On my drive home yesterday, my FitBit notified me that my Amazon Echo Buds had shipped and will be arriving TODAY on their official release date since I had preordered them back in September.
I’ve been using a pair of less expensive wireless earbuds for the last year, but a coworker recently lent me a pair of Sony WH100XM3 wireless headphones. I never really appreciated noise-canceling until I tried it…and then I took them on a plane. Oh. My. It was at this point I knew I needed a pair of my own, but I didn’t want the bulky, over the earphones. I wanted earbuds.
Requirements
Wireless was my only option. It’s 2019, why do you have Bluetooth earbuds that are wired together? I also wanted a lightweight, compact design, and a case that would recharge them. My current cheap pair check all those boxes, an upgrade had to have the same.
Noise Cancelling
I found some great ones from Bose, Bang & Olufsen, Sennheiser, and of course the new AirPods Pro releasing today that all have noise reduction or noise cancelling.
Since I’m not a millennial who has earbuds in 24/7, I’m not trying to break the bank which ruled out those options. The Echo Buds made the most sense for the price. Factoring in the noise reduction technology from Bose, the price point is…wait for it…on point. While it’s not TRUE noise canceling, I imagine it will be very close, at least as much as my non-audiophile ears can detect.
Battery Life
My current $35 earbuds get my about 2.5 hours on a charge and the case will charge them 3 more times for a total of around 10 hours. What I end up doing is using one ear until the battery dies, then switching over to the other ear. Lame.
The Echo Buds touts a 5-hour battery life with the ability for 3 more charges from the case for a total of 20 hours. This may be without noise reduction and is also untested in the real world by the masses, so we’ll see. However, a marked improvement over my current situation is expected.
Price
At half the price of most quality noise-canceling ear buds, the $129.99 price tag makes a lot more sense for my budget and how I plan to use them. Sure, a pair of $290 Bang & Olufsen buds would be cool, but I can’t justify that. But applying my Amazon credit I get from booking my rental cars with Avis (yay Prime perks) brought these down even further and made it a no-brainer.
Am I The Only One Who Doesn’t Care About These Features?
Alexa Integration
So far, I have found zero use for Alexa. Even on my FireStick I barely use it. To some degree I suspect that it’s due to my lack of interest in figuring our exactly what Alexa will do.
Voice Integration
I was one of the first to get Google Glass when it came out since they sent me an invite to purchase as a beta tester. it took about 14 minutes to realize what a tool you look like when talking to your phone, earbuds, eyeglasses, etc, etc, etc in public. Also why I had no interest in ordering Echo Frames.
What’s Next
My Echo Buds should be arriving later today, hopefully earlier than later as they are coming to my office and I’m not there as late as most people. At least they aren’t being delivered by USPS so there is a shot they arrive on time and don’t get lost.
Once I get them in hand I’ll add some photos to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also subscribe below in the sidebar to get updates when I post an update after I’ve had a chance to use them and test features and functionality more thoroughly.
What questions do you have that you’d like answered about Echo Buds? Drop them in the comments below or on any of my social posts!
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