What are your favourite earpods?
Got an iPhone but can't bring myself to pay $220 for airpods. What have been your 'bang for buck' earpod or wireless earpod of choice?
What Are Your Favourite Wireless Earpods?
bemybubble on 21/01/2019 - 13:55
Comments
Agree. For under $30, these are great. Although I've never owned airpods or any other premium earpods to compare to…ignorance is bliss?
Only issues:
- I have experienced the odd dropout when commuting (but re connects almost instantly).
- Microphone isn't great, people say they can't hear me well for phone calls, so have to switch to phone or my Meizu ep51s
- No volume controls
No volume controls
Oh, this is also mildly annoying from time to time too.
QCY T1S recently came out, not only with a lid, but also doubled the case battery capacity (800 mAh vs 380mAh).
Price is 140CNY from jd.com, not available outside China yet i think
Ah those look like a nice improvement over the T1C.
Bite the bullet and get the airpods. They are one of my best purchases I've ever made!
Agreed, you can't get close to the ease of use experience. Obviously you pay more for it, but they work seamlessly.
Not having controls is a little annoying, but you can program double-taps on either side to perform different functions. Take one it, it pauses the audio or video that's playing on the phone, put it back in and it resumes. Great to use around the office and you need to stop to talk to someone.
The charging carry case makes it extremely handy, you get used to placing them back in the carry case when you don't use them and they're almost always 100% charged.
Rumours around that the Airpod series 2 may be released early this year though. So you might be able to pick up series 1's for cheaper, or pick up an even better set if they're released with better features etc.
Absolutely agree with this, they're fantastic for on the go, commuting and office use (works brilliantly with Skype for Business). Audio quality is pretty good and battery life is impressive with convenient charging pack.
However, they have pretty much zero bass and obviously no noise cancellation at all.
There were rumours of an updated version in the works, hasn't quite materialised yet though.
Airpods for general use.
Jaybird X3s for gym/running (due to sweat resistance)And I still use my Airpods on my Note 9 after I switched from iOS, still works good.
I had x4's that had horrible BT connection issues. I returned them for a different brand.
Same. I've got AirPods for general use. Some cheap TaoTronics in-ears for Gym/Running and a pair of ANC TaoTronics for flights.
How is the pairing on Android for AirPods? I assume not as seamless as just pulling them out of the charging pack? I assume you press the little button to pair and take them out?
I've tried the JBL Reflect Mini 2's, the Jaybird X3s (hated them), and now have the Soundpeats Q30 Plus. Highly recommened the Soundpeats for running. theyre only $36.
You will waste money on all the experimental versions of the original and the best, AirPods. Just spend the money and be happy.
AMEN!
I too was tempted to buy wireless Bluetooth headphones and didn't want to pony up for AirPods.
I purchased Anker SoundBuds Slim ($32) and have been happy with them. Not the greatest sound quality but does the trick. Not technically "wireless" but still Bluetooth. Have owned for over a year now with no reliability issues - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Anker-SoundBuds-In-Ear-Sport…
Recently, Xiaomi has released the "Airdots" $80 which are truly wireless and I would consider purchasing - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-Original-Xiaomi-AirDots-…
With that all said, I am waiting for Apple to update the current Airpods. As many people have said, the price seems worth it.
Get airpods, you wont look back
I ended up pulling the trigger on the GeekBuying deal of these:
https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tronsmart-Encore-Spunky-Buds…
Hopeful of the quality for calls is at least ok
Please update in relation to phone call quality if you get a chance!
Just got mine today. So impressed!! Sound quality is amazing. People hear me loud and clear. No worries at all…!
For non airpods I think these will do!
They came in 3 days?
How much was postage?
These look good - if anyone can find a better price i'd appreciate it (i looked but i didnt really find these much lower then about $50 aud)-Thanks
+1 to “just buy the AirPods”. The ‘electric toothbrush head” look aside, the AirPods really are the best on the market. They have the most compact carry case which also manages to charge the AirPods from 0 to 100% in about 20 minutes and gives 6 hours of battery life. I work out with mine and have never had any issues with them falling out (which I was concerned about, initially) which I can’t say for other designs (especially the in-ear designs which are nothing short of horrendous if they don’t fit perfectly). To top it off, they have arguably the best call quality, mostly because of the extending arms which places the microphone closer to your mouth; the “earplug style” variants typically perform poorly on calls.
