I've seen that isolation word thrown around this board since 2011.
And i don't know what kind of ears you need to get it.
I fiddle with the ones i had, push them in until i got a good seal and you know what. My ears ached after an hour. And no way the seal remains out and about with head shaking around.
After 3 pairs that came with my Senns, i sprung for some comply tips.
Heh, tried that and then i discovered what 'great isolation' means.
Comfortable for hours unlike stock but comes with an expiry date on the tips which are not cheap.
Tell me about it
I have never been comfortable with IEMs
I have gone through plenty but eventually end up going to regular non IEM buds
My thoughts on the stuff I gave gone through in the last couple of years
Airpods
Daily drivers - Love them for the
- comfort (this is really really important to me, it doesn't hurt my canals like IEMs and I can comfortably use them for hours)
- Call quality is excellent (extremely important to me - I take a lot of work calls at home - I can get on a super important client call with no worries about BG noise etc with them)
- The SQ is acceptably good
- Flipping between devices is not a game of guessing which device it actually connected to when you switch it on
On the flip side, they are no good when in a noisy environment like a flight- too much background noise comes in
Plantronics Backbeat Go3
My 2nd fav
Very comfortable for an IEM (though not as comfy as airpods- instead of flushing tight against the canal, it uses a rubber tip pressing against your upper ear to get a tight fit)
Excellent SQ - probably the best of the lot I have
Call quality is acceptable though not as good as airpods
On the flip side, it is not true wireless although the connecting wires are rather unobtrusive
Anker Sound Core Liberty -
Like it as it came cheap and is really good for the price
On the flip side, The mids are weak.. call quality is poor
Gets uncomfortable within 30 minutes or so although I think it‘s an isolated issue with me more than anything else
Jabra Elite 65t -
Sold off now - Liked it for the decent SQ
hated it for the poor call quality (at the receiver end- gone through 2 of them and the microphone/noise cancellation is terrible)
Gets uncomfortable after an hour or so
Soundsport Free
Sold off now
The SQ was good and the fit was more comfy than the Jabra.
I found a ready buyer hence sold it as I preferred the comfort of the AP over this.
Hard to say if the SQ of the Plantronics is better or this as I didn't have them at the same time.
My biggest bugbear with all BT/TWS headphones (other than AirPods) is this
In my use case, I need them linked to multiple devices and need the ability to flip between them as needed
With all BT sets, you need to disconnect from the device it was last connected to before connecting to the one you want to.
Half the time I don't remember what device it connected to last so I need to go on a wild goose chase checking the BT settings on all devices till I find the culprit.
The Jabra can do two but good luck if the current device is the 3rd one in sequence
With the AP, I don't need to do that as it will actively disconnect from the current device if you ask another paired device to connect to it
This may seem like a small thing but makes a huge usability difference