True Wireless Earbuds Awards 2023 into 2024 (Budget & Premium)

hey everyone so I spent thousands of dollars in preparation for this video because 2023 was a massive year for True wireless earbuds and today I'll be awarding the best of the best in eight categories within each category there will be premium mid-range and budget options I've got buds ranging from $20 all the way to $400 and I wanted to structure the awards like this so you can see the solid value you get even at a lower price so let's get straight into it starting with category one the best noise cancelling first how I test my noise cancelling I play simulation plain and crowd noise on my soundbar so I'm testing the Bud's ability to block low middle and high frequency consistent as well as inconsistent sounds and the winner here is the Bose's quiet Comfort Ultra earbuds if it's simply the strongest noise canceling you're after these are the pair to go for the Bose qc2 were originally ranked number one with the XM FS just behind the QC 2 blocked out slightly more plain noise voices was about the same but now the QC Ultra blocks out even more plain noise than the qc2 they also cancel out voices and higher frequency sounds slightly better now why do they call it the ultra earbuds well they do have spatial audio now which is like most spatial audio it's pretty gimmicky there's only one ebud that does spatial audio properly and it will be featured here today they also have Apex lossless for highres streaming but like the qc2 they still don't have multi-point connection or wireless charging the sound hasn't been improved and the core quality is still average they still sound fine but you might be better off going for the Sony WF X FES or Jabra Elite 10 because the noise cancelling is still pretty close and they are better buds overall airpods Pro 2 also up there with noise cancelling you're in the Apple ecosystem a no-brainer but pure noise cancelling performance the quiet Comfort Ultra are insane but now the best mid-range noise cancelling goes to the sound cor Lim 4nc and I would say these are kind of a cross between budget and mid-range because they retail for $99 but they're still up there in my noise cancelling ranking with buds almost double their price and you can spend a little bit more get the one more Evo which has slightly stronger noise cancelling but the 4nc are just a better overall Bud because you get a great base boost to tuning which you can still tweak to your liking because the soundcore app is the best on the market you can customize everything you get multi-point connection ldac these are one of the few buds that I've reviewed without a fault but what's that do you want noise cancelling just as strong as a 4nc for almost half the price well the budget award is going to the edifier twws 1 Pro 2 just as good if not slightly better than the 4nc when it comes to blocking out voices and you still get great sound quality you only get EQ presets so no band customization and the controls are a bit limited with no single tap or long hold for some reason if you want all of those features the runner up here is the Eun Air Pro 3 cuz you get noise cancelling that's not as strong still great for the price but you get all the customization the one Pro 2 is missing now Category 2 is ebds with the best Comfort now this is a bit tricky because obviously we all have different ears but I'm compiling my own experience here as well as hundreds of comments that I've read and the premium winner is the Jabra Elite 10 the fit here is kind of a hybrid in semi INE fit because they use interesting angled deer tips so you are stuck with them but with those you get no suction or pressure and it just feels incredibly comfortable they're pretty secure for me as well I can exercise with them with no issues and they're just a solid allround earbud great sound quality great noise cancelling great up customization also a pretty hard Bud to fault now the runner up here is the airpods Pro 2 because they work great for me as well as tons of other people out there you probably see people wearing them all day I wear mine all day when editing videos but I've also read them not working for a lot of people in the comments so if you like your stem style and want to spend a little bit less next best option are the nothing ear2 similar fit to the airpods but even more compact so if you have smaller ears this should work better for you and these are just another solid all around earbud that have everything you need but if you don't like earbuds with stems then the Sony link buds s are the next best pair to go for they're not only one of the smallest buds I've tested more importantly they're the thinnest which is why it just seems to work for people with smaller ears but even if you have larger ears like me they still fit great and I have not read one negative comment when it comes to the link buds s s's the link buds s when it comes to the link buds fit it's going to keep it keep it as up now an even cheaper bud with the same reputation in the comments as well as my own ears is the soundcore space A40 these aren't as thin as