Audio True Wireless (TWS) Earphones / Earbuds - What is your opinion about them?

raksrules

raksrules

Elite
Since ages we have been using wired earphones and then we switched to bluetooth which was also sort of wired, just not tethered to the phone via a cable. Even today, we use neckband earphones or the ones which have wire running between them and going back of our necks.

But with airpods, we ushered into the era of true wireless earphones. I apologize if TWS existed before but I don't recollect. So what is your opinion on these earphones, do you love them, you are ok they exist but won't use yourself, you just loathe them or whatever it is that you feel about them.

I recently started using them and first ones I got were airpods clone which are honestly crap. But I got the Anker soundcore Life Note from flipkart for 2K and they are pretty good based on my limited usage. I feel these kind of buds are good for music and such but I cannot keep in ears full day for work from home since I prefer neckband for that use case as they can hang on my neck and I can just plug them in ears when call comes I need to do.
 
Hehe, no one wanted my opinion so i never shared. Till now lol.

I've only ever used one BT headset, the Sony MW600. Still works. Awesome sound quality, decent battery life. The clip on the unit broke, i tried fixing it in various ways, now i just dump it into the shirt pocket. With t-shirts it's an issue now. Anyway, what i wanted to say is that it can use any normal 3.5mm headphones. It even drives my DT770, but barely audible, with no impact. Other full size 32ohm etc. headphones work fine. Anyway, back to the point. The earphones that come with it are a short-lead type, with one end longer, so the right one goes around the back of your neck and into the right ear. Now when I don't want them in my ears, i pop em out and they hang onto my chest.

(Here's the point finally)

I've never used TWS, but i've always had this big doubt/question. What if they fall out or you need to take them out for a sec. Without putting em into a case or your pocket. So if i ever do buy TWS, i would attach them to each other with a nice string or something. Like kevlar which comes on shoes/sandals or some similar material. They're still TWS but i don't see how attaching them to each other with a lightweight, almost unobtrusive string can hurt.

Long story for a short point...
 
I've tried using Anker soundcore Life Note TWS and their ear tips did not suit my ears !
tried using all available tips sizes; finally got a replacement AND started its sale thread !
 
seshu said:
I've tried using Anker soundcore Life Note TWS and their ear tips did not suit my ears !
tried using all available tips sizes; finally got a replacement AND started its sale thread !
Click to expand...

I have the life note and used very less (it is for wife), what you replaced it with?
 
^ not replaced with some alternative - got same item as replacement & put sealed box on sale ...
thought of getting clip type headphones (long back used wired clip headphone with a Sony Walkman)

thin type of ear tips are not sticking in my ears. not sure how they fit ...
 
It's one of those things I hate about Apple. They are hell bent on destroying the art of mixing/ mastering ( and LPX is their highest selling software and honestly better than Cubase/ PT etc.)
With these airpods etc. it's impossible to judge the quality of mixing/ mastering. Muse and Steely Dan sound similar from production point of view.
Moreover, these things are expensive, have pathetic battery life, must carry around a stupid case all the time... far more inconvenient than a wired can ( case, 2 little things, charging the case, charginging those little things from the case)
Wireless headphones, I can understand...they have much better battery life, acceptable sound quality in few.
I have only used the airpod pro, Sennheiser something and possibly a Sony something...all of them sound incredibly bad..there's something wrong in this whole wireless audio thing...none can handle the treble properly.
Will never buy one for myself. NEVER!!
 
They are perfect specially for certain needs like running ,gym , calling purpose & people on move will wholeheartedly recommend them for casual listeners as well, for audiophiles they are not reached at that level but they are improving
 
For running!!?? If one falls off from one ear high chance that you will never find it. IMHO ones with the neckband / thread are better for running/ gym.
In fact I've seen a guy lost one of the airpod pro while running.
I've happily spent 1000 euros for wired cans. But would never spend 50 bucks on these things. But I'm not tech savvy like most of you.
 
