With earbuds, the sound quality is all about the fit - The Dallas Morning News

Earbuds are a terrific way to listen to your music.

I can remember my first Sony Walkman, back in the 1980s. Its headphones went over your head, and the earpieces were small speakers that actually went inside your ears. It was very immersive, and I can remember really liking the sound.

Fast-forward more than 30 years, and today’s earbuds have lost the wires, but I’m still impressed with the sound.

I’ve been testing two sets of earbuds that have very different ways of fitting in the ear, and both have advantages. They also have very different price points.

This isn’t a comparison. These products have different target markets.

Eppfun Cute Meet 300 earbuds

The Eppfun Cute Meet 300 earbuds ($50.99 at Amazon.com) have an earpiece design that’s very similar to Apple’s original AirPods, but the Eppfun earpieces are a bit smaller.

There is no silicone tip that fits into the ear canal. The part that fits in your ear is hard plastic. It sits just inside your ear and doesn’t make a seal.

You still hear a fair amount of ambient noise when you are listening to music or talking on the phone.

Since there are no removable silicone tips, the fit of the Cute Meet 300s will either work for you or it won’t.

I’m a big guy, and for me, they feel comfortable.

I’m writing mostly about the fit because the sound isn’t adjustable. You can twist the buds in your ears just a bit, and the sound does change, but there is no way to adjust the sound coming from your phone. There is no app to provide equalizer presets or a bass boost.

The quality of the sound will depend on how the earpieces fit in your ear.

Specs

The Cute Meet 300 use Qualcomm True Wireless Mirroring technology, which means only one earbud is connected to your phone, and the second bud mirrors the connected bud.

There are no sensors to indicate when they are in your ear, so when you’re listening to music and you take them out of your ears, the music keeps playing until you put them back in the case.

The buds will play for six hours on a charge, and the charging case provides enough juice for 26 more hours of listening. You can also use just one while charging the other, if you prefer.

They are IPx5 waterproof, so you can work out with them or use them in the rain, but don’t go swimming.

Each side has dual microphones, and my voice did sound pretty good on phone calls. I’ve heard my voice sound better on more expensive earbuds, but for the price, I have no complaints.

Each bud has a 13mm driver. The product description says it will deliver “powerful bass, rich midrange and crisp, clear treble.” That is wishful thinking.

Final thoughts

I’d say the music sounded a bit better than I’d expect from a $50 set of earbuds.

I used them when mowing my lawn last week and they sounded just fine and they never cut out, which is all I can ask.

I am impressed with the size of both the earbuds and the case. The buds fit in the case horizontally, and the case is very thin but long. It looks more like a contact lens case, and it really disappears in my pocket. The case charges with an included USB-C cable, but you’ll need to provide your own charger.

Pricing and discounts

The Cute Meet 300s are available from Amazon in black, green, silver or gold. The list price for black is $50.99 at the time of publication, but there is also a 30% coupon you can click to apply when you add them to your cart that drops the price to just under $36. The other colors list for $61.99.

Pros: Small, long battery life, decent sound for music and calls.

Cons: No equalizer settings, no auto pause when you remove them.

Bottom line: For the price, I think the Cute Meet 300s are a bargain.

The Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless earbuds.

Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless

Sennheiser has been synonymous with great-sounding headphones for as long as I can remember.

The company offers a wide range of headphones and earbuds with an equally wide price range.

The CX Plus True Wireless earbuds ($129.95, en-us.sennheiser.com) are all about true sound reproduction. Their tagline is Superior sound. No compromise.

Seems about right. I really like the CX Plus sound, but again, it is all about the fit.

Getting the right fit

The CX Plus earbuds sit flush with your ear with a small silicone ear tip that seals in your ear canal.

They ship with four sizes of ear tips (XS, S, M, L). You should allow for a few minutes to sit down in a quiet place to try out all the tip sizes.

Everyone’s ears are different, and you may even need different sizes for your left and right ears.

The tips just pull straight off and you can press on a different size in about five seconds.

Once you put the buds in your ears, rock them back and forth until they sit comfortably and seal out the outside noise.

You will probably know whether your ears are large or small, but you may be surprised at what size ear tip feels best.

Smart Control app

After you get a good fit, make sure you download the free Smart Control app that will let you try different equalizer presets or even make your own custom preset.

You can also toggle on active noise cancellation, which works really well.

The CX Plus earbuds also have transparency mode that lets in some of the sound of the outside world. You can set up transparency mode to pause the music when you tap the left bud.

This is handy when someone starts talking to you. Tap the bud, and music will stop and the microphones on the buds will let you hear clearly while the buds are in your ears.

The app will let you customize the touch buttons on each bud. You can customize what happens with a single tap, double tap, triple tap or a long press.

By default, a tap on the right bud will play/pause the music. Long pressing on the right turns volume up, and long pressing the left bud turns the volume down.

Battery life

The CX Plus buds will play for about eight hours on a charge.

The Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless earbuds in their charging case.

The charging case can charge them up two more times for a total of 24 hours of playback before you need to charge the case. They ship with a USB-C cable to charge, but you need to provide a charger.

In use

The CX Plus have proximity sensors to know when you are wearing them.

You can triple-tap on the right bud to bring up your phone’s voice assistant.

They are IPX4 rated for water resistance. They can take sweat and light rain but not much more.

Each bud has a 7mm dynamic driver and dual mic beamforming arrays.

I found my voice to be clear on phone calls, but since the buds are flush with your ears, I really had to speak up to be heard clearly on calls.

As I said above, I really liked the sound from the CX Plus.

I’m wearing them as I type this review, and Robert Earl Keen sounds great.

Pros: Great sound, lots of tip sizes, equalizer settings in the app.

Cons: Microphones couldn’t pick up a soft speaking voice.

Bottom line: Buy these for music listening, not so much for phone calls.

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With earbuds, the sound quality is all about the fit - The Dallas Morning News
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