We have to admit buying a new pair of headphones is confusing. The headphone market gets disrupted with a lot of jack types, features (Bluetooth, ANC, HRM) and design (in ear, over ear, on ear, true wireless earbuds). Traditional 3.5mm jack is still ubiquitous, lightinng and USB C come in they aren’t about to replace the 3.5mm jack anytime soon, but inspect your phone if it gets a USB-C type port your new quest begins – and here are best USB C earbuds.
Don’t buy USB C earbuds
- A quality USB-C headphones are a way more expensive than 3.5mm plug earbuds. They only work with a few devices
- You have a cheaper option, get a USB-C Digital to 3.5 mm headphone adapter for $9 but hey you’ve got a lot of accessories and a pair of $100 earbuds (1MORE Triple Driver in-Ear Earphones are great)
- You have a few choice for USB-C earbuds
- Why not Bluetooth earbuds?
But you still crave for it
Libratone Q Adapt USB-C EarBuds For Pixel and Pixel 2XL owners
The Q Adapt earbuds are lightweight and extremely comfortable to wear, featuring the a nice braided fabric cable and solid inline control, they are well-built but honestly the $149 price tag is expensive for their look! But they may be qualified for the ANC function and sound quality.
Using USB-C instead of 3.5mm jack add a benefit that the NC feature is powered by phone’s battery – no more bulky battery compartment. The Libratone Q Adapt is a sports NC in ear headphone, they have 4 levels of cancelling out the noise, 80%, 60%, ambient aware mode, 100% respectively.
Tested in various environments, the Q Adapt justs work fine and its capacity to actively cancel out the noise is not phenomenal. For sound quality, the Q Adapts delivers an impressive bass which is strong and rumbling.
For budget buyers
Google Pixel USB-C![™]()
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Pros
- Lightweight and comfortable to wear
- Cheap
- Airy, spacious sound
- Cable loop for more secure fit
Cons
- Unsealed design meaning worse noise isolation
- Housings look a lot like Airpods
- Weak bass performance
You can easily spot a pair of budget USB-C earbuds on Amazon such as TriLink, Razer Hammerhead USB-C with 10 mm Dynamic Drivers, except orginal design from established audio brands most of budget USB-C earbuds are idential to 3.5mm jack earbuds from other brands and they just replace the jack type so they have poor sound – not on par with any cheap earbuds listed in this post.
It is questionable USB C earbuds sound any better than 3.5mm earbuds, but their price is not what people are willing to spend. Investing on a quality DAC USB-C like HIFIME Type C USB DAC (ES9018K2M+SA9023) is also expensive if you’ve already had a quality headphone, but if your headphones are for audiophiles that it will be worth investing on HIFIME TYPE C USB DAC rather than the dongle from Google.
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