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How to pick
Standard in ear buds seal the ear canal, which blocks noise and improves the sound, and which some people find genuinely uncomfortable. If that is you, or if you wear glasses, or if you walk near traffic and want to hear what is coming, look at open ear or bone conduction designs instead. They sit outside the ear canal, sound worse, and are considerably safer and more comfortable. Whichever you get, check the battery life per charge rather than the headline number, which usually includes the case.
What I recommend
Standard earbuds
In ear buds seal the ear canal, which blocks noise and improves the sound, and which some people find genuinely uncomfortable.
Wireless earbuds
Small, pocketable, and the right answer if you move around while wearing them. Check the battery life per charge rather than the headline number, which usually includes the case.
- Pocketable in a way headphones are not
- Fine for calls and podcasts
- Case gives several extra charges
- Battery per charge is often only 5 or 6 hours
- Easy to lose one
- Sealing the ear is uncomfortable for some
- Batteries degrade and cannot be replaced
- Standard
- In ear, best sound isolation
- Alternative
- Open ear or bone conduction
- Open ear helps
- Glasses wearers, and walking near roads
- Check
- Battery life per charge
If sealed earbuds do not suit you
If you wear glasses, find things in your ears uncomfortable, or walk near traffic and want to hear what is coming, these sit outside the ear canal instead.
Open ear or bone conduction headphones
They sit outside the ear canal, sound worse than sealed buds, and are considerably safer and more comfortable. Shokz are the name most associated with bone conduction.
- You can hear traffic and conversation
- Far more comfortable for long wear
- No pressure in the ear canal
- Better for glasses wearers
- Sound quality is noticeably worse than sealed
- Leaks sound, so others can hear it
- Poor in noisy environments
- Bass is thin by nature of the design
Related reading
One bud not connecting?
A very common fault and usually a two minute fix rather than a replacement.