I was flying to Singapore a while back and bought some cheap wired Sony earbuds before I left. I think they were $19. They actually sounded great and fit well enough I could keep them in for extended periods without significant discomfort. Still annoying to have in your ears but not terribly painful.
@tweezak United is now insisting that passengers use earbuds or headphones with their audio devices. I don’t know if they support USB audio for in-flight aircraft entertainment. I know that 3.5mm plug audio is supported. I think that Air New Zealand has had a similar rule for a while now; I know that I was explicitly told to bring headphones back in 2019.
@tweezak@werehatrack Agree. I carry wired earbuds for anything less than 4 hours and over the ear for longer. it is a lot easier to lose the $20 pair of buds. And it is hard to leave the headphones.
Price. Been buying cheapos from Meh for years. I beat the crap out of them at work and at home doing yard work, so I don’t want to risk ruining expensive ones…I just need decent sound, fit to my big ear holes, and dependability.
Convenience and ease of use are nearly as important to me as sound/anc. My AirPods were worth the money to me because they reliably turn on/off when I insert/remove them from my ears, they notice when I’m talking and automatically stop playback and turn on transparency temporarily so I can hear other people, and when I inevitably misplace them, they have built in FindMy. That’s on top of them having excellent sound quality and very good anc.
Will they tune out my MIL?
Really all of the Above!
When buying earbuds, my personal top priority is to stop and ask “Why the hell am I doing this? I can’t stand earbuds!” And then not buy them.
YMMV.
@werehatrack Same - I’ve never found any that were comfortable to wear for more than a few minutes.
Fit and sound are equally important. If they hurt my ears physically and acoustically, they are not for me.
I was flying to Singapore a while back and bought some cheap wired Sony earbuds before I left. I think they were $19. They actually sounded great and fit well enough I could keep them in for extended periods without significant discomfort. Still annoying to have in your ears but not terribly painful.
@tweezak United is now insisting that passengers use earbuds or headphones with their audio devices. I don’t know if they support USB audio for in-flight aircraft entertainment. I know that 3.5mm plug audio is supported. I think that Air New Zealand has had a similar rule for a while now; I know that I was explicitly told to bring headphones back in 2019.
@tweezak @werehatrack Agree. I carry wired earbuds for anything less than 4 hours and over the ear for longer. it is a lot easier to lose the $20 pair of buds. And it is hard to leave the headphones.
Price. Been buying cheapos from Meh for years. I beat the crap out of them at work and at home doing yard work, so I don’t want to risk ruining expensive ones…I just need decent sound, fit to my big ear holes, and dependability.
Not having someone walk off with them.
Fit + sound are both very important to me
Convenience and ease of use are nearly as important to me as sound/anc. My AirPods were worth the money to me because they reliably turn on/off when I insert/remove them from my ears, they notice when I’m talking and automatically stop playback and turn on transparency temporarily so I can hear other people, and when I inevitably misplace them, they have built in FindMy. That’s on top of them having excellent sound quality and very good anc.