{"id":8690,"date":"2021-01-28T09:59:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T17:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/?p=8690"},"modified":"2024-06-26T10:02:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T17:02:29","slug":"recommending-cordless-earbud-headphones-for-zoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/2021\/01\/28\/recommending-cordless-earbud-headphones-for-zoom\/","title":{"rendered":"Wireless Earbud Headphones for Zoom Recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"

I use Zoom on Windows a lot lately. I wanted cordless earbuds to decrease the number of wires at my desk so I went exploring. Here’s my recommendation:<\/p>\n

All of them have “ok”-ish microphones. When at my desk, I use the mic built into my laptop but sometimes switch to the built-in mike when walking around.<\/p>\n

MPOW Flame Solo is the best bluetooth earbud for me<\/strong>
\n– $40 on Amazon\"\"<\/a>
\n– They “just work”. It has taken a little effort to figure out how to switch between my now multiple audio-out options on my computer, that isn’t the fault of the earbuds. Syncing is easy, turning on and of is easy.
\n– audio quality for music is nearly as good as my wired earbuds, I use them for music
\n– The over-the-ear design means they stay on my head and I don’t have to rely on squeezing the earpiece into my ear to stay on (like the Tozo T12)
\n– The volume and sound response (highs vs lows etc) is sometimes a little bit less than my wired earbuds. But look ma! no cords!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tozo T12 is my second choice<\/strong>
\n– $40 on Amazon
\n– Also “just work.”
\n– They work as well as the MPOW Flame Solo but the in-the-ear-canal design bothers me since there is something shoved in my ear canal! And they sometimes fall out when I make a big facial expression like a wide smile.<\/p>\n

Jabra Evolve 65T was TERRIBLE<\/strong>
\nI thought these would be the best due to the company’s reputation and their price tag but I was wrong!
\n– $220 on Amazon. What?? Yes!
\n\u2014 They occasionally make a very loud click in my ears. Once it happened when I walked away from my desk, maybe it lost bluetooth connection? Once it happened while I was trying to configure it. Earbuds should NEVER blast my ears with a loud click!
\n\u2014 The audio balance for music is often 90% to the left and can\u2019t be fixed. I googled around and found several forums filled with people saying \u201cyeah, that\u2019s a problem. I called Jabra and they couldn\u2019t fix it.\u201d One fix seemed to work for some people: sticking a needle in the microphone port below the \u201cR\u201d on the right earbud and wiggling it around. I gently tried this (on my brand new earbuds) and it didn\u2019t work.
\n\u2014 I had a bit of trouble configuring them to work. Making the sound path from Zoom\/Spotify\/default computer audio to the speakers wasn\u2019t intuitive and the manual consisted of just 4 pictograms. I muddled through but a little more help from Jabra would have been nice. Here are some hints (that Jabra doesn\u2019t mention!): The Jabra \u201cSound+\u201d app for Android can help you configure the earbuds\u2026 but some forums say it is responsible for the left-balance problem. You should get the Jabra Direct Windows program to set up the Jabra USB Link 370 USB Adapter.<\/p>\n

Anker Soundcore Spirit X no good for Zoom on Windows<\/strong>
\n– $30 on Amazon\"\"<\/a>
\n– They work great on my Android phone
\n– They sound about as good as the others. The two over-the-ear earbuds are tethered to one another. I had heard people say that a tethered design would make it so you don’t lose one earbud; to that I say “Meh, just don’t lose them!” I find the tether bothers my neck. When I turn my head, it catches on my hair a little and pulls at the earbud a little. I solved that by putting the cord over the top of my head, which makes me feel rather dorky!
\n– HOWEVER, they are no good for connecting to a Windows computer! They disconnect randomly. Many people online have said similarly that they don’t maintain a connection. And there’s no fix.<\/p>\n

Old school wired earbuds<\/strong>
\nI still keep them near my desk because they sounds a little better than the bluetooth earbuds and they don’t run out of battery. But the wires are a hassle.<\/p>\n

PS. Luke, you were right all along!!<\/p>\n

PPS. I should try Aftershokz bone conduction headphones. They have a boom mike and a good visual profile (I want to look normal-ish to my clients and not wear giant headphones)… thoughts?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Update 6-26-24: Shokz Bone Conduction headphones are awesome!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I use Zoom on Windows a lot lately. I wanted cordless earbuds to decrease the number of wires at my desk so I went exploring. Here’s my recommendation: All of them have “ok”-ish microphones. When at my desk, I use the mic built into my laptop but sometimes switch to the built-in mike when walking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-recommendations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10497,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8690\/revisions\/10497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}