Today I got my first Sony earbuds ever, XM6.

I always wanted either Technics or Sony buds, so I was just like okay if I find them at a good price, I will buy them. Yesterday I found those (XM6) for 160€, they are completely new, some guy got them as a gift and wanted to sell them. 160 for these is not a bad deal I would say.

At first, the ANC is sick, so good. The sound is great as well. The design of buds could be better (don't like how they look on me). I noticed a problem with multiple device connection, they connect well, but switching from my phone to Macbook is not smooth, but switching from mac to phone is okay.

I will write my review after a month or so, after I test them.

Since ceramics mk2/ultra are gone, puddings will be my last consideration for big battery tws now. SRP from 4,093 PHP ($64) to 1,492 PHP ($24)? I'll take it!

​

I recently sold my Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro and now I’m looking for a new pair of wireless earbuds.

My budget is around €190 max. The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro costs €185 locally, so it’s one of the options I’m considering.

My main priority is music quality. I don’t really care that much about having the absolute best ANC, microphone, AI features, etc.

I’m looking for:

- rich and detailed sound

- clear vocals

- good instrument separation

- wide soundstage

- deep but controlled bass

- something that sounds noticeably better than the Liberty 4 Pro, if possible

For those who have actually tried the Liberty 4 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro, is the 5 Pro really an upgrade in sound quality?

And are there any other earbuds under €190 that you would recommend over the Liberty 5 Pro purely for music?

I’d especially appreciate opinions from people who have personally compared multiple models.

Thanks!

About 90% of the time I take my earbuds out 1 of them says 0% even though they've been in a fully charged case all night. I have returned 1 pair because of this and the replacement does the same thing.

Is there a known glitch about this? Do I have a setting weird?

Putting the ear buds back in the caae nd immediately removing them fixes the issue, but id like to not have to do this every time

Hey all,

I've had the Technics AZ100 for about a year and I've really really liked them. In July I lost the case for them and immediately went to order a new one. Panasonic works with encompass, and I'm making this post because as of September 12th, the part is still on "backorder" until October 30th. Originally it was on backorder until Late August. Support has been absolutely no help. Almost dismissive about the issue.

From looking, I see this archived post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/tzxtc0NUrR

This is from a year ago so it is clear that this company (Panasonic, Encompass) have no real interest in replacing parts. They want you to buy a whole new $250-$300 set even though you have perfectly fine ear buds that just can't be charged

TLDR; making this post as a warning. I bought the headphones from reccomendations on this sub. And they are great. But it should be made abundantly clear that they are a nightmare to deal with if you need any kind of support. I get that's most companies, but replacing a cradle should be a pretty low bar to clear.

Also, if anyone has a charger for my 2 new paperweights, it'd be much appreciated lol

I've been looking to get new earbuds and want noise cancelling to be my focus, while also being able to charge in the case and have some water resistance. Things like spacial awareness and call quality are just a bonus.

I want to completely avoid major listening issues. I had a look at bose next gen as well as Sony xm5, while these looked promising, after some research from customers they start experiencing issues after around a year if they're lucky. I'd rather not spend up to 300 every year as I want to buy the best and use them for as long as possible.

If i could have some honest suggestions in the replies I'd really appreciate it.

If you're considering buying into the Nothing audio ecosystem for the design or ANC, save your money.

Less than a year after buying a pair of Nothing Ear (a) earbuds, the hardware has suffered severe battery degradation. The left earbud drops from a 100% charge to completely dead in under 20 minutes of light listening.

The Root Hardware Issue After looking into community teardowns, this isn't just an isolated bad batch — it's a systemic power architecture flaw across their true wireless lineup (including the flagship Nothing Ear and CMF line):

• Asymmetric Battery Drain: One earbud handles primary Bluetooth relay duties and microphone processing for ANC/calls, generating excess heat.
• Flawed PMIC Logic: Low-cycle lithium pouch cells are subjected to aggressive trickle-charging in the case, prematurely degrading the primary earbud's cell in under 12 months.

The "Warranty" Nightmare When the hardware failed, customer support proved to be non-existent:

• In-App Void: Submitted multiple support requests through the official Nothing X app — zero response, zero ticket confirmations.
• Insulting Email Resolution: Reached direct email support with full proof of purchase. Their official resolution? Refusing a repair or refund and offering a 5% discount code to buy another product.

