Cheapest Bluetooth IEMs worth owning

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I have a daughter, coming up to her 15th birthday, who'd like a pair of bluetooth IEMs.

I don't want to spend a fortune (she's not an audiophile) but I'd like to get her something that sounds decent.

Price is definitely a large consideration.

Comments and recommendations?

Cheers.

 

[staticV3]

Samsung Galaxy Buds2. They sell for £60 New on eBay.

 

[digitalfrost]

Samsung Galaxy Buds2. They sell for £60 New on eBay.

 

[Danaxus]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/truthear-x-crinacle-zero-iem-review.37380/

These have been all the rage here on ASR. They measure well, I think they look just fine for a 15 yr old (you'd know better), and they come with a wide selection of ear buds. Cheap as hell too.

Make sure you buy 2 pairs - you'll want to keep one for yourself ;-)

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/truthear-x-crinacle-zero-iem-review.37380/

These have been all the rage here on ASR. They measure well, I think they look just fine for a 15 yr old (you'd know better), and they come with a wide selection of ear buds. Cheap as hell too.

Make sure you buy 2 pairs - you'll want to keep one for yourself ;-)

Ah yes, I’m aware of those.

Not Bluetooth, though.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Jimbob54]

Just music or calls too? I got a pair of JBL Club Pro + for around £50 from amazon warehouse - sound fine.

The Galaxy buds plus were good too but one died.

Avoid the cheaper Sonys - awful fit and sound.

 

[charleski]

I recently upgraded my BT earphones and went with a Fiio UTSW5 - £90 from the official distributors here if you use the 10AMP3 voucher. More power, lower noise and you can plug in any iem with a replaceable cable.
Not a good recommendation for your daughter (the Buds 2 are a much better choice for something good and simple), but might be of interest to others.

 

[Feelas]

Be careful since the Galaxy Buds line has severe problems with SBC codec, e.g. Buds+ has SBC bitpool 37 so the sound is atrocious if not connected via Samsung Scalable/AAC. So, pretty much each Windows 10 laptop is screwed.

Ah yes, I’m aware of those.

Not Bluetooth, though.

Thanks anyway.

You can also buy anything compatible with MMCX and buy TWS adapters from Fiio or similar.

 

[staticV3]

@Feelas the entire product line is affected? Or just the Buds+?

 

[Feelas]

@Feelas the entire product line is affected? Or just the Buds+?

Honestly I don't have the means to check, but looking at https://btcodecs.valdikss.org.ru/codec-compatibility/ (OG Buds in dump have Bitpool 37) and some Reddit posts (e.g. here) about Buds2 I infer that whole Buds lineup might be affected and they still didn't fix this. Would take some owners to verify. Also here is some suggestion that all Buds are crippled.

Probably crippled by design, anyways. if this is deliberate firmware (not hardware-caused) downgrade to SBC to show how Samsung Scalabale Codec is better, it'd probably require press drama & a lawsuit to move Samsung to rework this due to unfair competition or other shenanigans... This is just broken on anything locked to SBC...

 

[charleski]

Another option is the EarFun AirPro 2, £70. The JBL Club Pro+ @Jimbob54 mentioned is also decent for £90.

 

[someguyontheinternet]

I found the Moondrop Nekocake to be a decent 50$ option. ANC is not great, but it's there and out-of-the-box tonality is not great, but workable.
Another option would be Anker Soundcore products which are relatively inexpensive, but come with a good feature set. I haven't looked at measurements for those yet though.

The wavelet app offers autoEQ which I recommend using regardless of which IEM you end up buying. It does need a bit of setup to operate with a lot of music players though.

 

[MaxBuck]

I'm very happy with my Letsfit U8Ls. Dirt cheap, great playing time (16 hrs or more), and acceptable sound quality. They won't be confused with Dan Clarks, though.

 

[julian_hughes]

I have a daughter, coming up to her 15th birthday, who'd like a pair of bluetooth IEMs.

I don't want to spend a fortune (she's not an audiophile) but I'd like to get her something that sounds decent.

Price is definitely a large consideration.

Comments and recommendations?

Cheers.

I'd probably go for the Samsung Galaxy Buds, or the Buds Pro if your budget allows. For a very low price you won't get good quality and long play time combined. You have to spend a little. If possible go for the Pro version as it's waterproof and has much better battery life. I don't think anyone can expect 15 year olds to not be out in the rain or to be especially careful so I'd go for the ones most likely to last.

 

[Feelas]

JBL TUNE130NC & TUNE230NC are also pairs with relatively nice tuning & some acceptable noise cancelling/EQ performance.