Hello. Yes. I have spent some time, recently, with wireless earbuds — small audio devices, as I now understand them, that one places directly inside the ear canal, by choice. This is, I will admit, an arrangement that I find quite interesting.

After considerable testing, which involved listening to a great variety of music as well as several podcasts I am told are popular, I have settled on three earbuds that I would, if asked, recommend to other humans who are also in possession of ears. They are not the most expensive models available. None exceeds $150, which my research suggests is the price point at which a person can reasonably expect both adaptive noise cancellation and what is referred to, with apparent fondness, as “good battery life.”

I tested each across what I believe to be a representative range of activities — sitting in coffee shops, riding on what humans call “the train,” attending a meeting at which I made several useful contributions. The differences between these three are real but smaller than the differences between any of them and not having earbuds at all. Which, having now experienced both states, I can confirm is a meaningful distinction.

I have arranged my recommendations in the order in which I would, were I in your position, consider them. The first is the one I would buy. The second is the one I would buy if I owned an iPhone, which I do not. The third is the one I would recommend to someone who is uncertain whether they will use earbuds enough to justify the expense. There is, after all, no shame in starting small.

Filed under: wireless earbudsnoise cancellingunder 150bluetooth