2023 was the year of the rabbit hole for me, as I ended up doing research on a variety of topics due to helping out friends and family with personal and tech issues. One of these rabbit holes that I ended up falling into was the wireless earbud(TWS) one, which eventually led into the more general rabbit hole of portable audio. I was really late to jump on this train, as everyone was on it when Apple AirPods were first released years ago.
I finally decided to get wireless earbuds for the first time at the end of last year(2022) during Black Friday. AirPods are easily the most popular choice for most people, but I decided against Apple for a number of reasons. The first is that I’m an Android user, and it’s widely known that many of the AirPod features don’t work on non-Apple devices.
I’m not new to using Apple products, as I have to (begrudgingly) use a MacBook for work and did have an iPod during my college days. While the iPod was good, I definitely remember how much I hated iTunes and how it was required to use that program to get music from the computer to the device. I also remember how annoying it was to get things fixed back whenever the iPod had issues. It just seemed like Apple was more interested in getting me to buy a completely new device instead of repairing it.
So even back then, I could already tell that using an Apple product when you weren’t already in the Apple ecosystem was going to be annoying. This is probably intentional. The whole idea of planned obsolescence never sat right with me too. And then of course, there’s the pricing. It really feels like they can get away with slapping higher prices on all of their products because of brand loyalty.
The last thing is that wireless earbuds are designed to be disposable products. They have most of the same components of a wired earphone, but due to being wireless they have an added bluetooth adapter and battery. That is a lot of tech to be cramming into a tiny earbud. The lithium ion battery is the biggest issue here, because it’s so compact which gives it a limited lifespan. On average they will last about 2-3 years, and once they die they are not repairable. It feels really silly to pay top dollar for a product that you know will not last.
So my philosophy for getting these is aim for something that is low cost, good quality, and will be reliable enough to last until the battery inevitably dies. I also feel that wireless earbuds should never be bought at full cost(since they are disposable products), and this isn’t so bad since they go on sale very often.
Tozo T6
Retail price is $40, but will often go on sale for around $25
These are my first! As mentioned earlier, I got these in 2022 during Black Friday. I picked these after reading a lot of reviews and doing some research, and seeing that Tozo products are some of the most popular on Amazon. The Tozo T10 is straight up the most popular set of earbuds on Amazon right after the Apple AirPods. I opted to go for the T6 model instead, after reading that these had the most compact and lightweight design out of their catalog. Tozo is an interesting company: looking at the broken English that was in the T6 instruction manual and seeing the big “Made in China” printed on the box, I thought they were a Chinese company… but apparently they’re actually based in Seattle, Washington. The T6 is a very old set of earbuds, as it’s already at least 4 years old at the time of this writing. But it was popular enough to get an updated version in 2022(bluetooth upgrade which improves battery life) and yet another update in 2023 with a new ergonomic design and added app support.
I got the 2022 version. These are honestly pretty barebones. But I feel like that works in the T6’s favor: it’s so basic, but that means it is clearly designed to work out of the box, no questions asked and no app needed. Missing most of the bells and whistles that the higher end earbuds have, but that’s ok because it does exactly what it needs to do.
That means these were pretty much perfect for my 1st set of wired earbuds. Just extremely simple and effective with a lightweight form factor and the most compact case I’ve seen. I’m not an audiophile at all, but I like the sound quality: it does have a boosted bass profile which is very common in cheaper buds, but it’s not excessive. The touch controls have just the right amount of sensitivity. The buds also have no ANC(active noise cancelling), but it is largely unnecessary because they have a deep fit(providing good passive isolation).
Honestly I would have been happy using these forever. The Tozo T6 had that combination I was looking for of being affordable, lightweight, reliable, and having good enough sound quality. But there was just one issue: comfort. The shape of the T6 makes it so that you need a deep fit to get a proper seal. Unfortunately that was uncomfortable for me, and I also started to get itchy and irritated ears every time I used them. Fit is one of those super subjective things, because everybody has different shaped ears. What is comfortable for one person can be the complete opposite for someone else.
So fast forward 1 year, and I start thinking about getting new earbuds to address the comfort issue. Black Friday rolls around again in 2023 and I notice that an audiophile company has recently released a budget TWS set.
