Wireless earbuds 2023

[nordboy]

gregs656 said:

I’ve now ordered a pair of Linkbuds S as well. Not sure how I missed these. Significantly better mic than the XM4s and a smaller case than the Sennheisers which still haven’t arrived.

All from Amazon so not too worried about returning one of them.

Sonys should be here on Thursday.

I looked at these the other day after reading good things about them. They're much smaller than the XM4's but apparently sound nearly as good, loads cheaper too.

Keep us updated

[gregs656]

nordboy said:

I looked at these the other day after reading good things about them. They're much smaller than the XM4's but apparently sound nearly as good, loads cheaper too.

Keep us updated

I think I discounted them because they use a bone conduction mic but it works much better in the linkbuds. ANC is a nice to have for me, not a priority.

Loads of YouTube reviews seem a bit confused over why they linkbuds s are so good though.

[the-norseman]

I've got the first generation Pixel buds and use them a lot, considered upgrading to the newer Pixel buds pro.

[g4ry13]

Is it possible to buy some fairly decent and comfortable earbuds for <£40?

I'm actually quite averse to splashing out £200 on some uncomfortable earbuds which don't sound great and need charging up, but the way of the world is to remove headphone sockets from things. It's also a little clumsy watching stuff on my tablet with a cable to my earphones.

My gf has the Sony wf-1000xm4 which she claims are good. I find them rather big and uncomfortable - also rather pricey. Most quality pairs seem to be around the £200 mark.

[gregs656]

The Linkbuds S are Amazon Warehouse ones, mine were 140 CAD but I see they have some on Amazon UK for 90 - more than 40 quid but not bad if you use them a lot.

[Dave.]

g4ry13 said:

Is it possible to buy some fairly decent and comfortable earbuds for <£40?

I'm actually quite averse to splashing out £200 on some uncomfortable earbuds which don't sound great and need charging up, but the way of the world is to remove headphone sockets from things. It's also a little clumsy watching stuff on my tablet with a cable to my earphones.

My gf has the Sony wf-1000xm4 which she claims are good. I find them rather big and uncomfortable - also rather pricey. Most quality pairs seem to be around the £200 mark.

I use these for listening to podcasts/audio books at work

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7419553?clickPR=pl...

They're crap for music though, and the mics crap for calls.

Clearly this isn't a recommendation as such, especially as I only paid £20 for them a year or two ago.

[s p a c e m a n]

The raycon everyday ones that I've got are £50ish by the time you stuck in the random discount codes that you can Google for

[Rumblestripe]

For cheapies have a look at the "Ear Fun" (black are £40, white £50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H7GMHZ/ref...

Won a "What Hi Fi" award so the sound is decent and they work well enough, at 40-50 squids you don't worry about losing them

[Dave.]

Rumblestripe said:

For cheapies have a look at the "Ear Fun" (black are £40, white £50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H7GMHZ/ref...

Won a "What Hi Fi" award so the sound is decent and they work well enough, at 40-50 squids you don't worry about losing them

A further £8 discount too, ordered, thanks.

[g4ry13]

Dave. said:

Rumblestripe said:

For cheapies have a look at the "Ear Fun" (black are £40, white £50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H7GMHZ/ref...

Won a "What Hi Fi" award so the sound is decent and they work well enough, at 40-50 squids you don't worry about losing them

A further £8 discount too, ordered, thanks.

I might give these a try as well. What's the comfort like?

Good spot on the £8 too!

I did have my eye on some of the ~£20 ones on Amazon but will give these a try first

Edited by g4ry13 on Thursday 16th March 19:18

[gregs656]

Not sure when I pissed Jeff Bezos off; the Sonys which are meant to arrive today are not even showing as dispatched on Amazon.

[Stick Legs]

robsa said:

Bowers & Wilkins have just released the Pi7 S2's and from what I gather they are the best sounding earbuds around. £349 though!

Can vouch for them being fabulous.

I have the B&W Pi5’s which are essentially the same at a more palatable price.

[Rumblestripe]

g4ry13 said:

Dave. said:

Rumblestripe said:

For cheapies have a look at the "Ear Fun" (black are £40, white £50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H7GMHZ/ref...

Won a "What Hi Fi" award so the sound is decent and they work well enough, at 40-50 squids you don't worry about losing them

A further £8 discount too, ordered, thanks.

I might give these a try as well. What's the comfort like?

Good spot on the £8 too!

I did have my eye on some of the ~£20 ones on Amazon but will give these a try first

Edited by g4ry13 on Thursday 16th March 19:18

I find them comfortable enough to wear (they come with three different sizes of silicone ear pieces) whilst walking the dog and to be honest in that context music reproduction is rather a moot point as you are in a pretty noisy environment even if it is just the wind and you need a certain amount of awareness of what is happening around you so complete isolation would not be ideal (IMO). I mostly use them for podcasts but do occasionally listen to music on them and find the quality pretty good. The mike is quite good when taking a phone call too. Obviously they are not going to compete with £200+ B&W jobbies but I've used Apple ear buds and I think they are pretty close to them for music.

[RizzoTheRat]

gregs656 said:

I think I discounted them because they use a bone conduction mic but it works much better in the linkbuds. ANC is a nice to have for me, not a priority.

Loads of YouTube reviews seem a bit confused over why they linkbuds s are so good though.

What do people on the other end of a call think of the sound quality from the bone conduction mic? I'd assume they do a very good job of ignoring background and wind noise and just pick up your voice?


When I was after a cheapo pair, a few people recommended SoundPeats, I bought the non isolating TrueAir2 and for a £30 pair of headphones the sound quality is way better than I expected. If I wanted ones with isolation and active noise cancelation I'd be very tempted by thier higher spec ones.

