I lost my AirPods and simply refuse to pay to buy new ones. Latest third generation AirPods – which are fantastic! I looked through them! – from 169 dollars. The old 2nd generation version costs $120 (yes, there are sometimes deals online). These prices aren't funny; after all, these are luxury items and the price is in line with other high-end wireless headphones.
However, I just don't want to pay $169 for headphones. I'd rather pay a lot less. Let's say… $20, maybe $25? I don't think I need to explain myself here. I wish I could keep more money in my pocket. This seems quite reasonable.
And yes, I am completely ready to focus on quality. Apple AirPods feature spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, great functionality, and long battery life. I don't expect a $20 kit to achieve all of this, but I need something that perfect decent.
Luckily, Amazon has a stunning selection of cheap wireless headphones similar to the AirPod. They have weird brand names you've never heard of and the prices seem arbitrary (and often have a coupon on Amazon, which makes their prices even more confusing). I decided to test them out to see which one suited my needs: cheap but still usable.
I tested five white headphones from different anonymous brands, or as I call them, ShitPods.
My criteria for selecting five out of many options were:
• It was supposed to look like an AirPod. I missed colored earbuds or other shaped earbuds that might have worked.
• Priced under $25.
• Lots of reviews and a good or high rating. (Yes, it can be played, but at least it's a start.)
• Free Shipping and Returns with Amazon Prime.
But first, two big caveats:
1) I mainly use headphones to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. The quality of the music is not my main concern. If you're an audiophile or music is your passion, you should probably just spend more money on better headphones. I also use them for phone calls, so the quality of the microphone is important to me – the person on the other end of the line must hear me well.
2) These were all available on Amazon, but by the time I tested them for a month, two of the original five listings had already disappeared. This is because Amazon's cheap electronics marketplace is a recreation of hypercapitalist accelerationism because New York The magazine's John Herrman illustrated in his recent article “Amazon Unification” There are strange counterfeit brands like “CXK” or “Raviad”. Reviews are often deception or forgery, sellers are often not the manufacturer, and prices are constantly changing. It's possible that if you read this a few months after publication, the product links will have shifted again.
