New earbuds needed. Fraught with options. ANC and decent mic is needed. Under £90

[filpo]

Hello everyone! Hope you're all doing well. I'm wanting to get some new earbuds and since I'm an avid gym goer and I take public transport a lot ANC is important to me. It doesn't have to be Airpods Pro 2 level, I'd actually be scared if it was that good for under £90 but it still has to be serviceable. My current earbuds have 'NC' which just muffles out some sounds which is OK for me now but I still hear certain sounds, sometimes louder. 

 

I would also like to have good sound quality. My current ones actually aren't too bad on this and these new ones I'd expect to be better but even if they were of the same quality but with better ANC then I'd happily take that (current earbuds are Soundcore Life A2 NC).

 

Furthermore, aesthetics are also important to me, my current ones stick out of my ear a lot and I really dislike that (also links to fit in ear) and i would like something that either looks similar to those but sits inside the ear or something akin to the Airpods pro 2 (stalk style), wraparound earbuds aren't really my style even if they are good for working out. 

 

I also need a better mic (i.e. average) than my current one as no one who i am on call with can hear my voice when I use them and mostly only works when i hold one earbud to my mouth

 

I've looked at a few options, namely the Nothing Ear (a)'s, the Raycon Everyday Earbuds (2024) and the CMF Buds 2 Pro

 

Nothing Ear (a)'s look great to me aesthetic wise, the mic is also good from what I hear, the sound quality is also good from what I hear and they cost £80. Pinch controls will also be a good upgrade from touch controls. However, battery life isn't as good as my current ones, which is fine since I won't be using them too hard but I want your take on them. These seem like the best for me imo

 

CMF Buds 2 Pro seem good budget but they don't really seem worth it compared to the Raycons and the Nothing counterpart at £60 on amazon. the dial is cool though

 

Raycon Earbuds 2024 are ones that I haven't seen basically any reviews on but the 2022 versions seem quite good so I assume these are better. Now I know that's not the right mindset to take but they also do fit my aesthetic criteria and they are also IP66 and that dust proof could come in handy as I have dropped my current earbuds in the sand a few times (though nothing bad came of it)

 

Tell me any other options you all think would suit me and thank you for helping me!

[191x7]

Samsung Galaxy Buds FE. Alternative - Moondrop Space Travel.

[filpo]

8 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Moondrop Space Travel.

the IP rating is really important for me as I sweat a lot in the gym and while running. My previous ones were IPX5 and I don't think I'll go for anything under IPX4. the case also isn't really my style and soundguys commented on it 'sucking' and I can see why. The stalks basically aren't protected from knocks and bangs and there doesn't seem to be anything stopping the buds from falling out 

the Moondrops do look incredible for Sound quality and they're basically bang on that curve. but the no IP rating paired with the awkward case and the weird design compared to the Nothing Ear (a)'s is steering me more towards those. 

 

The samsung galaxy buds FE look fine but they only have IPX2 and are at the limit of my budget. I have to say that the ANC on the nothing ear (a)'s isn't great and compared to the samsung's it's poor, but soundguys still says that it's serviceable which is good enough for me since my current ones aren't even ANC

They're also samsung so I don't know how well they'd work with my current Xr (may be upgrading to 15) or if there'd be an app to use

 

Have you got any more options? thanks a lot for the help

What're your thoughts on the Nothing Ear (a)'s, Raycon Earbuds 2024 and other earbuds mentioned?

[191x7]

41 minutes ago, filpo said:

Have you got any more options? thanks a lot for the help

What're your thoughts on the Nothing Ear (a)'s, Raycon Earbuds 2024 and other earbuds mentioned?

Maybe the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro?

The sound isn't quite there, but they do have ANC, IP55 and great battery time.

[filpo]

On 8/12/2024 at 7:22 AM, 191x7 said:

Maybe the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro?

The sound isn't quite there, but they do have ANC, IP55 and great battery time.

Reviews have also said that the fit of the oneplus nord buds 3 pro isn't amazing and since I do a lot of workouts I need a good fit and comfort as well

 

I've been looking a bit more and I'm torn between these two, the soundcore Space A40 and the SoundPEATS Air 4 Pro. On one hand, I prefer the look of the SoundPEATS (there is also a transparent version which I love), it has a 13mm dynamic driver and it has Bluetooth 5.3. I also get a 15% voucher with them bringing the price down to around £65. it also seems to have a good mic which I basically need 

On the other hand, the Soundcore Space A40's have a MUCH better battery life, around 8h with ANC on whereas the soundpeats only have 4h with anc on and with the case its 50h vs 26h. I've heard a lot of reviews saying the battery on the Soundpeats air 4 pro is adequate at best. Transparency mode is also a negative on the soundpeats though I think i may trade that for design to be honest

 

What do you think?

