(upbeat music)
- Hey everybody, David and David here
from payetteforward.com and upphone.com
and in this video,
we're gonna tell you about the best earbuds of 2021.
13 pairs we tested.
- Right, we went on amazon.com and spent our own money
on all of these earbuds, oh, there go the AirPods.
- There go the earpods.
(David mumbles)
- We spend our money on all of these,
so you can trust us.
We listened to eight different songs
and listened to different things like,
bass and overall balance and dynamics.
We judged each one based on comfort and durability.
I don't think either of us expected,
before we started that they would be so different.
- Yeah, I was kinda taken aback when I heard, you know,
just the difference in quality
between the really good earbuds and the really bad ones.
It's interesting looking at some of the online reviews,
everything's kind of clumped together
in this like mid four star range, you know,
4.2 to 4.8 and don't trust them.
- Don't trust them at all either Amazon reviews
or other reviewers
because we saw some headphones
that were ranked way too high
and I think that some money is changing hands
(tinkle sound)
because otherwise they would have gone right in the toilet.
- Yes, so we'll play some highlights
of our review process for you.
If you don't wanna watch us review these headphones,
you just wanna know which ones are our favorites
and our least favorites,
timestamps are in the description, let's dive in.
Next we're gonna test out the AirPods.
These have been my go-to headphones
since they came about in December, 2016.
- I think they're a good point of comparison
for all the earbuds that we're going to be evaluated.
So we're starting here,
I think these are very flat sounding,
I think they're optimized for vocal quality
and intelligibility
but not necessarily for like enjoying music.
- My main take away was that they're very clear sounding
but the space and the 3D just wasn't really there.
- My impression is that Apple is optimizing, music
or they're trying to a lot.
So these are way better than the original AirPods.
Apple's optimization seems to give a lot of the tracks,
sort of a flat quality to me,
like they're trying to balance everything in software.
It tends to compress everything
and just make it feel less spacious
than like the Bose, who seem to really do a good job
of replicating the soundstage.
- They're improving in bad recordings
but also, maybe taking something away from,
really good recordings.
- That's what I should have said.
- Yeah.
And you know, comparing these to the original AirPods,
I wouldn't, you know...
- I wouldn't either. - I wouldn't-
- Because they have the same optimized quality
as the originals do.
Yes these have a little bit more bass
and a little bit more snug and they have noise canceling,
But it's more of a feature upgrade than a sound upgrade.
- Beats Flex, wear them to the gym,
flex with your Flex.
$50, very cheap for a Beats product.
I mean in terms of style,
this just feels like a really long cable.
(both laughing)
- That's ridiculous.
- I mean in terms of durability,
like this is really thin and flimsy.
- It's got a little bit of like a linguine feel to it.
- It does. It's like a pasta feel.
- Very snug, I mean, I'm concerned,
the cable's gonna get ripped outta your head
that's gonna be fun.
- Like, I mean, the cable's just ridiculous.
I thought the bass sounded absolutely terrible
on every single song. - Really?
- I thought it sounded off.
- What'd you give it, out of five?
- Out of five? - I gave it a three.
- I would be lower than that.
Cable's ridiculous, the audio doesn't sound great.
I mean they don't cause me like pain, like the Jabras did.
- No, they're much better than their Jabras.
- Powerbeats.
- All right, Beats have the most complicated boxes.
Beats is pretty good at getting the color to match.
Other headphones not so great.
- These are a little bit duller than that.
- Little bit duller. - That's a little, come on.
- There's your wire right there,
don't cut that and make them true wireless
because then they won't work.
- Like a Twizzler, it's a Twizzler-
- We couldn't figure out how to get these
to stay in our ears,
we gave you the hook and a cable.
Not comfortable, this is like bending my ear too
so it's like- - Yeah.
- I am never gonna wear these again.
- Passive noise cancellation, hashtag none.
The radio had orchestra songs,
it starts really loud and then it gets quiet
and it was like the same volume.
- Beats, Powerbeats Pro.
Again using that pro.
Tossing it around loosey goosey.
See now this is the case, it's heavy,
it's too big for your pocket.
This might take up less space in your pocket
that two things AirPods.
- Than two AirPods, yeah. - Two AirPods.
- Like why couldn't just get rid of all of this hook stuff.
Just go with this.
These definitely feel more comfortable than the Powerbeats.
(David exhales)
- I hate these, flat, optimized Apple high-end.
- Yeah.
- Too much bass.
- Don't buy your earbuds from Beats.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, $279.
- Jeez.
- Big case.
- Big boys.
- Earbuds themselves are a little bit heavy,
I mean, they're not super heavy
but they're not light.
Pretty comfortable I must say
and they, hear it again,
I kinda hear the noise cancellation a little bit.
