True Wireless Earbuds- By Neil Shah

True Wireless Earbuds – The Premium Digital Accessory For You Ears.

We are living in a world where every digital product is going through a true wireless transformation. From your smartphone to your PC to your speakers to your watch, everything is now connected to each other and to the internet for optimal wire-free content consumption or creation.

We are living in a world where every digital product is going through a true wireless transformation. From your smartphone to your PC to your speakers to your watch, everything is now connected to each other and to the internet for optimal wire-free content consumption or creation. There are a couple of digital products which we use the most daily, one is our smartphones and second is our headphones. While headphones over the last ten years have gone wireless connected to your smart devices via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, they have been bulky and mostly with an over-the-head design. This is an area which needs some form of innovation, miniaturization, and convenience in terms of design while not compromising on sound quality. Addressing this challenge, we have seen the rise of a truly innovative wireless earbuds design over the last two to three years. The earbuds snug into the ears well, are fully wireless and have no cord that connects the left bud to right, and each has its own set of battery, sensors for music controls and in some cases intelligent ondevice voice assistants such as Siri or Google Assistant. These wireless earbuds normally come with a charging cradle which safely stores the buds and charges them while sitting in the cradle. Many leading brands such as Samsung, Apple, Bose, Jabra, Sennheiser, Sony, B&O, Cambridge Audio, and others have launched their truly wireless earbuds, thus giving consumers a multitude of options to choose from. However, there are a very few wireless earbuds which ooze a premium, comfortable design and also pack impeccable sound quality.

Sporting cool and premium headphones have become a style statement. Headphones have qualified as an important accessory and the tiny popcorn shaped wireless earbuds are now proving to be a status symbol and the latest luxurious digital accessory one can flaunt. We have already seen this in Hong Kong, New York, London, Singapore or even Bangalore – consumers have been showing-off their Apple AirPods or Samsung Galaxy Buds as their coolest digital possession. However, there are multiple criteria to select the best wireless earbuds out there which include evaluating a sculpted comfort fit, longer battery life, on-ear sensory controls, pairing convenience and above all a premium sound quality. Further, the use-case scenarios matter as well. Some buds are well-designed for longer comfortable extreme music listening while some offer superior fit, sweat-proof or waterproof features for an intense workout or outdoor activity. Many of them now feature active noise cancellation, great microphone performance for high-quality hands-free voice calls and dictation alongside music listening. While Apple AirPods have become commonplace, we have shortlisted a few other premium wireless earbuds on the market with stand-out designs, remarkable fit and great sound quality

Louis Vuitton Horizon Earbuds

LV has introduced a premium line of wireless Bluetooth earbuds partnering with the NewYork-based luxury audio company Master & Dynamic. The Horizon Earbuds are designed taking inspiration from the House’s visual universe and are embossed with a contrasting matte and glossy refined LV Monogram, the lettering is in eye-popping colors- black, white and red or yellow and blue stripes. Underneath this aesthetic craftsmanship is Master & Dynamic’s PVD-coated stainless-steel acoustic enclosure housing the cutting-edge 10mm beryllium drivers for producing superior sound. The earbuds come in an ultra-luxuriously designed charging case with contemporary, concave lines featuring a sapphire glass along with white and hand-polished stainless-steel finishes.

The LV Horizon earphones hold a battery life of 3.5 hours of music listening time whereas the carrying case provides a total 10 hours of additional battery life making it a perfect digital companion for shorter or longer journeys. The LV Horizon is also voice-assistant capable out-of-the-box and works well with Siri for your Apple devices or Google Assistant for your Google Android devices to effortlessly search, control your music, voicecalls, and other functions.

The LV Horizon costs $995 and is available at Louis Vuitton Flagship stores.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless

The German audiology pioneer Sennheiser has grown its mindshare in the premium segment with one of the most modern designs, blended with cutting-edge audio technologies in its products. In the true wireless earbud segment, Sennheiser’s latest MOMENTUM True Wireless is a great option with impeccable balanced sound quality, longer battery life and a clean, uncluttered lightweight design. They come in a premium-black enclosure accented with a polished metallic spin-ring, and gold-plated charging pins and magnets on the other side that snap into a charging case.

