Echo Buds (1st Gen) ANR True Wireless Earbuds

I received these as a Christmas gift from my son (thank you Amazon Wish List). I had noted the somewhat mediocre rating which was 3.5 stars just before Christmas 2019. I was prepared to try them, be unimpressed, and exchange them for the Bose or Sony versions. The deep Alexa integration interested me so I gave them a try. I was immediately impressed with the sound quality. They can sound a little tinny if not fitted properly, but the fitment software built into the Alexa app makes matching the right size tips and seating them in your ear very easy - and then performs a quick test measuring sound leak using external mics. When you score full bars you're good to go. At this point I will issue a bit of a warning. If you've taken the time to use the app and test each size of ear tip, your ear canal will be nicely sealed with little to no sound/air bleeding out of gaps. If you crank up the tunes on your new earbuds as is natural, your ears won't be accustomed to the 'efficiency' and your ear drums will complain they've been pounded too hard. They'll need a few days rest. Before I move on to the whiz-bang Alexa stuff I want to circle back to why I think these suffer from an admittedly sucky rating. I believe it's because most of the time we jam our new earbuds in our head holes and get about living. These you want to sit down, become familiar with the app, the tips, and the fitting and testing regimen, and then take the time necessary to make sure they fit well so they can sound their best. The difference in sound quality between my initial trying them out period, and the now they're dialed in period is huge, and well worth the 20-30 minutes I spent. The Alexa integration is super deep and smooth. Since they both came out I've had a Google Home next to my Amazon Echo because they each had certain strengths. Now I've found that Alexa has closed the gap and in many cases moved far ahead of Google to the point that I rarely if ever use the Home. The Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology is not as pronounced (severe) as the Bose Cancelling Technology which to my mind is good. I find the ANR perfect for everyday life. Frankly I'll probably use over the ear Bose when I fly though; they're hard to beat in that environment. I'm finding battery life as specified. I didn't get one seated in the charger quite right once and it didn't charge. That was due to the ear wing accessory I had attached. They're little rubber things that attach to your earbud and have a nub that fits in the fold of your ear to keep it snug. I didn't think I'd use them but the prospect of losing one of these bothers me and the Square Trade Plan no longer covers loss, so ear wings it is. If you're going to pull them out of the case and stuff them in your ears, the 3.5 is probably fair. If you take the time and use the software and fit the tips to your ears they deserve a 5 for sure. They're almost certainly made by Bose, or at least by the people that manufacture for Bose. Amazon doesn't have their own earbud factory. The Bose calculation was probably simple; we can license to Amazon for millions, or manufacture for Amazon for hundreds of millions. CONS: 1. Bigger than the less smart Chinese earbuds. 2. I don't use them at home as much as I thought I would. In my case I have Echoes in every room so when I say something to my earbuds, a room unit answers. 3. I'm the only one in my family that thinks they're cool.

I've had the Echo Buds for several weeks now. I pre-ordered them the second I saw the price tag and that they had noise "reduction". When I got them there was an adjustment period where I had to try a few different tips before they really started working well, but after a week or so I had them functioning at peak performance. Here is the bottom line: They are fantastic. They are the best set of headphones I've ever owned. They are so far and away awesome that I'd buy them again in a heartbeat if I lose this pair or they break for some reason. I 100% recommend these headphones. Now that I've said that, I've been kind of dreading writing this review because of the mediocre reception these earbuds seem to have had. I have seen a lot of people complaining about their Echo Buds and I'm not sure why, to be honest. It sounds like people had a lot of expectations for these earbuds that aren't being met. But I'm not sure if it is because they have a different ear shape, or if their phone isn't compatible.... It is confusing to me really. So I'll just give my experience. Here are some things I love: 1.) Noise cancellation works fantastic. It is as good as my QC35s (gen 1). But they are 1/5th the size. 2.) Sound quality is great. It took some effort to get a good seal. Once I found the right tip (I was a large), they sealed and work great. 3.) They are comfortable for me. I don't use the wings and they mostly stay in tight. I might add the wings, though, and see if that improves them staying in my ears over extended usage. After about 20 minutes I find myself pressing them back in. 4.) They hot swap between devices. I have a desktop, three laptops, and two phones. Most bluetooth devices will attempt to connect to two devices. Most TWS earbuds will only connect to one. These make it super easy to connect to multiple devices without trouble. 5.) The gestures work well (not perfect but work well). Being able to doubletap to disable noise cancellation is great. Cons: To be honest, I really don't have too many complaints about these. I ended up disabling Alexa on them because I don't really use Alexa in general. I think the batterylife improved once I disabled it so I haven't missed Alexa. Phone call audio is.....ok. I can hear people just fine, but they sometimes have trouble hearing me. They work fine for calls, but I sometimes have to speak up. Another possible con, I've noticed the uneven battery drain that others have reported. However, the bud that is draining faster is still lasting as long as promised by Amazon so I can't really complain. The longest I've used these has been around 5 hours on a plane flight and they were still at 30% when I got off the flight. So doing quite well. The final con is that the Alexa app ran like crap on my LG V30. I have no idea why. It works fine on my new Oneplus 7T Pro. I think that was an issue with my phone more than Alexa. So I'm just going to ignore that. It didn't really bother using the buds, though. They worked fine. But the app would run very slow on that phone. I don't use Alexa, though. So YMMV. Overall impressions: I don't use headphones a lot..... At least I didn't before I owned these. Turns out the primary issue with me using headphones is that I just didn't have them on my person when I would like to use them. These headphones now live in my pants pocket and I use them several times a day. The noise cancellation is great for things like drowning out traffic sounds while waiting to get kids from the bus, or filtering out the fan noise from my crazy loud bathroom fan. They not only have been good headphones, but they have actually fundamentally changed how I interact with headphones. I use them all the time now and highly recommend. They are fantastic. So chalk up another positive review. Good job Amazon!