the link buds but you get a very light feel in the ear canal and you also get all the features of the link buds s with slightly weaker noise cancelling and sound quality so a bit of an older bud but still a great option today but now let's go even cheaper the budget award here is going to the sound pets mini HS also a very compact bud and you get a moderately deep fit you still get pretty strong noise cancelling ldac highres audio and full EQ customization in the rather buggy Sound Pizza but at least there is one now while we talk about Comfort here you might be someone that doesn't like anything digging into your ear canal so the the next category is going to be earbuds with a semi inar fit or an open ear fit and the overall winner today is a nothing ear stick for the last 2 years airpods 3 have been the Pinnacle of semi iny sound especially when it comes to Bass But the ear stick has stuck it to the airpods I tried because once you EQ the ear stick and ramp up the base it's neck and neck the airpods still have more mid base and forward mid-range the ear stick slightly more subbase and crisp treble but on the ear stick you get full EQ customization control customization so you can add volume control on the earbuds and you get noise cancelling that's actually pretty strong considering the buds don't have an ear tip it just picks up wind very easily so you only want to use that noise cancelling when you're inside but these are all pretty massive features the airpods 3 just don't have and they're half the price as well as long as you don't mind the lipstick case case it's fun to play with though and look I still use the airpods 3 just cuz I'm in the Apple ecosystem and I do like using those when I just want to hear my surroundings so airpods sort of the runner up but another butt I need to mention here is a JBL live Flex similar price to the airpods but these buds have some crazy base more than the airpods and ear stick especially when it comes to subbase you do need to turn on noise cancelling and EQ the buds a lot to get the most out of the sound but if you like electronic music or Basse Heavy Music These are the semi ineb for you now the budget award here is going to the sound pets air4 and A3 Deluxe HS because with both buds you get sound quality pretty close to the more expensive pairs the air4 is pushing out a similar amount of bit to the ear stick you also get Apex lossless multi-point connection EQ customization but they do need a bit of eqing to improve the sound because the mids and trouble are not the best if you want better mids and trouble go for the air3 Delux HS you don't get multi-point connection but you still get ldac which is more common anyway subbase is not on the level of the air4 but you get much better clarity now onto the best open ear earbud being transparent here I haven't tested all the open earbuds out there still quite a lot I need to get to but one bud worth pointing out are the shocks open fit man mainly for how they fit which makes sense it's a shocks open fit but these buds are just so welld designed and built super compact smooth silicone a slim ear hook and nothing digs into your ear canal so the comfort is just the best it's the most comfortable thing I've tested the only downside of the driver not resting in your ear canal is that you're not getting sound quality that you would get with the semi in fit especially at high volume since the drivers are working over time to push out base so they sound great with full Bas below 70% volume but when you start to go past out on bass heavy songs there is some not noticeable Distortion so that's something to keep in mind and I pointed this out in my review but a lot of people still love them so I got to mention them now category number four is the best core quality and most earbuds today if you're in a quiet room even like in a shopping center cafes a busy road most earbuds perform pretty well where most earbuds struggle is with wind noise so I created a mini City in my studio here and I'll leave you with all the samples once we go through the awards starting with the premium winner the Beat Studio buds plus it wasn't the loudest at picking up voice but it just blocked everything out really impressive the runner up is a Jabra Elite 10 closely followed by the Jabra Elite 8 active then the Galaxy buds 2 Pro and denim Pearl Pro the mid-range winner is the Sony link buds s actually better than the Sony xm5 to my surprise runner up is a sound called Liberty 4 very close to the link buds followed by the nothing ear 2 and JBL live Pro 2 also held up well enough now the budget earbuds really struggled but the Eun Air Pro 3 was the best followed by the sound Peds mini pro HS the sound Pats capsule 3 Pro also just usable but now here are all the samples of the top two earbuds for each category starting with the budget we'll work our way up to the premium earbuds all right so I'm currently recording the audio of my iPhone 12 Pro microphone I've got some city noise being played off the speaker there and some construction noise being play the speaker in the corner over there and the giant fan in