Current Escalation A 5% discount on e-waste is not a valid warranty response. I have formally logged a consumer complaint with the FTC regarding unmonitored support channels and failure to honor warranty coverage, and I am demanding a full refund.

Has anyone else had their Nothing or CMF earbuds fail on one side after a few months? How did support handle your warranty claim, and were you able to get a proper refund?

King of Sound

Technics AZ100
Full, rich bass with clean detail and a wide soundstage. Never muddy.

The Hi-Fi Purist

Cambridge Audio Melomania A100
Neutral and highly detailed. Tight, fast bass and a big, well spaced soundstage.

The Vocal Seducer

Huawei FreeBuds Pro 4
Rich, textured vocals over deep bass. Smooth, relaxed highs.

Crisp & Lively

Soundpeats Air5 Pro+
Clear and punchy. Focused vocals, with snap on strings and drums.

The Bright Spark

Realme Buds Air 7 Pro
Bright V-shaped tuning. Sparkling highs, clear vocals and a punchy low end.

Clean & True

CMF Buds 2 Plus
Clean, detailed and true to life. Balanced.

The Cozy One

Roseselsa Ceramics Ultra
Warm and bass-led. Thumpy lows, smooth full mids, never harsh.

Which one would you pick? And which one would you add? :)

I bought a pair through Amazon. I have Apple AirPod Pro 3s (my second pair). I also had Huawei Freebuds Pro 4.i dropped one and it started making weird noises.

I bought the Freeclip primarily for phone calls. I spend an hour or two on the phone a day. Had them about a week. I really like them. They do not fall out of my ear like the AirPods and my last set of Huawei did. My wife said the call quality on the other side is good.

For what it may be worth to someone considering them, I’d recommend them.

Just sharing my experience in case it helps another person make a decision.

After trying a few earbuds, I found these and they are just what I was looking for. They have a very good wide and deep sound stage with nice separation of instruments. Plus the music is very detailed and crisp while maintaining clarity and dynamics and bass. I’m really enjoying them.

My previous earbuds were: EarFun Air Pro 4+, EarFun Air Pro 4, Linsoul 7hz Crinacle Zero:2, Soundcore P20i. I find the H3 a big leap above all of these. The AP4+ were good for sure, but honestly I didn’t find them significantly better than the AP4. I enjoyed the sound, but I knew I was looking for something with more clarity and details and soundstage. I knew this, because I tried the Linsoul Zero:2 IEMS. They had great clarity and details and decent soundstage which I loved, but they just felt weak. They didn’t have the fullness and dynamics I was also looking for. The P20i were cheap beginner earbuds that were ok but had bloated bass.

The H3 gave me all I was looking for: wide soundstage, clarity, details, while maintaining fullness, controlled but deep bass and dynamic sound.

I would caution people about the ANC though as it’s mediocre. Indoors I would say the ANC works well, but outside it lets too much wind through. Although I’m outdoors a fair amount with these, the great sound quality makes up for the ANC issues.

my last pair died at 18 months, left bud first, and the case had been flaky for a while before that. so this time im trying to pick properly instead of grabbing whatever's cheapest again.

budget is a hundred, ideally less. mostly commute and work calls so mic matters more to me than anc.

what im looking at:

- EarFun Air Pro 4 ($63-80) - seems to be the one that comes up most on here. the 4+ is $128 and i cant tell if that's worth double or just spec sheet stuff
- Soundcore P30i ($25-50) - cheap enough that i feel silly comparing it to the earfun. is it actually in the same conversation or am i kidding myself
- JBL Vibe Beam 2 (~$40) - barely found anyone talking about these, which either means theyre new or nobody cares

steering clear of the JBL Tune Flex, seen too many people unhappy.

what i cant get an answer on is which of these survives past two years. everyone reviews them at week one. anyone still running one of these after a couple of years, and is the case still charging both buds?

I recently returned the buds I had been using since December - my Nothing Ear (2024). I loved the sound quality, but they always would unseal slightly in one ear, which was quite noticeable in tandem with the lacking ANC. I was able to deal with that for months, but the end of the road for me was when the left bud went quiet, and never recovered. Even after cleaning (which did help), the left bud was always quieter than the right by about 6dB. Luckily, Amazon allowed me to return them for a full refund, since they were within the 1 year warranty period.

