The pair i ordered three weeks ago is already randomly pausing and changing volume. It seems like in the past year every brand of wired earbuds has completely given up on quality control. Does anyone know of a pair that I won’t have to buy again in march?
I have a beat-to-shit pair of shure se215s that have lasted about five or six years now. Warning: they’re not cheap, and they’re also sort of the bottom end of “studio” quality. The plastic is completely broken away in the same place on both of them but the sound is still quite good. I’ve been meaning to order a replacement pair but haven’t had my hand forced since they’re still working. They get crammed into my ears and then wedged into and out of helmets regularly without complaint, though.
I guy the 10 quid ones from my local shop and sometimes they last a week, sometimes they last 6 months. It’s a real lottery.
KBeaand KZ make good cheap earbuds that look like iems kind-of, and have a seperate cable to buy if that gets damaged.
They’re very similar designs and I think KZ got caught putting in non-functional extra speakers in their buds to lie about quality and not get caught immediately when someone opened up their earbuds. Although I bought the 20usd model of theirs and like mine that have lasted a while.
I have no experience with KBear but just saw that they’re good too.
Both brands have stuff under 30usd