my Sennheiser momentum tw just dies, in the market for some new true wireless buds. requirements:
decent anc
at least 6hr battery life
under $250

I’m prioritizing audio quality here. most likely going to go with Sony wf-1000xm4 unless someone recommends something better.

  • cassetti@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    I was heavily torn looking for some nice earbuds for my daily bicycle rides.

    I have the Bose Quietcomfort1 earbuds which worked great but they were big/ugly and after two years I partially blew out the speakers (excessive use at max volume daily haha).

    I really wanted to upgrade to the Bose QC2 earbuds, but I heard a LOT of negative complaints - like unusually high.

    Finally I splurged when I saw Bose.com selling factory-refurbished QC2 earbuds for $199 with warranty.

    Overall I’m pleased - they are a nice upgrade from my QuietComfort2 earbuds.

    For me the decision came down to comfort - when exercising or bicycling I needed a nice earbud I could “lock” into my ears. Sound quality and top-tier ANC was necessary for the transparency mode so I could enjoy music while bicycling safely through intersections (to hear cars and such)

    I’m fairly confident Sony’s release timeline indicates that the XM5 earbuds are due to hit the market very soon - I’ll bet you’ll see the XM4 earbuds go on sale soon as that happens.

    Eventually I plan to splurge on a set of Bowers & Wilkins PI7s2 which are basically IEMs with dual drivers for each earbud (they add a tweeter for the highs in addition to a dedicated low/mid driver) - but B&W is a much smaller brand and they’re still relatively new to the earbuds game. I’m letting things evolve a bit more before I splurge on their top-tier luxury earbuds haha

    • milkytoast@kbin.socialOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      xm5 are out, xm4 are not on sale. Bose were crazy expensive last I checked. thank u for input tho, I appreciate it :)

      • cassetti@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        Oh hot damn, I wasn’t aware of that. Glad I didn’t wait to splurge on the XM5 lol, I still enjoy my QC2’s - they have great sound quality, but certainly not the best in the industry. I’d put bose earbuds at upper mid-range in terms of sound quality, but top tier for ANC (right next to Sony who would be my #2 for ANC)

  • milkytoast@kbin.socialOP
    1·
    1 year ago

    updating if anyone cares

    didn’t like the galaxy bud2 pros, wounded harsh and I couldn’t tune that out

    fiio utws5 don’t have anc, they also don’t come with the actual earbud, it’s just a Bluetooth receiver

    I quite like the Sony xm4

    • milkytoast@kbin.socialOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      I personally like it, drowns out the noise in the school hallways, drowns out car noise etc, rather than just having to put the volume ridiculously high

        • cassetti@kbin.social
          1·
          1 year ago

          It’s not just about cancelling noise. ANC systems let you reverse the noise cancelling and let you hear the world around you. When bicycling with earbuds, I like to enable full transparency at busy intersections to ensure I’m aware of my surroundings. Or when mowing the lawn, I activate “Aware” mode which mostly Noise-cancelling, but still lets me hear when if there’s a problem (with the motor, or my partner calling for me, etc).

          • milkytoast@kbin.socialOP
            2·
            1 year ago

            yea I mostly use transparency mode if I’m listening to music and someone wants to talk to me for a second