I basically listen to music constantly, and when I’m on holiday or riding my bike I generally use USB-C earbuds. I’ve had way too many wireless buds break and I’m sick of them, but these aren’t fairing much better tbh.
Problem is that the cables always eventually stop working, often from my phone being in my pocket while I’m walking or cycling. I’ve been able to partly extend their life by keeping my phone in the thigh pocket on my cargo pants but it often just falls over and bends the cable more sharply than my hip pocket.
I’m looking for either a pair of highly durable earbuds either USB-C or 3.5mm with a USB-C DAC recommendation, or even better a DSP cable that I could use with IEMs with a 0.78mm connector.
I’m also open to any other suggestions at all.
Use wired earbuds and a player with a 3.5mm jack. BIFL for that stuff is kind of difficult though. Just buy cheap and replace now and then.
I have been considering that, but I’m not keen on carrying a second brick around with me like I used to in the past.
A friend has just put me onto a USB DAC though, so I might look into that as an alternative. If I get it I can probably create a small pocket for it in my pants to keep all the cables safer.
SanDisk Sansa Clip is the size of a matchbook. Not fancy but not a brick. Get the model with the micro SD slot and you have unlimited storage. With Rockbox it might even support sdxc so you can use a 2tb card. Otherwise 32gb limit.
It still has an internal battery (I hate those) but people have managed to replace it.
I’ll take a look, but I’m probably going to need android because I often stream my own music from my personal server.
Oh I see. The Sansa Clip is an old school device where you transfer files by USB. There are certainly Android phones with 3.5mm jacks though.
There are what I’d call BIFL blueotooth headphones but they are full sized cans, not earbuds. I wouldn’t want to ride a bike wearing them.
Yeah, I’ve got a couple of pairs of cans I love and use around the house and when walking.
Believe me I really tried to get a phone with a 3.5mm, but I had a few other requirements and losing that was the extremely painful tradeoff, I hate the direction modern smartphones have gone.
Even with a 3.5mm I’ll still have the issue of the cable breaking so it doesn’t solve much for me.
You can get right angle 3.5mm connectors that help with the cable durability, but yeah, serious full sized wired cans use 1/4" or XLR connectors still, I think. There are some lightweight bluetooth headphones that might not be BIFL but could hold up pretty well, especially compared to those silly airpod-like buds. You probably have more experience with those than I do though.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1700
Oh yeah, fair point! I did used to use the angled ones when I was in highschool.
My desktop cans have a nice chunky 1/4" plug and it’s fantastic.
The most durable Bluetooth “earbuds” I’ve had so far are my bone conduction ones, but they’re not great quality and don’t offer any isolation. 10/10 for background music when hanging with people though.
for a damn durable Bluetooth earbud, let me recommend the Skullcandy Push Active. i also use them for 9+hours every single day, and these last me years. i even have a set that went through the washer AND dryer in their charging case, and everything still worked. and they were over 2 years old at the time. i now have several sets so I can have some at work, some at home, etc.
they also use Tile so you can’t lose them.
I like the apple earpods 3.5mm. They’re c$20 at Amazon. I rage-smash them periodically or the cat chews them so I keep a spare.
The sound is good, the mic is clean, and they never run out of juice.
I pair it with a usbC 3.5mm uGreen sound device so Skype and FB Messenger get decent sound. You could use that rig with a modern neuter android phone, but I’ll never try it. Give me a headphone jack or I’ll be left shouting into my phone on the subway because fuck vendors.