Special snowflake bluetooth earbuds for my special snowflake ears
April 27, 2017 3:35 PM Subscribe
Hey I was wondering if you know of some bluetooth earbuds that have the qualities I'm looking for.
I've been using bluetooth earbuds for commuting for a few months and I like them in theory but I've gone through a bunch of pairs and I'm not finding any that have a form factor I'm comfortable with. So I'm wondering if anyone else has come across a pair that meet my criteria that I just haven't found yet. It's getting expensive and tedious buying and returning these things all the time.
Here's what I've figured out about what I like and dislike:
1. Must be earbuds. I don't like the over the ear style.
2. So I get that for it to be bluetooth it needs to have some heavy plastic component that holds the transmitter that lets it talk to my phone. There seem to be 3 styles that they have come up with to house this:
a. The plastic collar that goes around your neck. This is the style I have now and I don't like it because as I'm walking around it gets all askew, falls down backwards. It doesn't stay in place and it makes me look disheveled.
b. The earbuds themselves are giant plastic pieces sticking out of your ears like Uhura.
c. The earbuds are normal sized but there's a heavy plastic piece dangling out of one ear like an earring. I also know that you're supposed to wrap this around your ear somehow so that it's next to your head but I tried this style and this is more than I can deal with apparently.
I just don't like big heavy stuff hanging off me. The reason why I'm compromising with the collar style now is that I don't mind it sitting on my shoulder/neck.
I also saw another style in which the plastic piece is disguised as a necklace, which would be ideal except the audio quality & durability gets rated poorly. I'm not an audiophile but I'd like it to not sound like crap and for it to not break/die while I'm commuting.
3. Another thing I don't like like ones that want an intimate involvement with my ear cartilage. I just want to stick the earbuds in my ear and be done with it. I'm not running or working out so they don't need any extra help staying in there.
So these are all the things I don't like about bluetooth earbuds. Does there exist a model I can buy that won't bother me in the ways I have described?
I've been using bluetooth earbuds for commuting for a few months and I like them in theory but I've gone through a bunch of pairs and I'm not finding any that have a form factor I'm comfortable with. So I'm wondering if anyone else has come across a pair that meet my criteria that I just haven't found yet. It's getting expensive and tedious buying and returning these things all the time.
Here's what I've figured out about what I like and dislike:
1. Must be earbuds. I don't like the over the ear style.
2. So I get that for it to be bluetooth it needs to have some heavy plastic component that holds the transmitter that lets it talk to my phone. There seem to be 3 styles that they have come up with to house this:
a. The plastic collar that goes around your neck. This is the style I have now and I don't like it because as I'm walking around it gets all askew, falls down backwards. It doesn't stay in place and it makes me look disheveled.
b. The earbuds themselves are giant plastic pieces sticking out of your ears like Uhura.
c. The earbuds are normal sized but there's a heavy plastic piece dangling out of one ear like an earring. I also know that you're supposed to wrap this around your ear somehow so that it's next to your head but I tried this style and this is more than I can deal with apparently.
I just don't like big heavy stuff hanging off me. The reason why I'm compromising with the collar style now is that I don't mind it sitting on my shoulder/neck.
I also saw another style in which the plastic piece is disguised as a necklace, which would be ideal except the audio quality & durability gets rated poorly. I'm not an audiophile but I'd like it to not sound like crap and for it to not break/die while I'm commuting.
3. Another thing I don't like like ones that want an intimate involvement with my ear cartilage. I just want to stick the earbuds in my ear and be done with it. I'm not running or working out so they don't need any extra help staying in there.
So these are all the things I don't like about bluetooth earbuds. Does there exist a model I can buy that won't bother me in the ways I have described?
Response by poster: Oh - another thing I forgot to mention - I can't do the hard plastic Apple style, has to be the flexible plastic kind.
posted by bleep at 3:57 PM on April 27, 2017
posted by bleep at 3:57 PM on April 27, 2017
My Jaybird X-3s have interchangeable tips, so you can go for some pretty plain and simple foam, instead of silicon that needs to be shoved into your ear. The... microphone/battery/button dongle is pretty much as small and light as I imagine it could get while still having a surface - I'm very happy with them.
posted by sagc at 4:16 PM on April 27, 2017
posted by sagc at 4:16 PM on April 27, 2017
These cheap ones are worth a try. I have them and they are very light. They're connected with a fairly unobtrusive, light cord. They come with several different earpieces and you can remove the weird little loop around the earpiece that you see in the picture.
posted by dayintoday at 4:18 PM on April 27, 2017
posted by dayintoday at 4:18 PM on April 27, 2017
Response by poster: To be clear, because it's been pointed out to me that I wasn't clear, I have seen all the options of the qualities listed above and they are all unacceptable. I'm looking for ones that:
are not big pieces of plastic in my ears, around my hears, or hanging off my ears.
posted by bleep at 4:49 PM on April 27, 2017
are not big pieces of plastic in my ears, around my hears, or hanging off my ears.
posted by bleep at 4:49 PM on April 27, 2017
Would these work? You can see a picture of someone wearing them here.
