My Search for Workout Earbuds - Anker SoundBuds Sport and Sport IE 20 (Part I)
Allow me to explain a little. My ears are a little on the large side, a little on the sticking-out side, and a little on the not-quite-level side. It makes buying eyeglasses annoying. It gets in the way of barbers. But the weird doesn’t stop there. Apparently, there’s something weird about my ear canals that prohibit any kind of earbud from staying in my ear. For years, this was not a problem. I tend to like the experience of wearing studio-style over-the-ear headphones anyway. I prefer the sound, find that they don’t fall out/off, and they tell people to go away. All good. But the recent addition in my life of running (attempting to lose a lot of weight and ultimately run a charity race for a great organization; you can read more about that journey here) has lead me away from my usual headphone style of choice.
So a little bit more about my headphone preferences, for reference. As I said, I like over-the-ear-style headphones. I’m also not an audiophile, and don’t care to spend a ton on headphones. I want decent sound, but I’m not the guy on those old Maxell tapes.
I have a couple pairs of cans that I like (that is what I will be calling over-the-ear headphones; it’s shorter), but they are corded, which I found annoying while I run. I tried my trusty Bluetooth on the ear headphones, but they just didn’t seem to be able to hold up to the rigors of running (read: sweat). I went on to my cheapo Bluetooth cans, which were great when it was cooler, but as it warmed up, I discovered they are hot as hell when running. I mean take-them-off-and-measurable-liquid-pours-out-of-ear hot. Like it or not, I needed to go earbud.
After some review reading and Amazon hunting, I was left nowhere. I mean, literally nowhere. There’s literally hundreds of sub-$40 BT earbuds. They all have great reviews. Right. So I saw a site post a deal on this pair of Anker SoundBuds Sport, that they had actually reviewed as decent, and is a brand I’ve used and trust, so I figured why not. It was a place to start.
Upon unpacking these buds, I really liked them. The overall Industrial Design of them is really pleasing. Nicely packaged, with a nifty little carry bag, neatly wrapped cable, and 3 sizes of ear hooks and cushions. I thought for sure I’d find something that fit. I like the flat, tangle free cable, bright color, and pretty simple design. They looked and felt well made. The backs of them also magnet together, a cute, yet not incredibly functional trick. Overall seemed like a great deal for the $19 I spent.
See above? That’s how it’s supposed to fit. That ear hook thingy grasps into the fold of your ear in an attempt to keep it in. In theory, this can work (in fact, it does, but not for me with this pair. Keep reading). But I couldn’t get a confident fit. It took weeks of trying every possible hook and cushion combination, for more than a single run, until I determined we indeed did not have a winner. On top of that, I found the fact that the controls were on the earbud itself to only make things worse. Every time I wanted to summon Siri, pause, change the volume, I’d end up messing with the delicate balance that kept it in my ear. I’d have to end up pushing it back every couple minutes. On top of that, these seemed to get interference from my Polar Heart Rate Monitor. (I found at later that any set of Bluetooth headphones will interfere, it just depended on which side the Bluetooth radio was located. If it has to cross the signal between my chest strap and watch, it’ll interfere. Means having to switch which arm my phone goes on depending on headphones.) While this turned out to be the case with all BT headphones, I didn’t know that yet, so these were a no-go for me.
So back to Amazon they went.
Before I get to part II of this story, let me wrap up as per my typical review format. Sound was pretty good. Not amazing, but certainly not bad. Better than my cheapo BT cans. Not as good as PowerBeats 2 Wireless. Pretty close to Apple Earpods. Probably a bit better than those. My standards aren’t sky high, as I mentioned, and they are even less so for a pair that would be used solely for running. If these are you’re all day choice, you may want better sound, but these seemed fine for me. Pairing was easy as expected as well. And the ear hooks attach really nicely to these. I like the system Anker developed for these. Again, a lot of impressive design for little dinero.
Nicely designed, good build quality, well packaged, nice feature set and sets of ear clips and cushions. Awesome flat cable. As I said, I really wanted to like this pair of buds.
Wouldn’t fit in my ears. Annoying that the buttons are on the ear bud itself. They stick out kinda far from your ears.
Do earbuds typically work for you? Are you not super picky about sound quality? Do you want to spend less than $30? Get these on Amazon here. You’ll like them. Looking for better than passable sound? Have finicky fitting ears? You may need to keep looking. But not far! My next post will have what I found that work great for me. Stay tuned...