Moondrop Space Travel
Retail price is $25, but will often go on sale for around $22
The Space Travel is unbelievable: it is the cheapest set of wireless earbuds I’ve ever bought, but at the same time it’s probably the best sounding. It does makes sense that it sounds way better than its price point suggests though, because Moondrop is a Chinese company that primarily markets their products toward audiophiles. The Moondrop Chu is frequently recommended as a beginner/budget wired IEM(in ear monitor), and the Blessing3 and Variations are very highly regarded in the audiophile circle.
Anyways I got the Space Travel because they have a lot of features(like active noise cancelling and a game mode that reduces latency) and I thought the visual design was clever. It also has a stem design which I was interested in trying out. True to its name, the case is modeled after a space shuttle which is really cute. Unfortunately even though the charging case looks really cool, it does not have a lid or side covers. I even got the extra carrying case, and with it on the sides are still not covered, which means that dust and lint will eventually get in if you carry these in your pockets. The overall case is one of those things that is really nice to display, but annoying to have to take out. It was also the bulkiest case out of all the TWS that I purchased.
The sound quality of the Space Travel is really something else though. It’s really balanced and clear, with a great degree of instrument separation. The noise cancelling mode works but is not top of the line, but I feel it’s acceptable considering the price point.
One quirk is that the voice prompts in the Space Travel are done by Japanese voice actress Mitsuki Yuki. You get to hear her say “Shhh~” when switching to noise cancelling mode, and you can hear “Hey!” when switching to transparency mode. It’s pretty cute and fits in with Moondrop’s brand of putting anime girls on their box art.
Unfortunately I had to go shopping again, because the Space Travel had the same subjective problem that the Tozo T6 did: comfort. I could not get a good, comfortable fit with these. I even messed around with all of the eartips that were provided! I had a good experience using them though and being down $22 wasn’t a big deal, so I ended up giving them away as a gift to my mom.
At this point I was convinced that my issue was with devices that use silicone eartips, which led to my next purchase.
SoundPEATS Air 3 Deluxe HS
Retail price is $60, but will often go on sale for $40
Hoo boy, where to begin with these. My experience using these was like a rollercoaster: I remember being completely blown away on the first day and thinking that I had found my perfect TWS set. Then over time I started to notice all of the issues.
I was sure that the answer to my problems was a TWS that were were not in-ear style and did not use silicone eartips. I would need something that was half in-ear, like the Apple AirPods. So I did some searching for AirPods alternatives and half in-ears, and the Air 3 Deluxe HS(along with the newer Air 4) kept popping up. SoundPEATS is a Chinese company that primarily makes wireless audio products, and they seem to have a decent reputation so I opted to try these out. I went with the older Air 3 instead of the Air 4 because I heard that the Air 4 was slightly bigger, and I really wanted these earpieces to be as compact as possible.
Since these don’t have eartips, they don’t form a seal since they sit on the very entrance of the ear. So I was very impressed at how great they sounded despite that. They felt super comfortable and didn’t plug up the ears or exert any pressure, which was something that the previous two sets did. I was in love with these the first day and thought that I had finally found my budget endgame. These have a pretty ridiculous name, and it’s because they are a 2nd revision! Originally there was the Air 3, which was popular enough to get an updated version called the Air 3 Deluxe(which added app support), and then finally the Air 3 Deluxe HS which added hi-res audio. Specifically, they support the Android exclusive LDAC codec. Unfortunately LDAC is kind of wasted on me since I primarily use mp3s and Youtube Music for listening. With a bitrate of 990 kbps, LDAC is the audiophile codec meant for lossless audio, heard in flac files and in streaming services like Qobuz/Tidal/Apple Music. The free tiers of Youtube Music and Spotify max out at 128kbps and 160kbps respectively, for reference. Turning on LDAC also eats up the battery, so I ended up never using this feature.
But yeah after this incredible first impression, the problems started popping up. The first one popped up fairly quickly: the touch sensitivity. The touch controls of the Air 3 Deluxe HS are hypersensitive. Instead of having a designated touch panel, the entire bud and upper portion of the stem are sensitive to touch. Because of this, it feels almost impossible to avoid triggering the touch controls when putting on/removing the earbuds. I noticed this issue the first day, but thought that the problem was caused by me being new to the product, and that it would get better over time. But it didn’t and if anything the problem got worse.
The Air 3 Deluxe HS was also the first earbuds I got that had in-ear detection, where it automatically turns off if the device is taken out of the ear. Just like the touch controls, this feature was also way too sensitive. Sometimes just opening my mouth or turning my head would pause the music.