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:58 PM on April 27, 2017
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:58 PM on April 27, 2017
How about this Anker one (with a flexible wire behind your neck that connects the two earbuds, not a stiff plastic collar)?
Or this Apple/Beats BeatsX (a little pricey, but good reviews)?
posted by thewildgreen at 7:32 PM on April 27, 2017
Or this Apple/Beats BeatsX (a little pricey, but good reviews)?
posted by thewildgreen at 7:32 PM on April 27, 2017
I would also second the BeatsX. I've gone through several bluetooth headsets over the years, both over-the-ears and ear bud style. I'm with the OP on preferring ear buds, mostly for sound isolation and enhanced bass. What I did with my BeatsX was replace the silicon ear bud thingies with ones that are made for comfort (the Comply Tsx-500's are around $20 on Amazon for a set of 3) and they're basically made out of memory foam, which means when I put them in my ears, they stay there and they're extremely comfortable.
As far as your other requirements, they're very light, the battery packs on either side of the very stiff wire neckband are barely noticeable and the magnetic ear buds snap together and keep the whole thing around my neck when I'm not using them.
If I have any complaint about the BeatsX is that it comes with a pretty crappy carrying case. It's functional, but it feels more like an afterthought than a well executed plan.
the sound quality is excellent, I'm no audiophile, but I really like how these sound, the bass isn't overdone, but punchy enough with the right music. I use them both with my iPhone and with my Windows 10 laptop and the latency is so low, I can watch youtube videos without any audio sync issues.
I think I've seen them on sale for around $100 lately.
posted by ZureaL at 8:03 PM on April 27, 2017
As far as your other requirements, they're very light, the battery packs on either side of the very stiff wire neckband are barely noticeable and the magnetic ear buds snap together and keep the whole thing around my neck when I'm not using them.
If I have any complaint about the BeatsX is that it comes with a pretty crappy carrying case. It's functional, but it feels more like an afterthought than a well executed plan.
the sound quality is excellent, I'm no audiophile, but I really like how these sound, the bass isn't overdone, but punchy enough with the right music. I use them both with my iPhone and with my Windows 10 laptop and the latency is so low, I can watch youtube videos without any audio sync issues.
I think I've seen them on sale for around $100 lately.
posted by ZureaL at 8:03 PM on April 27, 2017
My preferred configuration for Bluetooth earphones is lightweight earphones plugged into a small device that clips to your clothes. Annoyingly it seems that manufacturers have decided to phase out this style in preference to the ones you describe above.
The Sony SBH20 is now very hard to get hold of but this device looks so much like it that I wonder whether it's the same thing under another label. It's cheap enough that it might be worth trying out anyway.
posted by *becca* at 2:45 AM on April 28, 2017
The Sony SBH20 is now very hard to get hold of but this device looks so much like it that I wonder whether it's the same thing under another label. It's cheap enough that it might be worth trying out anyway.
posted by *becca* at 2:45 AM on April 28, 2017
I've got a pair of Jaybird Freedoms and like them alot. They're in-ear with a soft rubber fin that sits in your ear fold. You can remove the fins if you want. It takes a bit of fiddling to figure out how they sit in your ear with the fins on but once youve figured it out then its easy to pop them in. I like that its the buds and the fins do the job of anchoring them in your ears, not anything else.
They're on a soft cord, the only hard plastic is the buds themselves and the controller. You can orient them with the cord over your ear or below like traditional buds.
They come with grips that you can use to shorten the cord but I didnt like the loops it creates in the cord - since I use them at the gym I just loop the cord over the top of my pony tail and the control still sits nicely behind my ear.
The only design flaw is that they come with a charging clip that is eminently easy to lose - which I promptly did. The charging clip snaps onto the control and you plug the usb charging cable into the clip so you cant charge them without the clip. You can buy a replacement clip, the site didnt have stock for the UK and Jaybird kindly sent me a replacement under warranty - yay customer service. That clip never leaves the house now and it stays on its usb lead.
Oh and I too find apple ear buds way too big, the Jaybirds are comfy for me.
posted by Ness at 6:10 AM on April 28, 2017
They're on a soft cord, the only hard plastic is the buds themselves and the controller. You can orient them with the cord over your ear or below like traditional buds.
They come with grips that you can use to shorten the cord but I didnt like the loops it creates in the cord - since I use them at the gym I just loop the cord over the top of my pony tail and the control still sits nicely behind my ear.
The only design flaw is that they come with a charging clip that is eminently easy to lose - which I promptly did. The charging clip snaps onto the control and you plug the usb charging cable into the clip so you cant charge them without the clip. You can buy a replacement clip, the site didnt have stock for the UK and Jaybird kindly sent me a replacement under warranty - yay customer service. That clip never leaves the house now and it stays on its usb lead.
Oh and I too find apple ear buds way too big, the Jaybirds are comfy for me.
posted by Ness at 6:10 AM on April 28, 2017
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:54 PM on April 27, 2017