Status Pro X GoldenSound Edition True Wireless Earbuds: Worth the Price Increase?

 

Status Pro X GoldenSound Review!

I was already a fan of the Status Pro X true wireless earbuds, and this collaboration with GoldenSound (another headphone and DAC reviewer) definitely piqued my interest. It’s the same triple driver hardware I already loved, but will this new tuning convince folks to spend more on a pair of earbuds?

Let’s chat!

Status Pro X (standard) on Amazon https://amzn.to/3TlD42L

More info on Status Pro X https://www.status.co/products/goldensound-pro-x

Cabled Audio Never Went Away: Hidizs ST2 Pro USB-C Earbuds

 

I'm a little late to reviewing the ST2 Pro, but listening to a cabled earbud with a built in USB DAC, I think it's important to remind people that cabled audio is in a really healthy place. Techies keep proclaiming Bluetooth earbuds the "winner", but the market for cabled headphones is still enormous.

Can we move more consumers up to nicer audio experiences?

More info on the ST2 Pro https://www.hidizs.net/products/hidizs-st2-nebula-2-in-1-high-performance-dac-usb-c-hifi-digital-in-ear-earphones

ST2 Pro on Amazon https://amzn.to/4fGktaO

Sony LinkBuds Clip: Do you NEED the best open earbuds?

 

Sony Linkbuds Clip Review! These are the best open ear buds I’ve ever used, but do you need the BEST at this price?

• Linkbuds Clip on Amazon https://amzn.to/48M4vre
• Linkbuds Clip on B&H https://bhpho.to/4uzPZvg
• Linkbuds Clip on BestBuy https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/VO6zoE

The BEST Bluetooth Earbuds of the Year in a NEW COLOR! Status Pro X Moonbeam!

 

Status Pro X new color! The Pro X are some of my favorite earbuds of the last year! Easily some of the best sounding BT earbuds you can buy! Now these awesome triple driver buds come in a new color! Here's a quick look at the MOONBEAM buds!

Status Pro X on Amazon https://amzn.to/4cJcCqV
Status Pro X Review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQzY4BhsbsE

Status Pro X Triple Driver True Wireless ANC Earbuds: The Best of 2025?

 

Status Pro X long term test drive!

Spending a few weeks with the new triple driver earbuds from Status. This is a REALLY fun sound for consumer buds, with solid ANC, and decent battery life.

I like this vibe a LOT, but there's one small issue for our hearing health...

SOUNDPEATS H3 Triple Driver Earbuds Review: THEY COST HOW MUCH?

 

Spending a little time with a fun bang for buck audio option! Soundpeats has a treat for audio fans, offering a triple driver earbud at a VERY competitive price. But what are the compromises here?

Soundpeats H3 on Amazon https://amzn.to/46wMGdO

More info https://soundpeats.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/soundpeats-h3

Edifier NeoBuds Planar Review: Sound Quality Stands Apart

NeoBuds Planar Review! 

I'm a NUT for that planar punch! I'm still concerned about the longevity of EXPENSIVE true wireless earbuds, but if we're going to take TWS more seriously, we need to see more options in the premium space. Sound quality doesn't necessarily improve with a more expensive earbud, but we should see competition that delivers more specific tuning and presentation. 

No one stumbles on Edifier by accident. This is something unique. 

NeoBuds Planar on Amazon https://amzn.to/42inmWQ

KZ Zenith IEM Earbud Review: KZ Tuning is Growing Up?

KZ Zenith Review! 

This brand helped introduce me to a whole world of cabled audio experiences. While I often hold them up as examples of the genre, I've kinda grown into preferring other solutions. The Zenith bring in some interesting new tech bits, and a four switch tuning feature, but most importantly, I think KZ is changing up how they tune their earbuds. 

A little. I think... 

OnePlus Buds Pro 3 Review: Absolute BANGERS!

OnePlus Buds Pro 3 review! 

Top tier earbuds. Full stop. These are feature complete, high quality audio gadgets, that go toe-to-toe with all the top consumer brands. They might COST less than AirPods, but don't think that means they're "less good". 

Here's a quick look! 

