5 Questions about wireless earbuds

I’ve a set of orange JBL 225tws you can have which are more like the Apple airpods than the true in-ear ones

Thanks for the very kind offer but should have said that I was looking for noise cancelling ones.

Looked at airpods 3rd gen but no noise cancelling!!

No worries. :+1:

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Only the AirPods Pro have noise cancelling.

I borrowed FoL#1’s to try out with my new iPhone 14 for a few days and they’re ok with music, but not as good as the wired AKGs that came with my old Samsung S20, but the noise cancelling is pretty good.

Fol1 has a pair of the Pros but I can’t get on with the in-canal designs, just find them really uncomfortable.

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How does the noise cancelling of earbuds compare to headphones? My big sony ones are excellent, are earbuds on par when it comes to ANC?

This has always been my experience too, regardless of how many different earbud sizes they have etc.

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I think I have really skinny canals, if only the rest of me was as skinny! :grinning:

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The problem with ones that sit in the outer ear is that the speaker to ear transfer function is not stable due to movement, and the sound field isn’t sealed, therefore noise cancelling will be extremely challenging, hence the design change for the apple ones when they went pro in order to include the ANC required from a marketing perspective.

You need a fully sealed environment to be able to have a stable transfer function for the ANC to work with, either through in-ear buds, or over the ear headphones.

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So basically you are saying that I want ‘The Moon on a Stick’ :grinning:

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I am saying there are good technical reasons why big brands dont market what you are asking for

The Shure headphone I use come with a range of ear buds in different sizes, and you can get custom molded ones for a perfect fit.

I get what you are saying but might just forgo the noise cancelling as TBF I would rarely need it, for example the last time I took a flight was 7 years ago!

No because they simply can’t match the mechanical isolation of an over ear so the ‘ANC’ bit has to work harder. The performance of the £200+ models is generally pretty good though.

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Can I ask, are noise-cancelling earbuds now full-spectrum ?

10-20 years ago when I used to fly and/or use trains a lot I had a couple of pairs of NC headphones. They were good, but their design came out of the original application which was for aircrew to be able to null out engine noise. They obviously still needed to be able to hear speech, so the NC only acted over low frequencies. This actually limited their usefulness on overnight return flights from the US. Sure, the engine noise was all but gone, but I was kept awake by the 8-hour small-talk chattering of the passengers two rows back who had suddenly discovered that they had a common interest in stories about their grand-children.

So is it possible to null out all noise now ?

My Sony XM3 headphones are superb on a flight, cancelling engine drone and nearby passenger chat.
I never fly without them, can sleep with them on too. Just have to be careful not to lean the cans on the headrest wings as that does allow some vibration noise through.

I had the XM3 - they were great until a few months ago when the battery life suddenly fell off a cliff. It reduced on a daily basis until they only lasted about 10 mins at which point I chucked them.

I looked around and it doesn’t seem to be a common issue so I recently bought the XM5 to replace them. They’re great - very compact and light, good SQ, great battery life, and seem to have good NC although that’s not a priority for me. I’m happy with them. The only thing is they’re so small and round that I’m conscious to be careful putting them on / taking them off in case I drop one/both.

There are a few different sizes of rubber ear plug adaptors so you can find a size that fits you (hopefully). I’m sure most manufacturers supply them too.

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A pair of XM5s turned up here today. They do seem pretty good, although the house is generally quiet and located on a quiet street. It’s a bit disconcerting not being able to hear myself walk along our tiled hallway.

TBH I got them half with another potential use in mind. There’s no immediate prospect of Claire having to go back into hospital again but when she was last there the constant disturbance from the uncancelled machine alarms and the general to-ing and fro-ing around the other patients in her bay eventually drove her to discharge herself (‘against medical advice’ as the form she had to sign said). If she does have to go back then maybe these will make the place just a bit more tolerable.

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Bloody hell, truly superb

Ta.

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I’ve got the earlier XM3 model, they really are excellent.

I have the XM5s too. Recommended.