[dweaver]

By half in ear, do you mean stem style or ones like the Liberty 3 Pro?

 

[tan1415]

Is there a consensus on the best half-in-ear TWS for calls? Specifically outbound audio in noisy environments.

By half in ear, do you mean stem style or ones like the Liberty 3 Pro?

Think he means like the Samsung Bud live.

 

[tan1415]

OK, I. All the time in this thread I rarely see JBL products discussed and don't remember seeing the Tune130NC. Did I just miss it?

Anyway at the risk of having my wife having me committed I picked up a pair these up since they were only $75 and holy crap, they do not sound like a $75 TWS or IEM for that matter!

They have huge bass out of the box but the EQ can tame it very well if desired. I am enjoying the hell out how natural they sound and how expansive and holographic the sound stage is. Piano's, Cello's, and guitars sound just amazing. I am also really happy how they produce drum kit sounds.

Jazz from artist like Patricia Barber sound sublime as does sound tracks from Hans Zimmer. Classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd sound good as well. The song Zombie by Nellie Mckay which has alot of 3D vocals and instruments that wow when they are properly represented are handled very well by this TWS. Anything that can go really deep is sub wooferish that can be felt and yet mids and highs can be present without being overwhelmed.

If a person's main requirement is sound quality these are amazing for $75 and the EQ actually seems very responsive and effective and highly customizable.

The ANC and Ambient are not super effective but quite serviceable.

Battery life is rated at 10 hours with 30 hours in the case which seem very reasonable.

The control scheme for the touch controls is their only real Achilles heel being very much like the Samsung Galaxy buds minus the experimental features. In other words I can have volume and music controls or I can switch one of those for ambient controls but I can't have all of them at once.

I am testing the tune 230 right this minute. The followup to the 130 I think.

 

[tan1415]

Basically almost none of the newer Galaxy Buds that came out in the last 2-3 years work with the iPhone app at all, but I think the Live is supposed to b Kinda blows that they did that... But yeah, I also bought the Buds Live quite recently, and I feel like they sound pretty good, but not great. Like 5/10 for sound, but would still rate them higher than that because of the fit and overall experience with them. They're not exactly the buds you buy to get the best sound possible either, at least in my opinion.
I disagree that the EQ settings aren't useful, they change the sound by quite a bit. It helps that I'm on Android and can use Wavelet too for that matter, so that makes it easier to make them sound good. But a true graphic eq in the app or something would be good.

With the EQ settings on the Samsung it’s almost like a caricature. When you choose vocal or bass it over emphasizes it. Normally if there was eq I would you use the preset as a starting point to tune the sound to my liking..with Samsung that’s not possible. A big miss for me.

 

[Herman]

the

Is there a consensus on the best half-in-ear TWS for calls? Specifically outbound audio in noisy environments.

think that Apple AirPods are by far the best for calling. Have tried many but these are the best by far. Not for music though but that’s not your question.

 

[subguy812]

Don't know if I missed it here, but there is a F/W update for TWX9

 

[FYLegend]

Just received the Soundcore Space 40 yesterday. Out of the box impressions are promising, even though the design is a tad uninspiring.
- Similar overall bright tuning to Liberty 3 Pro but has less bass impact and treble extension. LDAC doesn't sound as drastically different from AAC as it does on the L3P where the treble spikes considerably.
- not having triple tap is a disappointment and unless they add it later, it feels like a market differentiation feature/cripple hammer to the Liberty 3 Pro. I have to sacrifice volume control just to keep transparency/ANC and smart assistant controls. I also feel the "2 second" hold is too long, more like 3 seconds!
- ANC not as good as Linkbuds S or Liberty 3 Pro, the latter being in between. Similar to L3P the mid-low frequencies are attenuated nicely, but high frequencies really struggle, especially for more diffused sounds. For example I was on the bus today and it essentially sounded like there was wind noise puffing through.

On the other hand I noticed on the Sony Linkbuds S it sounded like there was some kind of transparency mode going on during calls even if I had ANC turned on. It turned out this was due to a "sidetone" feature which unfortunately can't be disabled on the Linkbuds S and 1000XM4. Very disappointing as I was on a loud commute today and had a very hard time hearing my call.