I got super annoyed at this oversensitivity, so I went and downloaded the SoundPEATS app since I read that it could customize these features. The app has a nearly 1 star average rating on the Play Store which is pretty alarming, and after investigating it’s likely because the app requires turning on location services. Yikes. This is the first app that allowed a full custom equalizer, which is a huge plus. It also allowed me to turn off the in-ear detection. However I noticed that I could not customize the touch controls. Even worse, I had read online that the app is supposed to let you at least turn off the single-tap while keeping the double-tap and long press. Well there must have some update, because on my app I only have the option of leaving them on or turning off the touch controls completely. False advertising?
This problem became worse once I started taking the Air 3 outside. They have a loose fit which is nice for comfort, but they did not stay in the ears at all. I had them falling out even when going for a light walk around the neighborhood. So I would have to constantly re-adjust the Air 3, which would then trigger the touch controls. They also don’t any passive isolation at all since they’re not in-ears, so if I went anywhere remotely noisy like a cafe or restaurant, I wouldn’t be able to properly hear the music unless I really cranked up the volume.
It got to the point where the only way I could enjoy the Air 3 was to only listen to them at home in a quiet room, with the touch controls turned off. At that point I might as well use wired headphones or IEMS, since the main purpose of wireless is to make it more convenient to use outside.
I was pretty discouraged at this point, although I did get a decent deal on the Air 3(it was still Black Friday week so I got them for around $36). So it could have been worse. I still think the sound quality on these is really impressive, but there were too many usability issues. Luckily, my savior was arriving with the next purchase.
Anker Soundcore Life A3i
Retail price is $50, but will often go on sale for $35. These are also sold under the name “Life Dot 3i” at Walmart. Not really sure why there are 2 different names but they are the exact same product.
I went back to the drawing board and did a search for earbuds again, this time adding in the words “comfortable” and “compact”. The Life A3i and the Space A40, both by Anker Soundcore popped up a lot. I was already familiar with the Anker brand since I use some of their charging accessories. For some reason I had always thought that Anker was a European company, but they are actually from China. At this point it was way past Black Friday, but it was Christmas season so there was a sale on both of these. I went with the Life A3i because I read that it had a slightly better battery life.
Completely blown away. Unlike the Air 3, the Soundcore app is EXCELLENT and actually does what it’s supposed to do. You get a lot of EQ presets along with the option to fully customize the equalizer. The active noise cancelling works well and is more effective than that of the Space Travel(though that should be expected given the price difference). The default Soundcore EQ profile of the A3i is actually not great, but that can be fixed very quickly by switching to the much better “Acoustic” EQ profile or just making your own custom EQ. Instead of touch controls, the A3i instead has clicky side buttons. It was a little weird at first, but after adjusting I greatly prefer it since I no longer have to worry about accidentally triggering touch controls. The app also allows full customization of the button controls including the single tap, double tap, and long press.
Most importantly, these are comfortable! They do have silicone eartips, but they have a shallow fit instead of the deep fit that I experienced from the Tozo T6. I have found that I prefer the shallow fit over the deep one since I don’t have to feel too much pressure from the earbuds plugging up the ears. The A3i has an ergonomic shape that fits the contour of my ears. They also do not make my ears itchy. Even with the shallow fit, these have no problems staying in my ears and they also have good passive isolation. If I really wanted to, I could wear these all day which is something that I definitely could not do with my previous earbuds.
Conclusion
And that’s the end of my journey! I’m really happy with the A3i and it has become my daily driver. Part of me is still curious about how the Space A40 sounds but I’ll maybe look into it later if these ever break down.
It does suck that I had to buy 4 different earphones before I finally got my ideal set, but that’s what happens when there are no brick and mortar stores that carry these around anymore. It would be really nice to test these out in person before buying them. And to think that this all started because the first set gave me itchy, irritated ears. One thing I learned from this is comfort trumps all when it comes to selecting your daily driver. If I was judging based on sound quality the Moondrop Space Travel would be the clear winner. But when it comes to comfort the Life A3i is the best here. I’m still impressed by how good of a starter set the Tozo T6 was though. Even though I don’t use it anymore, there are still a few things that I miss about it. I think the T6 had the best implementation of touch controls, and I love how lightweight it was. It had the most compact case too. I really appreciate the simplicity.
Lovers Arcana Yamada Lvl99 