I’ve been using some inexpensive Sonys for a long time and I like almost everything about them. They have buds for secure inner ear placement, but are connected via an “around back of the neck” ring which contains killer battery power. I can listen all day, as in the entire day, without charging. I’m guessing probably 12-14 hours of actual nonstop use. I’ve never had to recharge mid day, and I use them constantly. They connect quick, and work fine for phone calls - I’ve often asked how the voice sounds, and no one has been able to tell that I’m on a bluetooth connection.
So they are fine for phone calls and podcasts, and even music most of the time. Audiophile quality is unneccesary say when using power tools or grinding out sets at the gym. Still sometimes I would like to really get lost in some music, and that requires some higher quality output.
I can almost guarantee that AirPods would get lost just due to size, and I have concerns about staying securely in ear. Plus there is battery life. These $30 Sonys are still lasting all day and had I not broken the old pair, I would still likely be using the set I got 3 or 4 years ago. I’m guessing the law of diminishing returns would come into effect awful quick for me with some high-falutin’ precious headphones, based on my requirements. Anybody else in the same boat?
I’ll never buy any Sony headphones again, purely because the software they include (and which you need to access some functions) is so poor, which means actually using the headphones can be frustrating.
I have the WH-1000XM4 sets. The sound quality is good enough, but the overall experience is dreadful, purely because of the software. It’s full of gimmicky settings, but it doesn’t do the basics properly: you have to re-pair every time you move between devices, settings keep getting lost, and there is no way to permanently switch off deeply annoying and unnecessary features like ‘Speak to Chat’ (aka ‘Cough slightly and the music stops’).
Just picked up the Sony XM5s (my wife has the XM4s and loves them). I’ve taken them on one trip so far and they did great! Battery life is solid, noise canceling is fantastic, solid two-device switching, super light to wear. They regularly come out on top of any rankings you can look up.
I’ll echo the accompanying iPhone app is pretty rough to use, but I only went in there to modify the operations/settings like I wanted. Pretty sure I turned off the “Speak to Chat” feature, modified some of the controls, and called it a day. I don’t have a reason to go back into the app much at all.
I changed to beats from airpods, partly because I decided I didn’t like things right in my ears and I had some inner ear problems after a bout of COVID-19. I have found them perfect, the lower end ones I bought. There were a bit tight, but I stretched them for a few days over an arm chair. I bought the beats from the apple store. Wireless about $200 if I remember.
I’m still using sennheiser BT 450 from like 6-8 years ago. They don’t fully enclose my ear, would like a bigger ear cup like AirPods Max or Sony XM’s. But they sound good enough for me and noise cancelling is pretty adequate.
I very much prefer over ear headphones over ear buds, but I do have a pair of behind the neck buds like you described for bicycling. I’ve been looking into getting some open ear, bone conduction headphones just for cycling.
But turning the feature off in the app isn’t enough: at some point it will turn itself back on again. Sometimes that’s because the app updates and resets the settings, otherwise it appears to be random. You can correct it with the gesture (tap and hold with two fingers on the right ear cup), but it shouldn’t be resetting at all.
Are both your devices iOS/iPadOS? In my experience, switching between iPad and MacOS simply does not happen without the need to re-pair every time.
After reading a lot of reviews online about the Sony XM4s / XM5s, I tried the Beat Studio Pro as well, but didn’t like the fit on my ear (or the plastic clunky button experience). I ended up being happy with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. I didn’t go the AirPods Max route because I would be paying double the price and I was disappointed in the lack of updates to it this year, maybe when they do another upgrade. The current AirPods Max I think are BT 5.0 and Bose (plus many other competitors) are using BT 5.3
There are ear hooks you can buy for the AirPods and they work really well. The only issue is you have to take them off to place them in the case.
I’m still using QC35’s. Super comfy, big ear cups and simple to use. I think the Sony XM series or Bose would be a great choice. I’ve thought about trying the Sony’s, but the QC35’s still work great and serve their purpose.
In what kind of environments are you all using the $ headphones/pods? I spend a lot of time in the woodshop and other similarly non delicate scenarios. The snug earbuds do a pretty good job for hearing protection, and there’s no fear of loss due to damage when they’re so cheap. I need to consider that as well.
I have found that re-pairing is poor with all the Bluetooth devices I have had. If I ‘switch’ from Mac to iPhone I always have to re pair; frankly it is not a big deal. I mostly use them with the iPhone and only now and again with the Mac. They don’t transfer seamlessly and never have though.
I switch between the Mac and the iPad three or four times a day – it gets tedious fairly quickly… My AirPods Pro switch seamlessly, as you’d expect, so it is possible to do this.
My XM4 multipoint works fine with my Apple devices (Mac + iPad + iPhone). Assuming I get the right two devices connected at first (because it only does two, but I’ve got the three devices) it then switches seamlessly. I only repair once every three to six months (no discernible rhyme or reason).