After a new pair of headphones for running and gym things … and I’m tempted by either Airpod Pros or Dre’s Powerbeat Pros. But they are ludicrously expensive. If I bite the bullet will I end up full of regret? Any real-world experiences?

For less money you could get a set of master & dynamic mw07Go. Or the new KEF mu3. Both of which are miles better.

In the typical method of answering without answering the questions you raised, I recently bought a set of Anker Soundcore headphones and they are really good sound quality – I bought after market memory foam tips as I wear them all day for video calls / music. Very impressed for <£40

If you are in the apple ecosystem with iPhone and/or Mac etc then its an obvious choice, excellent sound quality and integration with all devices.

Yeah the Apple integration stuff is really cool and that convenience is definitely worth a few quid (you pick the number) if you have more than one Apple device. That said, you get that stuff with the £50 Beats Flex (or the older BeatsX – I picked up a second pair for £30 recently).

I have a problem with £200 tech that’s essentially disposable, though. It wasn’t that long ago that when you bought nice headphones you expected them to last a lifetime. Will you new Airpods Pro be working in 5 years’ time? Maybe.

The cheapest AirPods are excellent. They fit my ears perfectly and do all I could ask. I had some very expensive wired Klipsch, but can’t insert anything into my ears any more. Son2 has the more expensive AirPods with noise cancelling. I don’t think they are as comfortable nor with the extra. The small case is also a nice fit in the pocket.

If I lost one or it broke, I’d replace with the same. And also bought a pair for my stepfather and he’s been delighted too.

Only downside, I’ve not made them work with my non-apple work laptop.

No I don’t think you’d regret the purchase but there are cheaper options available that will do the job just as well

Love the noise cancelation on the Airpod Pro’s

Got Mrs Bigtub some AirPod Max for a present, whilst the price is clearly daft I got my back pay in one hit so thought I’d treat her (and an Exposure Zenith for me too), the build quality is outstanding and the sound quality is next level too. I’ve got some top end Sennheiser’s and they are better than those.

As other have said if you’re bought in to the Apple ecosystem then so long as you don’t mind the premium then it makes perfect sense.

Keen to hear opinions on op’s question: Running / exercise

20km into a run when you’re salty and dripping with sweat – do they slide and fall out?

I suffer from the running ‘thump’ with moulded in-ear (and obviously don’t with normal earphones eg normal apple headphones) – apparently because of the pressure release vents in the pro’s you don’t get that – but I’ve yet to find someone confirm whether this is actually the case

I want the airpod pro’s to be good (for me) for running – but I’m not spending £250 on them to find they thump. So waiting for an answer! While trying to stop myself impatiently buying the normal airpods knowing they’ll be fine

I’ve run for an hour on a treadmill and exercised in the gym with them and found them fine, the only wireless earbud I’ve found not to fall out my ears, the normal Airpods did. I don’t use headphones while out running across the fields.

The jabra 65 active are spot on

I spent nearly as much as AirPod Pros on various cheaper wireless headphones that all annoyed me in some way – random disconnects, overly sensitive touch controls, or just rubbish audio quality.

Got AirPod Pros and really like them. As others say if you go between phone, ipad, watch, macbook then it’s super slick. The noise cancelling is good but transparency mode is really nice for having a podcast on but being aware of what’s going on around too.

I tried a few cheap ones they were never great, treat myself to some AirPod Pros. Absolutely incredible and being apple work perfectly between your Apple devices.

If you really want to bump up the sound out of any smartphone get a Cyrus Sound Key.

Most comfortable and best sounding earphones I’ve ever used (although have never owned any in a similar price bracket). Not having to much about in bluetooth menus every time you want to change device is worth at least £200 of the price if you ask me.