Updated: In my earlier review of the new Echo Buds (using a Note 8 Android phone) I had the following concerns/problems with my new Buds: 1) PLEASE give me a way to boost the volume... a lot !! (I was never able to get the sound louder than a whisper). 2) Give me a reliable way to stay connected when I go outside walking and move in and out of my WiFi connection. (I was always losing connectivity and verbal commands would fail). 3) Give me a reliable way to verbally control Alexa via the buds... it's just not working at the moment. (Alexa would almost never respond to verbal commands). 4) Finally, allow me to change the Wake Word. (my 18 other Alexa devices would respond to "Alexa"... but never the buds. Perhaps a different wake word would help?) Fortunately "J" at Amazon tech support was "Johnny On The Spot". He saw my inital review and then repeatedly attempted to reach me to help solve my problems. Since that time we have talked many times and tried many experiments. Here is what we've tried and leaned: 1) The Tried & True first tech support "fix" is simply to do a factory reset of the offending device. We did just that and VIOLA!... everything was fixed! Crystal clear sound... nice and loud... Alexa was responsive... I could navigate forward and backward in my Audible book... call up the News... check the weather... you name it... all was great! Event the handoff between house WiFi and a cellular connection when out walking was completely transparent with no loss of connectivity or verbal control. 2) Then I woke up the next day and Alexa was "brain dead" again! Absolutely no response... no "I hear you" chime... nothing! The Alexa app wouldn't even self-load when I put the Buds in my ears. I could occasionally get her to respond if I opened up the charger box and waited until the green light went out. But then when I'd close the box and put it in my pocket Alexa would disappear again. Sometimes I could get her to surface if I pulled down my status shade on the phone app home page and clicked on the Audible mini-player. She would then respond if I asked her to skip forward 30 seconds, or stop, etc., but if I turned off the screen and put my phone in my pocket she would go unresponsive. Sometimes I could get her to reawaken if I went into the "Devices" list and actually opened up the "Echo Buds" settings page. The good news was that my volume was still nice and high and I still had great "WiFi-to-Cell" handoffs... just unreliable verbal control. Yea! Problems #1 and #2 solved! 3) NOT !!! I'm out walking with the Echo Buds on... listening to my Audible book... started manually... and "J" at Amazon Tech Support calls my phone... and Alexa fails me... no way to verbally answer the incoming phone call! So I quickly attempt the "double-tap" method of answering a call... and I fumble number of taps... losing the call. Fortunately "J" is persistent and calls back a second time. This time I'm forced to manually answer the call using the Alexa app on my phone... which finally connects my call... clumsy! However, once connected, the phone call sounds great... but why am I unable to consistently use the "answer call" verbal method? To help prevent my chronic loss of Alexa voice command focus J has me go into my Samsung Note 8 Phone Settings... and down to "Device Care"... and then to "Battery" and finally to "Power Mode"... where we bumped things up to "High Performance"... perhaps the slower system polling frequency was not allowing the Alexa app to "listen" close enough for the wake word? When she WAS responding she would often take a long time to respond with her "I'm listening chime". We'll see how it works out. "J" hangs up and I do a phone reboot to lock in the new "High Performance" setting and everything is working properly... most notibly I'm pleased to report that if the Echo Buds are "on" and in my ears following a reboot the Alexa app will self-start, and connect via Bluetooth, to the Buds. Great... right? Not so great... Alexa now listens and responds to verbal commands with the "I hear you" chime... but she doesn't actually DO anything! Nothing!! What the...!!! So next "J" suggests that I create a new "Alexa Voice Profile"... perhaps she's just not recognizing my voice properly... I mean she's listening now via the buds instead of the phone so the sound may no longer be optimized for recognition?? To do this I open my Alexa app and click on the hamburger button (3 lines in the upper left corner) and select "Settings" and then "Your Profile". If you already have a voice profile just hit "Manage" and delete the old one. You will then be able to read back the 4 voice sampling sentences and create a new, "Bud" optimized, voice profile. "Alright", I say... now I'm in business... NOT !! She STILL can't hear me! Fast Forward 60 days (It's now March 20, 2020): 1) I've replaced my original set of buds... "Thanks Amazon, as always you rock in the returns area!" 2) I've bumped my my Internet bandwidth from 9 MBPS to 25 MBPS. 3) I've manually locked all of my WiFi channels (both 2.4 and 5.0) onto unoccupied channels to avoid interference. RESULTS: When the buds are working they sound AWESOME! When it's windy and I'm out walking the noise reduction works PERFECTLY!! When I do manage to make or answer a phone call the call quality is EXCELLENT!!! IF Alexa is listening she does EVERYTHING I ask quickly and error free! However... 1) The sound quality is wonderful but, unfortunately, the volume is still MUCH too low. No "Hard Rocker" is going to be happy with this limited volume. And the volume still comes up FAR to low at boot up. If there are any other sounds at all in the area I can't hear any command responce chimes so I don't know if she's hearing my verbal commands... unless something actually happens (like I hear my Audible book actually starting) which is still unlikely unless I first give the command: "Alexa, volume 10" (100%). Yes, I DO first have my phone set to 100%. 2) Sometimes I still must step out onto the front porch to prevent other home-bound "Echo" devices from hearing my verbal commands and taking control of the action. The key word here is "sometimes". Why should there be ANY difference at all from one Echo Bud session to another within my house? I should be able to simply put on the buds... wait for the "I'm connected" chime... and then give a command... withOUT the nearest non-Echo-bud device responding instead. The microphones are mere inches away from my voice... the buds should win control every time! 3) IF I am able to get my Audible Book or music to play properly and I then go out to do yard work I'm doomed every time that I drift in and out of range of my home WiFi. Everything stops and I'm told that "Your device has lost it's connection. Try again later." To reconnect I'm forced to walk about a block away from my house (so my phone can switch to a cell source) or go back inside and reboot the buds so they can grab a solid WiFi signal. That will just not fly if I wish to listen while I mow my lawn this summer. The good news is that once I've locked my phone onto a cell source I can then return to the front yard WITHOUT the phone/buds losing the connection and stopping playback. So, I can get some yard work done after all although I might be using cell data as my feed source. I might want to check that one. 4) In all fairness this does appear to simply be a limitation of the technology... my Echo Auto also drops it's connection as I drive away from the house WiFi although since I'm traveling away faster the system seems to handle the WiFi-to-cell handoff much more quickly and so seems much less irritating as the music returns quickly. Bottom Line: - Am I happy with my Echo Buds? Yes. They can be problematic at times but I've learned to work with them and tolerate the glitches because I love messing with tech anyway and once I'm connected I'm VERY pleased with how the "Alexa" system and the sound quality works for me... still got a problem with low sound but the rest is fine. And, of course, I MUST give a big "Pat On The Back" to "J" Daniels at Amazon Tech Support. He certainly went the "extra kilometer" to help me get my buds figured out and keep me a happy Amazon Prime customer! No problem there "J"!!

