Music to our ears...
CHANCES are the wireless earbuds you are listening to your music on are made by the same people that make your phone.
There’s a lot to be said for that – it’s easier getting a pair of AirPods working with an iPhone than other earphones, while Samsung’s Buds pair perfectly with a Galaxy phone.
But it doesn’t have to be this way – there are other people making wireless earbuds, and many of them offer features you can get from the big players.
In the last few weeks alone, we’ve seen a rash of new earbud sets hit the market.
We’ve picked out three that offer headline features you can’t get anywhere else.
Sony LinkBuds
Sony, of course, is no underdog when it comes to audio products – you could trace the history of the smartphone back through the iPod to the cassette-based Walkman of the Eighties.
In fact, Sony still makes Walkman devices – all-digital now, of course – and released two new models earlier this month.
But we’re not here to talk about those, we’re here to talk about the new Sony LinkBuds.
They’re different to the vast majority of new earbuds because they don’t have noise cancelling. In fact, these earbuds are all about letting the noise in. The Link in their name refers to the link to the outside world, and with the headphones we don’t need cutting edge tech to maintain that.
All we need is a hole in the middle of the buds to allow sound from the outside world in, maintaining the link to the real world.
The speakers sit within the Linkbuds’ open ring, and Sony says audio quality and call clarity are not compromised.
The LinkBuds are designed to be worn all the time, so you can go about your daily life and experience the real world and the digital world of music, meetings, calls, and interaction with a digital assistant (Alexa and the Google Assistant are supported) at the same time.
£149 from Sony.co.uk Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro
Soundcore is a sub-brand of Anker, which is a well-known and respected maker of smartphone chargers and cases… so there’s no leap in the dark with an unknown brand.
The Liberty 3 Pro boasts a unique selling point that might matter most to users – audio quality. Soundcore names no fewer than 20 Grammy Award-winning music producers that recommend these earbuds for the quality of their audio alone.
Honestly – I’m not sure what “coaxial dual driver technology delivers high and low frequency sound directly to your ear without interference” actually means, but I’m sure the talent with Grammys does, and that’s good enough for me.
Even without that recommendation, the Liberty 3 Pros are full-featured earbuds that would give any rival a run for its money.
There’s eight-hours of playback on a single charge, with the charging case bumping that up to 32 hours.
And the active noise-cancelling adapts not only to your surroundings, but to the shape of your ears, too.
£139.99 from uk.soundcore
AudioTechnica ATH-CKS50TW
Audio-Technica should require no introduction to anyone that knows anything about quality audio products – their headphones and turntables are perhaps the first choice for anyone with even a passing interest in ensuring quality.
It comes as no surprise to find their latest earbuds live up to the pedigree and offer great audio at a great price.
But that’s not what makes these earbuds special.
Aside from audio quality, perhaps second on the checkbox list of important features is battery life… and these beat all-comers on that score.
These beauties will last for 20 hours on a single charge. Even with full noise-cancelling features enabled you can get 15 hours out of them.
Another handy feature is the ability to connect to multiple devices at once, so there’s no manual fiddling about when you want to switch devices.
Aside from that they offer all the standard features, and, despite the mammoth battery-life, remain discreet and they are lightweight for comfortable use for long periods.
£149.99 from audiotechnica.com