Amazon has thrown its hat into the true wireless earbuds ring with the new Echo Buds.
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Just like the Apple AirPods, the Echo Buds offer a mediocre five hours battery life with the accompanying charging case containing enough power for around another 20 hours of use. But unlike Apple’s offering, Amazon’s Buds come equipped with noise-cancelation, driven by Bose’s Active Noise Reduction technology — which is a bit strange considering it doesn’t even come bundled on the audio titan’s own SoundSport Free wireless earbuds.
Obviously, safety is the main concern when using noise-canceling. For example, you need to be able to hear the vehicles around you while crossing a busy street. This is why Amazon has made it extremely easy to control the feature — with a simple double-tap on either bud, passthrough mode can be enabled to allow ambient sound to seep through. Double-tap it again and the noise reduction feature will fire back up, blocking it out once again.
Meet the Amazon Echo Buds.
The Echo Buds come with Amazon Alexa built-in, complete with some Skills that were developed specifically for it — the most notable of which is the option to ask Alexa if (Amazon-owned) Whole Foods has a particular item while browsing the store, as well as finding out which aisle it’s stored in. Plus, Amazon has integrated the option to use the voice assistant that comes part and parcel with your smartphone, including Google Assistant and Siri.
Each bud has also been sealed just enough to secure a coveted IPX4 sweat-resistance rating from the IEC, making the Echo Buds a worthy workout companion — on paper, at least. It even comes with the option to disable the always-listening microphones, should you happen to find yourself in a situation where you’re in need of a bit more privacy than simply trusting Amazon to not listen in on your juicy locker-room conversation.
It’s an interesting proposition for Amazon, adding yet another pair of true wireless earbuds to the mix this late in the game, especially a pair with battery life that falls well below new favorites like Apple’s own Powerbeats Pro from the company’s Beats line, which offer up to nine hours per charge.
That said, the addition of noise-canceling puts the Echo Buds more on footing with Sony’s new WF-1000Xm3, which boast as much as eight hours per charge, but only six hours with noise-canceling engaged. Moreover, the Echo Buds’ $130 price point is nearly $100 less than what Sony is charging for their earbuds.
You can pre-order the Amazon Echo Buds right now, with orders scheduled to start shipping in October.
Apple’s latest AirPods Pro are here, and you can buy them for $249. But should you? That's a lot of money to drop on a pair of earbuds, and there are more AirPods options for you to choose from these days.
And that's before you take into consideration that we're about to go into the Black Friday sales season. All that said, tough decisions are a whole lot easier when you break them down, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Here’s how to decide which AirPods you should buy in 2022.
New but familiar
Let’s start by going over the full AirPods lineup:
Are Apple AirPods waterproof? Everything you need to know
Whether you’re thinking about AirPods as a gift or a wireless earbud upgrade for yourself, it’s important to think about how they’ll be used so you can determine if they can stand what you're going to throw at them. For example, wearing a pair of AirPods in the rain or while sweating during a workout might not be a good idea, as early AirPods, AirPods Max, and AirPods Pro 2 models all have different levels of water resistance. So if you want to avoid damage, you should know what to watch for.
Let’s break down how waterproof each AirPods model is and what their water-resistance ratings mean for your daily activities.
If you were a loyal AirPods Pro user waiting for the next-gen to drop, we have good news for you. Apple finally launched the upgraded, second-generation AirPods Pro at their September 2022 event, leaving fans wondering if the new version is worth the investment. To make the decision easier for you, we break down the major differences between the new AirPods Pro 2 and their predecessor so you can clearly see what's new and decide if you'd like to pick up a pair of the new buds. But let's be honest, this second-generation of AirPods Pro basically pick up where their sibling left off and pretty much make them better in every way. For comparison's sake, though, here we go.
Further AirPods Pro 2 reading
AirPods Pro 2 vs. Sony WF-1000XM4
AirPods Pro 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro
AirPods Pro 2 vs. Google Pixel Buds Pro
AirPods Pro 2 review
Should you upgrade to the AirPods Pro 2?
