At the end of the day, it's about what you want. If you can really dial in what you want, it actually becomes slightly easier to pay less, I feel. Because then you can decide whether you want good feeling buds that sound ass or great sounding buds that work kinda shitty, or a compromise between it all. And if you want everything perfect, you have to pay for it... and even then, there's no guarantees.
Nothing is perfect, and you'll have problems with something, even if it's small.
I've owned three pairs of buds... The Pixel Buds Pro, CMF Buds Pro 2, and very recently Moondrop Golden Ages 2. Here are my thoughts:
The less you pay, the more interesting the game of compromise gets. For £100 to £150, you get the Pixel Buds Pro's features, good build and good sound (although they did annoy me the most). For £59, less on sale, you can get the CMF Buds Pro 2, with similar build quality but less premium feel, less responsive controls, and comparable sound. For £90, you can get the Golden Ages 2, with cheap-feeling build quality, okay controls, and some kickass planar drivers.
All of these go on sale now and again, so prices can drop, and it is worth mentioning that the GA2 come with a leather sheath for the buds, but I'm guessing that's to protect the slightly weaker case... still, nice they included it.
I don't own any of the buds you've mentioned, but I have CMF Buds Pro 2, and Moondrop Golden Ages 2, as well as a few Soundcore speakers.
CMF probably has the best build quality, though Soundcore is pretty similar. Moondrop has pretty meh build quality, but their sound is usually very balanced, not overly bassy.
QCY Melobuds are rated well, I don't really know the brand though. I'm pretty sure you'll like any of the other three.
Try the OnePlus Buds 4. They’re fantastic at EVERYTHING. Sound quality is top notch (especially when tuned in the EQ), battery life is great, ANC is great, and the transparency mode is the best I’ve heard yet.
If you’re going for sound quality alone, the Soundpeats H3 are the absolute best. 3 driver system. When tuned in the EQ, they sound phenomenal. Picky Audio actually put them as #1 in sound quality even above Sony, Technics, and Denon. The only drawback is the battery life, ANC, and transparency are only good, not great.
I’ve also tried the Moondrop Golden Ages 2 and they were surprisingly good, but their app performance is abysmal. So many bugs. I’ve got the Moondrop Robin’s coming today and will be curious how they stack up.
The Soundpeats H3 and Moondrop Robin’s have an IEM style bud with no stem, whereas the OnePlus Buds 4 and Moondrop Golden Ages 2 both have traditional stem-style buds. I actually ended up loving the comfort and style of the Soundpeats H3 the most (will see about the Moondrop Robin later today).
OnePlus Buds 4, hands down. Their sound quality (with a custom EQ in their app) is absolutely amazing. Add to that the excellent ANC and transparency mode and don’t forget the great battery life. They’re lightweight and comfortable for 4+ hours of listening. There’s a reason why they’re on many reviewers lists for “Best Earbuds of 2025”. It really does give the total package. I even own the Soundpeats H3, Moondrop Robin, Moondrop Golden Ages 2, and JBL Vibe Beam, and the OnePlus Buds 4 easily stands on top of them all and shares the #1 spotlight with the Soundpeats H3. The OnePlus Buds are the better all around earbuds though, for sure.
The OnePlus Buds 4 are fantastic. I also own the Soundpeats H3, Moondrop Golden Ages 2, and Moondrop Robin. As far as overall best (taking battery life, ANC, transparency mode, mic quality, and sound quality) ranking of those 4:
1. OnePlus Buds 4- they do EVERYTHING really well.
2. Moondrop Robin- my #1 for sound, and they also do everything else well, but OnePlus Buds 4 does everything a little better.
3. Soundpeats H3- my #2 for sound, but everything else is just good, not great
4. Moondrop Golden Ages 2- they’re #4 for a reason. Nothing about them stands out. They’re just OK.
Yeah that’s a big miss. Those are fantastic earbuds. That’s coming from someone who also has the Soundpeats H3, Moondrop Robin, Moondrop Golden Ages 2, JBL Vibe Beam, TOZO NC4, and OnePlus Buds 4. The OPB4 are the best all around buds out of all of these. Great sound quality, great ANC/transparency modes, great battery life, and even great mic quality.
moondrop golden ages 2, i have a few moondrop tws, they all last a long time. my original space travel I bought in early 2024 still works perfectly fine and has decent battery
airpods pro 1, airpods pro 2, sony wf-1000 xm5, sony wf-1000 xm6, technics az100, moondrop robin, moondrop space travel 2 ultra, galaxy buds 2 pro, moondrop golden ages 2, and a bunch of iems i put bluetooth earhooks on to convert them into tws
and used to own a shit load of other garbage tws as well but i threw them all away
the anc is decent, not anything too crazy like the xm6 and app3, but it's usable, blocks out a good bit of noise. if u want ldac, u'll probably have to move up to a golden ages 2
Moondrop Golden Ages
They sound absolutely excellent.
No clue about the mic quality though, but haven't received any complaints so it can't be too bad?
No, it's held back by bluetooth as usual. Otherwise, for a bluetooth pair, I find Moondrop often sounds really close for the sub-100 range. If someone stuffed these in my ears while I'm blind, I could tell.
If you want a pair that'll last longer, I much prefer the Golden Ages or even Moca. And if you can, spring for the Robins if you like IEMs, they'll be better overall. Golden Ages uses the same bud design.
Sound profile wise, I prefer the Golden Ages' more analytical and neutral sound, and I wish that was in the Robin. If I were to be able to choose only one for day to day, every day, I'd take the Robin.
Frankly, just spring a bit higher and it'll last you a long time coming.
Top Wireless Earbuds on Reddit
1
Apple
AirPod Pro Series
67% positive of 2,953 users
Apple-integrated, great ANC, but fit issues & poor Windows support.
Bertegue6
