My "headphone cocktail" - in search of the perfect headphone, and a way to save hassle for Future Self

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I’m actively working on getting myself into the habit of more deeply scrutinizing device purchases and such. In particular, I’m starting to make more detailed notes about where Current Self’s thought process is, so Future Self has a clue how I got where I’m at. :slight_smile:

For example, a ways back I was looking at getting a new pair of PowerBeats Pro, because my old PowerBeats Pro were broken. But before I did, I decided to take some time and really come up with my use cases. I mean, if I’m replacing multiple pairs of headphones every several years, that really starts to add up!

What I came up with is that I basically have three broad “use cases” for headphones, and two “device cases” - i.e. “which devices they need to work with”:

  • “I need everything quiet.” Meetings, “head down” type focused work, etc. These need to be excellent at noise-cancelling, be able to make clear phone calls, and work with both my Mac and my phone.
  • “Something to listen to while I’m going to sleep.” These only really need to work with my phone as well, but it’s a bonus if I can put YouTube on the Apple TV and fall asleep to it.
  • “I want to listen/talk while I do other things.” Washing dishes, walking the dog, etc. These also need to be able to make clear phone calls, and only need to work with my phone.

Looking at years of buying/being unhappy/re-buying/etc. of headsets, I’ve found that these are the minimum, and every time I try to compromise any significant component of these I tend to get frustrated.

The first two categories are currently “on cruise control.” And even if they weren’t, PowerBeats Pro aren’t useful for either. They don’t have noise cancellation, and they’re too awkward/bulky for the sleep aspect.

For reference, my “I need everything quiet” headphones are the AirPods Max, with this charging dock so I can easily pick them up/dock them for charging. If I’m on a plane, or away from my computer, rather than traveling with the bulk of the Max I use AirPods Pro with these ear hooks to keep them from working out of my ear. I hook them to my keyring with a cheap rubber case that takes a Python Clip.

For the “something that unobtrusively fits in my ears while I’m going to sleep,” I also use AirPods Pro. They fit nicely, they seem to fall out after a couple hours, and I just pick them up in the morning and put them in the case. I’ve looked at alternatives like sleep headbands, but honestly they’re usually too thick as a side sleeper, and they make me sweaty/itchy.

Which brings me to “I want to listen/talk while I do other things.” This category is where the PowerBeats Pro used to live, until a bit over two years ago when I got a Shokz OpenComm. The OpenComm was great, but Bluetooth stopped working reliably - and just outside the warranty period. No repair, no parts, nothing. Disappointing quality when new OpenComms are in the $200 range.

I tried just using the AirPods Max. They technically do everything required - but they’re heavy and make my ears sweat when I wear them for 8-10 hours at a time.

I also tried just using the AirPods Pro with the little ear hooks. These worked, but the battery life isn’t anywhere near as good as either the OpenComm or the PowerBeats Pro.

And then I remembered the reason I’d gone to the OpenComm in the first place. A few years back, I’d started having hearing issues due to wax build-up. My doctor suggested that I come up with something that didn’t go in my ears for “all day, every day” use, and that resulted in the research process that got me the OpenComm.

Add that to my last use case, and the PowerBeats Pro failed on all three counts. Plus, they were Lightning - and I really didn’t want to purchase another Lightning device. Which also got me thinking - the OpenComm use a goofy proprietary dongle, which takes up even more space in my travel setup. What if I could get “close enough” to OpenComm and come up with something that used USB-C?

After some online research, I wound up replacing the Shokz with this Monodeal headset. $60-ish, and for another $10 Asurion warranties them for 2 years. The Monodeal have a USB-C port right on the device, and they’re not bone conduction - but they don’t obstruct the ears, they sit very loosely, and they’re very comfortable. So far these are a very pleasant surprise, and 1/3 of the price of Shokz.

I’m storing my thoughts on this, as well as the criteria, in a document for Future Self so I don’t wind up burning too much time re-thinking this in the future.

Does anybody else get spun around on things like this sometimes? Any thoughts other than “write it down, so you remember it later?”

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I just went through a similar process!!! After a year, I finally bought my headphones.

Background: I have AirPods Pro 2 and I have a pair of wired over the ear headphones. Almost everything I used my AirPods for but it was tiring. No matter how many times I did the configurations and settings, I would get frustrated from taking a call at my desk and my AirPods would just randomly switch between my iPhone and Computer mid-call. I have a TV in my office and at night when kids sleep, I would watch a movie, but I didn’t like wearing the AirPods for that long.

Initially, I was really frustrated that the AirPods Max didn’t receive a proper upgrade and that my AirPods Pro 2 had better audio, handling, anc, etc. But then I had a random epiphany, why do I expect so much from Apple? Why does every device need to have the latest and greatest tech hurdles?