front of me so let's see how all the microphones sound all right so here is the core quality of the sound P mini pro HS getting my head nice and close to the fan here at all angles all right so here is the core quality of the Eon Air Pro 3 getting my head nice and close to the fan here right now all right so here is the core quality of the sound cor Liberty 4 getting my head nice and close to the fan here right now at all angles all right so here is the core quality of the Sony Link vs getting my head nice and close to the fan here right now all right so here is the core quality of the Jabra Elite 10 getting my head nice and close to the fan here right now all right so here is the core quality of the Beats Studio buds Plus getting my head nice and close to the fan here right now testing testing one two and three all right now before we talk about the next category I need to give you the rundown on today's sponsor spinfit because you probably spend decent amount of money on earbuds I obviously do and you might not even be getting the most out of them if you don't have the right ear tip so spinfit have just released their best tips yet the Omni ear tips built to unleash the full potential of your true W cot improving sound comfort and security so the Omni tips feature a dual layer tube core the inner layer is what grips a tip to your earbud and the soft outer layer gives you the Comfort your delicate ear canal deserves the triple segmented core with its flexible design allows the ear tips to grab onto most nozzle shapes and sizes fit for True wireless earbuds and IMS you get the Classic Soft and flexible spinfit silicon which have amazing grip better than any tip of tried so you get a more secure fit and the ear tips themselves are built to last as I've said over the years it's always handy to have some spinfit ear tips on hand so check the link down in the description below grab a pair of omni ear tips for yourself and in that link you can find spin fits whole range CP 1025 for a more shallow fit and super fine ear tips specifically made for airpods pro so go get yourself some juicy tips and thank you spinfit for sponsoring today's video now onto Category 5 the best workout earbuds and I test every single earbud that I review when exercising I weight train 4 days a week and run twice a week with weight training you really just need a secure fit and decent noise cancelling running is more complex as you want the option to hear your surroundings without too much wind noise coming in through the earbuds you also want to hear minimal body born noise through the ear tips which happens from the impact you make on the ground as well as heavy breathing so with all that in mind the premium winner is the Jabra Elite 8 active so these buds are marketed as the world's toughest earbuds going off the specs you can kind of tell why you get an IP 68 rating so the earbuds are waterproof dust proof sweat proof and drop resistant they're pretty much everything proof the case is also dust and water resistant the fit is secure even without any ear hook I get minimal body borne noise when running but it's the sound quality that is the standout bass boosted without getting too over the top but the overall sound quality is up there with the best premium earbuds so as a noise cancelling they're ranked fourth in my ranking very handy to block out annoying gym music you get physical buttons control customization volume control EQ customization these buds have it at all the only issue with them is when you're running with transparency mode on if the microphone start to pick up too much wind it will automatically start to turn the transparency mode off not ideal when you want to be running in he your surroundings so for a workout earbud this is pretty weird I'm hoping this will be fixed via a firmware update and if it is I'll leave a comment down below so with this in mind you might be better off going for the runner up here the Beats fit Pro because they don't have the wind noise transparency issue the transparency mode is also clearer and the buds have even less body born noise the fit is super secure but also at the same time really comfortable as the wing tips do most of the work and the ear tips aren't digging in too deep so it feels like slightly less in your ear compared to the Elite 8 the sound is unique with a focus on deep subbase and vocals so the treble is a bit lackluster and you have no option to EQ the sound but it's still a tuning that I enjoy during my workouts you get easy to press physical button controls but if you want to add volume control you need to sacrifice your noise cancelling toggle so not ideal but you do get apple ecosystem features like always on Siri seamless connection spatial audio but don't fear you can still get basic customization in the Beats app on Android so pretty close between those two there but now let's jump on over to the mid-range best this is probably going to be the best pair to go for overall it's soundcore sport X10 standout here is the sound quality this is v-shaped goodness subwoofer like Bas crisp treble the mids are a bit recessed