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Wireless earbuds are a godsend – especially if you take long calls or work out with your earbuds.

Want to buy a pair of wireless earbuds, but don’t know where to start?

In this article, we'll cover everything you need to know about buying wireless earphones, including:

Types of wireless earbuds and what to look for in earbuds

Wireless earbuds FAQ

PS: You can also shop earbuds on Singtel and pay in 12, 24 or 36 month instalments!  

There are many ways to categorise and look at wireless earbuds, including: 

Firstly, earbuds come in different forms, such as in-ear, over-ear, and earhook. This refers to how the earbuds are physically built, and how they fit in your ear or on your ear. 

Next, you can also look at earbuds in terms of use cases (aka: how you use them).

For example, there are sports earbuds for exercising, low latency earbuds for gaming, and ANC (active noise cancelling) earbuds for working.

Last but not least, you can shortlist the earbuds that you want to buy based on features.

Here, you might look at earbuds with the best sound quality, or earbuds with long playtimes and battery lives.  

We’ll go through each of these categories below, so you can figure out which are the best earbuds for you. 

As mentioned, wireless earbuds come in different forms, including:

The most common type of earbuds are in-ear earbuds. (Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2 fall into this category). 

These sit inside the ear canal, and they’re small and lightweight.  

Then there are over-ear earbuds, which have larger ear cups that sit over the ears. 

These earbuds provide a comfortable and immersive listening experience, and they typically have better sound quality + noise isolation than other earbuds. 

Finally, there are earhook earbuds, which come with ear hooks that wrap around the ear. 

These provide a secure fit, and they’re specifically for working out and exercising. 

Form aside, we also find it useful to look at earbuds in terms of use cases. 

Obviously, there are different types of earbuds for different needs. 

So if you’re looking for the best earbuds in Singapore, the first thing you need to do is to figure out what you want to use those earbuds for.  

Sports earbuds are earbuds designed specifically for use during sports or exercise activities. 

Common features include water resistance, sweat resistance, noise isolation, heart rate monitoring, motion tracking, and coaching apps.

ANC or active noise cancelling earbuds use technology to cancel out background noise. 

These earbuds are suitable to use when you're working and don't want to be distracted, or when you're on your commute.

Earbuds with noise-cancelling mics are somewhat similar to ANC earbuds, in that they both have noise-cancelling properties.

But while both reduce the amount of external noise, the difference lies in who it benefits:

ANC earbuds do this to create a quieter listening experience (for the person using the earbuds)

Noise-cancelling microphones do this to create clearer audio quality (for the other person on the line) 

When it comes to gaming, you want to minimise latency as much as possible. 

You don’t want to see the picture on your screen first, and have laggy audio which you only hear one or two seconds later!

Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms). Look for earbuds that have a latency level of 100ms or less – this will provide you with a better experience when you’re gaming.

If you regularly listen to podcast and audiobooks, look for earbuds with a long battery life (anywhere from 6 hours to 15 hours.) 

Now, note that the advertised battery life on earbuds isn’t always accurate. 

Some brands may overestimate battery life, so Google for reviews from real users in order to get a better picture. 

If you’re an audiophile and can’t get enough of your favourite songs, you’ll want to check out HiFi earbuds. 

Now, you may be wondering what HiFi earbuds are.

HiFi earbuds are high-fidelity earbuds that reduce distortion and background noise, allowing users to listen to tracks as they were originally recorded.

We’ve talked about form and use cases... now let’s talk about features!

Below, you’ll find a list of features that wireless earbuds commonly come with:

We’ll skip past the features that we’ve already discussed, and go through the rest.

Touch controls for playback and volume are a popular feature in many wireless earbuds.

This feature allows you to control your music and calls without needing to take out your phone, or fiddle with buttons on the earbuds. 

'Siri, play music.'

'Siri, skip this track.'

'Siri, accept the call.'

Touch control aside, you can also use voice controls when you’re on your earbuds.

Most wireless earbuds support voice assistant integration with popular voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, but make sure you check the compatibility before purchasing.

To use voice assistant integration, you'll need to set up your earbuds with your smartphone or other device.  