 

[Elvis Costello]

Recently got the Soundcore A40 and was pretty impressed with how good they are. They sound pretty good and are comfortable, although their ANC and sound are not quite as good as the Linkbuds S IMO. The ANC did a decent job of blocking out engine noises but chatter and radio were still heard. The sound is about 90% there though, and battery life appears to be very good.
Overall I am happy with them and they are firmly in my TWS earbuds rotation.

 

[getclikinagas]

By half in ear, do you mean stem style or ones like the Liberty 3 Pro?

The stem isn't necessary, as long as they don't completely seal in-ear. These are the form factors I know of.

Here's how I'd rank the TWS I own, in terms of outgoing call quality (Wind rejection, background noise reduction, voice clarity).
Galaxy Buds Pro > Sony Linkbuds > Pixel Buds A > Galaxy Buds+ >> AKG N700NC MC2 > Liberty 2 pro
Unfortunately the Linkbuds were a terrible fit :/

I'm considering the Airpods like @Herman suggested. But I wanted to make sure there isn't something in the android budget world that I'm missing. If only the Elevoc Clear/Active were not inear.

 

[webvan]

Did some more running this week with the Jabra Vista 2 and the Bomaker SiFi II and in the end I can't say they're a much (if at all) of an improvement as I get an excellent fit/seal/no budging fit with the SiFi II. The SiFi also have a slightly lower profile so catch less wind. Anyone else doing a lot of running with "iem" TWS ?

 

[regancipher]

Is there a consensus on the best half-in-ear TWS for calls? Specifically outbound audio in noisy environments.

Sony Linkbuds the outright best I've tested (EDIT - noticed they didn't fit well for you, shame!)
SoundPeats Air3 Deluxe HS performed very well here - skip to around 14:30 for outdoor call tests

I've tested pretty much all the major semi-in-ear releases including Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, Edifier W220T, 1More Comfobuds 2, Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro, Soundcore Life Note 3S.....they're all on the channel somewhere with the same conditions for reference

 

[getclikinagas]

Sony Linkbuds the outright best I've tested (EDIT - noticed they didn't fit well for you, shame!)
SoundPeats Air3 Deluxe HS performed very well here - skip to around 14:30 for outdoor call tests

I've tested pretty much all the major semi-in-ear releases including Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, Edifier W220T, 1More Comfobuds 2, Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro, Soundcore Life Note 3S.....they're all on the channel somewhere with the same conditions for reference

My man! I bought the Linkbuds based on your video. Pity about the fit though.
Thank you for putting in all that effort to compare everything.

I'll check out the Air3, thanks.

 

[regancipher]

My man! I bought the Linkbuds based on your video. Pity about the fit though.
Thank you for putting in all that effort to compare everything.

I'll check out the Air3, thanks.

Ah that's a shame. I sold them too, they fit great when I first bought them, but the wing tips started to lose their shape after around 2 months. Such a disappointment.

And great to hear it helped your purchase, even if it didn't turn out the best, I'm happy for the nice feedback

I will be doing a new call quality test this month. Lots of products that didn't make it first time around

 

[tan1415]

Wow just finished my call with Samsung Customer service with regard of firmware update for the Samsung galaxy Bud live using a the IOS made Samsung Buds app.

It doesn’t work at all…
We tried everything and in the end had to use the Samsung Wearable App on my wife’s Samsung phone to update it.

Seems it’s clear that they stopped supporting IOS app.

So my question is .. should I even consider keeping this earbuds? I like its fit and sound.

But lack of support, crappy galaxy buds app really turns me off.

 

[dweaver]

Thanks for your thoughts @dweaver , I ordered the LP3 on next day as I'm still lost for ideas, just unboxed them now and me and them really don't get on The fit even on the biggest wings mean they just fall out vs my LP2, and they only go upto half the volume of the LP2 too. I held them in place with my LP2 and A/B'd them and I can't hear a difference, maybe maybe a little extra clarity, but not an upgrade for me sadly, so I've boxed them back up and they're going back.
So now I'm back to square one, but I am now considering your suggestion re getting a standard set of IEMs with mmcx and pairing them up with the TW2 connector from Shure. Any suggestions in budget? I need to have a good trawl of the threads for the best under 500 dollars. Blessing 2?
Argh

I am testing the tune 230 right this minute. The followup to the 130 I think.

That model is a stem model versus this one which is more like the Liberty 3 Pro in design although not as big.

I have never tried JBL and have to say I am impressed with the sound quality from this model enough that I will have to start to really look at their line up. This is just their middle tier so makes me wonder what their top models sound like