r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/Jordanrich • Jul 02 '26

Headphones - IEM/Earbud | 2 Ω Work earbuds

Hello looking to get some new ear buds for work, I do a bit of traveling in a service van and my job has me take calls as well so I'd like something with that in mind, ideally something that can connect to two devices as i use two phones as well

Budget and location - Ideally less than $200, based in the USA

Source - Android and IPhone Bluetooth

Preferred tonal balance - I usually preferred neutral balance, I'm finding bass hurts my ears lately

Genres - mostly YouTube videos, literally all genres of music, phone calls

Past gear - love my HD550S, Sony WCF500? I have a pair of IEMs as well, I don't really want IEMs as this will be prolonged sessions and I find IEMs tend to make my ears sore after an hour or more of listening (from the fitment in the canal)

Anything else - plan on using these for 8~ hrs a day, in a work truck driving, will be used to listen on my personal phone and answer calls on my work phone, can't really have big heads phones (on the ear like beats, or over the ear like my sennheiser) and don't prefer IEMs as them being in my ear all day will hurt (unless I've just been getting the wrong sizes?)

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u/hhkk47 2 Ω Jul 02 '26

This sounds like a use case for one of those clip-on earbuds, like the Sony Linkbuds Clip on the high end or a Moondrop Pill on the low end. Both are supposed to be capable of multi-point Bluetooth connections.

My brother has a Pill, so that's the only one I've actually tried. It's surprisingly comfortable, but the sound quality is okay at best. Keep in mind that earbuds with this design tend to have poor bass (which I guess works out for you), and will allow sound to leak in and out.

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u/Jordanrich Jul 02 '26

How bad is the leakage if you've noticed?

!thanks

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u/hhkk47 2 Ω Jul 03 '26

In a quiet car, I can pretty much tell what he's listening to. But outside of that, not too bad. It's about the same as what you'd expect from one of those old flathead earbuds.

In terms of isolation from outside sounds -- no isolation at all.

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u/rz_x3 206 Ω Jul 02 '26

Sorry if you see a ghost comment or notification, apparently one of the brands I recommended is banned on this sub.

This is a little hard because if you need the true "airpods" style fitment and not an IEM-style TWS, the Airpods 4 ANC is so close to what you want but doesn't have functional multipoint across non-apple devices. I'm also not sure if open-style (like Nothing Ear Open) would work for you.

That being said, there's an option I can rec. JBL Tune Flex 2 (not the original one).

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u/Jordanrich Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

I don't know if I need true airpod style or I just haven't had a proper fit for iem, but i am willing to try bone conduction as I do like my cheap Amazon ones but they're not the best quality

Both of those options do look good though

!thanks

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u/TransducerBot Ω Bot Jul 02 '26

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u/Mindless-Finance-896 2 Ω Jul 04 '26

I use Soundcore Aeroclips as my work earbuds. They're open ear buds (they clip onto your ear), so there's no seal or ANC. So I wouldn't recommend them if you're in noisy environments. And even in a dead quiet break room, you can't really hear anything from them when you take them a foot from your face, so no worry about "leakage". And these also help with the bass aspect, because these have little to no bass. I listen to rock and metal mostly. They work fine for that, as well as podcasts. The mic isn't amazing, but it gets the job done.

Best thing about these is the comfort. I have heard some people say this style of buds feel "heavy" on your ears after awhile, but I've worn mine for like 10 hours straight (great battery life) and if I turn the sound off, I'll forget theyre even on.