After testing them the Amazon Echo Buds for nearly 2 weeks, here are my favorite and least favorite things about them. The Good: The Pairing For the initial setup, as soon as you open the case for the Echo Buds with the Alexa app open and bluetooth on, the headphones pair automatically. There's no need to put the headphones in any kind of "pairing mode" if you have the Alexa app, which is great. You go from opening the packaging to up and running in less than 10 seconds. Once you've connected, there's a great demonstration video inside the Alexa app, showing how the Buds fit and what you can do with them. It's quick, but definitely worth watching to get an overall idea of how to use them. This process is extremely painless and works really well. Active Noise Cancelling There are two kinds of noise cancelling headphones typically provide - passive or active. Passive noise cancelling is just the headset muffling sound through rubber tips in an in-ear design or padding in an over-the-ear design. Essentially, the headset acts like an earplug or earmuff. Active noise cancellation is when a microphone in the headphones monitor environment noise and create anti-noise that's mixed in with audio to cancel noise. I commute on the train and the subway every day, so headphones are essential. The train is fairly quiet, but the subway can very loud, so the need to block out noise is important. Additionally, dealing with hearing people's conversations, gum chewing, or other noises can be challenging. Samsung's Galaxy Buds have passive noise cancelling, which is ok, but far from ideal. Amazon's Echo Buds have Bose Active Noise Reduction built-in, which is active noise cancelling that provides a sound at a similar frequency to block out low level noise. Frankly, this is fantastic and the main selling point of these earbuds. The difference when the noise cancellation is active is extremely noticeable, and makes for a much better commute. I still hear people's voices and gum chewing, but those noises are significantly muted. When I turn on some white noise, I can barely hear anything else. Alexa The main point of the earbuds is to have access to Alexa at all times, which is a wonderful idea. With the earbuds in my ears, I can summon Alexa at anytime, hands-free.. If I'm walking and my phone is in my pocket, I can say "Alexa, play my news" or "Alexa, play my music" and the commands are executed. Even if I'm asking in earshot of my other Echo units, the other Echo units know not to listen to the command, and let the Echo Buds handle the request. This works extremely well. Once you get used to talking to Alexa whatever you're doing, your phone becomes less important. You can easily ask the time, the weather, or where your spouse is. You can ask for your favorite song or playlist. You can ask for the lights at home to be turned on. Whatever you can do with your Amazon Echo units at home or your Alexa app, you can do with the Echo Buds. Passthrough mode One feature that the Echo Buds have, passthrough mode, is an interesting concept - it allows you to hear some outside noises, based on your preference. Inside the Alexa app settings, you can adjust the level of passthrough mode, allowing more or less ambient noise through. I don't particularly see a need for this in my daily life, but you may use this feature. The bad: The major issue that I have is that it's hard to figure out what volume of my voice to use to summon Alexa, and it's unclear what to do when she doesn't respond. When I'm walking around Manhattan and I say "Alexa, play Taylor Swift", and she doesn't respond - I have no idea why not. Was I not loud enough? Did my headset become disconnected? Did I lose signal? In an attempt to get Alexa to hear me, I repeat my request louder and louder, until I eventually give up and pull out my phone to put some music on like a normal person. The problem I have with Alexa in the Echo Buds is that it's not very well integrated into my phone. I can ask Alexa to play music - which will stream from Amazon or Spotify - but my local library on my phone is off limits. I can ask Alexa to raise or lower the volume of my phone, but that's the only request I can make about my phone. My Galaxy Buds would say what app received a notification - I would hear "Messages" or "email from so-and-so", saving me from digging out my phone. The Alexa Buds do nothing when I get a notification. Battery Drain Since I've had the Echo Buds, I have noticed my phone being significantly hotter than normal, and the battery dying a lot sooner than it typically does. I dug into the settings of my phone to discover that the Amazon Alexa app is taking more battery than any other app on my phone, even when I'm at work and the Buds are in the case - when the Amazon Alexa app shouldn't be running at all. I did some investigative Googling, and read on some 12 month old threads that this is common with the Alexa app. I only noticed it since I got the Echo Buds, but your experience may vary. To address this, I removed the app and reinstalled it - but the problem persisted. Gestures To save you digging your phone out of your pocket or bag to adjust the music, the Echo Buds allow for taps - a double tap on the right earbud, for instance, will play or pause the music. Interesting, a long tap on the right earbud can activate Alexa while a long tap on the left earbud will active Google Assistant. This is a great concept, but I never seemed to be able to consistently tap the earbud to achieve the desired result. Tapping the earbud to figure out the right amount of force when it was deep in my ear was painful and when it didn't work, I just ended up frustrated. The charging case Upon receiving the Echo Buds, I noticed 2 things - first, the charging case is extremely large, and second, it charges via micro-USB. Since all my recently purchased devices have USB-C - including my phone, my tablet, my Galaxy Buds, and my Nintendo Switch - the decision to only have micro-USB confuses me. However, it seems most Amazon devices utilize micro-USB, so that may explain this decision. Who should buy these: If you're invested in the Echo ecosystem, like earbuds, will benefit from the Active Noise Cancelling, have large pockets and $139, I recommend the Echo Buds. I will be returning mine.