The Momentum integrates Sennheiser’s patented audiophile 7mm dynamic driver technology for a superior stereo sound further boosted by Qualcomm’s aptX low latency compatibility to ensure perfect lip-sync audio output, if you are pairing it to your TV or laptop or phones for watching streaming videos. The Momentum earbuds are perfect for listening to music but also feature dualmic noise cancellation and beamforming technology for superior voice calls. Sennheiser Momentum also features its “Transparent Hearing” tech which allows the listener to always be aware of the  ambient sounds while wearing them, with or without the music on. These ergonomically designed earbuds are splash-resistant (water). They also sport an intuitive touch control scheme to control music, answer voice calls or access the voice assistant with a single tap or swipe. The Momentum promises four hours of battery life which can be extended by another eight hours with the compact charging case while on the go. The earbuds come with a companion “Smart Control” app for your iOS or Android phone to completely control, and personalize these earbuds for the optimal audio experience.

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless earbuds are priced at an attractive $300 and are available globally.

Bose SoundSport Free

Bose SoundSport Free wireless earbuds are specially designed for workout and outdoor activities. As a result, the earbuds are a bit clunky from a fit perspective. Bose’s StayHear+ wingtips, made from supple material, nicely anchor the buds making for an ideal secure fit for use even during intense workouts. Further, the SoundSport Free earbuds are IPX4 water resistance rated making it sweat and rain-proof.

In terms of sound quality, the SoundSport does not disappoint and maintains the classic Bose signature of pleasant crystal-clear listening with lots of mid and treble and smoother bass than a thumping experience. The SoundSport Free offers five hours of battery life on a full charge and comes in a charging case offering ten hours of extra battery. The companion Bose Connect app eases the pairing and “find my earbuds” use-cases.

The Bose SoundSport Free costs $199 and is available in multiple colors – Black, Ultraviolet, Midnight Blue and Bright Orange.

Sony WF-1000XM3

Sony WF-1000XM3 is one of the favorites among audiophiles and earns accolades in terms of its noise-cancellation capabilities, inconspicuous looks, and great sound quality. Sony is using tiny 6mm drivers powered by a dedicated Audio Processor for HD Noise-Cancellation, 24-bit Audio Signal processing, Digital-toAnalog Converter, and amplifier to produce some rich, distortionfree, immersive sound quality. Further, Sony has integrated Digital Sound Enhancement Engine HX (DSEE HX™) technology which upscales compressed digital music files to almost high-quality grade which is another unique feature. While the earbuds pack a lot of cutting-edge technology, it doesn’t compromise on looks and is one of the best-looking earbuds in the market. Sony has gone with a clean, minimalist but elegant design with customizable touch controls and ergonomic tri-hold structure for a secure and snug fit. The magnetic charging case is one of the most stylish designed cases out there with gold/copper accents.

The Sony WF-1000XM3 costs $230 and is available in two colors – Black (with Chrome accents) and Silver (with Soft Gold accents)

Cambridge Audio Melomania 1

Cambridge Audio is a 50 year old British audio engineering company well known for its home speaker systems and has forayed into the wireless earbuds segment with its Melomania 1 model. The Melomania 1 features ‘graphene-enhanced’ 5.8mm drivers which due to its unique strength-toweight ratio enables a superior hi-fidelity, dynamic and responsive audio performance. These earbuds are also embedded with AAC and aptX audio codecs from Qualcomm for low-latency and high-quality audio streaming over Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connections.

These earbuds are compatible with Google Assistant and iOS Siri voice assistants enabling you to activate and control the assistants on your devices right out-of-the-box. The MEMS cVc Noise Cancellation technology ensures great quality voice calls.

These pair of earbuds are the best in the market when it comes to battery life, promising 9 hours of battery life with a single charge and an additional 36 hours via the silicon charging case. The silicon charging case comes in six vivid colours whereas the earbuds come in matte UV lacquer finishes in Black and Stone white. Melomania 1 is relatively inexpensive at $130 and thus offers value for money with the features packed in.

These are some of our top picks for truly wireless earbuds as alternatives to Apple AirPods. Other models which are worth checking out include Klipsch T5 True Wireless, RHA TrueConnect True Wireless Earbuds, Jabra Elite 65t, Samsung Galaxy Buds, B&O Beoplay E8, and TicPods Free.