Review on Wired Half-in-Ear Earphone with Microphone & Inline Controls for Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops - Enhanced Stereo Sound & Hands-Free Calling by Nathan Jones

Background: I listen to music at the gym for 45-120 minutes 6 days a week. I bought a Vaas Morph (probably a brand you've never heard of) in exactly this shape 4.5 years ago because I was tired of strapping my iPhone to my shoulder and always having my gym bag with me. I liked it so much that I bought a second one so I can take both with me and then switch between them when the battery dies. Two years passed and one of them died. I tried to find another one but to no avail. I bought Avantree Clipper and Noisehush which again have the same shape. The clipper sounded way better than any of its kind but it was quite brittle and the clip broke within 6 months and then the whole thing exploded (maybe a charge fell on it) after about a month. Noisehush just stopped working last week. So I decided to try one of them. Looking at the list, it is not initially noticeable that the black differs from them not only in color, but also in the "inner workings”. It has a better BT chip (one that supports AAC, which is pretty rare) and a slightly bigger battery. I've only been using it for a week, so I can't comment on durability. If/when this dies I will update the review to reflect this if still available. But for now all you know is that the initial charge has taken a week (about 8.5 hours) so far (longer than any of my others) and their sound is at least on par with the Clipper, if not better. (That means it's the best I've ever used in terms of audio quality.) Now, this isn't a W1/Airpod experience when it comes to BT connectivity. When I move more than 20 feet from my bag with my iPhone X (in a VERY noisy electronic environment where LOTS of people use BT headsets) it stutters - honestly worse than some others I've used - and needs it more time to recover -connect and play again. But when I got back to about 10 feet it was rock solid. Also, there seems to be an issue between the songs cutting off the first second or something. I don't know why it is, but it tends to happen. But now I've gotten used to it. Regardless, chances are I'll buy another one if it lasts another month or so (or sooner if my old morph dies first). Miscellaneous. Other goodies: The headphone jack is on the opposite side from the other three shapes I've had. I think it's just something you have to get used to. I used the old ones with 2 different Skullcandy Fix headphones, both of which have since died. My current set is Westone Beta (High Adventure). The cable bothers me especially when doing squats and bench presses. Edit (December 2019): I bought the second one just after I posted above (partly because it went on sale). always fully charged) ever since. I'm obviously not particularly careful with my duffel bag because I broke one of them once. It's still fully functional as I just broke the bottom third of one of the clips. This means it just won't stick to my shirt and I have to be a little more careful with placement as the edges are sharp. But to be honest I don't really think about it. I now store them in a hard case when not in use to hopefully prevent further damage like this. At this point the battery life still seems to be what I'm hoping for. The sound is the same. I will say that the low battery warning and the point at which it turns off are generally identical - that is, it just turns off without warning. I'm not sure if that's any better or worse than the loud, annoying beeps that went off 5+ minutes before shutting down that other brands have. It's just different. But to be honest, otherwise no complaints. Things just fall into the background of my education, which is exactly what I want. Even if they die tomorrow, I'll think it's money well spent and buy two more.