Overall impression: Very finicky charging. Every time I go to use them one or the other bud is at 0% charge. It causes the "convenience factor" to become a pain in the butt. The case is too small for reliably charging all but the smallest tips. First off, I find the wildly differing review comments amusing. Some hate these. Some love them, thus the 3.5 star overall score. I suspect those who are most critical fall into one or more of the following categories: * New to buds or Bluetooth technology - their expectations differ from reality concerning the technology -distance limitations of the BT signal, or the discomfort of something stuffed in their ear. * Lack of patience or knowledge in getting the proper bud tip fit and seal which drastically can affect sound balance, especially the bass. * The fairly tricky bud "touch" and "press" requirements to change settings. More on that below. Initial impressions I bought these from BB on 12/26/19 - easier to return in case I didn't like them. But I do so far. Pairing: I initially went to the Alexa app to pair. Despite 2 or 3 attempts, it timed out. If I read the directions, I would have gone to my Bluetooth on my Galaxy S9+ to pair, which it did in about 5 seconds. So, including my fumble, pairing took 2 minutes. Sound quality: Out of the box, it didn't have the bass and treble dimension I wanted (very personal decisions - varies with everyone). I initially tried the Alexa apps' 3-band eq, but that seems to have only a few dB change in either direction from neutral unless there is a multi-second lag from setting to result which I didn't wait for. Fortunately, my phone has a 9 band eq that I set as "Custom" in a "V" pattern. That gave me the presence and the bass kick I was looking for. FYI, I'm 73 and I'm quite certain I have a >25db loss above 3,000 Hz. But my point is, these buds are easily tunable to whatever eq you would like. Distortion was not discernable. After having read dozens of reviews of these buds, and comparing reviews of Galaxy Buds, Jabra, and a few others, the consensus was these had a "warmer" sound than the Galaxies, with some commenting they had "excessive bass" without eq'ing them. I did not experience excessive bass at all. In fact, I added bass. I didn't know I was a bass head, but I guess I might be. I didn't conduct the "Ear Tip Sizing Test" yet. But I'm sure I have a good seal, otherwise I wouldn't have the great bass thump that I now get. I'll update later after I perform that test. Alexa features: Alexa is fantastic on these, as is the mic pickup quality. Walking 50 yards from my car to the Walmart, with breezy conditions, I just above a whisper asked Alexa the weather and she responded. While in the car, I asked Alexa to turn on my Pandora Emmylou Harris channel and she did. Now that was impressive! I'll report other goodies over the next few days. BTW, the rating for Echo Buds on Amazon is deceiving. 3.5? You gotta be kidding. On the BB site, it gets 4.1. I would not be surprised if there was some competitive (Amazon competitors) hanky panky going on at the Amazon site. Update after running the "Ear Tip Sizing Test": I may not have had the best seal when I first listened -that's why I have to EQ the bass so drastically. Although I proved I can still get decent bass without the best seal. After running the test and assuring the best seal, the bass improved substantially to the point that I needed to tone down the 63, 125, and 250 Hz bands on my equalizer. I achieved what I consider excellent frequency balance with the following settings on my phone: (Hz/dB): 63/0; 125/-3; 250/-4; 500/-2; 1000/0; 2000/+4; 4,000/+5; 8000/+6; 16000/+8. Obviously, these settings are tailored to my own hearing quirks. However, I am familiar with and use other decent quality phones as a point of reference, including wired Sony MDR 7506 and wireless Sennheiser HDR 170. One other thing I noticed which may be unique to my Galaxy Android phone's EQ, I set the phone's 9 band custom EQ a certain way and the Alexa app's EQ a certain way. When the buds are activated, the phone's EQ changes from what I set to a composite of both the 3-band Alexa EQ and what I had set on the phone. Interesting. By the way, NO STATIC WHATSOEVER ON THESE Buds! When folks mention certain problems they have with these or any buds, it would be helpful to understand what their source device is and whether it is functioning properly and not just blame their troubles on the buds. There are a lot of moving parts in BT functionality, not to mention environmental factors. More updates: I couldn't get a reliable seal on my right ear with the largest ear tips. So I attached the "wings". Now my seal is more reliable. But I also sprang for the $7 to get foam ear tips https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071Z6J3XL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 because 1) I like to test and compare things, and 2) Foam is said to be easier to create a seal. They are also said to wear out (deteriorate) faster, but at my age that shouldn't matter. My car has BT that automatically links to my phone. So when I get into my car while listening to Pandora on the phone through the buds, the phone disconnects Pandora from the Buds. I have to reset. When I leave the car while listening to Pandora on the buds, Pandora gets disconnected. I have to reenable Pandora on the phone. I'm sure there is a way to overcome this with dual BT settings or something similar, but I haven't found it yet. Granted, these issues could be related more with my phone/car combination, so I am not holding this issue against the Echo Buds. Two days later - some issues: ISSUE ONE - SIZE OF EAR TIPS: First off, I am using the larger ear tip, WITH the wings. I could not get a reliable seal with just the ear tips without the wings. I could not get a seal AT ALL in my right ear. WITH the wings, I can get a reliable seal more often, but not reliably. And just a few minutes ago my left bud fell out while I was doing some yard work. I'm just glad I wasn't mowing or I'd have tiny specs of buds all over the lawn. So, my observation: Are these tiny buds with tiny ear tips designed for tiny kids? I understand