True Wireless Earbuds Buyers Guide

Bang & Olufsen are expensive, not gunna lie. But they’ve got a reputation of producing amazing ‘audio products’ from speakers to headphones and more. These E8 2.0’s are chock full of tech to make you look good while enjoying good sound.

B&O recently updated the E8’s to support Qi wireless charging and have improved hte overall battery life (hello 16 hours in the case) and you’re using the semi-universal USB-C here as well. Extra points for the pebble-shaped case that features a very nice premium leather design.

There’s also an app where you can control the sound balance, amongst other thigns. They’ve also have a 30 day trial as well, so get your ear wax all up in them and give ’em a burn. Worse case, get your coin back and hit the next brand on our list (Beats!)

Powerbeats Pro by Beats are, maybe, the newest true wireless earbuds on the market. They released back in April to, of course, a lot of fanfare/marketing – that one ad got me all in my feelings and made me want to go train (I watched Suits and pretended I was Harvey instead).

The Powerbeats Pro are made by Apple so the quality is there, along with connectivity that is deadset amazing, and wildly easy (much like the Airpods). Open that big ass case (that doesn’t have wireless charging 🤦‍♂️) and you’re up for listening. A mate of mine got a pair earlier this week and I can say that the sound is pretty good, and they’re really quite comfortable.

You’ll get about 9 hours of listening time from a single charge, and the case holds 24hours of charge. So it should be pretty rare you run out of charge at any time. If you need more info, listen/watch Tech Guy MKBHD give them a solid review.

Out of all the true wireless earbuds here, these ones from Jabra are the ones I’ve been ummming and ahhhing about purchasing the longest. Because I run (power shuffle) now, I need something that won’t fall out and am tossing up between these and the Powerbeats Pro.

These ones come with an app, ability to measure heart rate and some other fitness stuff which is all pretty impressive if you power-shuffle like I do. If you look at the reviews on their site (2500+) most people are saying they are awesome at Sound quality, Design, Long battery life, Good fit.

These also look decent in your ear, which seems to be the biggest challenge design wis for more true wireless earbuds, with most looking earrings (Apple), some weird hook (Beats) or a HUGE BUTTON (Skullcandy) Battery ain’t amazing either, delivering 4.5 hours of play time and 13.5 of charge in the case. It’s not bad, but compared to Beats it’s not hitting the same levels

You never forget your first, and the Apple Airpods were my first pair of true wireless earbuds. It was a glorious relationship, I looked like I had magnificent white earrings and I could shuffle without catching wires and most of all was the important ‘real estate’ ear tap to stop/start. It was all fantastic until the whole setup fell out of my pocket and I lost them forever (hence the buyers guide as I’m researching what to get next)

Like the Powerbeats Pro these have amazing connectivity to your phone thanks to Apple owning it all. They’re comfortable and stay in my ears all the time – but have heard of others who they didn’t fit, and there’s plenty of dropped stories out there. Wireless charging is an option (an extra $70). You’ll get 24hours of charge from the case, and get 5 hours of play time, these are good battery stats.

Siri is available, but Siri is about as useful as asking your toddler to cook dinner. Things seem cute before you realise everything is one fire.

If you’re a fan of listening to Connor Coffin play guitar, then these are probably for you. I included Skullcandy becuase these are new for them (so maybe they’re turning it around?) and they’re still in surf and this is a surf site. Maybe you’re a fan of the brand and you can buy into the brand experience by playing guitar and using these PUSH buds.

Specs wise they’re water resistant, have an assistant function and you’ll get 12 hours of battery from the set up – 6 in the buds and 6 in the case. So battery ain’t amazing here. Colour options are plenty with most options looking like those pearl spray Commodore wagons you see bogans rocking out the front of sports bars, drinking Stella Artois, blasting Nickelback on full volume.

They are relatively cheap right now though and they’re giving a look-a-like Casio watch away with each purchase. Not bad.

Bose is the OG of headphones for as long as you can remember and if you only buy one pair of headphones in your life, get the Noise Cancelling 35’s or 700’s – amazing. These ones, the Soundsport, are their true wireless earbud option.

Given it’s Bose, you’re pretty much assured the sound quality will be amazing as will the build quality. Sweat resistant to help with any advanced power walking efforts and the Bose app where you can tweak the sound levels to your liking.

The battery is average, running at 5 hours with a 10 hour case charge. And the colors are kind of hideous, that’d be the only downers with them as everything else comes up Milhouse – Quality both in build and audio, Price! and just reputation.

Maybe the best buy in this list – plus they have a 30 day trial to use, so maybe you can switch from the B&O’s to these and get 60 days of testing before deciding to get the Beats hahaha