but vocals still cut through enough and this is easily my favorite tuning out of all the sports earbuds super energetic it just gets you going you still get strong noise cancelling only about 10% weaker than the Beats fit Pro they're also the most comfortable and the ear hook should provide solid security for most people for me the buds budge out of place easily since I have pretty massive ears so the ear hook doesn't wrap around enough for me and the ear tips are a bit shallow I personally prefer a deeper fit but the spin fit Omni tips pretty much completely fixes this for me with the extra grip and it's a slightly deeper ear tip like I said always handy to have your spin video tips on standby now the runner up here is the Sennheiser sport the unique feature here are the focus and aware ear tips since these buds don't have noise cancelling or a transparency mode so you can use the focus ear tips when you want to block out the noise around you and the aware ear tips let Ambient sound in kind of a cross between a semi inbd and a regular ear tip and these buds are also designed to minimize body born noise and in my running test they work great so if you don't want to use a transparency mode because that's always going to let in a little bit of wind noise the saniser sport might be the bud for you but the sport X10 if they fit you well better when it comes to sound comfort and noise cancelling now if you want to go even cheaper the budget award here is going to go to the qcy t13 ANC the compact lightweight design should lock them in so great when weight training as you get some decent noise cancelling transparency mode not the clearest but it lets very little wind noise in when running and the stem style also means they have very minimal body born noise you do get app support as well so you can customize control adding volume up and down unlike the Beats fit Pro and the sound here is not the cleanest but you get some boomy bass it hits a little bit deep the clarity isn't the best but still fine for workouts for the price it's good sound but if you want to prioritize sound the budget runner up here is the sound pizs free2 classic now if you don't need noise cancelling or a transparency mode and just want a super cheap Bud to throw on your gym bag these are the pair to get you get better sound quality over the t13 and the buds are pretty compact so the fit is just as good now onto Category 6 the best sound quality to keep it even across all the earbuds I do all my testing on an iPhone 12 Pro just using the AAC codec and this is where the majority of my money was spent to acquire all the big players but the two standouts for me are the bang and olison B play ex and denim Pearl Pro it was neck and neck between the two but I just got this unique sense of realism with the denim PE Pro that I haven't really heard on a true Wy bud before like with some songs it just feels like the instruments are being played like in front of you right into your ears and when listen to electronic music it feels like you're in a club this is likely due to their combination of sound personalization and spatial audio so you get personalized sound to your hearing and you get a separate reading for each year you can further tweak the sound in the EQ and this is the first Bud to do spatial audio properly every earbud I've tested that uses spatial audio like gets cool it opens up the sound but it always has a strange Echo effect where the pel pro doesn't have this issue and actually noticed I get a more realistic sound with it on so like any spatial audio you get the impression that the sound isn't coming from your ears but it's coming from speakers slightly in front of you so this adds a sense of width to the sound but also a of depth so instrument separation and sound Imaging here is amazing I rarely talk about sound Imaging because I honestly don't think true while earbuds do it that well but with the p Pro I noticed I could really pinpoint where individual sounds were coming from in The Sound Stage the base here hits hard but it's clean at the same time definitely not lacking and it works with any genre and it also manages to separate itself from the mids and treble better than I've ever heard and you can easily increase or decrease the base with what they call immersion and you can do this in the app or just by simply adding it to the touch controls I found this really useful when training when I wanted a little bass boost and yes I actually can train with these ebds they look pretty big but they work for me with that e hook add in Apex lossless top tier noise cancelling transparency and core quality and to top it off this is the first but I've tested with multi-point connection where you don't actually have to pause playback on one device before you resume it on the other device just press play on your other device and it will automatically pause your other device I could keep babbling on here but let's keep it moving with some slightly cheaper options it's a tie here with the Sony WF 1000xm 5s and sanisa momentum 3 it's super close here the xm5 have a slightly more boomy based response