old farts get bigger ears, but bigger ear canals, too? I don't think so. Especially since there are dozens if not hundreds of complaints about not getting a good seal. I have ordered foams that I hope will work better - but shouldn't AMAZON supply these to begin with? ISSUE TWO - TAPS AND PRESSES DO NOTHING: Taps and presses worked the first day. But no longer. I can make changes from the app, but not from the buds. I posed a question on the Amazon's Echo bud forum: If the Alexa app is open, and you tap one or the other bud to make a change, should you see that change reflected in the app? As a result of these two issues, I downgraded my rating from 5 to 4 stars. If issues persist, I will lower further and possibly return these and spring for either the Anker Pros or the Sony whatevers, even though lacking speaking to Alexa directly, and worse phone call quality in those. UPDATE regarding TAPS and PRESSES: Those of us who thought that a simple "tap" and a simple "press" would work were sorely frustrated. They don't. At least not for my buds, unless quality control differences allow drastically different sensitivities among buds. This is what I found works reliably and best for me: For the required "double tap": Instead of double "pressing" I do quick downward flicks against the surface of the bud with my finger. This works every time. And instead of just a simple long press, I hold the front of the bud with my finger (keeps some pressure off the ear) and depress the center of the bud for three seconds with my thumb -sort of like a "pinch." This now works every time. UPDATE REGARDING BUD TIPS: It is still touch and go to get the best seal with the stock tips. I did purchase and try New Bee memory foam tips. I don't find them any better than stock tips. And the medium and large don't fit in the charging case without excessive squeezing and cramming - not something I want to do. I may try SpinFit CP360 tips which SpinFit said will work well with Echo buds. https://www.amazon.com/SpinFit-CP360-Patented-Silicone-Replacement/dp/B07PJNHM3Z/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=77927998676116&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=spinfit+cp360&qid=1577675356&sr=8-1

I'm not an elitist on earbuds at all, but I left the buying to my husband and he got me these as a Christmas present (it was going to be these or the Samsung ones, but he ultimately went with these because he knows I would appreciate the Alexa features in them) and I'm pretty in love with these. Here's why broken down but for anyone looking for an excuse or review to buy them, DO IT!!! Don't hesitate (ESPECIALLY if you love the Alexa features/talking to Alexa. - I experience earbud pain constantly and hate them which is why I was slowly shifting back to just regular over-the-ear headphones (but as you know, wireless ones like Beats are PRICYYYYY.) These come with different bands to hook into your ear shape/size and with the pillows for the inside of your ear. I was nervous after seeing reviews for these because everyone kept mentioning how BIG they were but you barely really feel them so honestly, pointing out their size in comparison doesn't matter to me but the fitting did as I have smaller ears and I didn't want these to hurt, ultimately. After I found the correct band and pillow to go with these, I was amazed on how little I cared for any other type of in-ear buds. They're comfortable but please be aware to try and fit to your size because they will fall out of your ear if you're not wearing your correct size--it was a mild nuisance when I was first trying them on until I figured it out. - The sound quality: HOLY GOODNESS. My husband constantly mentions how he appreciates something that is noise cancelling and that has great base as it carries the noise into his ear and improves the sound quality vastly--and even though I don't care as much for base as he does, these earbuds are heavily impressive in their sound quality. I tested out songs ranging from Rock to Hip Hop, anything in the range of music that I truly appreciate and they were amazing. If you're someone who appreciates base as well, the base in these are IMPRESSIVE. You don't even really need to adjust it as it's kind of naturally like that. It has a "passthrough" feature as well to allow you to hear background noise or people around you and honestly... I could vaguely hear people but I haven't tested in a store environment because my general preference is to block out outside noise... so that brings me to the "noise cancelling" feature which is AMAZING. The world around me melts away and I have to reel myself back to earth and remind myself that I have 3 kids sometimes. Buy these. - The Alexa feature: So I'm getting in the groove of trying hands-free devices. I have an 3rd gen Echo Dot that I love in my bedroom and another one that I have in my daughter's room which helps her follow her school schedule and stick to a routine (like wake her up in the morning, etc.) These Echo Buds have facilitated a lot of this for me while wearing them from questions that my kids ask me to changing the song to the next song if my phone is not handy. I love this thing. The only downfall (and perhaps I haven't played with the settings correctly) is that if you're only wearing 1 earbud (as I frequently do when I have the kiddos) then Alexa won't change my song to the next song. Other than that, I've no complaints. These things are great. You can play with the settings to have the features of tapping your earbud (or it's called motions... something like that) on either side to do things like change the song, go backward, increase the volume, do the passthrough or the noise cancelling (also answers calls!) Lastly, I did use these for phone calls and they're great. No complaints from anyone who has spoken with me on the phone which I constantly have issues with when I'm on my phone naturally but these earbuds have facilitated my life. Having them in a carrying case is great because I can easily stash the case in my pocket wherever I go and slip it back in there to charge and put another earbud in, etc. BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!

