So this is kind of guitar related. I've been in the market for wireless earbuds and finally pulled the trigger on some. I use headphones almost all day everyday for work, music, practicing, running, cooking... everything. I finally got sick of ripping my wired earbuds out of my phone and decided to go wireless. I'm pretty excited because this is going to be fun to practice with and apparently some of the moderately priced wireless earbuds nowadays sound awesome. I'm just curious. Does anyone here use wireless earbuds? If so what is your favorite brand/model? I was looking around the $40-$70 price range and there were SOOOO many options to choose from. I felt like I was looking at overdrive pedals for the first time. LOL.
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I just got me a set of Apple AirPods a week ago. Too expensive but as I have iphone & ipad i was hoping that they would work seamlessly together. And they do. They have noise cancelling and are pretty good at that. I haven’t flown yet with them to see how they compare to the Bose NC headsets I use on the plane.
I am pleased with them.
I believe wired ones provide much better quality in terms of sound / soundstage based on the sheer size of drivers they can support e.g. my usual workhorse: a Bayerdynamic DT 770 Pro (80 ohms).
Having said that, I debated a lot before finally pulling the trigger on a pair of wireless buds last week - and no, they aren't the Apple ones (no offense to Apple fans - I myself am a selective Apple product fan).
My main reason to get them was for work related calls, listening to podcasts / songs while I work - basically when I need more of the 'convenience' part :)
I still prefer the full size headphone for guitar practice though - lol.
They have 90% of the feature set of the Apple ones and cost ~ $59.99 USD:
The product:
Wireless Earbuds, EarFun Air 4 Mics Bluetooth 5.0 Earbuds Touch Control, USB-C Quick Charge with Wireless Charging, Deep Bass, in-Ear Detection Headphones, 35H Playtime, IPX7 Waterproof
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B4QSSPS/
It won the CES 2020 Innovation Award and iF Design award - and I do like the following features:
Decent sound quality (haven't tested Airpods or Airpod pros but can't imagine them being so much better so as to justify the premium)
Earbuds can operate independently
Noise cancellation during calls (haven't tested in noisy areas but am assuming that during the current work-from-home scenarios, it won't matter much anyway :)
It has touch controls
pause and unpause when I take them out or put them on respectively
connects automatically when taken out of the charger box
supports wireless charging (wireless charger to be bought separately)
I am very impressed with the quality so far - and my better half needs one now :D
IMPORTANT UPDATE: I'm leaving the above description since that was MY initial impression. However, my colleagues just reported during a zoom call that they can't hear me well enough and that my voice was "breaking". Well, I guess its time to return these and get a pair of Airpods now :(
@David @TRISHUL This is great to know! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We're thinking about getting some ear buds for Christmas. I like the idea of buying the Apple ones but can't wrap my head around the price. But I'm always the last one to update my technology. haha... If it weren't for @Nate I might still be rocking my walkman.
Also, Trishul, that GIF is hilarious! LOL!!!
@David Lieder @TRISHUL Thanks for the input guys. I've ordered the FIIL T1X and the MPOW M30 earbuds. I'll try them out and keep you posted on the quality as I get to use them.
I like the MPOW brand since I have a wireless over-the-ear headphone which works great. I don't have any experience using the M30 but I had to return an MPOW X3 due to bad zoom call quality. I believe the consistency varies from unit to unit. Hope you have better luck with yours!
What you have to keep in mind concerning bluetooth: Even with generation 5 there is too much latency for playing/listening in real time because the earbud has to interpret the coming signal and transcode the sound. They are good for listening to music, conversation etc. because it does not matter if there is a time-gap between sending and receiving. But when it comes to practicing guitar you don't want to play and have the sound coming into your ear later than expected. The only wireless headphones without noticeable latency are based on their own MHz frequencies with sender and receiver - not bluetooth.
But there are combinations. Wireless bluetooth headphones that can get linked by (magnetic) cable for practicing and the latency is eliminated ... unfortunately they are quite expensive: https://www.thomann.de/intl/ca/nura_nuraloop.htm
Just FYI for anyone interested - Black Friday 2020 deals on Amazon and Costco are price matching on Apple AirPods Pro for USD 169.99