Headphones are one of those products where cheaper options sound appealing, but you’ll end up caving and buying the premium option eventually, so may as well not waste the money on the inferior “trial runs”. Having said that, with new AirPods rumoured, you could do worse than using those TronSmart ones temporarily and then pulling the trigger on the V2 AirPods when they’re out.
I always thought they were a waste of money and rather ridiculous, but if you purchase them from an Apple store directly (or Apple online) then you can use them and return them within two weeks, for a full refund, so long as they’re not damaged. To be honest, I still think they’re a bit too expensive (150-180RRP would be more reasonable) but there’s just no other product which is compelling enough, IMO.
mostly because of the extending arms which places the microphone closer to your mouth
1 to 2 cms closer would hardly make a difference, surely? They probably just use better components and technology.
I remember reading it in a couple different places but, of course, haven’t tested it myself. The reasons for the improved audio quality were cited as resulting from the mic being closer to your mouth and further away from the drivers which means less audio leaking and/or more fine tuned noise cancellation that’s focused on ambient noise, rather than ambient noise + the music.
Whether this is true, or not, is up in the air. It makes sense, on paper, and, with Apple being Apple, I can’t see a better (and hence more expensive) microphone being the reason. They’ve shown they’ll cut costs where possible, what with the XR not having a full HD screen (in 2018!!) , as an example.
That makes more sense
@John Kimble: Having said that, slap a big fat [citation needed] on everything I’ve said. I can’t find the information that I previously read. Could’ve been pulled due to being false, for all I know.
Jabra Elite Active 65t. Does everything that people have said the AirPods do, such as auto pause and play, but they look better (less obtrusive colour and shape) and they have passive noise cancelling with an optional "hear-through" function if you want to hear outside noise. They have rubber tips so it's a more secure fit, and have a better battery life (5 hours standalone, plus a full charge in the case which takes less than half an hour). Sweat proof as well.
They're more expensive than the AirPods, but justifiably so imo.
Second this! One of the best purchases I ever made. Works seamlessly with my Pixel 2 XL, battery life is awesome (easily close to 5 hours) + 2 full recharges via the carrying case and the sound quality/blocking is great!
Add to that water proofing if you decide to get this against the Elite 65T.
I backed the Pamu Padmates wireless earphones on Indiegogo and love them!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pamu-waterproof-wireless-…
They were $29 u.s during the campaign and I think they now retail or sell on their website for $60-$80 u.s, but I'd still buy them at that price I think if I had to again, I've never had any problems with mine and they are reliable and my favorite purchase of 2018!
Here's a review https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/pamu-true-wireles…
Since the above Indiegog campaign, a newer Pamu Scroll model has come out which I was tempted to buy but chose not to because the Padmates were working so well still.
Classic re-badging cheap Chinese stuff and adding a big markup
If anyone who could share their opinions/experience with AirPods could chime in at this thread that would be appreciated. Thanks.
In terms of personal options, I am was looking at the Huawei Freebuds 2 (look very similar to AirPods but with thicker stems), but they are very similarly priced to AirPods.
Knock off AirPods (i10 TWS etc) tend to get poor longevity, and quality control issues (fast battery degradation [dramatically within 2-3 months. And issues like left/right channel wrong way around).Also when buying these knock off’s online, you don’t really know what your getting.
There is a Russian guy who lives in China who documents these knock offs and there are multiple versions of the same product, with the same model name and brand, just with slight variations to text size, picture size on the box etc.
Russian guy says look for this difference on the box to avoid the shite ones, but how can you tell unless you are there in China at the market? Online it’s just the model name and brand, and they could have used the wrong photo.Where do you find the list of the versions etc?
QCY T1Cs are decent.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/431456
A little finnicky to set up, but haven't had any trouble with them after that. Sound quality is perfectly fine, bluetooth connection hasn't had any issues (phone in pocket, phone on desk, phone a few meters away), though according to friends, the mic for phone calls picks up background noise.
Edit: Oh, another slight annoying thing: The case has no lid, which is fine because the magnets keep the earpieces in fairly firmly, (to remove, I found that pushing edgeways on the earpiece from the centre of the case works best) but sometimes if it jostles in your bag, buttons can get randomly pressed.