Item — HN Reader

Hard disagree on 6.

I bought my first pair of AirPod Pros a few weeks ago after being a diehard EarPods users for a nearly decade. I still use my EarPods while biking, but now use the the AirPods for everything else.

Obviously, they can't compete on features like ANC, but I think the EarPods sound quality is superior and the controller is more reliable than using "Hey Siri" on the AirPods. Also, I guess we have different ear canals, because neither set falls out of my ears.

Plus, EarPods are freaking indestructible. Mine look like hell, have been through hundreds of hours-long summer rides in high humidity, soaked in sweat and just as many winter rides in subfreezing temperatures, and they are still going strong. No matter how well I take care of my AirPods (which cost 10X the price), I can only expect to get two or three years out of them.

The biggest problem of EarPods is that when it doesn't fit the ear canal, it *really* doesn't fit. There's no way to sort of make it stay inside; it just slides out like a skateboard. I have such ears, and earpods are simply useless to me.

The cable is also quite fragile in my experience. The material gets sticky after a few years and it sometimes frays.

On the other hand, I have a pair of UE that has gone through washing machine and still going strong after 7 years.

Agree on EarPods being indestructible. I have a few very old pairs still working. Until I got the AirPods I always used the EarPod style headphones (and hated in ears). Maybe I've got used to that and prefer it now and that's distorting my opinion on the EarPods a bit. I was genuinely surprised at the 'lower' (to my ears) quality when I started using them again. It was unexpected.