i have been a skullcandy stan since like 2010, they have always been a solid budget choice and last a long time. my very favorite pair of theirs has been the Push Active. the fit, quality and price hit for me and i have used them for several years. however, the last couple pairs i had have stopped pairing, only showing up as “Tile” in the BT menu.
i replaced them with some Smokin Buds due to my tightened budget, and they worked alright for a month or so, but now there is no media audio. they still produce audio because when i put one in i get the “connected” message.
i just want a comfortable pair of earbuds for work that are sweat resistant, noise blocking, preferably with the over-ear hooks. i dont need outstanding audio quality, i primarily listen to audiobooks and podcasts while working. my budget is 50 bucks give or take.
i havent had the need to look outside of skullcandy til now, and looking at options online is very overwhelming for me. any reliable brands would even be a great starting point for me.
cheers!
try soundcore… it’s owned by amazon so you may not want to. i have a pair of the space a40 and they are comfortable and have ANC… they make a number of different styles and then have different price points in each style
Woah back up, no they aren’t. They are sold heavily on Amazon but Amazon doesn’t own any part of them.
my bad…apologies… bad brand association. i still bought them though
It’s all good. I was annoyed that the only way to buy their stuff is through Amazon. Even if you order direct from their website they just ship it from Amazon.
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I’d recommend Anker’s Soundcore series too.
I was also a Skullcandy fan (still have a pair of their Dime 2 earbuds I like to use when I’m going to sleep). The Anker p31i are my daily drivers now, though. For around $30 on sale, they have active noise cancelling and the batteries last all day – I didn’t charge the battery in the carrying case until a month after I bought them.
I have the sport x20 and while they’re above your budget ($80) I just wanted to add my recommendation to soundcore. They’re my favorite over the ear earbuds that I’ve tried so far. They’re super comfortable, they stay in my ear whether I’m running or laying down with my head against a pillow, and the sound is pretty good. The only thing I don’t like is that the charging case is really finicky and if I’m not paying attention sometimes I dock them to charge and go to use them the next day and they’re completely dead. But I like them enough that when I can find a spare $80 I’m hoping to buy a second pair because I’m tired of constantly transferring this case around between my different backpacks for work, school and normal life and then having to go on a treasure hunt to figure out which bag I had them in last when I want to use them at home.
definitely want to avoid amazon if possible, but thanks!
For the record Soundcore is not owned by Amazon. They are sold heavily there but that’s it. And I also recommend their products, they are what I consider the best bang for your buck when it comes to audio equipment. Anker charging products are also the same company and also good cost to quality ratio.
i do like anker, lemme check that out!
Soundcore is owned by Anker, who also own eufy. While I wouldn’t trust Anker any further than I could throw them, I have owned Soundcore products since they were still branded as just Anker.
I keep a pair of Liberty 3(? Maybe) as my “kitchen” ear buds and I took my Q30s around the world with me (and it absolutely shows, they’re thrashed). They’re fine audio products but for the price - Amazing.
Any specifics on why you’re anti-Anker? If the quality sucks, that can be improved. If they’re actively trying to destroy democracy and the middle class, that’s kind of different.
Anker’s eufy brand claimed all local storage for their security systems but they were routing everything through AWS for displaying the feed - hence not trusting them but as far as I know no major, flock-enabling scandals or anything.
Also, they’re a company. Yet another reason not to trust them. By the time I’m finished writing this post they could’ve done a bunch of terrible stuff.
Very true. Any publicly traded corporation is basically by definition operating as a psychopath. Sometimes we get lucky and they’re slightly less terrible than the others and sometimes that changes overnight.
Search for anker recalls. They have had plenty of dangerous recalls for bad batteries. I have multiple of their products and have been pretty happy overall, but there is a risk.
I have heard a bit of that. I’m somewhat wary of the overall commoditization of cheap, dubiously sourced batteries in general. I feel like they’re getting big enough that maybe their brand is becoming valuable enough to raise their standards, but it’s a hard thing to measure. I think outside of the standard AA/AAA form factors, even Energizer is putting out some shaky quality these days.
I came here to mention sound core as well. I got ones that after like a month wouldn’t hold a charge. I was just going to throw them out but I made a Reddit post at the time and everyone told me they have great customer service so I reached out. They just sent me the same set but a new one. That was 3 years ago and I use them a lot Monday-Friday and they’re still phenomenal. They work great.