and forward vocals where the momentum have more subbase and Sparkle in the treble it depends on what you like and both pairs get pretty close to the Pearl Pro it is a sound stage and instrument separation where the Pearl Pro really separates themselves it's just a different listening experience now onto the best mid-range sound quality the winner here is the OnePlus buds Pro 2 without eqing one of the best v-shaped tunings you can get in any price range open Sound Stage nice deep subbase the standout though is the excellent treble detail and Sparkle you can still tailor the sound to whatever you like with the presets EQ customization and hearing test so if you like a more balanced tuning you're all good if you want some crazy subwoofer base you're also good they're an overall solid butt as well everything you can ask for at this price the only issue is you can't adjust volume on the earbuds if you can get past that though they have everything you need but now here is where things get a little bit crazy because for a third of the price you're getting sound quality almost on par with the sound pets Engine 4 they get super close to the quality of the buds Pro 2 The Sound Stage is almost as wide they have more boosting in the mid-range so you get clearer vocals and the base still hits deep when needed but still has a bit of punch to it it's the treble Sparkle and instrument separation where the buds Pro 2 starts to separate themselves from the engine 4 now you don't get noise cancelling but you do get ldac multi-point connection and super long battery life with over 10 hours on the earbuds and that's when I tested them at 70% volume so great stuff for the price there but it's going to get even crazier now because for less than half the price of the engine 4 you're getting sound quality on par with the moon drop space travel the tuning here is slightly more Balan in the engine 4 so you get less mid base but still a tasteful amount of subbase less treble detail but the mids are more forward overall it's just a well-rounded tuning you don't get a band EQ but you get a base head preset which is like a subtle base boost and a monitor preset which is like a flat tuning and you also get noise cancelling you just don't get volume control and the case design is unique so a bit annoying to take the buds in and out but if you just want the best sound at the lowest price put on your space suit and yeah travel to space moving on next category this is the fun one category 7 earbud with the best Basse but I'm not talking balance base here I'm talking bass head Bas you know who you are and it's one thing to have some nice subwoofer in your head kind of Base but the tricky part is retaining that at those High volumes so starting with the premium best they're back again it's the senheiser momentum 3 without eqing they are pretty balanced tuning but you get nice deep subbase and crisp treble you can use the sound personalization test to bring out even better Clarity and Sound Stage but it's with the regular EQ where you can do some crazy bass boosting along with a little extra vshape adjustments in the band EQ these buds Rattle and the actual Clarity is still pretty decent and most of the Bas will retain all the way to 100% volume if you need a venture there these buzs have assisted me in many squat bench and deadlift one rep Maxes but of course use sparingly take care of your hearing people now the runner up here very similar to the momentum 3 are the OnePlus buds Pro two because with these buds you can combine the bass boost preset with the base wave slider and you get pretty close to the momentums it's not as clean as the momentums but still a good time if you can though avoid upgrading the firmware to 186 18611 they did sound better before that just saying now the mid-range winner here is a JBL tune buds without any EQ it's a solid v-shaped tuning But Chuck on the base boost and you are getting the most subwoofer base out of all the earbuds they just don't go as loud as the momentum or OnePlus buds so there is some DSP kicking in to most likely reduce any Distortion but it's a fun time and they still go loud enough runner up here are the soundcore sport X10 you can't push out too much past the default tuning but they just sound so good on the default tuning if you like extra base and still want great clarity now let's go even cheaper the budget noise cancelling runner up the Eon Air Pro 3 now gets the best base award they're pretty base boosted without any EQ but you can push out a solid amount and that will retain it high volumes the older model the Eon airs actually sounds better than the air pro fre but it's not as easily available if you can get the ARs though an even cheaper alternative now let's go even cheaper the budget runner up here is a soundcore a20i now these buds are super cheap so you don't get noise cancelling but even without eqing they're already in Ultra subwoofer base territory now they are cheap so it's more on the boomy side but you still get a decent amount of deep subbase Rumble in there overall it's a good cheap time now onto the final category the best