I watch a lot of YouTube. Whether I’m nerding out on my hobbies, or wasting time watching people build tunnels under their houses, the Google-owned video service is streaming somewhere at all hours.
If you’ve spent any amount of time on YouTube in the past, you’re probably aware of Raycon’s Everyday Earbuds, which have been promoted by all the influencers currently walking around on planet Earth. As WIRED’s resident headphone reviewer, they seemed like the schwag that content creators get in exchange for sponsorships to help pay for cameras and editing. Those plasticky-looking buds can’t be any good, right?
At the behest of coworkers, and with a dose of genuine curiosity, I decided to buy myself a pair of the $80 earbuds on Amazon and give them a shot. They’re not the best I’ve ever used, but my experience shows that we shouldn’t necessarily judge a book by its cover. Color me impressed with these buds.
They’re small and have good battery life, a compact charging case, and an IPX6 sweat and water resistance rating that make them utterly usable, er … every day. If you’re in the market for a pair with a small case that you won’t worry too much about when working out, I’d still probably opt for some cheaper JLab buds. But if you see someone wearing these around town, or you bought some already, know that they are still better than standard AirPods.
Celeb Sightings
Raycon is a brand obsessed with being seen. It has an entire section on its website dedicated to celebrities that have worn one version of its earbuds or another. It could be just an attempt to prove to would-be buyers that those folks didn’t throw them on for a quick photo op before putting back in their AirPods Pro. Then again, who knows? Some of these celebrities might actually like the earbuds as much as I did.
Photograph: Raycon
Especially if you’re coming from Raycon’s older, clunkier buds (the company routinely updates these without … really telling anyone, but these are the late 2022 model), the Everyday Earbuds are utterly decent. They come in a compact, egg-shaped charging case that easily fits in my pants pocket and supports wireless charging. You get about 24 hours of charge from the case, with the buds themselves holding around eight (depending on the volume you listen at). The passive noise isolation is comparable to light noise canceling, but there isn’t any active noise cancellation happening here.