound is good and I can’t stand ear buds that go into my ear canal, so there aren’t many other options.
I would also recommend those Bose QC buds linked above. I don’t have those, but I have an older version that weren’t truly wireless (they were wired to each other) – alas, Bose doesn’t make them anymore. The fit is great, they don’t come out, and the sound is also very good.
I would expect this varies quite a bit from person to person, as ears are all shaped differently. I can’t stand having stuff in my ears, probably due to a lot of ear infections as a kid, and bad experiences with ear plugs in the pool. I dread the day i need hearing aids. But they are incredibly popular, and must be comfortable for most people.
Still, if most of them don’t stay in your ears, you probably have a slightly different ear shape, and you probably need to try a lot of less popular ones.
I have etymotic HF3’s with the custom sleeves. They actually take a mold of your ear canal and make a custom tip to fit. I use them mostly for travel. They are not quite as noise isolating as active noise cancelling headphones but they are close, and they don’t have the bulk of headphones. They also have excellent sound.
There are two downsides. Firstly they are expensive. Secondly getting them in your ears is a bit of work, but once they are in they are extremely comfortable.
Musicians generally don’t use off the shelf earbuds on stage. They’re custom molded in ear monitors. (IEMs) They come with a choice of amount of drivers in each ear for different levels of audio quality and can run to several hundred dollars to have made.
They are for hearing themselves on stage, not merely for feedback control, though that can come into it, especially if you don’t have a skilled person on the mixing board. IEMs allow you to have a lower onstage volume making front of house sound easier to mix without floor monitors and guitar amps pounding away. You can also hear what you’re playing better, making for a better performance.
Not what you wanted to know, or quite on topic. I don’t have IEMs yet, but for everyday listening, I have some Bose wireless earbuds that I like. I don’t know the model. My left ear is apparently smaller than my right and my bud gets loose occasionally. I have to keep an eye on it (Good trick, eh?) if I’m being especially active.
I have huge ear canals and dislike earbuds.
With that said, I decided to give AirPods Pro 2 a try when they had a sale last month, figuring I’d give them to a family member if they didn’t fit me.
It turns out that they are the first pair of earbuds I have ever tried that actually fit, don’t hurt my ears, and the noise canceling feature is nice. I gave my wife a pair and she is happy with them as well.
If I needed high quality earbuds for performing music, I would go to an audiologist to have proper ear molds made and then I would spend the hundreds of dollars (possibly thousands) for proper in-ear monitors with custom ear tips. Sadly, in-ear-monitors have no business being used at the gym, so this wouldn’t help me in my other endeavor: running.
I’m a serious runner, so I do feel your pain about earbuds in general: they get all sweaty when I run and just slip out. I wouldn’t even dare to try using my AirPods Pro 2 earbuds while running. I ended up buying a pair of over-the-ear Adidas (RPT-01) headphones that were designed for athletes.
When I really need to block out the noisy neighbors, I have a pair of Bose 700 noise canceling headphones–they do the job in spades.
I do have plans on going to an audiologist anyway: I want to buy a set of custom fitted ear plugs for sleeping. My neighborhood is fairly noisy (boom cars driving by, motorcycles, and so on), so I would like to have a custom fit alternative to those squishy balls of silicon one buys at the pharmacy.
My husband has custom molded in ear monitors, which he uses for band (hobby) and for listening to music. He’ll never go back to off-the-shelf earbuds. He’s been urging me to get IEMs as well, as they are much more comfortable and will probably help me concentrate, as I have to go back to the office where there are people talking all the time.
For running, the bone conduction headphones that don’t cover your ears, don’t block your ear canals, and generally just add sound, rather than also obscuring ambient noise, so you can still hear that approaching car, may be the best bet. The sound quality isn’t the best, but they are small and light and easy to rinse sweat off of.
I’ve used the “opencomm” for virtual meetings, because i don’t like being cut off from the room, and don’t like things that mess with my ears. They are a little buggy (it can be hard to switch them from pairing with one device to another) but they work okay.
Thanks, I’ll have to look into those–that might be the trick for my occasional runs along the canal tow path. I didn’t really feel comfortable using over-ear headphones last time I ran there, for the reasons you gave.
I’m officially not allowed to run on the road anymore by decree of the wife after the broken shoulder event of 2021, so these days almost all of my running is on the indoor running track at the YMCA–a place where I definitely need to block external sounds.
Basically this.
Ear buds are fine but not great when it come to audio fidelity. Most people are accustomed to them though so they pass as ok.
There are good ear buds out there but none will perform as well as a nice, over-the-ear headphone or nice speakers for a room. I have some really nice cans that are absolutely better than any ear bud I have ever had (not even close). When I have friends over and put the good headphones on them they have a “wow” moment. They realize how much better audio can be than listening to an ear bud.
I am pretty sure professional musicians still use high-end, over the ear headphones and not ear buds. At least, the serious musicians will not use ear buds when recording.
Just popped my AirPods Pro 2 back into their box after a bit of work in my basement and was surprised at the background noise they had been blocking.
My music had stopped a while ago so I was listening to silence for 20 minutes. When I took the right one out, suddenly I heard the heater blowing full blast and the sound of my 3D printer chugging away in the background. The active noise cancelation is a superb feature.
I wouldn’t dismiss proper IEMs out of hand–if someone is really looking for quality, it’s worth looking into them.
I haven’t tried them, but there’s a reason that these things go for $900. That particular set has 4 drivers in each earbud.
Combine that with a custom molded ear tip and it’s certainly going to produce top-drawer results.
But the price!!!
I use JBL wireless earbuds. The touch controls are limited (I only use the right one, for play/pause; the left skips tracks, which is usually something I don’t need to do) but that’s fine by me. They hold charge well and sound good.