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I use the Galaxy Buds+ and it is just a matter of convenience. I was sceptical about them falling out of my ears but they hold up surprisingly well. I had used and returned others but kept the Galaxy Buds+ in the end only because of the 11-hour battery life without the case which easily gets one through a week of daily commute or through the most extended daily listening sessions. Also comes in handy when watching videos on non-jacked mobile devices. Previously had the MA650 which was a neckband, but prefer TWS over it.

However, prefer to used wired headphones any other time. Also, have a bluetooth adapter that supports aptX HD, aptX LL, AAC which can be used with the wired headphones at home if necessary. Only problem is that it requires me to maintain my music library in in AAC for my iPhone/Galaxy tab and FLAC for other devices.
 
red dragon said:
For running!!?? If one falls off from one ear high chance that you will never find it. IMHO ones with the neckband / thread are better for running/ gym.
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i used bose soundsport for running as well as gym they are very secure , others like airpods pro , momentum 2.0 and galaxy buds i used in gym they are also fine not sure about running
 
red dragon said:
For running!!?? If one falls off from one ear high chance that you will never find it. IMHO ones with the neckband / thread are better for running/ gym.
In fact I've seen a guy lost one of the airpod pro while running.
I've happily spent 1000 euros for wired cans. But would never spend 50 bucks on these things. But I'm not tech savvy like most of you.
Click to expand...
Contrary to belief, I found that some of the neckbands do not have a proper weight distribution and some of them have the propensity of getting stuck depending on the choice of fabric, thereby pulling the earpiece off the ear.
 
t3chg33k said:
Only problem is that it requires me to maintain my music library in in AAC for my iPhone/Galaxy tab and FLAC for other devices.
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Why not FLAC for everything? Many FLAC players are available for iOS. If you're on Mac try avoiding itunes, much better FLAC players are available.
t3chg33k said:
Contrary to belief, I found that some of the neckbands do not have a proper weight distribution and some of them have the propensity of getting stuck depending on the choice of fabric, thereby pulling the earpiece off the ear.
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Yes, that can happen, but it's unlikely to loose the earphones that way.
 
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red dragon said:
Why not FLAC for everything? Many FLAC players are available for iOS. If you're on Mac try avoiding itunes, much better FLAC players are available.

Yes, that can happen, but it's unlikely to loose the earphones that way.
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On iOS, FLAC will have to be converted to 256 Kbps AAC on the fly for bluetooth streaming which is just an additional battery drain. 256 Kbps AAC is simply transmitted as-is, so lesser battery drain and probably the PC encoding is a bit better in terms of quality. On Android, LDAC makes more sense but then no TWS supports it because of the much higher battery drain. So, AAC is the best compromise, although Android has very poor AAC support and a lot of latency issues.
 
red dragon said:
For running!!?? If one falls off from one ear high chance that you will never find it. IMHO ones with the neckband / thread are better for running/ gym.
In fact I've seen a guy lost one of the airpod pro while running.
Click to expand...
That's why i said earlier, though i like the concept of TWS earphones, i would tie them to each other.

t3chg33k said:
Contrary to belief, I found that some of the neckbands do not have a proper weight distribution and some of them have the propensity of getting stuck depending on the choice of fabric, thereby pulling the earpiece off the ear.
Click to expand...
Man i hate neckbands like anything. They feel terrible, and just excess weight and bulk for nothing. My dongle style mw600 types are so much better. Just clip it to your collar etc.
 
I was using IEMs for quite some time. In hindsight, I think I had a great evolution sort of except one IEMs. I started with Creative EP630 (I remember when I stepped out of shop on Lemington road, a stranger guy looked at box in my hand and excitedly congratulated me saying 'yeh bahot acha he' - 'this is very good' :p), then moved to Sound Magic PL11 (got this twice), Tekfusion Twinwoofers (most terrible ones), Brainwavz M1 (possibly best one I used so far) and VSonic GR02 Bass Edition.