CCA Rhapsody Earbuds Review: A Tuning Gimmick?

 CCA Rhapsody Review! 

CCA delivers some fun experiments, often packing a crazy number of drivers in an earbud case. Rhapsody take this idea to another level, with hardware switches to TUNE all the drivers inside. Is this something folks are going to use? 

Let's take a look! 

Meze Alba IEM Review: Audiophile Comfort at a Lower Price

Meze Alba review! 

A gorgeous new IEM from Meze Audio, and it arrives at a LOWER price than their previous earbuds! Thankfully, it still comes beautifully accessorized. They look REAL nice, but how do they sound? 

Let's take a listen! 

soundcore AeroFit 2: HUGE Update! Better Fit for Open Earbuds!

Soundcore AeroFit 2 are here! 

I'm still not the biggest fan of open earbuds personally, but it's exciting to see more options in true wireless for EVERYONE to enjoy premium audio. I have a LOT of thoughts on what this means not just for entertainment, but also hearing health. 

Let's chat! 

Audio Guy Mailbag: A Question on Earbuds

This is a perfect follow up to my post about Dr. Kiki.

So earbuds are bad. Are headphones any better than earbuds?
-B.A.K.

I guess I should clarify. It's not that earbuds themsleves are bad for you, it's how we use them that's the problem.
In the past there has always been a limit to how much we can bombard our ears with directly. A tape would have to be flipped, a cd would be over in under an hour, double A batteries would run out, something would prevent you from being able to saturate your ears for too long. Now with mp3 players (with built in, all day lasting batteries) there's no reason not to soak your ears in sound all day and all night.

Earbuds (the cheap kind that normally come with mp3 players) SUCK for this kind use. They don't create ANY seal around the outside of the ear, so your music is competing with the noise in your environment. The only way to combat that is to turn the volume up higher. The louder the volume, the less time you have before you're doing subtle (but possibly permanent) damage to your hearing.

The alternative is to use ANYTHING with some kind of noise reduction. I like inner-aural earbuds (the kind with rubber or foam that go INSIDE your ear canal), but some people think they're uncomfortable.
You could also check out headphones that have active noise removal (but that might mean keeping some batteries on hand). Regardless, if you can strip out the noise of your surrounding environment, then you can listen to your music at a lower volume, without sacrificing the quality of music (in fact, it'll probably sound better for it), which should give you more listening time before you exhaust your ears.
Right now I use Sennheiser CX300's for listening to music, and Sennheiser HD25-1 II's for recording. I guess I'm just a Sennheiser kinda guy...

At the turn of the millenium, white earbuds were a fashion statement.
Now?
Toss em. They're crap.

someaudioguy some audio guy music recording voice over production voice acting demo adr dubbing headphones earbuds science health hearing

PopSiren's Dr. Kiki explains how earbuds work

So, you should REALLY be watching PopSiren. I think it's one of Revision3's most ambitious shows yet (and Heather Frank is pretty bad ass). The show, hosted by Sarah Lane and Jessica Corbin, covers all manner of subjects from lifehacking to DIY, and Dr. Kiki covers a lot of "Mr. Wizard"- like topics (like making fire dance with sound waves).

In their most recent episode Dr. Kiki demonstrated how earbud headphones work. Being the A/V nerd that I am, how could I NOT be totally stoked. I've written about earbuds before, and was really happy to hear Dr. Kiki also warn her audience about the possible hearing damage associated with cheap earbuds.

Here's Episode 6 of PopSiren, but you should really subscribe to this show with something like Miro.
Enjoy!

someaudioguy some audio guy music voice over hearing headphones recording equipment voice acting demo production adr dubbing

Apple forcing us to turn down the volume?

So, this story isn't new, been floating around teh intarwebs since before Xmas (and I've written about this before), but I still think it's worth taking a quick look at.
The Telegraph reported on Dec 23rd, that Apple has filed a patent that would allow future iPods to calculate how long you've been listening to music, at what volume you've been listening, and would gradually turn down the volume on you. This is supposed to be a big magnanimous gesture on Apple's part, as people can plug into music all day long thanks to huge amounts of storage available. As hearing loss can be a gradual event, most people might not even know they're doing damage.
This idea sounds great in theory (like a rev limiter on car helps save fuel and forces you to not do something too stupid), but I see some huge flaws.

