Honestly my Skullcandy Smokin Buds were $20 and I can't imagine needing better sound quality or battery life. I've had them 6 months and expect at least another year or two of life out of them easily, assuming I don't lose one in the toilet or laundry.
Do NOT get Sennheiser Momentum earbuds. They're extremely high-quality sound for wireless earbuds, but they're known for breaking/falling apart within months. Both the TW3 and the newer TW4. Sennheiser acknowledged the build quality issues a while back, but they're not going to be changing anything any time soon.
You could probably find Samsung Galaxy Buds2 for under $100, or Buds2 Pro for around $100, if you want wireless ones.
Bose QC earbuds are also pretty good.
The Technics EAH-AZ80 are probably the best wireless ones sound-quality wise that won't die immediately, but you'll probably have a hard time finding them for $200 or less.
For wired earbuds, you might be able to find the Moondrop Blessing 2/2 Dusk/3 for $200-250.
The Linsoul 7Hz Timeless are good quality wired earbuds and they're $200-220. The 7Hz Timeless AE are better overall and are found around $220-260.
For wired options under $200, your best bets are probably Letshuoer S12 ($110) or Letshuoer S12 Pro ($135). The Moondrop Kato ($190) might work for you too but it might not.
I honestly don't see the point in getting wired earbuds though, it's the worst of both worlds – the sound doesn't even come close to being as good as that of wired headphones which cost significantly less, and the wires are incredibly annoying and get caught on random stuff. You can regularly find Sennheiser HD 560S for $70-120 and HD 6XX & HD 600 for $150-200 each, or DT 770 Pro for $100-150, and use that for your audiophile needs. And those, unlike earbuds, will stay like brand new for decades if treated properly (unless you're very unlucky and get a poorly constructed one). And probably get a pair of wireless earbuds with good ANC (the Bose QC line or Samsung Galaxy Buds line would probably be the best in that department) to use for convenience purposes as well.
I have a pair of Jabra Elite 4 Active. $80 and the audio quality is good, battery life is good, USB-C charging, no repairability(kind of a dream for earbuds), and the ambient noise cancelling is good except in wind(gets distorted), the passthrough is good as well. The interface for single or dual earbuds works for my needs and the equalizer is adequately tunable to suit my needs. They aren't an audiophile's dream, but wireless earbuds aren't what an audiophile needs.
I have had them over a year and they have absolutely met my needs for wireless earbuds. I would only replace them for better audio quality(buds always lack a clean bass), but the jump in price for better audio does not make sense to me. The price v performance is great and I feel that spending more gets into diminishing returns for the category.
If you want better, you want headphones and not earbuds or have money to burn.
You can get Sennheiser PXC 550 on the cheap nowadays. Great sound quality for the money, noise cancelling second only to bose, above average build quality and actually comfortable. I've taken mine all over the world and they still look new.
When they finally do give up on you, check out Thorogood’s wedgesole Boots. They’re even higher quality than setters, boot of choice for all the heavy industrial goons I work with. Union made in the USA.
Definitely different strokes for different folks. I suffered for two years in Carolinas, in extreme foot and ankle pain every day until I broke down and got my Thorogood. Better you than me pal 😅
Forgive me is im offering an alternative rather than answering your question but I find its better to have the desk always at standing height and getting an ergonomic drafting height stool for when you want to sit.
we had this setup at a place i did pair programming and it was excellent. Big tall comfy adjustable captains chairs with adjustable standing desks so two people could work and each could stand or sit as they liked. Of all the methods we tried this was the clear winner. It's way easier to stand from the stools too so you end up standing a lot more.
Thank you for all your advice!
After digesting just about every Thinkpad T and X model I think I'm going to settle for a T440p as my main work machine and a X220/X230 (with keyboard swap) as an ultra portable. Just waiting for the right deals on used thinkpads in my country.
I have a framework laptop which is built around repairability, and for I/O they have swappable ports where you can choose whatever I/O you want (I have 2 usb-c ports, an HDMI, and 1 usb-a, which is all I ever use at once anyway). The 13 inch model I have only has 4 of these ports though, while the 16 inch has 6 I believe.
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