Somehow, (may be with age ?), discomfort grew with IEMs. I had to stop using them and found Apple's EarPods fitting perfectly. I was using them for good time but after-a-while started to look for BT earphones with EarPods like shape. I landed on JBL Tune 205BT, bought it and same time - about 2 years ago, received AirPods as gift. Initially, I was very hesitant to wear them outside of office and home, but over the time I now use them all time. Convenience is kinda best possible. Battery life is not worrisome for my usage. With the advent of streaming, I have now completely switched to online music platform - no songs on device. Combining all these aspects, I am comfortably placed with TWS. Sometimes, I do use wired EarPods but that's only when I am out of battery on my AirPods.

Reading few threads here, at times I feel being back to something like Brainwavz M1 and cherish good old days !
 
The ease of use in TWS is unparalled. Due to online classes and WFH requirements, I have all type of BT headsets being used in my home.

My Son uses Senhheiser 4.5 BTNC headphones, I use a Anker SoundCore Liberty 2 TWS and Wife uses a Boat Rockerz 255 pro neckband.

For watching movies on ipad, nothing comes close near a TWS. For working on computer while attending calls intermittently , BT neckbands are best as you can easily remove them when not in use.
For zoom meetings/ online classes son prefers Sennheiser, probably due to ANC.
For watching movies on TV at night, I prefer Headphones.

I am not an audio expert, my observations are based on usability and ease.
Whatever BT phones you buy, make sure it supports low latency codecs ( Aptx for Android, AAC for Apple).
 
When it's about quality bluetooth sucks, it may be any neckband TWS, high end model or anything. The only advantage is you're wire free.
If you're an audiophile who is used to listening some high end dacs amps or 've got some dedicated setup it's really hard to compromise.
bluetooth sounds like some HQ mp3's and hard to get with this compression.
LDAC is acceptable if available, but manufacturer's don't implement it in Earbuds or neckbands. Just tried only 1 thread band kind of bluetooth earphones for the gym which is now dead after 2years.

Never used TWS, a bit doubtful like Julian and Red dragon what if I drop either of them ? & the main reason avoiding these is carrying that additional charging case. So now earbuds , charging case & a mobile
instead of doing some workout I'll be engaged in setting up this audio only. Other aspect is the comfort what I've noticed these TWS are generally large size earbuds to accommodate the circuit, so may not be very comfortable but there are exceptions and I think it's better to try them before a judgement.
For running, gym and other sports thread band kind of earphones are better than TWS or even neckband, but if mobility is important over quality then I think it's really good to get a TWS.
It's our brain tuned to some specific sound and it always craves for the same quality.
personally I need bluetooth only at the GYM not to enjoy music but to avoid those bloatware kind of songs playing at the Gym.

@Julian mate I too 've got this Sony MW600, my sister asked me to buy this item & at one time it was exclusive show off thing.
 
Recently Iike 2 months ago I gave this item to a friend but as I remember never faced any issue regarding connection/connectivity and quality was amazing specially when connected to Xperia phones.
being wireless was fun experience that time so never bothered or tried analyzing the quality but It was very good with the supplied earphones.
With other sensitive IEMs there's a slight deterioration in quality but noticeable only in some songs. But at that time with mp3s & 320kbps lossy content quality was not a concern.
 
Julian said:
What do you think about the sound quality with your best IEMs plugged into it?
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I had the MW600 but its screen died about 2-3 years in. It still works in terms of being detected but I remember how bad the volume slider was. Used to have connectivity issues with it though and the codec support is now extremely outdated.

I had then upgraded to the SBH54 and that was a total firmware mess, especially with multipoint. Post that, I tried the Fiio BTR1 which had even worse firmware implementation and returned the same. Eventually I purchased a $20 dongle off AliExpress with AAC and aptX HD support. It does the job well in terms of connectivity but the DAC is not the best and you can make out the lower quality when listening to the same song.

Connecting good quality headphones to any bluetooth receiver is a huge disappointment. Hence, I prefer to use them wired-only compared to TWS when on the move.
 
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