How does "dual point" compare to "multipoint" advertised in some newer (even some decent/cheap) ones?
I'm looking to "upgrade" but only because the batteries in my current pair are shot. It feels so bad to have things like this just go into a landfill when they're perfectly fine other than the battery.
edit: oh, these are also 5x as expensive as the $30 earbuds I bought 2 years ago that have a really decent sound profile. Oooof. Sustainable, at a 5x premium? :/
There are many other aspects of good headphones than just sound quality.
Like your cheap ones certainly don't have ANC which can be a dealbreaker. Other important things are responsive touch control, good set of microphones, app with equalizer, ear detection, wearing comfort...
For my main use case (podcasts), the sound quality is actually the least important aspect of headphones.
Well the pair I have have quite decent ANC. Frankly, earbuds are in the consumer device category where a loooot of people fall for brands and hype.
The only criticism that holds is that these have touchy touch controls, but for a cost savings of $120, and that being the only compromise for me, it's a no-brainer.
This blog is invaluable. I bought a number of the sub-$50 pairs a couple years back, and compared them against my favorite wired IEMs. They're not the same of course, but damn good for the money. https://www.scarbir.com/guide/best-sounding-wireless-earphon... I wear them 6+ hours a day, or did when the battery was in better health.
If you skim the reviews, you'll see that there are a number of them that have good frequency response, comfort, multi-point. ANC is more or less table stakes, from what I can tell. Etc. Things change fast, you really don't have to spend $100 to get decent earbuds. Hell, even the Galaxy Buds FE, which are very well reviewed can be had for $70USD.
Without mentioning the model I have to believe you, although at least where I live, you can't get ANC earbuds for $30 today, let alone 2 years ago.
> Things change fast, you really don't have to spend $100 to get decent earbuds.
It's a matter of what you value. I use my earbuds every day, and good ergonomics is something I'm willing to pay a bit more. I was recently researching headphones and there was always some ergonomic compromise. It might be a good value if price is an important concern for you, but it's just not worth to compromise in this aspect for me.
The "dual point" they advertise is identical to "multipoint" offered by other earbuds on the market. Pretty much all earbuds that advertise "multipoint" only support max 2 devices.
Do you know what the experience is like with multipoint for Apple phones and laptops? I played the “buy AirPod with apple care and request new ones at the end of warranty” game and apple sent me replacements where the case and pods batteries died within a month or so.
I’m not really looking to spend, overtime, 250 bucks every 3 years on AirPods and seeing Anker space a40s are $40 with this multipoint feature and 10ths of battery life I am tempted to run away from apple or any ear phones above $100 but when Bluetooth is bad, it can be really bad.
I think it works fine? Multipoint is mainly controlled on the earbud side, what audio sources you have usually doesn't matter.
The only issue I've come across though is many earbuds will only play one audio source at a time. Which is annoying but further hampered by some audio sources that will emit an imperceptible audio signal even when they aren't playing any sound, causing the earbuds to never switch away from that device.
I'm looking to "upgrade" but only because the batteries in my current pair are shot. It feels so bad to have things like this just go into a landfill when they're perfectly fine other than the battery.
edit: oh, these are also 5x as expensive as the $30 earbuds I bought 2 years ago that have a really decent sound profile. Oooof. Sustainable, at a 5x premium? :/