overall and here I'm taking into account quality features as well as value for money and I could honestly choose three or four buds for each price range but I'm going to stick to one only and the premium best overall making their comeback for the third time today it's the sen haaz momentum 3 because with these buds you get all the main features multi-point connection volume control decent core quality Apex adaptive highres but they nail it with the big three noise cancelling fit and sound quality up there with the best when it comes to noise cancelling the sound is great whether you like balance or base boosting like I said you need to take advantage of the sound personalization which improves the sound well past what you can do with the regular band EQ some sneaky stuff going on behind the scenes with the sound personalization and the Sony XM 5S or jabber Elite 10 could easily have taking this award so if you don't mind spending a bit more you do get stronger noise cancelling and a more compact case on both of those buds the only real issue with the momentums is the case is a bit chunky but pure value for money I got to give it to syi and they're the bass and Clarity King as well now the best mid-range overall is going to the sound Liberty 4nc cuz with a retail price of $99 you get everything in my review the only issue I had was with the transparency mode and soundcore fixed it straight away soundcore is customer care leading the charge and you can spend a little bit more go for the link buzs the nothing E2 sound cor liity 4 but the 4nc probably has everything you need the best app out there tuning is on the basier side but you get he ID to customize a tuning to your specific hearing you also get tailored noise cancelling to your hearing and these are features you don't even get with some premium earbuds and they have the best colors as well just saying now the best budget overall is going to the qcy Mellow buds also known as the H5 weird naming good value Bud cuz you can get these for around $40 you get a comfortable fit decent call Quality the strongest noise cancelling at their price and with no EQ shift so that's how your sound quality changes with noise cancelling on compared to noise cancelling off compared to transparency usually an issue with budget buds even some premium ear buds but barely any EQ shift on the Mellow Buds and you can even customize the strength of the noise cancelling you get a full 10 band EQ you can customize the controls add volume controls and noise cancelling even has a wind noise reduction mode in there there's no highes codex and out of the box they don't sound amazing but with the great EQ you can really tailor them to the kind of sound that you like and this is the EQ setting that I use to get the most out of them now if you want to go even cheaper you don't need noise cancelling the budget overall best are the soundcore a20i I explained the sound before but it's really the sound app that gives these buds a win full control customization low latency game mode EQ presets you can't go wrong with these all right so that wraps up all the categories but I want to finish with one final award I'm calling it The picky pick of the year so any price range which buds stood out the most to me and that bud you probably guessed is the denim pear Pro I blabbed on before about it but in my four years of reviewing true W earbuds no bu has blown me away as much as the PE pro has they're not the most comfortable earbud the case is a bit chunky and the transparency mode automatically brings the volume down four clicks but also kind of convenient in a way would be nice to change that in the settings though but the sound quality is just insane and they didn't skimp on the other features cuz you still get top tier noise cancelling one of the best transparency modes top five core quality the best multipoint connection full EQ customization the personalized sound and full control customization the buds really do have it all and if you want a unique experience when it comes to sound quality with your true wireless earbuds you got to get these and I've got links down in the description if you do want to grab any of the pairs I really do appreciate if you use those links and I appreciate you watching all the way through this super long video so thanks for watching be sure to check out this video here that YouTube has kindly recommended you specifically so check out that video right there stay picky and I'll see you in the next one bye now

Channel: Picky Audio

Views: 510,737

Keywords: comfortable true wireless, best fit true wireless, secure fit true wireless, best training earbuds, best workout earbuds, best workout true wireless, best anc true wireless, best comfort true wireless, best bass true wireless, best bass earbuds, earbuds for training, earbuds for workouts, best bass TWS, best bass, sony xm5, sony 1000xm5, best anc tws, best earbuds 2023, best budget true wireless, best earbud sound quality, best true wireless calls, best earbuds bass

Id: V8wDoo_PGS0

Length: 25min 50sec (1550 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023