I waited to write this till I had used them for almost a month. I’m a guitarist in a band so I figured I’d test out the noise reduction with that first and I can say unless I’m right up against the drum set they work nice only now and then cutting out, regular use using noise reduction no issues at all. The app works almost all the time, but what do you expect from an app prolong use and I have to exit and reopen it now and then. The buds function by connecting once pulled out of the case and for that I’ve only ever had one hiccup and it was my phones fault and not the buds themselves. Phone calls, well I can hear people clearly and they can hear me just fine but now and again I’ve had the buds disconnect and force my phone to speakerphone but this could be an I phone isolated issue since it does the same on my wife’s I phone. Sound quality is great, I’m not gonna say it’s beats quality but for the price point with everything it offers I’d say they are great sound wise. I was tossing up getting the air pod or these and my wife has the air pods and I can say I’m glad I went with this option. The app lets you dial in the noise reduction and even eat fitment. The fact that the buds come with silicone adapters to ensure a snug fit in the ear for active users is a great idea. I’ll give you a non active example that makes those adapters useful. I normally wear ear buds when eating lunch at work and the ear buds would pop out, but with the echo buds and adapters the buds stay in place while chewing lol. I’m a delivery driver so I use these individually one ear piece at a time throughout my day because the company I work for doesn’t allow cell phone use but expects us to answer our phones when they call, with that being said stickers are all over my work vehicle saying to call a 1800 number if I’m using a phone. These buds come in handy because I can get gps directions and answer calls that normally would put me in hot water. At home and before work I use the buds for amazon music or audio books. The tap features work well but it takes some getting use to before it works flawless every time. The app gives great suggestions and you can customize phrases to make Alexa so different things for example when I say “good morning” Alexa gives me the weather, news, my schedule for the day, and any reminders, if I say “goodnight” then sound changed from my buds to my echo and plays crickets at night, and when I say “lunch time” punk rock Blair’s for 20 minutes which is the average time it takes me to walk the local market grab food and Finnish my lunch before taking a smoke break before clocking in. Down sides are as I’ve mentioned but the only major complaint I have is that the case charges by micro usb instead or type c and has no wireless charging capabilities but I’m sure that will be in the next version that’s if amazon advertises the crap out of these. Main question is would I buy them again? And my answer is “yes” I would for sure buy them, they fit perfect into my daily commute and routines making my life easier to get things done and I can always turn on noise reduction to drown out the surroundings if I get a migraine or if I don’t wanna listen to my wife lol jk well maybe.

I’ve only had these for about 36 hours, so keep that in mind. I will update later after using them for a couple of weeks. I’m a big Alexa user, so having her with me while on the go is definitely appealing. I think it’s amazing all the tech they were able to pack into these buds. They have an accelerometer, proximity, and touch sensor on board. 2 mics facing outward, one inside near the speaker driver. And of course, you get the Bose active noise reduction along with audio pass through(one or the other, not both but you can have neither if you choose) options. I lucked up and had enough money at the time of the sale to score these earbuds for $89.99($97 with tax). After using them though, and considering the price of other true wireless earbuds such as AirPods, AirPods Pro, Jabra 75t, Sony noise canceling buds, galaxy buds, etc I feel like the $129 price is amazing and worth it even if you don’t have a lot of extra money but want a solid pair of earbuds with these features. I think even if you are indifferent about Alexa and/or voice assistants in general, these are still a compelling product. The noise reduction feature is really nice and useful if you’re in a crowded store, workplace, or anywhere with a lot of ambient background noise. I am an iPhone user and I choice these over AirPods because I care about sound quality, I think Alexa is more useful than Siri, plus I’m sensitive to the price of AirPods Pro which these echo buds are closer of a match to than regular 2nd gen pods. I think the only people who should get AirPods over these are people who have Apple for all their devices, people who either aren’t tech literate or prioritize ease of use over actual features, and people who have money to burn. I know for a fact that echobuds sound better than second gen AirPods but I suspect that they sound better than the Pros too. Gamesky on youtube says so. The sound quality of these echobuds is really really quite good. I own about half a dozen Bluetooth earbuds- Anker Soundcore Liberty Air, Soundcore Spirit Pro, Soundpeats engine with dual drivers, Soundpeats true wireless, Etc and the echobuds are leaps and bounds better than any of them. Granted, those are all in the $50-$75 price range, and the echobuds competes with more premium models and you can definitely hear the dual armature drivers. I’ve watched some video content with the echobuds and everything has been in-sync. I’m mentioning that because of some of the negative, earlier reviews saying that it was a thing. Keep in mind that the software/firmware gets updated frequently if you are using the Alexa app, which you will definitely want to do because that’s the way you configure touch controls and fine tune everything. So, some of the issues early adopters had, have likely been fixed thanks to updates from Amazon to the software in the background. This is how regular echoes get updated, over the internet. The case is well built too, just like earbuds. The one bad thing I have to mention though, is the micro USB (type B) charging part. I would have happily paid $10 more for a USB C option. I don’t think this as big of a deal as others people. I mean there is no good reason earbuds at this price shouldn’t have USB C, but I guess it was a cost savings measure. Amazon probably has an entire warehouse full of micro usb charging ports from what was leftover from all the fire tablets and fire TV product parts before they started manufacturing the buds. They also could’ve added wireless charging to the case too. That said though, despite the best efforts of certain tech companies and attempts to standardize everything, I think many, many people, still have at least one but probably multiple micro usb devices still in active use in their homes. So this is not really that big of a problem. All in all, I’ve very impressed with this product, would recommend to anyone who wants some smart earbuds or wants hands free Alexa on the go, without having to open the app and have it on screen. Update: after owning these buds for less than 2 weeks, the right earbud is rattling and sounds distorted, especially in pass through mode. The worst part is that amazon won’t even replace them until they receive my original one. Part of me understands this, but as a prime member and someone who spends at least $3000 a year on Amazon, I fee like they should have just shipped a replacement and then trusted me to send back the broken pair. Maybe it’s because they were on sale and they know they will be back at full price before I am able to get my refund. 🤔 Update 2: I ended up giving the buds away because Amazon would only process the order as a refund. So I could have gotten my money credited back to me but it would not have been enough to get a 2nd pair because they normally sell for $140. I think these earbuds were pretty good except for the connectivity issues. They tend to not work iOS until you relaunch the Alexa app and you have to unlock your phone. This is probably due to how iOS works and not really amazon’s fault but it still makes for a bad experience. I just couldn’t in good conscience buy another pair after whatI experienced in the way of support from amazon. It’s the first experience I’ve had like this with any Alexa products. But I think it’s because they know that some of these products like the buds, echo auto, and other more experimental devices are just not ready for primetime. I wouldn’t advise people to buy them either, I thought other reviewers were exaggerating when they said this is a beta test that amazon is charging people to take part in, but that does seem to be the case. I will definitely be sticking to the safer choices in their product line, no original generation Alexa products or new form factors.

