Earphones / Headphones: Where to try, what to buy?

For fans of closure: The Blons arrived, sounded great, but the 'ear hook' bit of the cable would just pull them straight out of my ear/made them impossible to wear. Got a new (very OTT looking) cable for them and now they're great.
Just over £45 all in, so not mega cheap, but I'd definitely buy again.

Any users of the Blon 03 got some recommendations for replacement cable and ear tips?

This is what I have (and it does the job), but it was the only one available at the time: Amazon link

I also got a cheapo pack of foam ear tips in different sizes from there, but could do with finding something that's a better fit on the stems.

So, I got a set of cheapo earpods for the gym, but work just gave us new iPhones which won't recognise the earpods. They will still recognise my old iPhone, which I have to send back. Is this a recognised problem? Have Apple stopped their things from recognising anything that isn't Apple?

No. Are you sure it's not because your old phone is still connected to them? They can't connect to two iPhones at once. Make sure bluetooth on your old phone is completely turned off. Sorry if that's obvious and you've done it already.

Thanks for the suggestion - I am pretty (very) technologically illiterate, but had tried that, to no effect. All it seems to pick up is a MacBook that none of our other devices pick up, weirdly.

OK, thanks.

So far, not finding much bass at all with the Blons, and they are a bit sibilant but could be because they are new and insufficient seal in the ear due to cable/ tip issues. I'm wondering if the plastic sheath around the cable that creates the 'ear hook' can be removed (but probably a bit risky).

I tried taking off the sheath on the original cables with a little knife, but it was such a pain to get it off that I just bought another cable after doing a bit (I nibbled with a little knife and peeled).

Having a good seal definitely helps a lot, and I found that I couldn't get a good seal with the included ear hooks - they pulled them straight out of my ears.

New cable arrived, and found some tips from an old set of IEMs that seem the right size. Seal achieved. Sound is much better.

1 week in testing the memory foam tips on my earbuds and I can't believe I didn't know about them before.

Bud's don't move when using them. The left one finally stays in place

The sound quality and noise cancelling has also improved.

Got the 75t Active version. Reduced a lot on black Friday deals.
More than happy with them.
Sound quality is good for the price. Anything more would probably be wasted on me anyway. They feel well made.
The Jabra app and equaliser works well. The fit of them is good. They fit snug. A bit of jiggling when I go running but they didn't fall out so no issue.
The buttons on the side are easy enough to use. The button is about the size of the end of a finger tip.
I've not got around to setting the noise cancelling yet, but so far I've not really needed to thanks to the snug fit and great sound.
These were a lot cheaper than the Jaybird VISTA 2 and these are what the VISTA 2 should have been like.

Anyone after bone conduction headphones? Aftershokz are currently promoting a Buy One Get One Free…it’s a bit of a ‘fiddle’ in that you buy a pair of their Aeropex sets for £149.95 and get a random colour of their Air sets for free (supposedly worth £99.95) which I assume means they’re being phased out - but a freebie’s a freebie and might be of use to someone…?

https://aftershokz.co.uk/

Still thinking about getting some earbuds with active noise cancelling - Sony's WF-1000XM3 can be had for €99,- here in Germany now, which is tempting..
..yet I wonder - since they are really quite big and protruding from the ears - can you wear them with woolen hats on that go snugly over the ears?
I guess AirPods are more suited due to their design.. but if anybody is using these Sony's and can provide some feedback I'd appreciate it.

1 week in testing the memory foam tips on my earbuds and I can't believe I didn't know about them before.

Same, only discovered them recently, have completely changed listening to music. Can often listen to music on the lowest volume my phone will go.

In addition to my Sony WH-1000 XM3, I've purchased some wireless JBL live earbuds.

https://eu.jbl.com/LIVE300+TWS.html

They don't come with any noise cancelling feature but that's fine as I mostly use them on the bike and still want to experience what's going on around me, both outside and inside on the turbo. Just make sure not to activate the "TalkThru" or "Ambient Aware" function, as it'll become useless on the bike due to the wind noise being picked up.

I've also started using them on trips with just handluggage and it's a breath of fresh air compared to the Sony's in terms of space it needs in your luggage.

I initially went with the RHA lightning wired earpods for use on the bike as I was afraid to lose wireless buds but after one year the lightning connector broke. They've replaced it under warranty, no questions asked but I purchased the JBL's in the intermediate. Can't fault their service though.

https://www.rha-audio.com/cn/headphones/wired/ma650i-lightning?c=860

Yeah have some 3-4 year old Trekz band over the back type, think they were about £80-100?
Honestly for running/touring/long ass MTB trips into the arse of the arse of beyond where you actually just need a solid beat to keep you from giving up, they are great.
For sitting down enjoying every bit of music, nope, but don't think its possible for that to happen with this type of tech.
Mine have survived likely about a 1000 hours of sweat/rain/mud/accidentally rammed into the bottom of a dirty bag of damp kit and forgotten about for weeks at a time.
Battery life isn't amazing, think they are now down to around 2.5 hours at full blast in winter, maybe 3-4 hours in summer but they have had a lot of use. When battery goes I'll be opening them up and replacing the cells.

Mind blowing.

I've been telling anyone who'll listen about them

Just had a try. Didn't feel that comfy with a hat on, could feel them being pushed into your ears a bit.

Blon 03

Sorry late to this, but I user this cable (2pin options) : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002783128778.html

For tips I have comply tips which are great but obviously not for taking in and out frequently.

I have the 1000Xm3s

They are too large to wear a beanie over, but not massive. I was always against the idea of over ears for portable use, but having been through 4 pairs of different style bluetooth in-ears in as many years I went for these and really like them mostly, but for the fact that they have a fault (common to most pairs apparently) where prolonged wear causes high humidity in the ANC circuit and a low but noticeable crackly noise.

The call quality is very poor but I've found that with all BT headphones I've tried, and I see people complain about the XM4 and the Bose too so who knows. For 100 quid they're terrific, sound great with ANC and without and last for days without charge.

Thanks for your feedback @aggi and @neu.

Unfortunately that's pretty much a dealbraker for me as frankly I do wear a hat (that also goes over my ears) half of the year basically.

Also I just realised that with your hat covering earbuds designed like that you also can't tap the buttons on their sides.. bit of an advantage of the Airpods I guess..

1 Attachment

AirPod pros don’t need to be tapped. The controls are on the stem, at the bottom. Same goes for the new standard AirPod 3s. Sooooo….. yeah. It’s a non issue for anyone buying current gen AirPods.

Yes, that's what I said - Airpods have an advantage in this regard, as the stem is sticking out the beanie 👍

Oopsy doopsie. Totally read that as ‘tapping sides of airpod underneath hats = impossible therefore disadvantage’

Can you tell I didn’t read it properly? 😅

Brought some senheiser momentum true wireless 2 in ear buds off eBay, after the cheaper Bluetooth ear buds I had, the plastic over the power button wore away.
Super happy with them great sound, nice app, and have figured out the small earbuds fit both my ears so no falling out issues.
Really loving using them, could do with a bit more noise cancelling, and need to speak to the missus when wearing them to see if there’s any noise leakage, but really happy with them would recommend, though obviously I didn’t pay full price for them..

Sub £100 (sub£50?) true wireless earbuds with acceptable audio quality for calls? Anyone tried Earfun?