Sony WI-XB400 Wireless In-Ear Extra Bass Headset/Headphones with mic for phone call, Black

my perspective on this review is solely based on comparison to the headset these were meant to replace. i had a pair of aukey ep-b60 that i loved. i felt the audio quality was good for what i needed, from phone calls to music to podcasts, etc. they were comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, they fit my ear comfortably (i have bad luck with earbuds either refusing to stay seated or hurting my ears after a short amount of time), they were not true wireless (i hate those), they were charged via usb-c. just loved them. but they were discontinued and when mine finally started to fail, i was left in a lurch. so i tried a couple similar styles of headsets, which lead me to the Sony WI-XB400.first off, kudos to sony for even offering this style or earbud headphones. true wireless dominates the market and i had a hard time even finding companies i recognize who had even one option like this. i prefer to have the buds connected so i don't lose one, and can just let them hang when not in use and don't have to keep track of each ear piece. i like being able to charge it with the same cable i charge my phone with (or any USB-C cable), and not have to ALSO keep track of a case and its charge (which also costs like half the price of the earbuds, if replacement cases are even offered.)i tried the beats flex and hated them. they sounded awful (or i guess, they just sounded too different from my aukeys.) the audio hurt my ears as did the earbuds themselves. there was so much cord noise. they were more expensive than these sony's or what i paid for the aukey's. it was a hard pass. i returned them and i kept looking.the Sony WI-XB400 seems to be a winner. they have a sound that is pretty close to how my aukey's sounded. while these do not have the little nub that hooks into your ear crevasse to hold the earbud in place like the aukeys, i none the less found the caps to be comfortable, non-irritating, and stayed put. while i don't think they are AS comfortable as the aukeys, i can nevertheless wear them for a long time without noticing them, hurting my ears, or needing to reach up to reinsert them constantly. i've had no problems charging them and they've lasted all day. no problems connecting to my devices. the cord noise is minimal, especially if the cord is seated perfectly on your neck. the voice cues are nice (hearing how much battery is left is a nice touch) but also a bit unnecessary.the following is not necessarily negatives as much as nitpicks. none of these are deal breakers for me, just some nice to haves:the cord is very long. to be honest, too long. they almost reach bellow my sternum when they are hanging around my neck. i've almost hit them on the stove burner or dipped them into dirty dish water. they do not need to be this long.the magnets that connect the buds together when around your neck are very weak. they separate too easily and are unwieldy trying to get them to snap together while they're dangling.you need to manually turn on and off the headset by holding down the play button. my aukeys would turn off and pause the media when stuck together. these do nothing. i think at the very least pausing the audio with you remove the earbuds and join the magnets would be a good feature. i DO like the power on and off switch in some cases, it's nice to know they won't switch on if i stick them in my pocket. it's just difficult to know if the headset is on or off without putting them back on and holding the power button and waiting the the voice to tell you.the play/power button is the exact same as the volume down button on the controls, just a slightly different size. bad bad bad design. i appreciate that you can find the buttons by feel alone, but the volume down button feels exactly the same as the pause button. you have to take an extra beat to make sure it's the button you need before pressing it. very annoying. making the power button even just like a hollow circle would be so useful.those issues aside, i am really happy with these earbuds. i still prefer my aukeys and am sad they no longer make them, but these are so far the next best thing. i cannot speak on their durability but i am hoping to get a good run out of them

I'm a headphone abuser. I have a thrice-priced JBL and only used it for participating meetings for 5-10 times and one side started not working. I bought these headphones earlier and not only I use them for meetings, I also use them to bed. I have a habit of listening something relaxing or funny when I go to bed. It can be some soothing music or a re-re-re-re-listen of a Friends episode. I wear these headphones to bed and roll in the bed after sleeping. I wake up with the headphones either wrapped around me or poking some body part from underneath. Even though I've abused them since I bought them, there is not even a small decrease in quality.None of the noise cancellation headphones cancel human-chatting sounds, which I need the most. Especially, when I'm in the office. So, in that department, I can't give an A+. However, I cannot give any headphone or headset A+. It cancels monotonic and machinery sounds very well but do not expect not hearing your annoying officemate or neighbor. It works very well on a plane or fans or a/c sounds.The thing is I'm not sensitive on the sounds. As a child, I recorded songs from the radio and sometimes I caught a song I loved at a very noisy station. Even then, I used to record the song on a cassette and listen to it over and over again. (Oops, age reveal) To me, if I don't hear statics and I can hear the instruments clear enough to separate which is which, I'm good to go. So, the sound quality is very good for me. Obviously, much better than the one-side-working JBL. So, if you're looking for a flac-quality sound, this may not be it. Also, this may be it. I really don't know much about sound quality. I only realize it when it's bad. I don't have much of a spectrum on the good.For calls, if I'm inside, I had no problems but if I was outside, the microphone picked up the ambient sound and I had to get the microphone closer to my mouth to be understood. The hearing section wasn't affected by being in or out, but the microphone did.I had no problems with jogging with them. They didn't fall off. Maybe it's about ear shape. The default cushions fit me, and sometimes they don't and hurt. Maybe changing the cushions will enable/disable falling off.There are better headphones I believe but for this price range, it has a great quality/price ratio, If these ones ever break down, I'll buy them again.