Headphones recommendation

@sammydog01 I like the one-ear idea too! I not only have never been hit by a car, trains or buses have completely missed me.

@therealjrn A guy here was out walking and listening to NPR with headphones and got hit by a train. That’s why I never listen to NPR.

@f00l

Further thoughts:

For spoken word: fidelity and sound quality are less important.

user interface, comfort, practicality (do the buds tend to drop down behind your back? Annoying), controls, etc, are way more important.
Don’t spend big money here. Just get LG Tones. They will do the job and you won’t hate them.

For music, a whole host of other complex features and personal preferences start to matter. Sound design profiles matter. Earbuds really won’t do for quality.

I would say, don’t spend a bunch of money, at least in the beginning. If you wannabe an audiophile, go for that slowly. It’s easy to get seduced by ad/engineering copy and reviews when you don’t have the free time to justify a $$$$ purchase you will wind using when you don’t have the free mental energy to just appreciate sound at the expense of the rest of life.

So don’t spend those sorts of bucks. Those expensive headphones are objectively nice, but buying them is like buying a Maserati you will only drive once a year. Buy something you will not hesitate to use constantly, something where, if you lose it or break it, you don’t feel pain at the cost of the lost investment.

You can do worse than starting here:

https://www.monoprice.com/category/mobile/headphones/bluetooth-headphones

Monoprice makes stuff that is very good quality for the $.
Read reviews: esp re fit, esp if headphones have been hard for wear comfortably for you in the past.
Many Monoprice headphones will have reviews on Amazon as well as on Monoprice.

TheWirecutter is The NY Times consumer product reviews site. It can be informative.

It can also be a bit narrow-minded, reductive, and snotty. As tho there were only one clear “best” in every category. Or as tho less well known brands or house brands were beneath their notice.

(Take that site with a full shaker of salt, in other words. )

@f00l I have a pair of LGs that were sent to me in the last IRK. I didn’t like them. Thought they sounded bad. Granted, I tried to listen to music with them. I can ship them to you, @Seeds, if you like. I also got two pair of Samsung’s in the same box that I love so the LGs will never get used.

@RiotDemon @Seeds

The LG’s just won’t really do for music. They only sound decent for music if I am actively pushing them into my ears at the moment.

Are the Samsung’s really good for music? If so, which model? Show us a pic if you can.

I tried some Samsung neckband style for audiobooks and they just weren’t a s good as the LG’s for that use. I think I had issues with the audio controls.

But I’d love to discover some BT earbuds that were cheapish, and were great for music.

@heartny Can other people hear the bone conduction ones? I have a pair for swimming but they only work well underwater.

@sammydog01 No, because they work by causing your bones to vibrate, rather than generating sound that you would hear with your eardrum. This article explains them pretty well:

www.soundguys.com/bone-conduction-headphones-20580/

@heartny @sammydog01 What if you’re big-boned?

@heartny The Verge said this:

Annnnd then there are the downsides, the main one being leakage. Sound leakage. As in, other people can hear what you’re listening to.

This guy too.

Maybe yours were a different brand? They’re supposed to be really good for some people with hearing loss. I need to remember that in the future.

@sammydog01 I tried to reply earlier, but got the something went wrong video. Anyway, when standing next to someone wearing the bone conduction headphones I didn’t hear anything. But maybe I’m hard of hearing? Someone suggested because skin tends to get thinner as you age, these headphones tend to be more uncomfortable when pressing on the bone. I guess they are mostly for young’uns.

@heartny @sammydog01 my former boss got a pair of trekz aftershocks and I was not impressed. They didn’t sound great when I wore them and they were like little speakers, I could hear her music coming from them when she wore them. I thought it was a complete gimmick.

@jmoor783 Also they have a lifetime warranty. You just need to send them back to the company

@InnocuousFarmer

In my experience, reasonably inexpensive (under $80-100) earbuds never seal. And fwiw, the expensive ones I tried (Senns) didn’t really seal either - maybe it’s just my ears are weird?

So I never got any bass or true musical detail with buds. So far. I haven’t gone nits looking for a solution.

I never tried the custom-made-and-custom-fitted buds. More than I was willing to spend for something I would wear while moving around. (If I am moving around, I wind up knocking the wiring and putting stress on the headphone jack all the time. So wired is kinda no go.)

For sitting still, I love listening on really nice over-the-ear cans. Mostly open back, unless I’m in a place with other people around.

But I purchased some nice ones (Senns and those studio Sony’s) and altho the sound was incredible, I then discovered that sitting still listening to music isn’t my life.
Not something I really need to own. I love them, but don’t use them that much.

So … For me … since 99% of my listening is audiobooks/podcasts, and controls/form factor matter more that audio greatness for spoken word use, the LG’s are as good as anything I’ve tried.

Which not-too-expensive Bluetooth earbuds seal most ears well enough to give a good musical experience?

I’d listen to a lot more music if I didn’t have to put on big cans to listen to anything that sounds decent.

Right now I have some decent Bluetooth cans for around home. But I don’t like taking them out w me much. Esp not if I’m mostly in the car; then, what’s the point?

Also, I discovered I didn’t like taking really nice but pricy headphones of any sort away from home. I want buds that I can just shrug and replace if I lose or break them.

And cans are just too big for me if I’m just running around. Tho if I were doing commuter trains, being chauffeured (ha ha), or on a flight, or doing waiting rooms or reception areas, I’d prob use them.

Would love some not terribly expensive Bluetooth earbud recommends (intended for musical use).

@f00l I’ve never had problems with earbuds sealing – if they’ve got those rubber flanges, they work fine as corks for ear holes. (They do tend to slip out slowly, and sound… inferior, but those’re different issues.)

I wish I could even give you solid recommendations for expensive bluetooth earbuds that sounded good. I’m in what a similar situation to you, except that I work in a quiet office and use the open-backed headphones there.

The only decent cheap headphones I’ve ever used have all been wired. Then, I haven’t tried much Bluetooth stuff.

Got some of those Apple AirPods Pro. They sound ok, good enough to enjoy music a lot of times, but still not generally comparable to open-backed headphones. And for the dollar, unless pocketable + noise-canceling are your key features, the value doesn’t make sense. I like the sound of those cheap KSC-75s better, but those are weird, ear-clippy, wired headphones again.

I’ve tried $20ish wired Panasonic earbuds of the sealing kind which were “fine”… read in this random affiliate link gift guide from the holidays that these (also wired) sound very good for the price (I love mids, wouldn’t be surprised if I hated them).

Maybe you could combine those $40 earbuds with a $20~ FiiO μBTR and be in decent shape. I will vouch for the μBTR – have one and use it from time to time. Has decent battery life, can automatically switch between two paired audio sources, supports the AAC codec.