October 23, 2026
On Wednesday night, I watched You Can See Everything, the new hit documentary about Elizabeth Holmes by Nathan Fielder. It was fantastic, and I highly recommend it.
In unrelated news, after losing my headphones last month, I figured it might be worth switching to over-the-ear headphones for robustness and stability. The Beats Studio Pros were on sale for 50% on Amazon a couple weeks ago, and I really liked the light blue color, so I ordered a pair.
Sound-wise, they've been great. However, whenever I wear them for more than a few minutes, my ears start to hurt. I don't know if I have big ears or if the cups are too small, but they aren't a good fit regardless.
I also have some complaints about the power management and related (missing) features. First, the headphones don't auto-pause when you take them off. Second, when you fold the cups in to pack the headphones into their case, the music still keeps playing. I was used to my Galaxy Buds3 automatically disconnecting and powering off when I would put them in their case, so the lack of an analogous feature for my Beats led to the battery draining on several occasions in the first week.
So last weekend, I figured I might want to return to earbuds. My research pointed me towards the highly rated Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 (MTW5), whose high ratings and reviews touted an apparently impressive bass range. It also seemed like unlike the Galaxy Buds3's, the MTW5's silicone tips ensure a perfect fit and (thereby?) potentially improve sound delivery. So I hoped they were worth the hefty price tag.
They arrived today, and as I opened the charging case and saw the incredibly small profile of the earbuds in front of me, I immediately became skeptical. At first, I couldn't even figure out how to seat them in my ears, but then I eventually rotated them upward. They didn't feel very secure, so I shook my head a few times and then caught the left bud as it fell from my ear.
I then searched the Internet which advised rotating them upwards and backwards to lock them into place. That helped a little bit, and I even managed to seat them deeper into my ears. But repeated jumping (my best idea for a spatially compact simulation of running) resulted in their dislodging on several trials. I know the product comes with several replacement silicone tips to mitigate such issues, but I didn't feel confident in the general design of the buds. I submitted the return request to Amazon and will drop them off at the Amazon Locker in Central Square in the next couple of days.
So now it's back to the drawing board. Tree branch aside, I had no issues with the Galaxy Buds3, which nestled nicely into the contour of my ear and comfortably sat along my earlobe. So I may look into the Galaxy Buds(#) Pro and hope that the previously favorable profile combines with the Pro edition's silicone tips to make for a winner. I think the actual best option would be to try/demo a bunch of different product lines, but I'm not sure where I can do that.
On another unrelated note, I went to Via Cannuccia for dinner on Friday and can now count Shawmut among the Red Line stops where I've disembarked.