Doug’s earbud/headphone obsession - final episode…
I was going to write up a long, probably boring, blog post about everything I tried and returned and what I settled on, but I decided to just “sum up” quickly. Though it looks like I did get a bit longwinded - but at least I’ll spare my blog readers.
- I did try the AirPods Pro 2. I can see why they might good be for some people, but they weren’t for me. They just weren’t comfortable, or stable.
Plus they were like “everything, everywhere, happening all at once.” The nice sound bar in the control center that should show the different noise cancelling modes stopped working. I would tap on one stem and instead of playing from my iPhone it would start playing a YouTube video that was in one of my Chrome tabs on my Mac. It was just crazy. Yes, there must be some way to set all that. But I really wanted something that “just works” and Apple missed the boat here. I found them frustrating. So I returned them.
- At one-seventh the cost (!) of the AirPods Pro 2 (7,200 yen = $48) I tried the Soundpeats Air4 Pro. I have to say they were quite nice. Just as comfortable at the AirPods Pro. Also with multipoint connectivity. Simple tapping controls. Longer battery life. Lighter weight. More mics. I’m sure true audiophiles will find the music quality lacking, but they sounded great to me. But at the end of the day I just find things stuck in my ear uncomfortable. I was all set to wear them outside on a walk this morning and put them on and no. They aren’t comfortable. I just don’t like things sticking into my ears like that. So back it went to Amazon.
The woman at the post office was laughing already at the number of returns. But with Amazon it’s so simple! You get a QR code and the label is printed out right there and you send it back for free.
Note about AirPods Pro and AppleCare+ vs the Soundpeats Air4 Pro: If you have AppleCare+ for $29 and lose a bud you can replace it for $89. In other words, for twice the price of a completely new Soundpeats Air4 Pro you can replace a missing bud! The price difference is substantial.
Another note: I know a lot of people obviously love the AirPods Pro. I gave a pair to my partner for Christmas and he loves them and uses them daily. Other friends also love them. And just walking around you can look at people and see how popular they are. But I couldn’t get used to them in my ears.
- I tried a handful of other items as well (I won’t list them all) including partially in-ear, partially in-ear but on an ear hook so they won’t fall out and none of them really fit the bill. So back they went to Amazon.
I did find one set of over-the-ear headphones that are perfect for long air travel: the Soundpeats Space.
(Note: Soundpeats have really friendly support!) They are just 6,282 yen = $42! But they are lightweight, super comfortable, have 123 hours of playback time (!), the mic works well (tested with voicemail), the controls are obvious, Siri works fine, the noise cancelation is as good or better than the Airpods Pro 2 I think. Music sounds great. It also supports multipoint connectivity. Plus it comes with a 3.5 mm cable, so I can directly plug it into the airplane entertainment system. So for the price, I’m keeping them.
I do think they are a bit too bulky for just walking around and listening to music though. I really like my Shokz Aeropex for that. Those are bone conducting so they aren’t in your ear at all. The music sounds great. The controls are simple. And it’s very lightweight. It’s too bad the mic went “noisy.” Shokz is offering me 20% off on an updated pair - the Shokz OpenRun. I listed to mic tests at review sites and they sounds fine. So I might get those for 14,400 yen = about $100 for daily use. Or considering how rare it is for me to get phone calls while on walks I might just continue to use my otherwise perfectly good Aeropex.
Anyway, I’m fine with the Soundpeats Sound plus either my current bone conducting Shokz or an update one.