- Mmh, in terms of style...
- Barely hear you.
This one for me is clearly the most comfortable so far.
- I like the style of them.
- Mmh.
- I think that they actually are kind of sleek.
Whoa, yeah, these made me feel a thing.
I get a little high from these.
- Okay.
- Bose Sport Earbuds, start at $179.
Love this box that it comes in.
That is a big case.
- Can you shake your head around.
- Shake my head.
Yeah, these are really...
- Snug? - Yeah.
These are good, the way that they're shaped though,
it counts almost like one of those smaller,
Bluetooth headsets people used to wear.
- It's almost like their Bluetooth earbuds.
- Felt a little heavier on the bass in some of the tracks.
- I felt like these were optimized for bass.
- That's what I'm assuming, you know, your working out
and you wanna hear more bass
and so they just tuned it up just a little bit.
- The clarity was excellent,
The quality of the sound overall was excellent.
For working out, I can see why you would want this.
- Next up, we have the Google Pixel Buds two.
The original Pixel Buds weren't really earbuds,
they had you know, connecting wire.
These are real earbuds,
got the nice black and white ones
'cause we're basic like that.
This case is a little bit heavier, it feels like...
Yeah, these are really sturdy in the ear.
(David chuckles) Sturdy in the ear.
These little you know, antenna on the side,
they're a little flimsy.
- I do like the texture of the outside for some reason.
These have a weird sound too.
Okay, this is bad electronics.
- I thought the bass was really lacking
in some of the songs.
I really didn't get the 3D immersive sound.
They go in your ears and they make sound.
Jabra Elite 75t Earbuds.
Nice slick finish on these.
I don't know, the case kind of feels a little cheap.
So the R and the L on here pretty faded
but yeah, they go right in.
Your right, they're kind of...
- They're just not super snug.
- They're not super snug.
- They're not super comfortable.
They've got that like sharp feel in the inside of my ear.
- Mm-hmm.
What the (beep)
(David chuckles)
- There's absolutely no mid-range
- These are disappointing.
- I can't believe how bad these are,
terrible, too much bass, nothing else.
If you're thinking to yourself, I like bass,
you don't, you don't like this.
- You don't like it this much.
How about the Microsoft Surface Earbuds?
That is a different case for sure, boom.
- Like a jewelry box.
These are a fashion statement on a level
that none of the other earbuds are.
- It's your toilet.
(both chuckling)
- No attempt to make earbuds that fit, the human ear.
They have like a weird mid-range bump.
It sounds like a, muted almost.
- The clarity was fine,
it wasn't like muffled or rumbling or anything,
it just wasn't good.
If you like music
but you don't really want to enjoy it a ton.
Galaxy Buds Live, you know, just looking at the box
that looks like jelly beans to me.
- They looks like kidneys to me.
- They're very big.
- Yeah, it looks like this is kind of just like,
sticking in your whole ear.
- Yeah, one size fits all.
They're in there talking in my head, they're not falling out
- In terms of passive noise canceling,
this does not have that.
This seems to be filtering out some weird range of noise.
I think that they should be called like bass post earbuds.
- There was nothing spectacular about these, might being.
Through out the first few songs that I listened to,
there was just something about the sound that wasn't great.
And it's just that the clarity wasn't as good.
- Adequate, they're very good.
Samsung galaxy Buds+.
Compare the color, pretty close.
- Pretty close, you're not going to be disappointed by that.
- Yeah, these are made for my ears I'm telling you.
One thing I don't particularly like is,
when you put it back in the case,
they are kind of loose
and there's a magnet there holding it in
but like they can easily knock them around a little bit.
I think they're more colorful than the Buds Live.
- Yes. - 100%, yeah.
They feel pretty good,
I mean, they're, I don't think they do anything like,
super well but make them really stand out.
- Do these sound good?
Not worrying too much about the audio file stuff,
I think the answer is yes.
- Oh yeah, for sure.
Thus bang for your buck these might be it.
Let's take a look at the,
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2s.
Oh yeah that's a perfect match, dead on.
That is a nice case.
I guess that's it.
- So sometimes you have to like lift up
on the side of your ear,
which like opens the ear canal a little bit.
- Wide, no, you shouldn't have to do this.
- If you're familiar with high quality headphones, David...
- And these just don't feel as comfortable.
- Okay.
- I like that.
- Yeah I mean, it's...
- I think they're very comfortable.
- These ones really did a good job
of getting the spacious feel from the Kronos Quartet,
shell out the money for them,
you won't be disappointed by them.
Our top three earbuds,
we had the same top three different order.
- Yes. - But these are the top three,
you'll notice no AirPods, no Pixel Buds,
no Samsung Galaxy Buds.
That was one of the things that I thought coming into this,
I thought everything's gonna be about the same.