UPDATE: So I've decided to bump up my rating from 3 to 4 like I had hoped because after my original review, I decided to put my earbuds through sort of a stress test, then go through the wingtips again. Here's what I've learned, the Alexa app is critical to familiarizing yourself with the Echo Buds. I forgot to mention in my original review that I had issues with the Passthrough feature. Earlier today, I went into a couple of stores while wearing the Echo Buds and every time a store rep spoke to me, I noticed I would need to take an earbud out in order to hear what the person was saying. At first, I thought maybe it was because the earbuds were too far in my ear canals but after adjusting the Passthrough volume (which I think you should definitely do), I realized that when I played with the Active Noise Reduction feature so much, the earbuds must've glitched a bit and one stayed in a constant ANR state while the other was in Passthrough mode. I think that's why my equilibrium was off because one ear definitely did feel a little blocked up. Once I adjusted the Passthrough volume, it was almost like a soft factory reset for my Echo Buds, and the sound was passing through clearly on both sides. Imagine it like getting wax out of your ears. As far as the wingtips and fitting goes, I decided to use a medium wingtip in one ear and a small one in the other ear and it made for a more comfortable fit. It's still a bit tight on the ear using the small wingtip but neither earbud feels as bulky as they did earlier. As far as the Echo Buds always being on, it still annoys me a little bit but that's subjective, and with Alexa, surprisingly I'm finding myself using it more than Siri. Alexa is A LOT more responsive than Siri's ever been when it comes to music control and making calls, which is a big deal for me when I'm driving. I almost considered returning my Echo Buds today but I think I'll be keeping them. *********************************************************************************************************************************** These are my first true wireless earbuds. I say true because I owned a cheaper pair of bluetooth earbuds but they were terrible for phone calls. I found out about the Amazon Echo Buds about two weeks before they were released and then heard about the AirPods Pro the day before I ordered my Echo Buds. I love Apple's products but I'm not a big fan of their prices so buying the Echo Buds was an easy decision for me. Pros: + Great sound quality: I'm not exactly an audiophile but I tested these earbuds with some songs that I felt had the best bass. My go-to song is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen because it has the best range of highs and lows in my opinion, and it sounded really good on these earbuds. + Good call quality: Believe it or not, I've had these earbuds for 4 days since launch as of writing this review, and have only used them on 3 phone calls. On the first call, the sound quality was crisp and clear, but on the last two both people I was speaking to sounded a bit far away. Granted one of them had me on speakerphone, but he still sounded a mile away from his phone despite telling me he had it sitting next to him on his desk. + Active Noise Reduction (not cancelling!): This is the big hook to these earbuds, right? Now remember, these are noise *reduction* not noise cancelling. If you want noise cancelling, you're better off buying over the ear headphones for that. That being said, ANR is actually not bad although I have to agree with some that it does feel a bit cumbersome to turn the feature on. I tried these on at the gym and was pleasantly surprised; it felt as if I had the whole place to myself despite it being crowded. I was so impressed that I found myself constantly turning it off and on because I couldn't believe how well it blocked out the typical gym noise, though I wouldn't recommend doing that lol. I even tried the feature out in a crowded supermarket parking lot later that night and it felt like I was the last man on Earth! + Battery life: Battery life is quite impressive for something that's supposed to last for up to 5 hours of continuous use. I had these on one night for a lengthy study session and it held up quite well. I recommend doing a power cycle first, let the battery drain completely before first charge to get the best use of it. Cons: - Fit: This is a weird one for me because the earbuds felt incredibly comfortable for the first two days. At the gym, I used them without the included wingtips and I didn't worry about them falling out of my ears, whether while lifting weights or on a treadmill. However, the next day I worked out at home and they shifted around during my jump rope warmup to the point where one felt like it was about to fall out. - Wingtips: This is an addendum to the fit point. After my home workout and feeling that my earbuds were shifting around, I decided to try on the wingtips to secure them. I'm not a big fan of these. For one, they make my head feel completely plugged up, throwing off my equilibrium. Sounds weird, I know, but it's true. They also begin to hurt after a while, just like some people have been saying. I tried all three sizes included in the box and none were any more comfortable than the other. But here's the surprising part: whenever I had the wingtips on the earbuds, I noticed that the sound quality were impacted a bit. I don't know how to explain it better but I would do the sizing test on the Alexa app and the results were always poor. The wingtips made the earbuds feel a little bulky in my ears and the noise reduction feature was rendered useless because you'll constantly find yourself shifting the buds around to try to work in a good fit. This desperately needs to be corrected down the line because with these wingtips on, it feels like one ear is plugged up slightly better than the other. Maybe its just my ears but not having them on has proven to be much more comfortable. - Battery: Although the Echo Buds hold a really good charge, I've noticed that one earbud's battery seems to drain quicker than the other. I think this can be fixed with a firmware update in the future. - Always-on can be a little annoying after a while. I'm not a fan of it and I'm a Spotify user, so it's quite annoying that every time I put these Echo Buds on, it automatically plays something on Amazon Music. Admittedly these are my first wireless earbuds so I don't know it the AirPods are the same way, so maybe its not such a big deal. It's not for me, but that's my only gripe. I wish there was a way for the user to turn it off from the app, it would be a good way to save battery life. - Alexa is a little unresponsive sometimes. Last night, I asked Alexa to play some soft rock as I was going to bed and it kept playing "yacht rock". This went on for a good five minutes until I just gave up and put some ambient noise on to help me sleep. - Touch controls. The gesture controls leave a little to be desired. You can only use two gestures -- double-tap and press and hold -- but if I want to control the volume or skip a song, I have to have my phone in my hand. I understand I can have Alexa do it for me, but me being a bit of an introvert, I don't want to be out in public looking like I'm talking to myself lol. It would be cool to do something like swipe on the earbuds to at least control volume, especially given how touch sensitive the controls already are. All in all, I do like the Amazon Echo Buds and I think they can be a good alternative to the Apple AirPods, but the bulky feel of the Echo Buds and slightly uncomfortable fit made what could have been at least a 4 star review from me into a 3-star review. I know my cons slightly outweigh my pros but I wanted to be as honest a consumer as possible.

