The I paid $25 for these pretty decent ones, they go for $60 retail. Everything was fine and then I remembered the third reason this is trash technology: the screen thingie always comes off, or gets gummed up and has to be taken ‘ off, making it sound like something I wouldn’t even pay $5 for.
If it isn’t that, earbuds will either not stay put, or I’ll lose one, just one.
Mods need to ban everyone in here who brags about their ears holding earbuds with ease. How I loathe them.
Look into some Chi-fi IEMs. I got the Linseed Salnotes Zero for >$20 off Amazon a year or so ago and have been very pleased. Some minor imbalance issues but they go away when paired with a decent DAC
It's such a joke. I legit might buy wired headphones next time I have to replace mine.
I buy the cheap ass Walmart “ONN” branded earbuds. 16 bucks a set. Sounds decent, 10 hours battery on the earbud, another 20 in the case.
I’m hard on earbuds. I step on them, lose them in tunnels while doing under slab plumbing work, lose them in ceilings running water lines, drop them down sewer cleanouts, and more.
I average about two months, sometimes three, before I break them or drop them down sewer drains. It is wasteful, but, I can lose 15 pairs before I have spent what a pair of AirPods Pro costs.
I can’t do wired anymore. They get hung up on too much stuff while working and sometimes present a hazard.
Those are what I use, I've had my current set for at least a year and the battery is still going strong, I usually only have one in at a time so they last for several days before I have to charge it.
For the gunked up screen, you can try dipping it in some isopropyl alcohol to see if it breaks it down a bit.
bone conduction ones can be nice if you're not too worried about sound quality. they always sound a bit muffled for music
I've got two pairs of headphones, I'm very fond of. 1 is the bone conduction ones that last most of a work day, and the others are an old pair of Sony wh 1000s that, even though they're old, sound great. Ones for music the others for convenience. Both pairs probably get used for 30 hours a week.
I use some bone conduction ones for regular podcast and music stuff, and I have some Shure SE215 wired IEMs for any loud noise or audio quality situation. Which is to say usually doubled up with earmuffs and running a chainsaw, riding a motorcycle (helmet instead of earmuffs), driving a tractor, running a grinder, etc and so forth. The Shures are expensive but my first pair lasted eight years before I replaced them and the originals still work the plastic body is just chunked up and has full passthroughs to the interior.
Try the Bose earbuds. Best I've ever owned.
Pricey, but you don't have to replace them every month or so.
You can get third party tips for differently sized ears, but I've been using the same set of cheapass koss porta-pros for a decade now if that's an option for you.
ZX10 with decent IEMs... Not sure what you do to your buds but mine usually outlive decent battery life or preferences.
IEM you have a marginally better chance of finding something tougher maybe?
I got some of that style because I liked how the wire and speaker part were separate so you can replace broken parts.
I find the shape where they go up over your ear really annoying. Is there a reason they have to be that way? Can't they be normal going straight down? Are there any like that?
If the screen is like the metal screen on the end of airpods then you can usually safely use alcohol and q tips to clean the earwax and dead skin out of it.
I’m using some cheap Walmart ones waiting for a replacement pair to come in and it’s real “damn, you live like this” times. They’re so bad and disorienting and they seem to be connecting with a very low quality link.
What blows my mind is that they have the “tips” you’re supposed to fit in your ear for a better, more efficient seal and a huge physical body that ought to mean more efficient cavity for the driver and more low bass but they’re still quiet as heck and sound like shit.
Yeah that’s why I bought Beyerdynamic blue byrds. The style may be a decade old but no earbud bullshit.
Just looked at portable BT headphone amps. Might be a worthwhile option to allow cord free use of any old buds/phones? I use bone-conduction BT headset mostly when away from the home.
You can occasionaly get deals on tozo earbuds, which last pry like a year on average. TOZO a1 minis often go for like $15 usd.
