[Partack]

Edit:

SUCCESS!
After weeks of searching and three failed purchases later, I've bought a pair of Sony LinkBuds (thanks to Earmonger for suggesting them)
and they're EXACTLY what I wanted.
(they were also reduced from £150 to £89 on "very", which is really nice.)

So, the fact that they're touch earbuds threw me off their scent because touch controls usually suck on earbuds most of the time. For example on the touch earbuds I've tried, when you take them out or readjust them you end up accidentally skipping your music or summoning Siri/Google assistant. And/or when you take one out of your ear, they turn your music off, or sometimes can misfire and stop your music when they're still in your ears but you only just jiggled a bit.

but you can turn all that off in the Sony Connect app

Now they operate like wired headphones with no touchy stuff at all. Perfect.

So the next problem was silicone/foam ear tips/ear plug style earbuds. I hate them, I've written about that extensively below, I won't repeat it here.
These things are rounded hard plastic. No scratchy bits, all smooth edges.

They fit perfectly in my ear immediately out of the box. I didn't need to change the silicone holder ring things. I was concerned before I bought them about whether they would stay in my ear or fall out or anything, there have been a few reviews of people having.. "special ears" and the earbuds would not stay in their ears despite trying all of the ring sizes, but they seem to stay in my ear just fine. I had planned to try modifying the design of the silicone ring things if it was a problem for me, perhaps with attaching some foam or something on top of the detachable silicone to force them to stay in my ear, but thankfully, none of that was necessary.

While wearing them I can hear everything around me while my music volume is low and I do not get any sense of the autophony effect. It's possibly even better than wearing the airpod style headphones. I feel so liberated.

The earbuds are smaller than I thought they would be, too. They don't protrude further than my ear.
as you can see, they're about an inch long and about half an inch thick and half an inch wide. the charge box is small too. smaller than a ring box.
I tried laying down with them in and they're pretty comfortable.
The earbud fell out after lifting my head from the pillow, but it didn't hurt or chafe while I was laying on my side.

The connectivity is great, they work in the next room over while my phone sits on my desk. There's no loss of connection at all while my phone is in my pocket.

If I had to give one criticism, I'd say they're not exactly the best sounding headphones in the world, They sound fine to me (really good in fact. no buzzing or hissing or crackling) but I know a LOT of audiophiles would take issue with them for one reason or another. But as I said in my original post, beggars can't be choosers given my specific criteria. Maybe this style of headphone will catch on in the future and the sound quality could be improved upon, particularly the bass. But they serve my needs and I'm not annoyed by their performance at all. Your mileage may vary.

Yeah. They're great. I love them. I consider this issue resolved for me.
Thanks everyone for your responses

---

My original post/question follows:
Hello,

Please forgive me if this has been discussed before, but i have been looking for about a week now for some wireless earbuds that fit a particular set of criteria and I've not really found anything that doesn't have one problem or another. And so i find my self here, in your humble corner of the internet, dear audio wizards, seeking your guidance.

My conditions are as follows:

• They must be wireless (bluetooth or otherwise)
• they must not have touch controls on them (or at least have a way to disable the touch controls)
• they must not have the little rubber/silicone tip that most wireless earbuds have
  for example:
  
  
  
  
  
• Most importantly, They must be of good enough quality not to constantly disconnect from my phone or computer while wearing them under normal use (sitting at the computer with my phone on the desk in front of me) (walking around with my phone in my pocket)
  
  i would also prefer if they didn't have over-ear hooks because i wear glasses, but i'm willing to compromise on this aspect depending on the design of them.

I'm not concerned with how expensive they are and, considering my lack of options, I'm not fussed on how good they sound either.​

​

I found this website that has a searchable database for different types of earbuds, but it only lists 3 that fit my criteria, two of which are over-ear hooks, and the third, a set of stem earbuds (stems are fine) called "jbl tune 220 tws"

but these ones have a pretty bad review for how much they cost (And the review mentions they disconnect a lot which is the most important criteria i'm trying to fill.)

Out of pure desperation, (please don't laugh) i bought some cheap earbuds off of Temu for £12 called "MD528". (also pictured above in black)

and although they fit most of the criteria (the teardrop design is actually surprisingly comfortable to wear), they just don't hold a connection even when I'm sitting right in front of my phone that they're paired to. They'll just cut out randomly for no reason at all, sometimes when i move my head, but sometimes even when i'm sitting perfectly still.. I suppose you get what you pay for, but if they only had a better signal, they'd be perfect for me. (yeah the audio quality isn't great, but beggars can't be choosers..)

