Searching for "Open Back" Wired Earbuds

[startrek03]

Hey,

having lived without dirty buds for quite a while now, I decided to actually invest some research before buying new ones.
Wanting wired earbuds, that basically don't seal at all, seems to be against the current trend. I get it. But here are my answers to that:

• I don't want to rely on battery charge.
• I want to be able to just plug them into whatever 3.5mm jack that i run into.
• I dislike silicone tips inside my ear. (Admittedly, I haven't tried that many before)
• I want to hear my surroundings, especially when I am cycling or doing some other acitivity.

Since those preferences are relatively rare, I'd like to know, whether anybody knows earbuds that fulfill these requirements and aren't utter trash. Before I've had those Samsung earbuds that they packed with the S6 and S7 (Samsung eg920 afaik). The fit was quite alright but they kept breaking on me and the sound could've been better as well. I'd definitely prefer a rather neutral and clean sound profile. To be honest though, the sound probably doesn't matter too much since I'd probably use my PC setup for proper listening anyway. Besides that, they should be relatively affordable (meaning around 50€ max). I'm looking forward for any recommendations.

 

Edit: I currently have a Samsung smartphone and I don't plan on switching away from Android any time soon.

[jaslion]

I used the apple earpods. They don't seal at all and make it quite nice for me to be able to hear around me well. Volume button doesn't work on anything that isn't an apple device so keep that in mind. They did break twice in a 4 year period sadly but I always got a free new pair.

 

I have also a pair of edifier p180's I've had for 5 years and they are still going.

[startrek03]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I used the apple earpods. They don't seal at all and make it quite nice for me to be able to hear around me well. Volume button doesn't work on anything that isn't an apple device so keep that in mind. They did break twice in a 4 year period sadly but I always got a free new pair.

 

I have also a pair of edifier p180's I've had for 5 years and they are still going.

Since I don't have an Apple smartphone, non-working volume buttons would be quite a bummer. How do the p180s sound, though?

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, startrek03 said:

Since I don't have an Apple smartphone, non-working volume buttons would be quite a bummer. How do the p180s sound, though?

Alright obviously not as good.

 

They also do not have a volume button.

 

i don't miss it tho I just hit the buttons through my pants if I need to adjust.

[Origami Cactus]

Samsung beans created quite a controversy for their open back design in an inear earphone format. I know that they are wireless not 3.5mm format, but i remember that they sounded excellent, and should be available for cheap if you can find them.

In 3.5mm format the button shaped earphones don't have silicone, and sound pretty damn good and bassy, but i haven't seen many of them in the recent days. Maybe you can still find some produced by Sennheiser or Sony.

[startrek03]

47 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Samsung beans created quite a controversy for their open back design in an inear earphone format. I know that they are wireless not 3.5mm format, but i remember that they sounded excellent, and should be available for cheap if you can find them.

In 3.5mm format the button shaped earphones don't have silicone, and sound pretty damn good and bassy, but i haven't seen many of them in the recent days. Maybe you can still find some produced by Sennheiser or Sony.

I know that Sennheiser had the MX350s, MX450s and MX550s. Only their successors, the MX375s, are apparently still easily available. And according to some reviews, those seem to be quite bass heavy, which I wouldn't really want, if it was too extreme. Idk, putting "Crank the bass" on the packaging is just kinda suspicious imo.

[Origami Cactus]

38 minutes ago, startrek03 said:

I know that Sennheiser had the MX350s, MX450s and MX550s. Only their successors, the MX375s, are apparently still easily available. And according to some reviews, those seem to be quite bass heavy, which I wouldn't really want, if it was too extreme. Idk, putting "Crank the bass" on the packaging is just kinda suspicious imo.

yeah, it can be offputting, but i have bought extra bass inears for a while now, from sony. That is because the normal in-ears don't have anywhere near as much bass as the overheads, so if i want to reach that, i have to get those,

The MX375 reviews seems fine on amazon tho, but really expensive for what they are.

[startrek03]

17 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

yeah, it can be offputting, but i have bought extra bass inears for a while now, from sony. That is because the normal in-ears don't have anywhere near as much bass as the overheads, so if i want to reach that, i have to get those,

The MX375 reviews seems fine on amazon tho, but really expensive for what they are.

The Sonys you mentioned are probably the MDR-E9LPs (Sony's terrible at naming), right? At least these are the only earbuds that Sony still officially sells. At only ~8€ they're definitely worth to look at.
During my research I also came across earbuds like the VE monks or Senfer PT25. The latter seem to be more premium and even have replacable cables. I'd definitely appreciate replacable cables in case they sounded good. However, a lot of those China earbuds are not available at the moment and would have to be imported from China aswell which I find kind of offputting.

[Origami Cactus]

1 minute ago, startrek03 said:

The Sonys you mentioned are probably the MDR-E9LPs (Sony's terrible at naming), right? At least these are the only earbuds that Sony still officially sells. At only ~8€ they're definitely worth to look at.
During my research I also came across earbuds like the VE monks or Senfer PT25. The latter seem to be more premium and even have replacable cables. I'd definitely appreciate replacable cables in case they sounded good. However, a lot of those China earbuds are not available at the moment and would have to be imported from China aswell which I find kind of offputting.

Yeah those look like the earbuds that came with my sony phone 6 years ago, so they probably sound really good for 8 bucks, if sony hasn't screwed them up in recent years.

 

[Spuriae]

The Headroom MS16 is a true open-back earbud (as in, there's hole behind the driver which sound leaks through) which I rather liked. Decent-sounding and reasonably comfortable, with a nice cable and inline controls. Unfortunately only available on Aliexpress as far as I can tell, ~$8.

 

The Samsung S6 earbuds were great, though it's difficult to get ones that aren't fake nowadays. Samsung also made a slightly nicer version of them, the "Active In-ear" (not an in-ear despite the name), though those are hard to find too.

 

If you don't mind a larger form factor and looking weird in public, the KSC75x is an open back clip on that sounds excellent for the price. IMO the best-sounding open back headphone under $100, including favorable comparison against the SHP9500. Low bass (can be improved somewhat with EQ) and a bad cable though.

[CTR640]

8 hours ago, startrek03 said:

Since I don't have an Apple smartphone, non-working volume buttons would be quite a bummer. How do the p180s sound, though?

I use my Apple Airpods on my non-Apple devices and volume buttons works just fine. I dislike in-ears so earbuds for me. The Sony WF-XM3 being the only one exception because they don't fall out of my ears.