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

Try here

https://accessories.three.co.uk/products/google-pixel-buds-a-series-in-ear-wireless-earbuds?variant=40367638741057

Edit: Ah - out of stock

Was to the pixel buds but offer has now ended apparently

At the cheaper end of the spectrum...Recommendation for wired lightning earphones? So many of the "Genuine Apple" ones on eBay are absolutely not and identify as "Beats" when plugged in and require hitting the "Connect" button.

Each pair of Apple branded ones we have last just about 3 months. Wondering if I get some more (maybe a Black Friday deal) or find something else a bit sturdier.

(I know Lightning is going away, but we've got years until all of the iPhones in this house are USB-C.)

Apple wired headphones bought from random shop on eBay die after 3 months, or bought from Apple? If from Apple take/send them back and complain for a refund/replacement. If from random shop buy actual apple ones.

Thank you. Also thank you to @c00ps Still available in 3 stores ;)

Looked at them but no anc.

Are you sure you can get the wired ones replaced? I looked and it seems like it's only Airpods and the Pros.

It’s standard warranty stuff (or consumer rights). If something is faulty and stops working, especially that quickly, then yes you should be able to get refunded/replaced.

I've got some over the ear Sony XM3 I'm really happy with for sound quality, noise cancelling and comfort. However the mic is terrible in noisy conditions.

This hasn't been a problem because I've had a remote job so I use them at home when I'm on work calls but my new job means I need to be on calls in the office and everyone complains that these headphones pick up a lot of ambient noise.

The company did supply a traditional headset but it's really uncomfortable with my hearing aid.

Because of the hearing aid and my hearing loss I can't use in ear headphones or buds, so any recommendations for over ear noise cancelling with decent mic that won't pick up background noise in a noisy office?

Annoyingly the office doesn't have booths, only a couple of meeting rooms.

You're likely to encounter this problem with any headphones that have their headset mic on the body of the earcup rather than a boom arm positioned next to your mouth. Maybe an attachable microphone like a ModMic would solve this for you?

Definitely this. As far as I understand, the noise cancelling mic in a set of headphones can only work one way. For example as soon as I jump onto a Teams call from listening to music, the noise cancelling mic has to turn off so that I can use the mic for the call, and all of a sudden ambient noise is pumped into my headphones. It's very annoying. I am considering doing the same thing with a ModMic.

Ugh I'll probably switch to my razer 3.5mm headset for calls then as it's comfortable

These seem to do the job for lots of people in our office (I’ve certainly not had issues with other noise), but don’t seem to be in stock in many places at the moment…

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/d/microsoft-modern-wireless-headset/8wn49139qkjf

Very niche question, but anyone knows where's the best/cheapest place to get custom IEMs reshelled in the UK? I have a pair that is 10 years old and going strong (expensive outlay aside, 40 quid a year doesn't seem that bad an investment) but my ears seem to have changed in shape some in that time, and shipping them to the US to get them reshelled seems silly (and also very expensive).. However, can't for the life of me seem to find anywhere in the UK that will shell them for me!

If these guys are still around, they're reshellers:

https://www.custom-inearmonitors.co.uk/

Have asked them - they unfortunately don't do reshelling (and haven't done since 2018). Have also just found another company called LugsNI.. now deliberating if it's worth paying a fair bit of dosh to get the earphones redone if only to run into the same issue a few years down the line, or if I should just eschew customs and go for silicone universals like everyone else which will last longer..

I see. I live in California. I am in the UK from Dec 19-28th. I can facilitate sending them to a U.S. based resheller and then can ship them back to you? Not sure how you'd deal with imports and stuff on something you already own, but yeah... if you can figure something out I can help for sure.

Resheller? Will be great for when Sean Connery needs to offload his.

Very annoyingly my expensive Sony over ears have broken. They had three years reasonable use, and at 300 quid I'm a bit annoyed. They just won't turn on sometimes and no amount of resetting will work. Obviously now out of warrenty.

WH-1000XM3

I've emailed Sony. Let's see what they say. Not being able to easily repair things really turns me off these days.

Offer is much appreciated - thank you! Will look into things but not sure I could obtain a pair of impressions before Dec 19.. Am now contemplating DIY changes since I own a dremel and could get epoxy somewhere..

Has anyone had these

https://www.johnlewis.com/sennheiser-hd-450bt-noise-cancelling-bluetooth-over-ear-headphones-with-mic-remote/black/p4909645?s_ppc=2dx_mixed_technology_BAU&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1KDQwIifgwMVHIpQBh3vnQKkEAQYAiABEgLRQPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

that's a shitter.
repairability is one of the reasons I got my aiaiai tma-2 https://aiaiai.audio/headphones/tma-2
as well as being great sounding headphones, every part is replaceable

Thanks that's interesting.

I emailed Sony and they said about repair if I send them in, so I'm going to look into the situation with that.

That sounds like a great idea. If you use headphones a lot they all fuck up eventually.

I know there was a trend a while back to bemone airpods for not being environmentally friendly but IME 99% of all headphones are landfill for 99% of people within 5yrs of use. I always try to keep them going with self-amalgamating tape and a variety of glues but it would be great if they could be repaired.

Anything that has an inbuilt battery has a short lifespan, anything USB chargeable is e-waste in a few years.
Fuck some guy at work the other day had a tiny blender at his desk for making protein smoothies, a few bucks from temu. It's a disaster.

that's another cool thing about aiaiai - they are big on responsible sustainable design.
https://aiaiai.audio/sustainability
you can send stuff back at end of life and they will refurb it and reuse / repair, then sell as second hand rather than it go in the ground, and give you store credit.