Is It Worth Spending over $200 on a Pair of Wireless Earbuds?

I need to buy another pair of wireless earbuds because I lost my Apple earpods. They are very small and very easy to lost, so I am wondering what is the benefit of spend over $200 on Apple earpods? I am thinking of buying a cheaper one. Is there any cheaper one with reasonable quality? I mostly listen to Podcast on news, current affairs.

Poll Options

  • 14
    Under $50
  • 5
    $50-100
  • 26
    $101-$200
  • 9
    $200+

Comments

  • Unless you dropped them outside or left them somewhere else, then they are still in your home somewhere. Cheaper to just find them.

    • I went to shopping yesterday and a couple of shops were very hot and I took off my coats and I think thats when my Airpods dropped out of my pocket

      • +1

        If you get new AirPods you can have them alert you if you leave them behind, as long as the case has a charge.

      • +5

        Don't Airpods have Find My

      • best to leave them in your ears?

  • AirPods Pro 100% worth it.

    • -1

      Idk why anyone would neg this other than brainwashed android fanboys but yes. AirPod pros are awesome.

      • Only if you have an iPhone.
        Otherwise most of the features and customisations are locked.

    • +1

      why you think its worth it? sound quality? comfy to wear?

      • +1

        Ease of use is the main thing. Seamless connection everytime and just work, good sound, great microphones, decent noise cancellation as well as transparency mode option, comfort being lightweight with multiple tips, gestures (tap once to pause, twice for next song etc), really good Bluetooth range, water resistant, great battery life and quick charging in handy case providing 24 hours of use.

        Once you're used to them, nothing else compares. I believe you can buy them from Apple Store and try for 2 weeks then return for full refund if unsatisfied.

        • +2

          pretty sure the problem for op is he doesnt want to spend 200 clams full stop

    • +1

      I'm upvoting this as a Pixel 6 Pro user with a set of Sony XM4 earbuds.

      AirPods pro are fantastic.

  • +4

    I honestly prefer my ~$50 Soundpeats Truengine SE to the Airpods I got for free with Back to School, in terms of noise isolation and sound quality.
    I do indulge in audiophile gears for over-ears but with earbuds I doubt the extra premium is worth it, especially when you're using them out and about.

    • yes I only use earbuds when I am out and about. How long your battery last when you use it?

      • Typically they'll all last around 2-4, maybe 5 hours depending on if they have ANC or anything.

      • As a guess probably 3-4 hours of continuous playback (I mainly use them with the iPad in bed). The carrying case, however, can recharge them 3-4 times over so unless you’re listening for more than 4 hours straight at a time battery life shouldn’t be an issue.
        P/s: No ANC on the ones I have. Passive NC is very decent the few times I’ve used it on public transports.

  • +2

    Yes, it is worth to spend the extra for wireless earphones, there is an area of diminishing returns and that begins beyond the $299 pricerange. However most wireless earbuds are simply crap.
    From an audiophile perspective, the Galaxy Buds series are the most well tuned by far (Pro/2/+ in order of sound quality) with the Sonys coming close (XM4/XM3). The airpods pros are a decent option if you're invested in the Apple ecosystem.

    If you want to go cheap, you could get away with some Xiaomi/Redmi earbuds for sub 50 dollars, from my experience they were more then ok.

  • +2

    Soundpeats are fine if that’s all you’re doing

  • +2

    Wireless earbud sales exploded in growth after Apple removed the headphone jack on iPhones. The batteries wear out after a year or 2 and then it's time for you to be milked for your money again. The sound quality over wireless varies between bad and not so bad. If you want real audiophile quality then you're looking at earbuds like the Sony IER-Z1R ($2,499) or the more affordable Sony IER-M7 ($799.95). You're not going to get audiophile quality from any wireless earbuds as the Bluetooth standard can't handle it. Therefore, I just get budget earbuds for my phone. For Prime Day I got the Tozo NC7. Currently $59.99 on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com.au/TOZO-NC7-Cancelling-Headphones-Wat…

    If you want to spend over $200 on earbuds then it's more about appearances.

    • You really don't have to spend more than $30 nowadays to get a well-tuned earbud, take a look at the Moondrop Chu.

      MR7 FR vs Chu FR

    • Not true. Look at aptX HD and Lossless.

  • +7

    "I mostly listen to Podcast on news, current affairs." Pardon me if this is incorrect - but this to me says audiophile quality not needed.

    • It doesn't even need decent bass. Literally all he needs is clear mids. Anything over $25 should be fine.