This began the journey of really getting into my use cases based on that epiphany. As well, I wanted a clear break from “work” to “entertainment”.

Phone Calls: AirPods
Entertainment: Over Ear Headphones
Focus Work: Over Ear Headphones

After much YouTube watching, reading Amazon reviews, buying, returning, etc. I went from the Beats Studio Pro to Sonys to finally settling on the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Headphones

Not going to go into full blown tech review or the audiophile stuff, unless you’re an audio engineer, the lossless stuff is overhyped.

Reasons against:

  • Beats Studio Pro - Tried it for a week, very clunky, having to hit the button against my ear, hearing the plastic go in and out

  • Sony WH-1000XM4 - Too many reviews of high-pitched noises due to dirt buildup.

  • Sony WH-1000XM5 - Too many reviews of poor build quality in comparison to the XM4. Lots of breaking.

  • AirPods Max - Too heavy, uncomfortable for long periods

I then ended trying the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra, been using it for a week and it feels great for my use cases. Could I take calls? I could, but I don’t. My mindset this is for entertainment and for focused work where I don’t want to be disturbed. It has noice cancellation and immersion mode.

In terms of ‘writing it down, remember later’ - I have started to loosely begin documenting my decisions on things and why I make them. The only question…do those thoughts go into Obsidian or Day One? Or do I put them into Craft or Notion, with all the links of reviews, videos, etc that helped in that direction :rofl: :rofl:

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What you need is a separate place to document where you put the stuff you want to document. :rofl:

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story of my life!!!
:rofl:

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Liking the stories. For headphones, I was able to just try everything on for a long period of time, but the product category was well defined for me going in, and I’d already proven to myself AirPods Pro weren’t sufficient.

Otherwise, lots of article clipping and spreadsheet building. I’ve become more disciplined over the years starting a pile in DevonThink and turning it into a perspective or a decision from that working area.

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For me now, Obsidian, It’s the One True Source I won’t use Notion or Day One due to cloud stuff and tried but never liked Craft. Much easier to limit what I use. I keep cutting down on the apps I use more and more. Nearly everything goes into Obsidian as it’s easier to stay in one good enough for most cases and excellent for my primary ones vs keeping track of a bunch of apps and paying the costs to upgrade and manage them. The freedom from app overload is real and tangible and I love it even if the apps I use do not necessarily have the most features. They are good enough and that works for me now.

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I use AirPods Pro 2 for use case 1 and use case 2. I am blessed because apparently I have perfectly average earholes; AirPods have always fit great for me.[1]

As for use case #3 — sleep — I used SoundCore sleep earbuds for a while but they stopped working after a few months. Now I use foam earplugs. I tried AirPods Pro but they jammed in deep in my ears when I slept on my side and started beeping a warning, which completely defeated the purpose. However, those were first-gen AirPods Pro; I now have the second-gen so maybe I’ll give those a try.

I was thinking as I read this thread that I should bring it to @OogieM’s attention. And now that’s sorted.

And YES to writing down why we make decisions. In particular, if I try an app and decide it’s not for me, I need to make note of why I decided that. For a couple of years, Obsidian was my One True App for documents and notes; now I’m leaning in to DevonThink again because I need to store a lot of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, PDFs, emails and web pages for projects, and Obsidian was never great at that. OTOH, Obsidian is better for navigating documents and as a Markdown editor, so I’m still not settled.

  1. Once I figured out how to wear the blasted things. For a couple of years I jammed them in my ears with the stems facing outward because I did not trust that they would just rest effortlessly on the ear bottom-part. ↩︎

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As you know I never use Microsoft products but I do use LibreOffice and all of those documents and presentations are now being moved into my Obsidian vault as required. I put the documents directly into my vault and they automatically open up in LibreOffice when I click on the file. Sometimes I add links but as a heavy user of folders I often just navigate to the folder in Obsidian and click on the file from there.

PDF’s open directly in Obsidian now. I still use some other tools for highlighting scientific PDF articles but more and more the Obsidian system is one of those good enough things.

I don’t have a great solution for emails yet since I use POP mail so the emails are in a single place on my main mac. I have been dragging links in for some things but I’m not happy that I can’t see the emails when on any device other than my main Mac so still searching for a good solution for that. I want the full text of emails in my note not links to something outside the vault.

I am testing the new Obsidian WebClipper. Combined with the Local Images Plus plug-in set to only download attachments when I run the command and only on the current note it seems to be replacing Readwise for web clippings I want to keep.

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I wear Air Pods when I sleep and they have only fallen out a few times. Maybe the ear cushion (the thingamajig) is the wrong size.

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I often want to save bookmarks to my DevonThink as “fake documents,” so to speak. For example, a link to an Otter.ai transcript.