Short Review as of Oct. 20, 2020. This is my second pair of wireless earbuds. I got these because of Alexa. I'm one of those people who absolutely LOVE having Alexa around. For those who are worried about spying, or Alexa overhearing your conversations etc., this is probably not the product for you. As for me, I LOVE ALEXA. I want her to follow me around everywhere. I want her to tell me how the weather is going to be, or what time it is. Maybe it's all the social distancing we've been going through, and she is my ONLY non-covid risk friend. But then again, I just love having all that information at my ear-tips!!! Could you imagine the amount of time and effort that Amazon would actually have to put in to listen to everyone's conversations?? Even with speech recognition, it would be like a ga-zillion hours to humanly review everything. Anyway, I put that in the "possible, but financially unlikely" category. Anyway, what could you possibly do that someone out there hasn't already said and done? You know what I mean? So, I feel the sound is great (I'm not an audiophile), and the item is comfortable to wear. The wing-tips took a tiny bit of effort to put on (I have fat clumsy fingers), but they didn't rip or tear - so I'm giving Amazon a *nod* at their use of some high quality rubber there. Unfortunately, I did deduct a star for a bit of glitchy-ness. There were times when the earbuds would fade in and out. Left ear didn't sound while right ear was sounding. It would turn on and off by itself... A little difficult to get used to when touching the buds - as you could unintentionally activate the "pass through" feature (a neat feature btw). Several times, pass-through feature would only operate on one earbud - which gives a curious sensation (like when you get water in one ear). I believe Amazon could possibly fix this with a software update - so I'm not super bothered by it for now. I wouldn't blame anyone if they wanted to deduct 2 or even 3 stars for this glitchy-ness, but since I am enamored with having ALEXA in my ear, I am obviously biased in this respect and willing to tolerate it at this time. That being said, I can't really compare these to many other earbuds, but I can tell you my initial experience - for those still on the line about buying wireless buds in the first place. The technology is not perfectly intuitive yet. Expect some "beta-test" type issues. They are not as simple and problem free as just plugging in a nice headset and getting pure unadulterated music. There are a lot of other little considerations, like connectivity, power, balance (meaning both ear buds are in sync)... these sorts of things that you wouldn't normally have with a wired headset were quite apparent with this headset. Set-up: First, I did have some difficulty with the set-up. The earbuds paired just fine with my Alexa App installed in my Samsung Note phone. BUT - I came across a weird problem. My iPad didn't even detect these - so couldn't pair there. My Windows 10 laptop could find them, but wanted me to check the PIN on the earbuds... hm... So, I was at a loss. I tried for about a day, powering down, powering on, off, blue light flashing, green light flashing, internet searches, hair-pulling, instruction referencing, caveman grunting, sweating... you know, all the cycles. Finally, I admit I gave in and contacted Amazon Tech Support. Yeah. Embarrassing. Just for reference: in order to set the unit up for blue-tooth detection, you need to have the buds in the box, the cover in the open position and you need to press down on the button on the bottom until the light blinks blue. SO, after around 30-40 minutes being transferred to more knowledgeable staff etc., they had me just factory reset the device. You have to put your buds in the box, close it (this is actually a step), and there is a little button on the bottom of it. You basically depress that button until a "yellow" or "orange" light starts flashing. You've "factory reset" the device. Afterwards, I was able to connect to all my devices just fine. Remember, you MUST "forget" the old settings (if you already installed into your ALEXA app), and rediscover this item all over again. So, I DO miss the days when we just plug our wired headsets in. Headache free. The item doesn't have to search all day for a bluetooth connection, or run out of energy... but those headsets also don't have ALEXA! Just to put it here in a cleaner format: Blue-tooth discovery mode: 1. both buds in the box. 2. Box cover is open 3. Press little button on bottom until blue light starts flashing. Factory Reset: 1. both buds in the box 2. Box cover is closed 3. Press little button on bottom until orange/yellow light starts flashing. After factory reset, you'll have to go back to the blue-tooth discovery part again and go through all the steps with your discovery etc. Hope this helps. I bought this when it was on sale during Amazon Prime day - around $80 bones. If you can wait, I would say to wait until one of these special days to buy (Amazon Prime day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday). You can save some serious $$$ during these difficult economic times! I buy these things with my own pennies. If you found my review helpful (I sure hope you did!) share the love! Click on that "helpful" icon and let me know you're out there! Thank you, and good luck! **Update as of Oct. 27th, 2020** So I saw that there were a couple of reviewers who state that they are able to operate these headphones independently (keep one in the ear and one in the box). This is NOT the case for me. Curiously, they seem to be able to detect when one of them is not in the ear at all (even pulling them out an inch will deactivate them both for me). I'm not sure how to have them operate independently, and will post if I find anything else with these. Please feel free to leave a comment if anyone discovers this. I'll be reading up on whatever I can find. Furthermore, when I am sharing an ear piece, it also will not sound. So that is pretty interesting as well. It means you cannot share music (or Alexa) through 2 different users with one ear piece set. Not sure if anyone already posted that, but here it is just in case.