Mrs Snowman has asked Santa for some wireless earbuds for Christmas. These will be exclusively used with her Android phone to listen to music and podcasts.
They don’t need to be super expensive high-quality ones - Mrs C isn’t really an audiophile and listens quite happily to the output from the phone’s built in speaker, so I guess any earbuds are going to be OK sound-quality wise. They’ll only be worn around the house and maybe at the gym, but not for anything outdoors.
Anyone got suggestions?
I use these (link to jlabs sales page for ear buds) and I’ve found them to be pretty good.
My main suggestion would be to look for both noise cancelling and transparency mode (for being able to clearly hear what is around you). They just are very nice quality of life features. And pretty much anything that does one does the other.
It will make them more expensive. But I do think it’s something to consider before just going with cheaper ones.
I use an older version of these Soundcore buds.
Which I originally bought because a couple of reviews said they were the most comfortable, even if they didn’t have the best sound. Which was very true for me, as I had experimented with a couple of other wireless options in the moderate price range and found them uncomfortable for more than 20-30 minutes. These though (again older model than listed) were good for a few hours of listening and had good, although not great sound, but I bought them for around 30 bucks. This version is twice that, but comes with active noise cancelling, which @BigT advises.
I would say that IMHO it’s not a big deal if it’s only used around the house, BUT at the gym or (my particular experience) on an airplane, the ambient noise can otherwise require turning up the volume to a level where your phone will complain that you’re going to damage your hearing. So if my old ones crapped out, I’d be buying the ones listed above. YMMV.
I use OpenRun Pro by Shokz. They’re bone conduction speakers. I’ve never had any issue with ambient noise interfering.
I bought these last Christmas and like them a lot.
I would recommend Skullcandy earbuds, I have used three different types over the years, and they have all been good. I use them almost daily while working, working out and also while traveling. Only one pair broke and this because I stepped on it, which led me to get the latest ones I have:
In looking at the prices on their website, I realize they are a bit pricier than I realized because I have always bought them at Costco for a much lower price than advertised elsewhere.
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I’ve gotten great deals from Woot and Meh on wireless earbuds. They have them fairly often.
I don’t like earbuds that go into my ear canal. So, I have Galaxy Buds Live. They have minor active noise reduction, made a little less effective because they don’t block out the environment like ear canal buds do.
The can be a little fiddly, so sometimes, I have it block touches.
For another non-ear-canal, true wireless solution, the Apple Air Pods work with Android phones just fine.
Finally, these are wired together, but not wired to the phone. I love these Bose headphones – they don’t go into my ear canal and, when I want to take them out, I can just drape them around my neck. They don’t have active noise canceling, but block out sound fairly well.
For ear canal ones, Jabra Elites usually seem to be top rated. I tried them and hated them – when ear buds get too snug in there, I can hear every footstep I take.
Thanks all. One thing I should have pointed out is that I’m in the UK, so specific retailers probably won’t be an option for me if they’re American - but thanks for the comments and suggestions which are useful.
I tried the google buds first, but it turns out they wouldn’t reliably stay in even when I was sitting still, so I got these. Pretty happy with them, though the dog did somehow get hold of one of them and crunched it into a non functioning mess. I was almost exclusively wearing just one of them anyway, to keep track of the world around me.
I’ve got a set of these that I really like. The killer feature is an EQ app that is specific to the earbuds and not to another app.
Seconded, I bought these for bike riding, as you can still hear traffic, but I quite like them for general use. Good sound quality, comfortable, legal to drive. I did get the ‘mini’, they’re a little bit snugger around the back of your neck, same electronics.
Seconding JLabs, inexpensive but do the job perfectly well if you’re not after anything high-end.
I have got some similar to these and they are fine:-
Should also say, once the case is charged up, it seems to offer really long battery life and can recharge the buds themselves many times over before you need to find a power source.
I recently bought a newer version of those Anker Soundcore earbuds just this past August. I’m very happy with their performance. They are relatively inexpensive, the sound quality is just fine as far as I can tell, and they have noise-canceling and transparency mode. The noise canceling works surprisingly well- I can listen to podcasts just fine when I’m running my lawn tractor. the battery is supposed to go 9 hours on a charge, and I’ve used them for hours at a time between charges without running out of juice.
The only drawback I’ve noticed is that they don’t seem to stay in my ears all that great, but that might be my fault because they have different size rubber ear parts and I’ve only used the default ones. Plus it just seems like a problem with most earbuds, although my previous pair had a rubbery ‘flange’ thingy on them that held them in my ears pretty well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09LH7B49B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I bought these Ticpods ear buds with active noise canceling. At $29.99, they’re a steal.
That’s the only kind I use. That way when one pops/falls out, it isn’t lost. It’s just at the end of the wire that goes behind my neck/collar (I tuck it into my shirt, and don’t even notice it any more).
Skullcandy makes a good pair, and has the best-fitting buds for me.
But Sony has a pair that has the longest battery life (I can go a few days between charges…and I’m constantly listening to audiobooks).
Looked them up, they’re the Sony WI-C310:
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I went shopping at the weekend, and found a great deal on Samsung Galaxy Pods 2, so that’s what I went with.