I’ve shared before that I listen to books when I ride. Not on all rides and never on group rides. But if I’m alone, there’s a fair chance I’m listening to a book. I mean, dude, there are a lot of books in this world.
Now, as the engineer for this podcast and for TCI’s other podcast, Revolting, I think my bona fides are in order as an audio nerd. Again, audio nerd, not insufferable audiophile. I mention this because I’m aware that the more wind noise the earbuds generate, the louder you have to play whatever you’re listening to, and that makes it less likely you’ll hear ambient noises around you, such as cars approaching from behind. And I listen to books rather than music (except on some mountain bike descents because yahoo, amiright?) because they allow more ambient noise to reach me.
This spring, I went through an exhaustive process of trying all the different earbuds in my collection. And I’ve got more pairs than I mean to own. What often happens is I lose a set and then go to replace them and then the lost ones turn up, or I find out I somehow failed to pack earbuds for a two week trip, so I buy a pair. Also, gifts.
What I learned is that of the sets I own, the set that generates the least amount of wind noise is a pair from Sony, the WI-C100. I’ve had these long enough that they no longer go for the $40 dollars they used to run. In fact, I think when I bought mine, they cost even more than that. So these are Bluetooth earbuds, but have a wire running between them, which can be mildly annoying at times, but the wire makes them harder to lose on a jarring ride. Now, let it be known that I’ve never lost an independent earbud on a ride, but I did lose a charging case once when it bounced out of my back pocket.
What separates these from the many other pairs I’ve owned is that the actual “bud” is tiny. Now, that might make their wind noise superiority seem obvious, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about aerodynamics it’s that aerodynamics are never intuitive. Kinda like the mind of a third-grader.
These are far and away the least noisy earbuds I’ve used, which has allowed me to dial the volume back. Sony touts a technology called DSEE which help restore high frequencies that can be lost in compression, which happens with all MP3 files. More high-end means greater clarity, which, again, allows the listener to hear what they are listening to at lower volumes. I expect these would be a hit with ASMR fans.
They feature a 25-hour battery life and offer IPX4 rating for water resistance. They are easy to pair with phones and computers. To control power, volume and pausing, there is a pod, which holds the battery, on which there are several buttons. The wire runs around the back of the neck and I wear it beneath my jersey. The control pod sits just above my collarbone. For the fashion-conscious, they come in three colors: black, white and blue. They are charged via a USB-C cable. Sony offers an app that gives the user additional controls, but I never seem to remember to use it, much the way I often forget my grocery bags when heading into the store.
These days, the WI-C100 goes for just $24.95, which is a remarkably good deal given the audio quality of these earbuds.
Final thought: They don’t look cool, but the combination of security and sound quality are good enough that I don’t mind looking like a cheapskate.