[191x7]

6 minutes ago, filpo said:

Reviews have also said that the fit of the oneplus nord buds 3 pro isn't amazing and since I do a lot of workouts I need a good fit and comfort as well

 

I've been looking a bit more and I'm torn between these two, the soundcore Space A40 and the SoundPEATS Air 4 Pro. On one hand, I prefer the look of the SoundPEATS (there is also a transparent version which I love), it has a 13mm dynamic driver and it has Bluetooth 5.3. I also get a 15% voucher with them bringing the price down to around £65. it also seems to have a good mic which I basically need 

On the other hand, the Soundcore Space A40's have a MUCH better battery life, around 8h with ANC on whereas the soundpeats only have 4h with anc on and with the case its 50h vs 26h. I've heard a lot of reviews saying the battery on the Soundpeats air 4 pro is adequate at best. Transparency mode is also a negative on the soundpeats though I think i may trade that for design to be honest

 

What do you think?

Have you considered using bone-conduction headphones with a good IP rating?

Or, perhaps, using IEM-s with a Bluetooth to 3.55 adapter/DAC?

[filpo]

1 minute ago, 191x7 said:

Have you considered using bone-conduction headphones with a good IP rating?

Or, perhaps, using IEM-s with a Bluetooth to 3.55 adapter/DAC?

I really prefer true wireless earbuds. I had already tried bone-conduction before and they kept falling off as i do a lot of neck exercises. I also do not like the look of them. I much prefer the ease of true wireless

 

2 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Or, perhaps, using IEM-s with a Bluetooth to 3.55 adapter/DAC?

that sounds like a slightly overcomplicated solution. I'm not an audiophile but I want good sound quality

 

I'm going to go for the SoundPEATS as the design suits me the most and the mic is better than the Soundcores. I am more used to the sound cores but the controls (same as my old ones) push in the earbuds more and the design of the SoundPEATS really suits me

 

Thanks for the options. They actually gave me a lot of insight in the websites to use for reviews

[191x7]

15 minutes ago, filpo said:

I really prefer true wireless earbuds. I had already tried bone-conduction before and they kept falling off as i do a lot of neck exercises. I also do not like the look of them. I much prefer the ease of true wireless

 

that sounds like a slightly overcomplicated solution. I'm not an audiophile but I want good sound quality

 

I'm going to go for the SoundPEATS as the design suits me the most and the mic is better than the Soundcores. I am more used to the sound cores but the controls (same as my old ones) push in the earbuds more and the design of the SoundPEATS really suits me

 

Thanks for the options. They actually gave me a lot of insight in the websites to use for reviews

Ok, glad I was of some help. Do give some impressions once you get the new TWS buds and use them.

My next recommendation would have been the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 4 Lite or some other Xiaomi. I know some of them are comfortable, cheap and IP rated.

[venomtail]

Just got some Samsung Buds 2 Pro's. They've got a very high IP rating. Great for sweaty gym sessions. ANC is some of the best I've heard. They're a solid C tier, nothing too special but you can check out my thread just below yours that I update a 3 week review on.

[filpo]

On 8/13/2024 at 6:13 PM, 191x7 said:

Ok, glad I was of some help. Do give some impressions once you get the new TWS buds and use them.

My next recommendation would have been the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 4 Lite or some other Xiaomi. I know some of them are comfortable, cheap and IP rated.

over the past days I had tried the soundpeats and they weren't as good as I thought, I wrote my review on amazon so here it is 

 

Amazon review by me:

Quote

Note: I bought this at 75 pounds. If I say 'Space A40's' I am referring to the Soundcore Space A40's and if I say 'My old sound cores' or 'my old sound core life A2 NC's' I am referring to my old earbuds, the sound core life A2 NC's. These earbuds are tough, so let's dive into the pros and cons

Pros:
the hinge and magnet on the case is very secure so no problems will occur if you drop this case and your earbuds are in it, something that happened to me a lot when using my old ones

Normal mode isolation (without passthrough or ANC) is fine though only slightly better than my half the price Soundcore Life A2 NC's

Passthrough mode works great, like a charm, amplifies the sounds amazingly, great transparency really. Probably on par with some 120 pound earbuds

ANC is good, I would have liked to see more cancellation of white noise and cars but it's really not bad at all

Sound quality is also good off the bat. You even get the customisable EQ and an EQ personaliser (though I wouldn't use the EQ personaliser, I'll get to why later)

Fit is also good, no rattling and no falling out even when moving my head vigorously

Cons:
Design wise, they're not my favourite. They sit more out of your ears than AirPods Pro and Nothing Ear's (which the transparent black one looks like, the one I got. TLDR, it looks better online than in person and I thought it'd have more of an AirPods Pro but in black look but they looked more like my old ones just with a stem look

Battery life which was quite bad for the size of the case (similar to AirPods pro and my old Soundcores which cost half, and those did more than 1.6x the battery) and the buds weren't great either. So if you're looking for something to last you the whole day listening to music or podcasts with ANC steer clear and get the A40's.

