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Samsung's Galaxy Buds4 Pro receives EISA's Best Product Award for In-Ear Headphones
(www.eisa-awards.org)
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this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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If anybody does need earbuds and doesn't want something that will die in a few years, I would recommend going with a cheap IEM w/ a wireless DAC! It's cheaper (!!), more difficult to lose (!!!), and gives you much better sound quality! And you still have the convenience of being able to move around without being tethered to your device / multi-device connectivity. They will also last longer, as the wireless bit is separate from the earbuds, and I know you can get DACs with replaceable batteries (like the Fiio Snowsky Retro Nano!) in exchange for a bit of bulkiness
I believe that, for the vast majority of people, passive NC is certainly enough. If you do need ANC though, over-ear headphones are probably better suited to this. In that case, the Fairbuds XL 2 is pretty neat and has replaceable parts, while the Sennheiser Momentum 5 (apparently much better ANC than Fairbuds) has a replaceable battery but other bits (especially the fabric!) is not as easy to replace
NC = noise canceling
ANC = active noise canceling
What is IEM?
How expensive would that setup be? I have $30 Bluetooth Earbuds that sound like crap and the microphone is awful, but they do have Tile built-in.
Passive noise cancelling, so passive NC. I don't see the problem there?
An IEM, or "in-ear monitor", is basically a set of wired earbuds that is often used in the music and film industries for checking audio, but they are also awesome for general-purpose use! They are more comfortable than your typical wired earbuds with eartips + are shaped to fit better in your ear.
I am personally using a ~$10 Bluetooth adapter (the Fiio BTR11) with the Moondrop Chu 2, which is ~$15. The BTR11 has a built-in mic that sounds better than any wireless buds simply because of its location, sound is nicer than any BT buds I've tried, they're harder to lose (!!!), and they will last longer too since the cable, adapter, and buds are all separate. A big benefit of the IEM space is that it's very competitive, so you've got lots of good options at really low prices!
No problem, i was just writing out the acronym once i figured it out in case it helped others.
Thanks for explaining the other parts too
Go on ans reccomend a wireless dac? Aren't you actually reccomending a jack to Bluetooth Adapter/ receiver/ transmitter?
I am using the Fiio BTR11 (cheap little guy with a clip and plastic body, + playback controls which is nice), but you have the mentioned Snowsky Retro Nano (replaceable batteries! A slightly esoteric form factor, but replaceable nonetheless!), a bunch of others by Fiio (if you need a screen on it for whatever reason, it looks likes some of them offer parametric EQ too), and probably loads more by other brands. It's a little insane how expensive some of them get, aim for a cheaper one since the "quality" of a DAC doesn't really matter, particularly for IEMs.