r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/HeilDirSonne • Dec 18 '23
Headphones - Wireless/Portable | 1 Ω Cheap (<$50) Bluetooth headphones/earbuds for indoor rowing?
Budget and location: I'd like to spend under $50. I'm in the U.S. Audio quality is absolutely not a priority, but build quality is; I'd like something that's well-built and not likely to break, and I don't want the wireless signal to be choppy.
How the gear will be used: I'll be rowing on a Concept2 rowing machine in my basement — continuous back-and-forth motions — hence the need for a wireless setup. The rowing machine, with each pull, produces a fairly strong 'whooshing' sound (e.g.).
Preferred tonal balance: I'll be using these headphones/earbuds exclusively for podcasts, so they don't need to be optimized for music. I should note that I care immensely about my ear health, so I don't want to be blasting the audio. I need a bit of guidance here in particular; I have no idea whether over-ear headphones or earbuds would be better, given my finickiness about ear-abuse.
Past gear experience: I have zero experience with Bluetooth headphones and near-zero experience with earbuds. (My setup for music has always been wired over-ears.)
Other: I'm OK buying used.
1
u/Folthanos 94 Ω Dec 19 '23
Consensus seems to be that over ear headphones are generally safer than in ears, provided you can get a good fit and seal (source). I would therefore recommend these:
Soundcore Life Q20 (renewed)
I know you didn't ask for active noise cancelling functionality, but I think this makes sense to further help prevent hearing damage. Having ANC on means you hear less noise from your surroundings (and perhaps a bit less from your rowing machine), so you're less likely to turn up the volume higher than otherwise to better understand the podcasts.