The controls aren't amazing as well, I would've liked to seen some pinch controls on the stem but instead there are only touch controls near your ear on the bud. This doesn't sound too bad and you can customise them a lot, but whenever I take them out of my case and put them in my ear I always find myself grabbing the touch controls to seat the earbud in my ear and get it out of the case and this triggers the touch controls. Now you could just disable the single press controls by changing the action they do to none in the app but then you lose two controls. Long press also occurred while trying to put them in my ear and this changed it from passthrough to noise reduction without me knowing before I put it in my ear

Delay, this might be because of my old iPhone XR but I found a slight delay in the control being actioned out and the control happening. It is longer on these than on my old SOundcore Life A2 NC's

Saving the worst for last, the app. The app is the least responsive sound apps I've seen. The aforementioned EQ test froze in the middle leading to part of my EQ spiking up for no reason but only because I couldn't carry out the test as the app was frozen. The volume also wasn't turned down to normal after this test so I promptly deafened myself trying to hear the new EQ with some music as this is what normally happens with other sound apps. I'd much appreciate a better app

But, i replaced them with the Soundcore Space A40's and they're really quite good, transparency mode is good and vocal mode isn't a gimmick, it does work well. ANC works well, though the strength doesn't seem to work so I just keep it on strong and the fit and look of them suit me a lot. Sound quality is also great and they don't bounce around my ear like my last ones did. The only real con I have is the mic which is okay, people can still hear me in phone calls clearly, but maybe just as good as my old ones (A40's have 4 mics instead of my old 6)

On 8/14/2024 at 4:47 PM, venomtail said:

Just got some Samsung Buds 2 Pro's. They've got a very high IP rating. Great for sweaty gym sessions. ANC is some of the best I've heard. They're a solid C tier, nothing too special but you can check out my thread just below yours that I update a 3 week review on.

Thanks but I prefer the Soundcores since I'm more used to that ecosystem and they were around £30-£35 less than the samsung buds pro 2 when I bought them (a few days ago)

I couldn't find the review though, could you link it?

Thanks both of you for the help

[venomtail]

20 minutes ago, filpo said:

Thanks but I prefer the Soundcores since I'm more used to that ecosystem and they were around £30-£35 less than the samsung buds pro 2 when I bought them (a few days ago)

I couldn't find the review though, could you link it?

Thanks both of you for the help

I bought mine for £80. I see them somewhat often on sale for £90. Pricy buds still.

My review if you're asking:

 

[filpo]

22 hours ago, venomtail said:

I bought mine for £80. I see them somewhat often on sale for £90. Pricy buds still.

My review if you're asking:

 

Thanks for info, I will give samsung a shout for my next upgrade but battery and touch controls are pretty important for me so they wouldn't have given me the best user experience. This was very informative though thank you

[BahnStormer]

Possibly worth considering the EarFun Air Pro 3?

 

They're £70 and my only real point of reference on other earbuds are the AirPod Pro 2nd Gen: the EarFun Air Pro3's have much better quality sound (not quite as much "thud" on the bass, but much more natural sounding and better clarity)... possibly because I'm using it on an Android phone though (Qualcomm aptX support) and certainly when using it on Windows Teams, the mic is apparently significantly better (based on feedback from my work video calls).

 

I tend not to use the ANC, so I'm not sure how that compares on either of those. When I actually want to cut out harsh noises (I used to commute by Tube and the Jubilee line is NOISY!); I found that even the big cans with AND were pretty mediocre compared to proper sound isolation earbuds like Etymotics Research (e.g. ER3XR / ER4SR) or Shure (can't recall the model).... but those are wired and start around £200-£300.... that said, you can achieve something pretty close that level of sound isolation if you can find Shure/Etymotics Research flanged tips that fit other brands, I managed to get the Etymotics tips onto a cheap pair of Amazon buds and the effect was very impressive (sound isolation and improved sound)....

 

That option would only set you back £20 for a set (just for the tips), but is just a risk to see if they fit; both for you and your other earbuds.