The Fairbuds noise-canceling earbuds have an easily swappable battery

Fairphone, the makers of the ultra-repairable Fairphone 5, have launched a new pair of easy-to-repair wireless earbuds. Instead of tossing away your earbuds when the batteries eventually die, Fairphone’s new Fairbuds let you replace the batteries inside the buds themselves and their charging case.

In addition to replacing the batteries, you can repair or exchange the left or right earbud, the silicone ring, earbud tips, the charging case outer shell, and the charging case core. The new buds also come with a standard two-year warranty, but you can add one extra year if you register them online.

Certainly, these objectives should be embraced by all manufacturers. I will never forget my first (and only) Apple AirPods and their batteries failing just a month past the warranty period ended. They were super expensive, and I vowed to never again pay so much money for a disposable product.

The downside though with Fairphone products is they are not the cheapest around, so many are still going to buy cheap disposal earbuds. They are very likely not as good as the top end earbuds are either, but I’d be interested to see some reviews around the sound quality.

One would have to assume these could last at least two or three times longer than any earbuds which have non-replaceable batteries (batteries are usually the component that fails). But the cost of any batteries being replaced also needs to be factored in.

I’d hope though if there is enough support and sales, that these prices could actually get cheaper over time too.

See https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/9/24125089/fairbuds-fairphone-noise-canceling-earbuds-battery-replace-repairability
#Blog, #earbuds, #environment, #technology

How to clean and care for your wireless earbuds

It’s true that better maintained devices (or anything) last longer and perform better. The same goes for these devices that you plug into your head.

This article covers a broad range to do’s and don’ts to observe when cleaning ear buds. But it is worth also checking for own device specifically, as mine for the Anker Soundcore era buds actually says to use running alcohol. Note though that nearly every guide does state you should apply rubbing alcohol to the cloth, and not spray or apply it directly to the device being cleaned.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/how-to-clean-and-care-for-your-wireless-earbuds/
#Blog, #cleaning, #earbuds, #technology

Bought some Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC Adaptive Noise Cancelling Earbuds

I did say a few months ago I would absolutely not buy another pair of earbuds like the Apple EarPods (mine only lasted a month past the warranty date) or the Samsung Earbuds, as they just seem so overpriced for something where you can’t replace the battery. That said, my cheaper BlitzWolf earbuds have lasted a few years now.

So, I did a few days searching and watching of various reviews and saw these Soundcore Liberty 4 NC’s scored quite well above their price bracket. They just work out to be very good bang for the buck, providing some quite similar high-end features compared to devices double their price. They’re certainly not better than the top end Sony or equivalent earbuds, but they are certainly good mid-range earbuds, and tick all my boxes:

• Proper adaptive active noise cancelling – I know they claim up to 98.5% but many reviewers highlighted specifically their excellent ANC which compare with the best.
• I like the long touch to switch between ANC and transparent modes (latter mode allows you to hear what is going on around you).
• Taking out an earbud auto pauses the playing, and it auto resumes when you put it back in. This is also useful to alert you in case one falls out accidentally. It will also play using just one earbud.
• 10 hour playing time on a single charge, and around 8 hours with ANC on. They claim about 10 mins charge will give 4 hours play time (I’ve not tested that yet). It uses Lithium Polymer batteries.
• The app can test for noise leakage due to a bad fit, and can compensate for that too. I’m certainly finding the fit very good because even just fitting them in my ear, cuts out most of the outside sound. I’ve worn them for up to a 6 hour stretch and hardly notice I’m wearing them – so much lighter than my over-the-ear headphones.
• Audio profiles include a hearing test to create a custom audio profile for you.
• Amazon shows 2,834 ratings with an average score of 4.3, with 64% being 5 star ratings.
• Bluetooth 5.3 multipoint (so I can connect to phone and computer) with LDAC.
• The ANC using 6 beamforming microphones seems to work pretty well for phone calls too – for one review comparison against the AirPods I could not discern much difference.
• The case supports wireless charging, and I tested that my Galaxy S23 Ultra is able to provide power to the case.
• Good bass boost. I think their Liberty 4’s have more treble as well as the heartrate measuring.
• On the price they were selling in South Africa (with free shipping) at slightly under the US selling price. I also don’t have to pay cash as my medical insurance awards me award miles for exercising (this gives me a further 10% discount if I pay using those miles). But despite this the SA price was about US$89 (I used around US$80 miles then).

