the earbuds that made me rude at work and honestly fine with it

My coworker, the oat milk cortado guy, stood at my desk yesterday waving at me for what I am told was a full forty-five seconds. I had both earbuds in, noise cancellation on, mid-chorus, completely gone. He laughed. I apologized four times.

I own the mortification. It is also the entire review.

You cannot fake that level of silence. These things made me miss a grown man performing a friendly wave from three feet away, and I keep thinking about how much peace that actually bought me.

the honest bit, with receipts

I paid list price, $299, because my old earbuds died mid-podcast and I am weak in a buying mood. No sale, no coupon, no self control. Here is the full ledger:

That last line is real. A newer version came out with wireless charging and better call quality, and I have decided to be happy for it instead of bitter. Mostly decided.

what they do brilliantly, and what they do not

The noise cancellation is the whole show. These tune themselves to the shape of your ear when you put them in, and then the world just goes soft. Airplane hum gone. Cafe clatter gone. The office turns into a library where occasionally a man in a cardigan waves. Is it slightly unsettling how well it works? Yes. Do I care? Absolutely not.

The sound is warm and a little bass-forward. Out of the box the low end is overcooked, like a soup that needs water. The app has an EQ, I pulled the bass down a notch, and suddenly the treble went sparkly without the bass disappearing. Also they are in white smoke, which is a pale grey that looks very good next to my beige desk. This matters to me and I am not sorry.

Immersive audio is a party trick I keep. Flip it on and the music stops feeling like it lives inside your skull and starts feeling like it is happening around you in the room. On a plane it is gorgeous. For podcasts it is useless and slightly seasick. I leave it on for flights and turn it off for anything with a human talking.

The battery is honest but small. You get roughly six hours with noise cancellation on, and the case holds about five extra charges, so most weeks I top the case up on Sunday next to my phone like a little ritual. A few minutes on the cable buys you about an hour of listening. Six hours is a workday morning, not a workday, and I want you to know that going in.

The fit is the catch. The buds are bigger than average, and they come with three tip sizes and three little stability bands so there are nine possible combinations. My left ear files a complaint after three hours. My right ear is unbothered. Sweat and light rain are fine since they are splash resistant, but I would not run a 5k in these, mostly because losing a $299 earbud in a puddle would end me.

Pairing has quirks. On my iPhone the first week involved more opening and closing of the case than felt dignified, and this is apparently the most common complaint about these buds. My Android friends report smoother pairings and a fancy high quality codec I cannot personally enjoy. Once they are connected they stay connected. Getting there took patience.

Awareness mode saved the kettle. One tap and the outside world comes back in, tinny but present. I use it for trains, for Noodle padding up behind me, for when the water is boiling. It is not perfect, but it means I can keep the buds in without becoming a person who lives in a bunker.

tangent: the tip that ate itself

One of the silicone tips vanished for two weeks. I tore apart the couch. I shook out every tote bag. I found it eventually inside Noodle's crate, which means she either took it or simply knew where it was the entire time. During those two weeks I learned that losing a piece of rubber the size of a lentil can take up more mental space than a work deadline.

Also, nobody tells you this, so I will: it is completely normal to try every tip size before one clicks. Your ears are fine. The defaults are just usually wrong.

the soft landing

I keep meaning to test them on the train during actual rush hour, and then I keep, well. The plan exists. The follow through is coming.

Until then I will say the truest thing I know about these: good headphones are not really about music. They are a quieter room that fits in your pocket, and for someone whose desk is eight feet from a kitchen, that is worth a lot more than the receipt implies.

• ava 🤍