      • -1

        My partner bought one for about $40 from Officeworks a year ago, sometimes its connect but sometimes its not.

  • If you're going to spend a lot of money surely over-ear headphones would be a better buy. Much more comfortable (nothing hard pressing against the skin inside your ear) and the noise cancellation can work much better. Plus you can't easily lose them like you can with wireless earbuds. And of course they keep your ears warm in winter. The only advantage of earbuds is they take up a bit less space in your bag.

    • Yes you are right. I am going to try a cheaper one

  • +1

    I am in the under $50 category.

    Here is problem number 1.
    TWS headphones without anything connecting them can fall out of your ears very easily, whether it's from scratching your ear or turning your head quickly. So high chance you can drop one down a drain or into some thin gap somewhere. Not something you want happening with $200 headphones.
    There was a recent comment which I read that said they would be buying TWS headphones for their kids. I had to shake my head as I know they will likely lose them within a week.

    Then theres the "advanced features" which for some will be more of a nuisance than a nice feature.
    My first pair of TWS were the Taotronics Soundliberty 80 I picked up for around $46 on Amazon. They had most of the features of 1st gen AirPods, great for only $46 I thought.
    In use it was not so great. The touch sensitive "stems" would regularly trigger things I did not want when adjusting them in my ears. When I did want to do something like raise the volume the glossy finish which again same as AirPods would be very grippy and sliding your finger carefully on that was very difficult to get right.

    Second feature that is the same as AirPods was the "presence sensor" which detect when you take them out, pausing/resuming video. The problem was if one of the TWS became slightly loose, or you lie down or something and it moves a little, the sensor thinks you took the TWS out so I would regularly be experiencing paused video and needing to tap or push the TWS further in to resume playback.
    The real negative I experienced with the Taotronics was the battery life, which was quite limited at 2 to 2.5 hours per use before needing to be put back into the case again.
    They claimed 4 hours I think, but any lower in volume level and I could not understand dialogue.
    Anyway they are still being sold at super cheap prices on Amazon under a different name, however if you take a look at the reviews looks like people are getting old units with failing batteries. I managed to get mine earlier on so they turned out OK for the time being.

    Anyway I recently picked up a different $32 set of TWS on Prime Day. They are the Truefree A1's which are currently available at a similar price with 25% off coupon. https://www.amazon.com.au/Wireless-Bluetooth-Headphones-Earp…
    Reviews were great and the best thing was that they were performed well without any of the "advanced features". I must say I am really impressed with these buds, they play well with iOS with no latency and have terrific battery life I regularly get just over 4 hours use every time I take them out of the case.
    The most noticeable thing is I need much less volume level than I did with the Taotronics. So that might be making the difference in terms of power efficiency.
    Sure the Taotronics had more bass, but it was unusually strong in my opinion and I prefer the clearer more balanced sound and longer battery life of the Truefree A1's.

    On top of all this, no more fancy features on these so I don't have video pausing out of nowhere or accidentally skipping to the next video. Volume is a more intuitive "tap" on one side compared to the sliding on the stem. Makes it a big difficult to do "bigger jumps" in volume but I don't accidentally trigger anything anymore.

    Anyway, if you need a pair of TWS that play well with iOS for cheap. These Truefree A1's have been the best experience I have had so far.
    If I had to think of one area the Taotronics with AirPod design were better, it would probably be that either the larger size or the glossy finish would stay in my ear better.
    I think the Truefree A1's are also on the smaller side, so that is something to consider if you have larger ears they may not be for you.
    I still use my Taotronics as a backup pair, when I know I will only be using them for a shorter period. Otherwise the Truefree A1 have truly been a night and day experience in terms of user experience and all I needed was $32.

    No need to spend $$$ on AirPods. In my opinion the only feature which makes them unique is the ability to jump across multiple iOS devices automatically and I don't need that feature.

  • I have found that microphone quality is the real kicker in cheaper headphones.

    I don't expect anything crazy, but it needs to be okay enough to walk around and take a phone call with rudimentary noise cancelling. The exception to this were the TWS200. I had 3 sets of them, all worked well and 1 by one they failed. When they worked they were brilliant though.

    Now I just stick to low end ones from name brands. I've got a set of older Galaxy Buds+ which are okay but not great on the noise cancelling front and some random jabra set I had to buy at the airport when I forgot mine (needed for work calls).

    They both do the job but I wouldn't mind spending a bit more on something with wildly good noise cancelling on the mic side.

    I wear them at the gym too, but I'm not all that fussed on sound quality as long as it isn't trash.

Login or Join to leave a comment