Earphone (TWS) recommendation

[DieLyn]

Hi all,

So my beloved Samsung Galaxy Buds (the OG version) finally died, and I am looking for a replacement.

What is important to me:

• Comfort
• Call quality - I am fully remote and plan on travelling a lot, so this will be my go-to for calls (Teams/WhatsApp)
• Multi-point connection (the Samsung Buds used to do a quick-switch thing which was good enough, but I would like proper multipoint for laptop/phone/tablet)
• Sound quality
• Should be able to use it in the gym (although probably won't be going to the gym much for the next year)
• Some ANC would be nice but not a high priority (I don't have ANC on any of my current devices, so not sure how much I'd use it)

I took a look at RTINGS and filtered a bit and these were the top contenders (Takealot average prices displayed here):

• EarFun Air Pro 3 True Wireless - R1795
• Skullcandy Sesh ANC True Wireless - R1799
• Anker Soundcore Space A40 Truly Wireless - R1999
• Jabra Elite 7 Active - R3299
• Jabra Elite 7 Pro - R3599
• Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 - R5219

Glaring omission: Sony WF series. They just didn't seem to match up to the competition ratings-wise.

Looking at it now all listed out the Sennheisers might be overpriced. But then again, it's Sennheiser and it might be totally worth the money.

So the question: What do you recommend (given my requirements)? Do you own any of the above, and would you recommend them? Anything I missed that I should take a look at?

Thanks

 

[5hadow17]

Other glaring ommission is the Samsung range, especially if you loved the OG buds

Assuming the batteries are what died in your buds. My buds+ is still going on, but if the batteries had to die, I'd probably just look at replacing the batteries

Haven't tried the newer range of Samsung options myself, but they're generally well regarded. Not endorsing Crin as better or worse than RTINGS, but at least another view

 

[SuperLlama]

Galaxy buds 2.
They always gone on sale to R1500 every few months.
Can't go wrong with these.

 

[DieLyn]

Other glaring ommission is the Samsung range, especially if you loved the OG buds

The reasons Samsung is an omission:

1. When looking at ratings/tests, they never seem to rank highly. Don't think they can compete with the other brands as an overall package. They're definitely great... but don't seem to be the best. For example:

Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Truly Wireless vs Jabra Elite 7 Pro True Wireless Side-by-Side Headphones Comparison

The Jabras beat the Buds Pro on nearly every metric in all categories.

2. No multipoint.

Assuming the batteries are what died in your buds. My buds+ is still going on, but if the batteries had to die, I'd probably just look at replacing the batteries

Surprisingly, the buds aren't completely dead. It seems like the woofer in the left bud died. So I still get sound out of both of them, just that one is a lot softer than the other, almost like one is on 20% and the other is on 100%. One too many falls I guess.

Haven't tried the newer range of Samsung options myself, but they're generally well regarded. Not endorsing Crin as better or worse than RTINGS, but at least another view

This channel is pretty cool, never heard of it before. I do appreciate another view.

I noticed he purely looks at the audio quality when ranking/comparing. While the audio quality is important to me, it's not the only factor I take into account for buds.

 

[goldfritter]

Bear in mind that Rtings's reviews and scores are based, as far as possible, on objective criteria. This can help compare stuff that are difficult to compare, but it leaves out important subjective factors.

Also worth noting that, in audio, differences in measurement very (very) often don't translate into differences that most (any?) people can actually hear, especially if one is not listening to exclusively reference-grade recordings.

Rtings reviews don't attempt to answer the question: Do they make you feel good when you listen to them?

So I would be cautious to take them as your sole source.