[g4ry13]

Rumblestripe said:

g4ry13 said:

Dave. said:

Rumblestripe said:

For cheapies have a look at the "Ear Fun" (black are £40, white £50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H7GMHZ/ref...

Won a "What Hi Fi" award so the sound is decent and they work well enough, at 40-50 squids you don't worry about losing them

A further £8 discount too, ordered, thanks.

I might give these a try as well. What's the comfort like?

Good spot on the £8 too!

I did have my eye on some of the ~£20 ones on Amazon but will give these a try first

Edited by g4ry13 on Thursday 16th March 19:18

I find them comfortable enough to wear (they come with three different sizes of silicone ear pieces) whilst walking the dog and to be honest in that context music reproduction is rather a moot point as you are in a pretty noisy environment even if it is just the wind and you need a certain amount of awareness of what is happening around you so complete isolation would not be ideal (IMO). I mostly use them for podcasts but do occasionally listen to music on them and find the quality pretty good. The mike is quite good when taking a phone call too. Obviously they are not going to compete with £200+ B&W jobbies but I've used Apple ear buds and I think they are pretty close to them for music.

Thanks for the recommendation, I will give them a try.

I'm not bothered about the microphone and at that price point know they're not going to be concert quality audio. Comfort is probably one of the more important factors for me.

[Dave.]

g4ry13 said:

Rumblestripe said:

g4ry13 said:

Dave. said:

Rumblestripe said:

For cheapies have a look at the "Ear Fun" (black are £40, white £50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088H7GMHZ/ref...

Won a "What Hi Fi" award so the sound is decent and they work well enough, at 40-50 squids you don't worry about losing them

A further £8 discount too, ordered, thanks.

I might give these a try as well. What's the comfort like?

Good spot on the £8 too!

I did have my eye on some of the ~£20 ones on Amazon but will give these a try first

Edited by g4ry13 on Thursday 16th March 19:18

I find them comfortable enough to wear (they come with three different sizes of silicone ear pieces) whilst walking the dog and to be honest in that context music reproduction is rather a moot point as you are in a pretty noisy environment even if it is just the wind and you need a certain amount of awareness of what is happening around you so complete isolation would not be ideal (IMO). I mostly use them for podcasts but do occasionally listen to music on them and find the quality pretty good. The mike is quite good when taking a phone call too. Obviously they are not going to compete with £200+ B&W jobbies but I've used Apple ear buds and I think they are pretty close to them for music.

Thanks for the recommendation, I will give them a try.

I'm not bothered about the microphone and at that price point know they're not going to be concert quality audio. Comfort is probably one of the more important factors for me.

Just had mine delivered, had them on listening to music and they’re pretty good.

Way better than my aforementioned JVC ones.

There’s actually 4 different sets of buds, the default ones are pretty much bob on for me, tried the next size down but they were a bit loose.

[gregs656]

RizzoTheRat said:

What do people on the other end of a call think of the sound quality from the bone conduction mic? I'd assume they do a very good job of ignoring background and wind noise and just pick up your voice?


When I was after a cheapo pair, a few people recommended SoundPeats, I bought the non isolating TrueAir2 and for a £30 pair of headphones the sound quality is way better than I expected. If I wanted ones with isolation and active noise cancelation I'd be very tempted by thier higher spec ones.

They haven't arrived yet, but if you look at mic tests of the XM4 the mic doesn't work effectively at all and pics up a lot of external noise.

I bought the Linkbuds S after watching this video

https://youtu.be/Xthq08rrXCI

[g4ry13]

The earbuds arrived today. It's my first pair of wireless earbuds but initial thoughts are that they feel heavy in the ear and I'm not keen on the experience.

The instructions state to rotate them so the earbud 'locks' in place. It's actually rather uncomfortable to do so - even with the smaller earbud fitted. So I may try a different pair or just stick with my cabled earphones.

After a charge I was able to pair the headphones. Sound quality is reasonable for the price, maybe a bit more leakage than i'd like if i'm being considerate. I will probably try another cheapo pair to see how it compares in terms of comfort / sound.

Edited by g4ry13 on Saturday 18th March 19:56

[gregs656]

The Sennheisers arrived yesterday and I had a chance to try them out before I returned them (Amazon warehouse so they were already open). They’re undoubtably nice things. I think I could have lived with the case size but it would have been a compromise. Didn’t mess around with them too much as I decided pretty quickly I was going to return them. Not sure how secure they would have been, seemed a little top heavy.

The Sonys arrived today. Noticeably light. Fit seems good with the medium tips. Difficult to tell how secure they will be compared to my old Samsungs as they don’t have the wing tips. Sound great. Haven’t had a chance to try the mic outside yet. The charge case is slightly bigger than the standard AirPods.

Overall the Sonys were half the price of the Sennheisers and I think are going to suit my needs better.

[nordboy]

gregs656 said:

The Sennheisers arrived yesterday and I had a chance to try them out before I returned them (Amazon warehouse so they were already open). They’re undoubtably nice things. I think I could have lived with the case size but it would have been a compromise. Didn’t mess around with them too much as I decided pretty quickly I was going to return them. Not sure how secure they would have been, seemed a little top heavy.

The Sonys arrived today. Noticeably light. Fit seems good with the medium tips. Difficult to tell how secure they will be compared to my old Samsungs as they don’t have the wing tips. Sound great. Haven’t had a chance to try the mic outside yet. The charge case is slightly bigger than the standard AirPods.

Overall the Sonys were half the price of the Sennheisers and I think are going to suit my needs better.

I've got comply foam tips for my WF1000XM4's, they're quite expensive but you do get a few pairs, and i haven't gone through any yet. They squash down then expand to give a really nice fit. Comply tips seem to be well regarded.