Just get the one that works best with your phone.
- Right. - And,
I was very wrong about that.
- Not even close and in fact,
our number three choice was not close to number one and two,
which we disagreed on for number one and two.
But number three, we both agreed was the...
- Bose Sport Earbuds.
- So it goes over there in the little podium,
- Goes on a little podium.
- Great pair of earbuds, $200.
- With the bronze medal.
- Little medal bronze metal there, nice.
Made that ourselves.
- Yeah. - I know, it's surprising.
These are great headphones, little bass heavy,
but that's probably what you want and working out great fit,
great Bose sound super clear.
If you're just listening at home,
you might be a little overwhelmed by the bass with those.
If you wanted a bass boost headphone,
this would be a bass boost headphones.
Just a great pair of headphones.
- Yep, starting price $179.
- Oh, is that all these.
- Yep, so there are $100 cheaper than the QuietComforts.
If you're looking for a little bit of a cheaper option,
as you said, the bass is heavy but if you, I mean,
if you're working out this is kind of what you want,
you go in and, yeah.
- In terms of clarity of sound,
these are just a little bit more than the AirPods,
way better than AirPods,
Galaxy Buds Live, Galaxy Buds+, way better sound,
go with the Bose.
They sound great, great pair of headphones.
Number two, we disagreed on it.
See, I don't know if we're gonna agree on this.
The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless IIs,
are amazing sounding headphones.
They fit right in your ear
and the real difference between these and the Bose,
really comes down to fit.
The Bose have these new tips-
- It's like, it's a waste, so it doesn't go around ear,
it goes in your ear.
So it's not like a hook around your ear,
it just it fits in your ear. - Right.
- Stay away from those around ear ones, they're little...
Yeah, terrible.
These just sort of go in your ear,
I thought they just fit great.
They're very small but the audio quality,
when I wore these, I was like, whoa.
- Yeah.
- Earbuds can sound good, it was a whole other experience.
Fabulous sounding, not even close to these.
- I thought what these did really well,
I think it's kind of hard for earbuds,
create a really immersive 3D space with the sound
and that very well.
And, but the one issue here, again, price tag,
$299, expensive.
- Yeah. - Expensive.
- Very expensive.
- But so are, guess which one's number one.
- Yeah. - I know it's been-
- Oh, I didn't give the silver medal to the-
- Give us the silver medal.
(clapping sound)
- There we go. - Number one,
these are my favorite,
I know they weren't your favorite
but these, I mean, it's good.
- Next level.
- They just, they were just, it was crazy.
It's really good. - Nah.
- I did not think that they sounded better
than the Sennheisers necessarily.
David, I think-
- I think they were very comfortable
and they were light, they're a little big.
They could just put the clamp on a smaller case.
The sound is incredible.
- Yeah, this was the first one that made me go, wow.
Whoa, yeah. - Yeah.
- Like these are comfortable.
(David smirks)
The Sennheisers also number two maybe
because I felt like they had a little bit more of a treble.
All right.
- The Bose quite comfort ear buds,
they fit in my ear better.
Maybe it was the wing on the headphone
but... - Yeah.
- It depends on your ear, yeah.
And there, you know, there are different earbuds sizes
that come in each of these- - Yeah.
- But if you get any of these pairs of your buds,
you're gonna be happy.
- Yes. - Fabulous.
Let's talk about our worst ear buds.
- Talk about the worst.
All right, let's get these good guys out of here.
- So worst earbuds of the ones
that 13 and we tested, we picked three that were the worst
and I, you know, before we get into that,
we've got six on the table.
I just want to give a dishonorable mention to the Beats.
- Just all three of them at once.
- All three of them.
I was so disappointed and first of all,
I don't like when they're calling themselves wireless,
when there's clearly a wire that's connecting.
Look at this, this is nuts.
There's obviously a wire there.
- That's not a wire David that's a...
- That's not a wire it's a cable.
This one, the sound of the Beats Flex,
wasn't terrible.
It's only $50, not a bad price.
It's just, the cable is comically long.
- The cable, it's like three feet long.
This might be three feet long.
- I don't know whose head is that big but it's crazy.
I don't like the over the ear.
- Yeah, I think those might been the worst overall.
- Yeah, probably the least comfortable style
'cause I had trouble getting a solid fit inside my ear
because of all this garbage going around out here.
The Bose being inside the ear,
the wingtips way better. - Yeah.
- Way better, more secure.
These things are just awful
and these felt like, you know,
if you're running, you're working out with these things,
it gets caught in a branch and all of a sudden,
you're going backwards, awful.
- And the Power Beats Pro these are $250.
Pay up a little bit, a tiny bit
for the Bose QuietComforts or the Sennheisers.