I asked somewhere else on the internet and someone suggested to me

Jabra elite 7 and Lypertek pureplay z3 and although both of these fill most of the criteria, they both have the rubber/silicone attachments

edit to the post:
I got impatient and bought a pair of Sony WF-C700N.
they have the silicone earplug tips and i hate them.

i thought to my self, maybe I'm just remembering wrong and they're not that bad,

But no. walking in them is awful. I can hear every movement, every internal sound I make. humming or singing to my self sounds awful and even moving my head makes a noise. Sound cancellation blocks out the things around me but it doesn't cancel my own internal noises. it's called the "autophony effect" or "autophonic hearing." and I hate it.

I did learn something from these headphones though, there is a Sony app that comes with these headphones that allows you to re-map or even completely disable the buttons on them.

So i wonder if there are touch control headphones that allow you to turn off the touch controls completely?
in which case that would be perfectly fine for me.

Does anybody know if the apple airpods allow you to do that?. i kinda don't like how they stop playing when you take the airpod out of your ear though.

I tried bone conductive headphones for the first time today and at least those things don't plug your ears. i kinda don't like the bass vibration on the side of my head because it tickles, but I might be willing to live with that. i might be able to get used to it, it's at the very least way better than the autophony effect.

so my search continues for a better bud.

Thank you in advance for any and all help or guidance anyone can provide me, I really appreciate you taking the time to read my post at the very least.

 

[earmonger]

Are you allergic to the silicone or something? Those tips are there to make a seal with your ear -- to get all the music out of that tiny driver and directly into your ear instead of leaking out. Without a good seal, the sound can get very tinny. And personally I find the silicone tips more comfortable than the hard plastic of Airpods-style earbuds.

Touch controls are a different story -- definitely annoying. But either Jabra or Sony should give you decent sound if you can get past the eartips question.

There is also an extensive thread on earbuds -- no tips -- in the IEM forum, and you could always get a pocket Bluetooth receiver (from FiiO or Mpro or whatever) and plug some earbuds into them.

 

[Partack]

[snipped the quote to shorten the length of the post]

Thanks for your response,

If I may attempt to justify my preferences for a moment, I find the silicone "seal" disorienting because it cancels the surrounding audio around me. Talking with them on feels unnatural, There are headphones that have pass-thru modes, but it feels artificial, especially since I can hear my self speaking more prominently than I would if the headphones are just hanging like air-pod style headphones (without pass-thru). I also dislike the air pressure/vacuum it creates inside the ear, I find it uncomfortable. I can hear every single step I make while walking as a "thud" noise as the sound travels up my body, I can hear my blood pumping through my ears as if i were covering my ears with my hands, I can hear, internally, every breath I make and every time I swallow, y'know, spit, or pepsi, whatever, it's accentuated. And as the silicone tips seal, there's more contact with my ear, which in the past has left a burning sensation, and, at the worst of times, a sweat rash .

The hard style headphones have their own drawbacks, for example, since they're basically hanging there, they can cause friction after being in my ear during a 10 mile hike, and with some cheaper ones I've had problems with them falling out occasionally. but in this case, the pros outweigh the cons for me. i get none of the horrible internal noises with hard-style or "resting" headphones.

I sympathise that there are many people who value how the music actually sounds, or, prefer to internalise/shut out the world when listening to music, which is why they are usually made with those silicon tips, and sound quality is definitely valid, for example even i, a simple peasant, can tell the difference between a pair of cheap skullcandy things vs some expensive high fidelity headphones. but considering I'm looking for something very specific, i don't have the luxury of being picky in this regard.

Thank you for your direction though, I shall endeavour to track down that specific thread you mentioned in the IEM forum and i shall also begin researching pocket bluetooth receivers as a fall-back.

 

[Born2Cuddle]

Thanks for your response,

If I may attempt to justify my preferences for a moment, I find the silicone "seal" disorienting because it cancels the surrounding audio around me. Talking with them on feels unnatural, There are headphones that have pass-thru modes, but it feels artificial, especially since I can hear my self speaking more prominently than I would if the headphones are just hanging like air-pod style headphones (without pass-thru). I also dislike the air pressure/vacuum it creates inside the ear, I find it uncomfortable. I can hear every single step I make while walking as a "thud" noise as the sound travels up my body, I can hear my blood pumping through my ears as if i were covering my ears with my hands, I can hear, internally, every breath I make and every time I swallow, y'know, spit, or pepsi, whatever, it's accentuated. And as the silicone tips seal, there's more contact with my ear, which in the past has left a burning sensation, and, at the worst of times, a sweat rash .

The hard style headphones have their own drawbacks, for example, since they're basically hanging there, they can cause friction after being in my ear during a 10 mile hike, and with some cheaper ones I've had problems with them falling out occasionally. but in this case, the pros outweigh the cons for me. i get none of the horrible internal noises with hard-style or "resting" headphones.

I sympathise that there are many people who value how the music actually sounds, or, prefer to internalise/shut out the world when listening to music, which is why they are usually made with those silicon tips, and sound quality is definitely valid, for example even i, a simple peasant, can tell the difference between a pair of cheap skullcandy things vs some expensive high fidelity headphones. but considering I'm looking for something very specific, i don't have the luxury of being picky in this regard.