How do you do this? Pair your earbuds with your device, then enable the voice assistant feature in the earbud settings.

We previously mentioned that sports earbuds tend to be water-resistant.

If you’re curious to know how this works, sports earbuds typically come graded on an “IP” scale, where IP refers to the amount of water protection it offers. 

A decent grading would be IPX4 – if you use your earbuds while you’re running, biking, or doing similar activities, look for earbuds that are IPX4 and above!

Ambient sound mode is a feature that allows you to hear the sounds of your surroundings while listening to your music or taking a phone call.

If you're outdoors and you need to be aware of incoming traffic, for example, it’s a good idea to turn on ambient sound mode.

Wireless earbuds AND wireless charging. Sounds pretty cool, right? 

How does this work?  

If you buy earbuds that have wireless charging, these will come with a charging case. 

All you need to do is to place your charging case on a Qi-compatible wireless charging pad, and it’ll charge your earbuds. 

PS: The most popular and latest earbud models (that’s the 3rd gen AirPods Pro and the Galaxy Buds2 Pro) both support wired and wireless charging. 

If you’re looking at other brands or models, they may or may not offer wireless charging – so make sure you do your research if this is a feature that’s important to you!

Before we wrap up the article, we’ll address a few commonly asked questions about earbuds.   

Q: Should you use second hand wireless earbuds? 

A: We see a lot of people searching for this particular question... the answer is no! 

It may be tempting to purchase second hand wireless earbuds to save on the cost. However, we do not recommend doing this as it might be unhygienic and cause health problems. 

If you really do need to use second hand earbuds (for example, say your earbuds are lost or damaged, and a friend gave you their backup pair to use), make sure you clean and sanitise it properly. 

Also, only use the second hand earbuds as a temporary solution – and purchase your own pair as soon as possible!  

Q: AirPods Pro vs Samsung earbuds: which are better? 

A: The AirPods Pro and Samsung earbuds (Galaxy Buds2 Pro) are somewhat similar – they both have good sound quality, and a decent battery life of 4.5 to 5 hours. 

More details in this table we've created: 

As such, we recommend that you make your decision based on compatibility and ecosystems. 

If you use Apple devices such as an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook, go for the AirPods Pro, as you’ll be able to pair your devices easily.  

If you use Samsung devices, then go for Samsung earbuds (ie the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro). 

Q: How do I get the right earbuds sizing? 

A: Earbuds sizing doesn’t just affect your overall comfort, it affects your audio quality as well.

If your earbuds are loose, they may fall out or affect audio quality. If your earbuds are too tight, they may be uncomfortable and cause pain or ear fatigue.

So if you’re looking for comfortable earbuds with support, make sure you get the sizing right.

The good news is that most brands these days offer different sizing options. For instance, if you purchase AirPods or Galaxy Buds2 Pro, they'll give you a few eartips with different sizes, and you can use the one with the best fit.

Q: Which Samsung Galaxy earbuds has the longest battery life?

A: Out of all the Galaxy earbuds, the Galaxy Buds+ has the longest battery life of 11 hours. 

Here’s the full list: 

Now, you might be wondering why the Galaxy Buds+ has a longer battery life as compared to newer models like the Buds2 Pro and Buds2.

This is because the Buds2 Pro and Buds2 are both noise cancelling earphones, and the noise cancelling feature requires additional processing power and battery usage.

In comparison, the Galaxy Buds+ are not noise cancelling earphones – that's why they have a longer battery life.  

Q: What are the best earbuds for small ears?  

A: Nowadays, most earbuds come with a variety of tip sizes to accommodate customers with various ear sizes.   

This means you can essentially buy any earbuds with different tip sizes.   

However, if you’re looking for the best earbuds for small ears, we’d recommend the Sony Linkbuds S which are both small and lightweight.  

They also come with 4 different ear tip sizes for you to customise your fit.  

To reiterate: if you're looking for the best earbuds in Singapore, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

It really depends on what you want to use the earbuds for.  

PS: Want to make your earbuds purchase more affordable? 

With Singtel PayLater, you can pay for your appliances & devices in instalments of between 12 to 36 months. 

Shop earbuds on Singtel here.