First off, will this be a feature we can turn off? It sounds like a silly question at first, but Apple has shown a tendency (as do a lot of tech companies) towards locking consumers into doing things their way because they "know better" (iPhone I'm looking at you). If Mommies and Daddies get concerned about little Timmy's Nano, Jobs & Co could make this a new locked in "feature" to assuage concerns, or make it painfully difficult to disable.
Why would I want to turn it off? Well the majority of the time I listen to my iPod it's usually plugged into speakers of some kind. Also I hate proprietary docks and connectors, so I plug my Nano in using the headphone jack. In my car I have a line in, and at home my stereo has an "MP3 port" (which is just a fancy way of saying "line in"). In both cases I'll jack the Nano to about 80% volume and then control the actual speaker output via the stereo. If this system is monitoring the ipods output it's going to think I'm blasting my ears for hours at a time. I don't want to be fighting my MP3 player while driving...

Secondly, this issue with people listening to music too loud for too long is mostly Apple's fault at this point. A lot of people credit the success of the ipod with the distinctive design of the white earbuds. Well guess what? Those are HORRIBLE for your ears! They don't create any seal around the ear's opening, so your music is constantly having to compete with the sounds around you. The louder the noise, the louder you'll have to turn up your music. The ipod is a fantastic DAP. The headphones included are the worst dime store crap you could put in your ears.
If Apple really cared about protecting people's hearing, they would drop these headphones immediately, or would include an accessory like the Griffin Ear Jams to help with the problem. Even the Zune includes "premium" headphones which help with noise cancellation, and should allow people to enjoy music at lower volume.

When I do listen to Nano with headphones, it's either on Sony EX51's (pictured) or Sennheiser cx300's. Even when working out, I have a hard time listening above 50% volume, which according to the Telegraph (sidebar), is about as noisy as a loud restaurant or office building, and shouldn't damage the ears for about 24 hours of listening. That's a lot of music...



Check out the article @ The Telegraph. It is an interesting read, though I really think Apple might be missing the point.

Ask Engadget - Best Earbuds?

I really like the "Ask Engadget" posts. They open the comments to the community to try and get advice on a particular topic. This one is all about music earbuds, and is right up my alley.

First off if you're still rocking the white buds that came with your ipod, STOP IT! The headphones that come with most MP3 players are REALLY BAD FOR YOU!

I'm talking about the really-cheapy-hard-plastic-rest-just-on-the-outside-of-your-ear-phones. The problem with these earbuds is they don't create a very good seal around your ear. That means a LOT of sound from the outside world can leak in. The more outside sound that leaks in, the louder you have to play music to rise above the extra noise. The louder you have to play music, the faster your ears get tired.
Some experts even believe that hearing loss starts after an hour of listening on buds, so the problem will compound as you have to keep jacking the volume as your ears tire and wear out.

So how do we fix this issue? We reduce the noise around you!

Recently there have been huge advances in consumer noise reduction technologies, and you can pick between Active and Passive reduction.


Active reduction headphones have a microphone built into them that "listens" to the world around you, and then "removes" the noises you don't want to hear.

Passive reduction is just that, passive. It works by creating a better seal around your ear to physically stop sounds from entering your ear. Either way, there's less competition for your ears, less crap for your ears to filter, and you can turn down the volume while having a better listening experience.

Both active and passive have their pros and cons. Active needs power, and that means a battery bulge somewhere. Active also wont block single noises, just constant noises (airplane engines, traffic noise). This can actually be good as you should be able to carry a conversation with little effort, or you should be able to hear an alert if your walking around (like a horn honk from a car about to run you over).
Passive on the other hand blocks EVERYTHING. It's a hard adjustment for some, as the world around you will sound like you're underwater.

Personally I actually prefer Passive, just because of the battery issue, and I like the thicker bass that usually comes with having your ear closed up, though some people find it muddy. Right now I'm rocking a pair of Sennheiser CX300's, which were a great buy at $45.

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