Not so important on my list were the following:

• Only IPX4 water-resistance, so you can’t shower or swim with them, but normal exercise should be fine.
• Would have been nice to have a digital battery percentage read out on the case, but that would have pushed the price up a bit more.
• Interesting colours like Clear White, Navy Blue, Light Blue, Pastel Pink, and Velvet Black.
• It has backlighting in the case when the buds are stored – one or two reviewers raved about this… but it was not on my check list

All in all, I think they’re an excellent set of earbuds and the sound is noticeably clearer than my BlitzWolfs. I must say too, once you’ve used ANC it does make quite a difference as you can listen to softer music, or use lower volume, because you don’t need to overcome any outside sounds.

See their site https://us.soundcore.com/products/liberty-4-nc-a3947z11
#Blog, #earbuds, #review, #technology

statues...

#statues #listening #buddies #earbuds #smartphone

Testing the Buds on the Ferry

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/17/23309582/wireless-buds-stress-test-galaxy-pixel-airpods-linkbuds-vergecast-podcast

#technology #earbuds

Pine64’s PineBuds: Hackable high-end in-ear wireless headphones on the horizon

A pair of high-end in-ear wireless headphones called PineBuds are on the horizon. These include features most would expect in 2022, like ambient and environment noise cancellation, and a lengthy battery life. The earbuds will also be end-user flashable, opening up a world of possible uses.

“There will be a wide variety of things developers and (eventually) end-users will be able to do with the earbuds – flash custom sound signatures, determine touch controls, adjust resonance to fit the user’s ear canal resonance,” Pine64 say.

If I can change the batteries, that would be a major winner for me!

See https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/pine64-open-source-pinebuds-wireless-ear-buds

#technology #audio #earbuds #pine64 #pinebuds #opensource
#Blog, ##audio, ##earbuds, ##opensource, ##pine64, ##pinebuds, ##technology

The makers of the Fairphone are reportedly making sustainable wireless earbuds

According to WinFuture, Fairphone is working on a pair of affordable truly wireless earbuds. The earbuds will likely follow the brand’s philosophy of easy repairability, sustainability, and a lower environmental footprint.

This, of course, won’t be the first audio product from Fairphone; the company already sells modular wired earphones. Given how most truly wireless earphones on the market pose a repairability nightmare, it will be interesting to see whether Fairphone can make its truly wireless earphones more sustainable and repairable.

This could be interesting as I refuse to pay a fortune any longer for wireless earbuds which I must just dispose of a short time after the warranty expires.

See Fairphone reportedly working on easy-to-repair truly wireless earbuds

#technology #righttorepair #environment #earbuds #fairphone

According to a new leak, Fairphone is working on a pair of affordable truly wireless earbuds that will launch alongside the Fairphone 4 5G.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/makers-fairphone-are-reportedly-making-sustainable-wireless-earbuds

Wireless Earbuds Charge Themselves

#wirelesshacks #dcdc #deadbug #earbuds #headphones #solar #solarcell #stepupconverter #wireless #hackaday
posted by pod_feeder_v2

The Amazfit Powerbuds Pro delivers great ANC on a budget, but the health features leave a lot to be desired

Quite interesting review to read as we will be seeing more health functionality coming in earbuds, but the big question remains that no-one has earbuds in their ears 24/7 (that's probably not healthy), and yes pace and stride measurements are not really going to be good.

I'd expect to see more happening with temperature, heart rate, etc and could be very relevant for those who do not wear smartwatches. Right now, the big focus on health seems to be evolving in the smartwatch category, and is actually driving the sales f those devices. Maybe ear buds though will still carve their own niche in the near future.

See The World Isn't Ready for Health-Tracking Earbuds

#technology #health #earbuds

The Amazfit Powerbuds Pro delivers great ANC on a budget, but the health features leave a lot to be desired.

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/amazfit-powerbuds-pro-delivers-great-anc-budget-health-features-leave-lot-be-desired

Your Wireless Earbuds Are Trash (Eventually) And Will End Up In A Landfill

Bottom line is all rechargeable batteries die at some point in the nearish furure, and most true wireless earbuds do not have replaceable batteries, and much for the same reason, they can't be recycled. So hundreds of millions of these earbuds will just end up in landfills.

Attempts like the Acouva One, which have replaceable rechargeable batteries, and bulky and that seems to a difficult sell.
In my case, after my first expensive Apple AirPods died after just two years, I decided to rather buy cheap earbuds as there is no way I'm spending that much on something that I just throw away every two years.

Will really need standardised small replaceable rechargeable batteries around which earbuds can be designed.

See Your Wireless Earbuds Are Trash (Eventually)

#technology #environment #audio #earbuds

Wireless earbuds are great, but their small batteries have a limited lifespan. Are you willing to sacrifice longevity for convenience?

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https://gadgeteer.co.za/your-wireless-earbuds-are-trash-eventually-and-will-end-landfill