Recommendation for Wireless Earbuds That Everyone is Missing Out On? (And a rant...)

[bmichaels556]

TLDR: Looking for great and accurate sounding true wireless earbuds, for a reasonable price. No extra blasting bass, and I think people who do hate that will get me the best recommendation here. They don't need the best looks, and don't need to have insane battery life. Just sound great and accurate at a low price! I'm thinking $30, maybe even less? 

 

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I've used a good few pairs of headphones over the years. From absolute junk, the kind of stuff you get in Dollar General and the like, to Audio Technica M40x's and even a BIT of experience with Sony 7506's, which I hear is basically the absolute best there is at its price, though my ears can't tell much difference between say, the M40x's with the exception of they may be just a little bassier, but not too bad.

 

HOWEVER... Over the years, I've also been pleasantly surprised with more reasonably-priced options that I won't cry about losing. An absolute winner in my opinion?

 

- Those cheap Panasonic Ergo-Fit earbuds. They're literally NINE DOLLARS and they sound impossibly good for the price. They're warmer-sounding than is ideal for me, and their wires are super thin, but they get about 80-90% of the way there to MUCH more expensive earbuds and I've had multiple pairs last me multiple years each. No resources wasted into fancy packaging, no fancy wires etc. Same with some old no-name black and green earbuds I got from Cricket back in the day for like $12. Wish I knew what they were also, EXCEPT... I'm on a Galaxy S20 FE and I need something wireless. Man, I miss those things. Still have 'em, just can't really use 'em.

 

- And also, the absolute best of all time for CHEAP was this one pair of $10 bluetooth earbuds I got from Walmart in like 2018. They looked goofy as hell and were the "semi-wireless" kind that have fallen out of style, but they also sounded VERY good, much better than their price would suggest. I truly don't know how they packed that much value into a $10 pair of headphones, I just don't understand. Battery life just wasn't as good, maybe I got like 3.5 to 5 hours which honestly, was fine for me. But they fell between the seats and got all crusted up somehow, so I think I ended up throwing them out. What a mistake.

 

Nowadays, I'm looking for a pair of true wireless earbuds that really capture extreme value. Don't have to be anything too fancy, and don't need insane battery life. They have to be "good enough" in those areas, and sound great while doing it! But man, it's so hard to know what you're looking for. I simply can't trust what sounds good to others' ears because I want something flat and accurate, and NOT something that has a bunch of bass etc. So anything say, Skull Candy, is pretty much out of the question. And that's honestly the trend I've always HATED with a lot of these products. Bass for the sake of bass, and mids and highs often just sound muffled, whereas I want to hear much closer to what the artist put out from the studio. That's always my ideal and the way I've gotten a lot more pleasure from music overall. Sorry for the rant, and thanks so much for your suggestions!  

[Radium_Angel]

I have these

https://bestxiaomiproducts.com/i800-tws-review-and-price/

 

total and complete knockoff of apple ones. 14$

[johnno23]

the subject matter is really too broad...everyones ears are different not just what people hear but also the shape on the canal outer ear to inner ear and ear drum. so for example my wife is quite small at 5'2" and her ear buds sound atricious t me but she loves them.. a set of sony earbuds purchased at an airport for 19,99 whilst i have a pair of Apple ipods the first gen in the little box that charges them...now those she finds too big and uncomfortable and for her she say the soiund is just too far away is her description.

So just too people and two totally different brands and we both swear by what we have in our ears is the best....

good luck buying something that you really need to listen too rather buying on a reccomendation.

I also had a pair of nakamichi buds years ago around 2007 but I stupidly left them on the airplane when travelling back from Japan where I purchases them for about 9 dollars...the sound was so good to this day I am pissed about my stupidty...left them plugged into the arm rest for the next passenger or the cleaning lady got a new set for free. that slife.

[bmichaels556]

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I have these

https://bestxiaomiproducts.com/i800-tws-review-and-price/

 

total and complete knockoff of apple ones. 14$

Nice. But where do I get them? AliExpress? Walmart? I see Walmart having TWS products on their site, so not totally sure.

 

Any way you could link me to either the same pair, or maybe the closest ones if they've done any kind of rebrand maybe?

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, bmichaels556 said:

Nice. But where do I get them? AliExpress? Walmart? I see Walmart having TWS products on their site, so not totally sure.

 

Any way you could link me to either the same pair, or maybe the closest ones if they've done any kind of rebrand maybe?

I bought mine at a gas station...

 

[bmichaels556]

1 minute ago, johnno23 said:

the subject matter is really too broad...everyones ears are different not just what people hear but also the shape on the canal outer ear to inner ear and ear drum. so for example my wife is quite small at 5'2" and her ear buds sound atricious t me but she loves them.. a set of sony earbuds purchased at an airport for 19,99 whilst i have a pair of Apple ipods the first gen in the little box that charges them...now those she finds too big and uncomfortable and for her she say the soiund is just too far away is her description.

So just too people and two totally different brands and we both swear by what we have in our ears is the best....

good luck buying something that you really need to listen too rather buying on a reccomendation.

I also had a pair of nakamichi bbs years ago around 2007 but I stupidly left them on the airplane when travelling back from Japan where I purchases them for about 9 dollars...the sound was so good to this day I am pissed about my stupidty...left them plugged into the arm rest for the next passenger or the cleaning lady got a new set for free. that slife.

Yeah, that's a great point... Proper fit unfortunately seems to be such a big part of earbuds...

[bmichaels556]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

I bought mine at a gas station...

 

And so the hunt begins.  

[Psittac]

wireless and/or earbuds are not my thing, but maybe they should be

[bmichaels556]

Sorry to revive this dead thread, but I'll say this... I went with the JLAB Go Air Pop at Amazon. Just went ahead and ordered something else I needed anyway to take advantage of the free shipping, since they don't quite hit the $25 requirement.

 

After a few days of using them, I'm quite satisfied. They sound quite good, aren't insanely expensive, touch controls etc are decent, all that good stuff. They're SLIGHTLY bassy, but not by a ton, and overall sound fairly flat and accurate w/ the "signature" equalizer setting. "Balanced" is okay, but it seems to have just a bit TOO little bass, so I'm kind of thinking signature is overall where it's at. Seals against my ear well and all that for good sound and "noise canceling". Or well, you know, dB reduction. I guess that's passive noise canceling? It does well.

 

I was going to go with the Skullcandy Dime but based on research, including the very helpful info at RTings.com, while they may actually have better, more accurate sound by a slim margin, they suffer on battery life. Badly, apparently. The choice became clear to me. Thanks so much for your guys' help!