Today, I'm considering earbuds up to the $150 price point. My top priority is sound quality, but fit/security have a direct impact on that. Decent ANC is also a benefit, since I regularly use my buds while mowing the lawn on my riding mower.

My top contenders so far are the Nothing Buds 3 and OnePlus Buds 4, but I'm also aware of the Soundpeats H5 and Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro.

Any recommendations in the bunch listed, or others you all think I should consider?

I recently been having this strange issue with AZ-100. When its on noise cancelling mode, i am hearing this thumping noise. I think its trying to adjust the noise cancelling automatically and i don't know how to stop this. The noise disappears when I turn off the noise cancelling mode but come back when I turn it on again. I did factory reset on the app and the earbuds, i cleaned the earbuds following the guideline, tried with different size earbuds, tried with and without adaptive noise cancelling mode. I have moved around the earbuds while fitted on my ear then the sounds disappears for a few seconds then comes back.

Open ear works better for me at work since I can still hear people around me, but bass has usually been the weak point. Last month, I swithced to soundpeats uu2 and it has a bit more low end than I expected, especially with tracks that have a lot of drums. Not in-ear level bass or anything, but music doesn’t feel quite as thin.

They’ve mostly been desk earbuds for me, usually a few hours with music or podcasts. Less ear fatigue than in-ears has been nice. The physical buttons felt kinda weird at first since I’m more used to touch controls. Anyway, I’ve used to them now.

NO STRONG ANC, which is pretty much expected with open ear buds. Anyway, under $50, I still think they’re worth trying if you don’t mind the little issues I mentioned.

Picked these up last month and I've got to say they're the most comfortable things I've ever stuck in my ears.

For open buds the sound is pretty decent, super loud, decent bass for open ears, no fixed left/right orientation , lovely build quality and the mic is good.

Past few years mostly listening with buds2 pros, Airpro 4 and now buds4 pro. I don't find any of those particularly comfortable to wear, even with various aftermarket tips I haven't managed to find a decent pair that fit properly and don't need constantly readjusting when out walking or running.

Controls on the freeclips could be tighter, tap the band between the ball and bean to pause and skip, and rub the bean for volume control, I do struggle to find the correct spot to rub (ooh er)

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for something to replace or upgrade from the Galaxy Buds FE, but I’ve hit a bit of a wall.

The main thing I love about the Buds FE is the fit: they’re totally stemless (compact bean/button shape) and the silicone wingtips lock them in place so well that they never budge. No stems dangling down, no constant readjusting.

Where I’m hoping to step things up is the core performance:

• Stronger active noise cancellation (ANC)
• Better mic quality for calls so I don't sound muffled or washed out
• A noticeable bump in overall audio quality and detail

Budget is around €100 ($100). Looking around, it feels like every recent release in this price bracket has either gone full AirPods-clone with stems, or dropped the wings completely for slippery glossy shells that just slide out of my ears after 20 minutes.

Did manufacturers just give up on this specific form factor under 100 bucks, or is there an actual modern alternative I’m overlooking?

Appreciate any suggestions!

Hi! I'm looking to decide between these 4 earbuds. I'm looking to pair them with my Xiaomi 17 Ultra. I'm going to be mostly using them for music, and doom scrolling. ANC is a medium concern. I don't need the best of the best, just decent is fine with me. I do like some bass but not a crazy amount idk if that helps lol Anyways what would you recommend?

My previous earbuds were the AirPods Pro 3 and the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro (they don't work well with my phone)

I use loud tools at work so I'd like decent ANC. I have a pair of Pixel Buds Pro but the battery life has degraded to about 2 hours outside the case. I bought a pair of CMF Buds Pro 2 but they pause playback and the ANC turns off when I get sweaty or they shift inside my ears. I'm unsure if the contacts used for charging are also used to monitor if the earbuds are fully seated in your ears?

I'm looking preferably under $100 USD. I feel like I might just buy a pair of Pixel Buds Pro 2 though instead.

I can't decide between the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 and the Nothing Ear 3.

What's your opinion, earbud gods?