Comment by nebula8804

Does anyone have experience with the Fairbuds and Fairbuds XL? I am DESPERATE to get off this Apple headphone bandwagon but need something reliable that will work with Apple devices. I'm generally extremely happy with Apple products but the headphones have been a money sink.

I’m someone who bought three generations of AirPods Pro, as well as an AirPods Max. All four devices have been absolute headaches.

The first AirPods Pro had the rattle‑gate issue. I was able to get it replaced under warranty, but it was a pain to deal with until the recall program came out.

Ok I chalked it up to a first gen product and I generally liked it when it worked so I decided to upgrade to the second generation because it offered more features and I hoped that it improved reliability.

I upgraded, and I immediately got the rattle‑gate problem again, this time right past the warranty period. There was no recall program for second gens, and when I went to the store they told me the headphones were damaged and I was out of luck.

I try to maintain these devices extremely carefully, but I guess my use of isopropyl alcohol to disinfect and clean them damaged the ANC microphone. I’ve never dropped the AirPods, yet they still failed.

While being super frustrated with the Pro 2 I ended up buying the pro 3 but reconsidered after what I was told about the status of the Pro 2 but I missed the return window by a few days. After these Pro 3 fail, I just don't want to give them any more money for headphones.

I saw the Airpods Max on sale for Black friday a while back so I gave them a try as I was getting ear issues wearing in ear devices for so long each day. While they are very comfortable, the ear caps are a pain to clean.

They absorb sweat and oils over time and do not make it easy for them to get released when cleaning with detergent and water. it’s a massive effort. Im scrubbing with a toothbrush to clean, disinfect and then extensively drying them with a heater. All of this is taking 1+ hour each 1-2 weeks.

I am someone who is trying to maintain all my equipment as much as possible and this "woven texture" feels great but is not great for maintenance lifestyle.

Luckily ive accepted that the cheapo 20$ ear caps on Amazon are good enough and I just toss old ear caps after they become too hard to clean and buy another replacement set. I also have to disassemble the headband and use a special cleaning solution I found on Amazon, which smells like its just laundry detergent to prevent the headband from darkening from regular skin oils.

Now I’m starting to get very occasional "tinny" type of rattling with ANC enabled, as other people have indicated here as well.

These damn things are too expensive to have all these stupid issues. I’m really desperate for something more repairable and maintainable than this junk.

I had a sennheiser wired unit before this and those things lasted years with the only replacement being the ear caps like once a year.

As it stands, I may have spent close to $1,000 on this over the years, and I am just sick and tired of it. They’re not bad products when they work, they’re absolutely GREAT when they work. But man, all this headache when they dont work is just ridiculous at this point.