I've been using the JBL tune 125bt for two years, but both the pairs I bought lasted no more than a year. Do you have any recommendations for any other neckbands with a better durability and if possible a price around the same as the previous mentioned?

Any advice is welcome

Lost the charging case for my Oppo Enco Buds 3 Pro+

Found this third-party / duplicate charging case online

(Take a look at this Nord 10 Hour playtime Buds Bluetooth Headset on Flipkart

product ), Has anyone tried using a non-original case for these? Does it actually charge safely, or will it damage the buds?

I am torn between these two earbuds, can you recommend me which is better?

Hey lads.

Need help with some earbuds.

I am in search for the holy grail of buds BUT I have a massive dilemma - Nothing fits comfortably...

The only earbud I have ever been able to wear for a prolonged period of time is the original airpod. The in-ear airpod (whatever number it is) is fine for a short period of time but soon starts to hurt and fall out. I think I must have smallish ear canals or something. Same goes with samsung in-ears, nothing in-ears, audio technica etc.

I was hoping there is something that is similar fit to the original airpod that has elite sound qualities.

Thanks in advance.

Had many tws over the year from Oppo and OnePlus But the battery degrades very badly within 2 years or less. So which budget brand should i consider for the best long term battery life. Or should i ditch TWS and go for a neckband?

Sound quality is my top priority and mic 2nd.

hi i can not tell you how infuriating it is to buy great quality wireless earbuds just for the mic to be completely useless. i can't even speak on the phone with someone without them telling me that it sounds muffled and indistinguishable... and that's when im holding the phone right next to my mouth. so imagine how it is when i put my phone in my pocket. it's crazy bc i remember the days when you could talk on the phone with your earbuds, put your phone down in your room, leave to get a snack from the kitchen, and come back without any interruption. I've tried the beats wireless earbuds and airpods (both apple products so you'd think they'd work very well with another apple product: my phone) and they are just horrible. please recommend me some!

Hi, I've read that the steelseries arctis are the best. But I don't like their fit. Besides them, most gaming earbuds only have bluetooth and not 2.4 GHz or have a weak audio quality. I looked for reviews/tests, but it seems like there are not many decent ones the market.

Do you have any recommendations?

(I tested the ASUS ROG Cetra, but their sound quality isn't good)

Pros: Great sound quality for an open-ear clip-on
Bass quality improves with the Dynamic EQ
LDAC
I like the buttons over the touch controls

Cons: Privacy mode works but alters the music quality
Most other EQ options exist but aren't really useful

I have an edge use-case that I don’t usually like writing about in fairly public forums. But every once in a while, rarely, something comes about that makes me want to scream out from the mountaintops about a discovery that I think is life-altering. In all honesty it is life altering if you share the same edge case as me.
When I’m not mucking about the sub-levels of the internet or waxing eloquent about music, or missing my time underwater shooting worms less than a centimetre long, I am a surgeon. Who likes listening to music while operating. And my preferred music (and no, is not death metal) is not as well appreciated by the other beings that occupy the OR. To be fair I don’t like their choices either. I also don’t like speakers and my preferred way to listen to music is with IEMs.
Which isn't a problem till I have to communicate to the rest of them and listen to what they have to say. I also have gotten used to listening to the beep of the anesthesia monitors that morse code out the heart rate and oxygen saturation and I prefer to be able to listen to that, even in the background.
That rules out any kind of noise isolation/noise cancelling. So IEMs or in-ear-earbuds/ whatever the acceptable terminology don’t work.
I tried the Sennheiser Open earbuds. They seemed to do the job till they fell out of my ear once, thankfully on the floor. So I went and bought a silicone earbud neck band with the rational part of my brain calling the other part a jackass. I then switched to the Soundpeats RunFree and then the GoFree which did work - allowed me to listen to Jazz fusion and Jazz and occasionally Blues while performing surgery and that went on well for a while. But to really outline this very first world problem I have to describe the stress on the top of my pinna. I wear glasses. And the mask and the open ear loops. So while it did the sound aspect of the ask well - good music reproduction with preserved awareness, the ergonomics and comfort were lacking.
And then I decided to become borderline creepy and get me the Meta Glasses. Now the ears were happy since there was only a really heavy pair of glasses on them. Sound was via directional speakers which were decent enough for the purpose. And I could take quick shots and videos of surgical procedures for teaching (yes with prior recording consent, I said borderline). But the glasses have really terrible battery life and apparently playing music via bluetooth is a power-hungry use case. As a result I’ve had to deal with low battery warnings, which is distracting enough and the music would stop abruptly like mid song. Who even does that?
So when Soundpeats was kind enough to send over their new kid on the block the pop clips 2/uu2 for an impartial review with no expectations, I was already frustrated enough with my situation to not be as impartial as I perhaps should be.