Thank you for your direction though, I shall endeavour to track down that specific thread you mentioned in the IEM forum and i shall also begin researching pocket bluetooth receivers as a fall-back.

I can't stand the silicone earbuds for the reasons you mentioned.

But most of the buds you mentioned have will take foam tips like these (just check what size you need to buy).

https://www.amazon.com/SONICFOAM-Me...8224005&sprefix=foam+tips,aps,125&sr=8-4&th=1

 

[earmonger]

These are expensive but open to outside sound -- ring-shaped.
https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/truly-wireless-earbuds/p/wfl900-w

Foam will help relieve pressure but is still there to provide a seal, so may still be too isolating for you. But you can find foam tips for anything that takes silicone.

 

[UserCA]

It's a bit challenging to find earbuds that meet all your criteria, I can offer a few suggestions that come close to your desired features: Bose SoundSport Free, Beats Powerbeats Pro, JBL Free X, or even Samsung Galaxy Buds+. Thoughts on those?

 

[Partack]

A little update on where i'm at so far (i've updated the first post with some of this stuff, I'm just going to reiterate it here in this update):

So I got impatient and bought a pair of Sony C700N. i thought to my self, "maybe I'm just misremembering how bad earplug style headphones are" and no. i absolutely HATE them. i can hear every single movement my body makes, even moving my head makes noises internally. walking in them is an unpleasant experience and the noise cancelling feature just makes it all worse. Foam tips would just make this even worse.

I found out that there's a name for this phenomenon. it's called the "autophony effect". or "autophonic hearing."

Autophony refers to the perception of hearing one's own internal sounds, such as breathing, chewing, or the sound of one's voice, more loudly or distinctly than usual. This can occur when there is an alteration in the normal functioning of the middle ear, such as when the ears are plugged or blocked. Autophony can be associated with conditions like Eustachian tube dysfunction, where the Eustachian tube fails to equalize pressure properly between the middle ear and the throat.

I have no idea why people like this style of headphones, but i'm glad to know i'm not the only one who hates this phenomenon. (thanks Born2Cuddle)

I have a pair of cheap wired earbuds shaped like apple airpods and i can hear everything around me, i can sing a song i'm listening to without hearing my own voice internally, I can have a conversation with them on.. i can walk around without hearing every single footstep as a loud internal "thud"
but the ones i have are wired. I want this experience, but wireless and without touch controls.

i did learn something from the sony earbuds though, they come with a phone app that lets you re-map or even disable the buttons on them completely.

If i could find a set of wireless earbuds with touch controls that allow you to turn off the touch controls from their app, that would probably be perfectly fine for me.

I looked into Bluetooth receivers and, honestly... that kind of defeats the purpose of wanting wireless headphones. The cables would still go to my pocket as if they were connected to my phone. There's no difference. a Bluetooth receiver doesn't really work for my particular use-case.

Also, alas, i couldn't find that thread that earmonger mentioned =/ I did several searches and... there are a lot of threads on this forum..

I checked out those ring-shaped headphones that earmonger suggested,
the Sony LinkBuds

Those certainly seem promising, I mentioned before that price isn't a problem for me as long as the earbuds fit my criteria, so they're definitely on my radar,
but i did notice though that on their website there is this illustration:

Which does make me a little concerned for how well they stay in your ear, but i suppose i'll just have to look around for reviews. They're defintiely the closest i've gotten to what I'm looking for though, especially if they use the same sony app that lets you disable their controls.

I got the opportunity to try some bone-conducting headphones for the first time today. I don't remember their make/model because they were my friend's, but those were pretty great, the only caveat i had is that bassy stuff vibrates the side of your head and it kinda tickles.. I bet I could live with that way easier than having to live with the autophony effect though. (Also they hook around the outside of the ear where my glasses go, but I might be able to overlook that if i get ones that are thin enough..) I'm considering going this route if nothing more turns up for the earbuds route.

As for the earbuds suggested by UserCA, all of those headphones have silicone tips, so they're all out. Thanks for the suggestions though.

My search continues.. *Sigh*

 

[earmonger]

Not just Airpods but a lot of TWS buds shut off when you take them out of your ear. They're trying to conserve battery power. Apple has extensive online support -- there's probably a manual or page that can tell you about disabling touch controls.

The earbuds roundup thread is almost entirely about wired ones, and sometimes goes deep into the weeds, so not for you probably. But here it is:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/earbuds-round-up.441400/page-4707

You might also ask your Q on the very long-running TWS thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/goi...too-soon-or-are-we-there-yet.861024/page-3603

 

[Partack]

Hey Earmonger, thanks for sticking with me through this. Your suggestion for the Sony LinkBuds was right on target and they were exactly what I wanted even though they didn't seem like it at a first glance. I've updated my original post with my thoughts on them and I consider this case closed . Have a great day and take care.