I’ve got Air Pods and Air Pod Pros…. the pros have a habit of falling out, it’s massively annoying and a Google suggests I’m not the only one having an issue. I couldn’t consider using them for running or gyming, can just about get through a turbo session. Haven’t seen a decent work around yet

Try different ear tips, there’s a few alternative types available

Comply foam ear tips

Foam tips and ear hooks for AirPod pro

I’m Apple centric, but for running I like these.

https://aftershokz.co.uk/products/aeropex

somafunk
Full Member

Try different ear tips, there’s a few alternative types available

Yeah seen a couple of alternatives, will check your links. Luckily (well not really luckily, a family member had to die) I didn’t pay for mine. If I was having to mess around to make a £200 work I wouldn’t be happy about it

I’ve got Powerbeats Pro which sound okay, are completely fiddle free for running/biking and switch well between devices – I’ll probably never buy non-Apple wireless headphones again for this reason.

I bought my sun some Beats Flex for running. Sound pretty good too, and only £50 with the W1 chip for easy switching. He’s constantly fiddling with the fit while running though…

I’ve got Air Pods and Air Pod Pros…. the pros have a habit of falling out

I’ve got Air Pods and Air Pod Pros and the Prosd never fall out whereas the older ones needed to have aftermarket rubber covers to keep them in my ears.

IME there isn’t so much of an Apple Tax as a “good stuff costs more” tax.

Angela Raynor likes the AirPods very much.

If I was having to mess around to make a £200 work I wouldn’t be happy about it

I feel you fundamentally misunderstand how in ear buds work. Whether they fit your ears has nothing to do with their cost. You might get lucky with a £5 pair, or you might find a £500 does not happen to have tips that fit your particular anatomy. If are buying in ear the best thing to do is assume you’ll need to budget for some after market tips that fit you.

No doubt spending £30 on top of (not spending) £200 will send you apoplectic, but I have had good luck with Azla SednaEarfit XELASTEC tips off Amazon. They are made of some weird rubber/silicon stuff that seems to grip in your ear a lot better than anything else I have tried.

I feel you fundamentally misunderstand how in ear buds work. Whether they fit your ears has nothing to do with their cost. You might get lucky with a £5 pair, or you might find a £500 does not happen to have tips that fit your particular anatomy. If are buying in ear the best thing to do is assume you’ll need to budget for some after market tips that fit you.

Absolutely true – I’ve never been able to get earphones to fit properly, with a pair of Etymotic headphones that I bought after people on here recommended them, I ended up spending another £120 on custom eartips in order to get decent isolation and bass!
I can’t wear them anymore because one of the cables has developed a fault. ☹️
With all the other earphones I’ve bought I found triple-flange eartips that would fit, and which give a decent seal, but no standard tips will fit my ears properly.
Apple EarPods do fit, but being shiny plastic there’s no grip, but I’ve just got some of the silicone covers mentioned above, and they really do seem to help them stay in place; I wouldn’t have bothered, but the nature of my job has changed slightly, and I’m in a position to be able to have earphones in, providing I can hear my radio in case someone needs help locating or starting a car, and EarPods are perfect, just because they don’t block outside sounds, tried them with the covers today, and they didn’t move at all. For about £7 for 6 pairs, I’m not complaining, I’ve got four sets of ‘Pods, so job jobbed.

Apple Earpods pro have a poor fit, there’s lots of complaints that you can find online. However, spending £20 on some new tips, makes them fit perfectly. I have these : https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BXW66LQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, upon recommendation of many redditors, and they work perfectly. It does piss me off having to spend extra money on already expensive earphones, on the other hand, they work flawlessly and are excellently integrated with my iPhone.

scruff9252
Free Member
In the typical method of answering without answering the questions you raised, I recently bought a set of Anker Soundcore headphones and they are really good sound quality – I bought after market memory foam tips as I wear them all day for video calls / music. Very impressed for <£40

@scruff9252 I’ve recently got a pair of these – you may have actually recommended them on a different thread. Have you got a link for the tips?

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-the-apple-tax-worth-paying-on-headphones/#post-11781636

These are the tips I bought;

They’re pretty good. My wife can be teaching a zoom lesson opposite me and I can have music playing at normal levels and not hear her at all.

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