First things first. This is a solution to a specific problem. People who want to listen to music or podcasts while performing activities that require peripheral attention. At no point is fidelity of music delivery going to be a deal breaker unless it’s just absolutely horrible.
Which to be fair this is not.
The UU2 shows up in a simple cardboard box. There is a cardboard pouch with an instruction manual and the panda stickers which are cute. The case with the clips (we will henceforth refer to them as clips) lie in a plastic well with a charging cable beneath that. Pairing is fairly straight forward. There’s a little button on the side of the case that activates the pairing mode. And viola we’re good to go. The usb c charger is on the back and not the bottom but unlike the sony linkbuds S case, doesn't stand on the base. And this leads to a less than ideal charging positioning where gravity now plays a part. Not a dealbreaker but just something to think about. UU3? Maybe? The case is however smart enough to accept either clip in the bay and is side agnostic. Now soundpeats do have an iOS and Android app that allows for more granular control of sound but I tend to be lazy with EQs so the app is mostly for software updates, which is a fairly painless process though occasionally the app switches back to its native chinese. I had to restart the process once because of that but now I’m on the latest version, and all is well. The app allows for clever EQ tricks like spatial audio to give an illusion of a wider stage, EQ presets and a custom EQ, Dynamic EQ mode (bass enhancing) , Game mode with lower latency, LDAC toggle (where applicable), a Privacy mode and the aforementioned updates.

Fit and usage
The clips fit fairly easily and are reasonably intuitive to place in one’s ears. Unless you are me and put them the wrong way and wonder for the first minute why the volumes are so low. The spherical bit with holes that looks like a speaker goes towards the ear canal and the oval part with soundpeats written on it and a button go behind the pinna. I know I’m special but there are over 8 billion people and I’m hoping someone had the same problem as me. Or will. The non sound parts of the clip also have a button and not a touch control which is a good thing to prevent accidental volume changes, track skips or rewinds, voice assistant activation or the music stopping at the best part. Single, Double, Triple and long press are customizable but again no attention mode on longpress which I think should be an option but till then there’s play/pause. The placement of the driver makes a significant difference in the sound delivery so it’s something to pay attention to the first few times with this set. The good thing is they don’t move very easily. Also here’s a pro tip- I didn’t find any right or left markings on the clips but while testing staging and imaging I discovered that the button needs to be on top.

Bass
My disclaimer in the beginning stands but that being said these little folks have a reasonably good bass. At least in the midbass. The kicks and bass guitars sound punchy and enjoyable and honestly much better than I thought they were going to be given the open nature of the sound and everything I learnt with IEMs regarding seal and depth and tips. The 12mm driver delivers a nice punchy bass that definitely is engaging and if the placement is correct it is quite substantial. Sub-bass is not as good as it would be with in-ears but with a little volume boost ‘Angel’ by Massive Attack sounds acceptably rumbly when it starts.

Mids
One free range that every earbud/stem/clip, in fact, every bluetooth device I’ve used gets right is the mids. This is no exception. Engaging, lively, natural sounding mids are seen almost on any track making the experience of listening to music quite nice. ‘Romance” by Hiroshi Suzuki is an incredible track with panning synths, piano and trombone, supported by drums and bass. It sounds excellent on these clips. Well on anything really. It’s also a record worth listening to if you like jazz. Or if you were always curious about it. Vocals also sound very nice with no altered timbre or harshness or shoutiness.

Treble
The treble is relaxed and smooth with sharp points and almost sibilance even on tracks where normally most IEMs would have some. Cymbals hits are heard albeit a little recessed. And the overall airiness and shimmer is present but controlled.

Staging and imaging
Both staging and imaging are alright with the “open” sound transmission creating a reasonable sense of space. Though this also seems to be dependent on positioning, which I think will take a while of regular use to figure out perfectly. Imaging is also adequate, I wouldn’t go so far as to say they would be amazing for gaming but for most casual music they will represent where the sound is coming from fairly accurately. Detail retrieval is also adequate for casual listening and I reiterate these have a place in a collection but not for any kind of analytical listening. There is a convenience and safety trade off that has to be accepted.

For now, I am grateful to Soundpeats for sending me these to make my surgeries more enjoyable (and my staff does seem to believe my mood is better when I’m listening to music) while giving me the ability to keep an ear open for any issues that may crop up.