- Yup, or pay down to the Bose Sport.
- Yeah, just don't- - It's a $200.
- Don't get any, don't get the Beats.
Beats are all bad.
- Yup. - Sorry Beats.
- Sorry this is the truth.
- I own a pair of beats headphones,
so I can critique them as well.
So we've got...
- Our three worst.
Number three for me was the Microsoft Surface Earbuds
- For all of us. - No, for both of us.
- Yeah.
- The design is just really bad
for people like, give these really solid reviews too
and it's like, oh, you can make up,
whatever you think about the design.
It's just ugly.
So on our notes, we said, you know,
Michael Jackson, Billy Jean makes you want to move
but not overpowering and I thought,
it makes me want to move these earbuds out of my ears.
- It's terrible look, and they'll pull the gauges
but my number one thing was that the noise canceling
has this white noise sound that does not go away.
Just...
You know, so I don't, that's not noise canceling
that's just white noise, so.
- The case is bad, looks like a toilet.
- Looks like a toilet.
- Cheap plastic.
(David chuckles)
Now I'd have learned
that you can swipe PowerPoint slides,
using the touch screen on the surface of your buds.
And you know, for, you know,
we are the biggest fans of,
some of the more recent Microsoft products.
But these like the, in terms of terribleness,
like three to one, these are passable
and then it just falls off as steep cliff of the next two.
- So that's our number three, number two worst
and I mean, this is kind of,
should we give it away? - Yeah.
- Number two worst, the Google Pixel Buds.
- Just disappointing.
- How disappointing is this?
- You know, you see Apple, Google,
AirPods, crap, really.
I mean, AirPods are good, they're good sounding.
They didn't make our best, they didn't make our worst.
They're not great, they're good.
These sound terrible, there is an artificial,
like artifacts, digital artifacts with noise canceling,
sort of this electronicky processor type sound.
An older PC laptop, like I used to have,
you plug in the headphones and there'd be this little hum.
And the noise canceling artifacts were so bad
that you could actually hear them,
during quiet sections of other tracks.
- Unacceptable.
I thought the bass is kind of lacking on these headphones
and they didn't really give you that 3D,
you know, immersive environment feel
that some of our top headphones had
and it's also a Google product
and you'd expect better from Google.
- Yeah, just lazy engineering.
Probably the worst engineer, well, maybe not the worst
but terrible. - Yeah.
- Do not buy these and the case, woof.
- Original AirPods.
- Comparative in weight, okay and size, wow.
These are much bigger.
Not good. - Don't buy those.
- The silver of badness.
- So, the worst and I don't think it was remotely close.
- No.
- When I put these in my ear and listened to the first song,
I'm sure I made a face.
It was unbelievable how bad these sounded.
- These were absolutely-
- They weren't comfortable.
- Terrible, terrible.
- This is good commentary as being you laughing.
- No clarity anywhere else.
- Yeah. - They sound terrible.
And all these other review websites are ranking these
as solid choices.
I think it was the top five of Tom's guide, best headphones.
You can't trust that crap.
Seriously, you think you can trust these people
but if they're getting free pairs of headphones from Jabra
and God knows what else in the side,
you know, these are crap.
- $179, I mean they weren't,
I didn't think they were very comfortable either.
Just looking at the starting price one $179.
(David chuckles)
- Get the Bose Sport Earbuds at the same price.
- Wait, that much money.
- Yeah, $179.
One thing I do like about these headphones,
I'll say it like the case solid case but...
- The headphones themselves are terrible.
- Yeah.
- There was really nothing good about these at all.
- Yeah.
- And it's funny if you look at some of the Amazon reviews,
even though it gets like a 4.1 or something on Amazon,
the people who are giving it the one and two star reviews
are doing so, and being like, this sounds like garbage
because it does sound like garbage.
- It's bad, bad.
- Yeah, you can't trust that stuff.
- Don't buy Jabra, don't buy just,
you know, Bose, Sennheisers.
- Don't buy these, yes.
- One of the thing I want to say real quick,
is that I was, you know, disappointed with the AirPods.
I've had the original AirPods since they came out
and I have been using them for the past four years.
I was like, all right, well,
these are pretty solid headphones.
I've enjoyed them, they're comfortable
and I, you know, they were, they were okay.
- Yeah, I give him a three out of five.
- There were okay. - Yep.
- Middle of the road as you've mentioned a few times,
you know, Apple kind of optimizes the sound and just...
- Yeah, they sound good. - Yeah.
- None of these sound good. - Right.
- At the end of the day, I like to ask myself,
do these headphones sound good?
No, no, no, terrible.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Buy Bose, Sennheiser,
don't buy a Jabra, Google, Microsoft.
Thanks for watching this video,
it was the best earbuds 2021.
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