Earbuds & In-Ear Headphones

Only listing here to state IPX8

TOZO NC9

Stated playtime

60 hours

Noise canceling

Hybrid ANC stated

Sixty hours, hybrid active noise canceling, an LED display on the case, six mics, IPX8, Bluetooth 5.3 and 32 EQs in the app. The sixty is almost certainly buds plus case together, and the listing does not split it, which is the single most common gap in this whole category. Noise canceling is a listed feature of the product and nothing more than that.

Why that badge
Twelve earbud listings. IPX8 appears in one of them, this one.

Only case here stated to do a second job

Soundcore P30i by Anker

Stated playtime

45 hours

Noise canceling

Stated

Forty-five hours playtime, noise canceling, a case that doubles as a phone stand, IP54 and Bluetooth 5.4. The case being furniture is a genuinely unusual entry in a spec list. The 45 hours is a total and the listing does not say how much of it lives in the buds.

Why that badge
A 2-in-1 case and phone stand. One listing in this category states a second function for the case, this one.

Same 60 hours, half the feature list

TAGRY Wireless Earbuds

Stated playtime

60 hours

Ingress class

IPX5

Sixty hours playback, an LED power display, a wireless charging case and IPX5. The same headline number as the NC9 with a much shorter feature list under it, which is a good demonstration that the number on the front of an earbud box is a property of the case, not of the thing in your ear.

Why that badge
Stated 60 hours, matching one other listing here, with four stated features against that one’s seven.

Noise canceling stated for the mic only

Wireless Earbuds with LED Display

Stated playtime

36 hours

Ingress class

IP7 as printed

Thirty-six hours, Bluetooth 5.4, a noise canceling mic, an LED display and IP7. Note that the noise canceling here is stated for the mic, which is about what the person on the other end of a call hears, not about what you hear. Those are two different features that share three words.

Why that badge
The listing scopes its noise canceling claim to the mic. The only listing here that does so.

Only listing here to state dual connect

JLab Go Air Pop+

Stated playtime

35 hours

Ingress class

Not stated

Thirty-five hours playtime, a USB-C charging case, dual connect and EQ3 sound. EQ3 is stated without an app attached, which in practice means the sound presets live on the buds themselves. That is a small thing that matters five years from now, when the app has been retired and the buds still work.

Why that badge
The phrase dual connect appears in one earbud listing in this category, this one.

Lowest stated total among true wireless here

Soundcore P20i by Anker

Stated playtime

30 hours

Ingress class

Stated as water resistant, no class

Thirty hours playtime, Bluetooth 5.3, water resistance, two mics and 22 preset EQs. The water resistance here is stated as a phrase rather than a class, which is the difference between a claim you can check and a claim you cannot. Everything else on the list is a countable number.

Why that badge
Stated 30 hours. The lowest figure stated by any true wireless listing in this category, and 30 appears once.

Names a chip, states no hours

Apple AirPods 4

Stated playtime

Not stated

Ingress class

Stated as sweat and water resistant, no class

Personalized spatial audio, an H2 chip, sweat and water resistance, and a USB-C charging case. No playtime figure appears in the listing at all, which is genuinely unusual in a category where the hour count is normally the headline. The chip is named, the hours are not.

Why that badge
The only listing in this category to name a silicon chip, and one of six here with no playtime figure.

App presets stated, hours not

TOZO A1

Stated playtime

Not stated

Ingress class

IPX5

Bluetooth 5.3, a lightweight in-ear fit, IPX5, two mics and 32 EQs via app. Same 32 presets as the NC9 and the same app behind them, without a playtime figure to go with it. When the presets need an app and the hours are missing, the listing has told you about the software and skipped the hardware.

Why that badge
The listing states 32 app EQs and no playtime figure. Both checked against the listing text.

Bluetooth version is the only number stated

kurdene Wireless Earbuds

Stated playtime

Not stated

Ingress class

Not stated

Bluetooth 5.3, a lightweight fit, touch control and built-in mics. Four items, none of them a number except the Bluetooth version. This is what a listing looks like when the hours were not the selling point, and it is worth seeing next to the sixty-hour listings on the same page.

Why that badge
One earbud listing here whose only numeric specification is the Bluetooth version. This one.

Sold for workouts, no water class stated

JLab Go Sport+

Stated playtime

Not stated

Ingress class

Not stated

True wireless workout earbuds with clear calling. That is the entire listing. There is no hour figure, no water class, no Bluetooth version and no app. If you are going to compare stated runtimes across a category, this is the entry that shows you what "not stated" actually looks like.

Why that badge
The listing names workouts as the use and states no ingress class. The only workout-named listing here without one.

No battery, so no runtime to state

Apple EarPods with Lightning Connector

Wired earbuds with a built-in remote for music, calls and volume. There is no runtime figure because there is no battery, and that is the whole reason this subgroup exists on the page. A wired pair has a stated runtime of not applicable, permanently, which is a different thing from a stated runtime that is missing.

Why that badge
A wired listing with no cell in the product. One of two such listings in this category.

Wired, with a mic and no remote stated

Sony MDREX15AP In-Ear Headphones

Wired in-ear headphones with a microphone. This is the oldest product code in the catalog and the listing has the fewest moving parts of anything here. No charge cycles, no app, no firmware, no fee, and no number to compare against anything.

Why that badge
Two wired listings here. The other states a built-in remote. This one states a microphone and nothing else.