OT: True Wireless Earbuds

[timwat]

Maybe one of us might benefit from this.

 

So I live in the Apple ecosystem (MacBook Pro for work, iPad Pro, iPhone). I was an early adopter of the 1st generation of AirPods too. While the integration with the ecosystem is great, they didn't fit me well and kept falling out - and didn't sound great when they were in.

 

I love headphones, and I love the idea of TWS (true wireless). So I did a bunch of reading / youtube reviews to find something that would work better for me.

 

I ended up buying the Jabra Elite 75t (had considered all the likely suspects - Sennheiser, Sony, the new AirPod Pros, Jaybird, Sabbat, 1More, etc.).

 

tl;dr summary: I love them, after getting the Comply foam tips.

 

Long version:

I bought them at Best Buy, since no one seemed to be discounting them. Out of the box, they were close to fully charged. Pairing with my iPhone and iPad was seamless (they can pair to two devices at once). Downloaded the iPhone app, and immediately updated the firmware. Took about 10 minutes or so, seamless.

 

First listen, their default presentation is very prominent bass and I'm not a bass head (my current office computer speakers are near-field studio monitors with no subwoofer). Fortunately the app has very versatile EQ, and you can build your own presets and save them. The buds save the last settings.

 

The box includes three sizes of silicon ear tips. Apparently my left ear canal is smaller than my right; I ended up with 'medium' on the right, 'small' on the left. Sound is really really good. Was hearing detail and nuances again that were absent from the 1st gen AirPods. Always a nice experience; somewhat reminiscent of my old audiophile system experience when I had the big Maggie 3.5s - you hear stuff in the music you hadn't before.

 

Battery life is good. Phone calls sound natural.

 

The "hear through" feature (where the mics allow some ambient surroundings to feed into your ears) are really reassuring on walks with the dog and such. And the "sidetone" feature (on phone calls, the mics feed a little of your own voice back into the ears) really does work - it makes you speak a little more naturally on phone calls. Neither of these features are exclusive to the Jabras, but I've never had them before and now that I've used them, I really like their utility.

 

But one problem. My left ear canal hurts after a short while. Either the silicon tip is sitting wrong - or it's simply too large for my left ear canal. No problem with the right, it's just the left.

 

So I went and ordered the Comply tips (size small) for $19. A pity I have to spend another $20 to make these comfortable.

 

After they arrived in the mail, I swapped them on. If you're unfamiliar with Comply tips, they're made of memory foam. You compress them with your fingers prior to insertion, put them in and they slowly expand to render a good fit.

 

Anyway, now that the Complys are on, these things are the shiznit. Great, comfortable fit, really first rate sound for True Wireless, and comfortable for the long haul.

 

If anyone else is in the market for TWS, I can heartily recommend - with the Comply tips, if your ears are anything like mine.

 

 

 

 

[Mike Warren]

I have small ear canals and all in-ear buds hurt me. Less so when there are small tips available, but even then they are uncomfortable.

[Threadslayer]

Me too. I can only wear them for a short while - which isn't really a problem since they fall out after a short while anyway.