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The story
A thread titled “What earbuds do you NanG folks use?” popped up on the Nandemo Jikkyou board (a sports/variety discussion board on 5ch, whose regulars call themselves “NanG”), and users piled in one after another with their personal favorites. The responses ranged wildly in price and philosophy — from 60,000-yen-class Chinese wired earbuds to Sony’s WF-1000XM6, EarFun, Anker, and Noble’s multi-driver models — highlighting the divide between wired and wireless loyalists. As the thread went on, attention shifted to the relationship between price and sound quality, specifically how much a 10x price gap actually buys you, with many agreeing you can hear a difference up into the tens of thousands of yen, but beyond 100,000 yen it’s mostly down to personal taste.
What people said
Chinese earbuds are basically taking over, huh
By the way, all I listen to is ghost story podcasts
Lots of reviews saying the XM6's sound quality got a huge upgrade, so I'm curious about it
Same here.
Mine broke a few years back and they just sent me a replacement, and I've been using that one ever since
I got a message asking "Would you rather we upgrade you to a higher-end model, or just refund you and keep the old one?"
So I took the refund and kept using it
Nah, they've been popular for a while now
I'd say Anker leans toward power — heavy on the bass.
I personally prefer light, airy treble, so it's not quite my thing
I like how they jam right into your ears
That thing's really held up, huh
That's how it should be with earbuds.
Wired just isn't an option anymore
There's a big difference between a few-thousand-yen pair and a tens-of-thousands-yen pair.
Never tried anything over 100,000 yen though
Honestly it's the same in any hobby.
There's no huge gap, but there are subtle differences.
It comes down to how much you're willing to pay for that subtlety.
I'm into guitars too — for acoustics I want something in the 300,000-500,000 yen range, but for electrics a cheap one's fine
Wireless: Falcon Max (9,900 yen)
I just started using Noble myself recently.
This is my first time with a multi-driver setup, so I'm pretty hyped 😳
Yeah, there aren't many options for in-ear monitor types
The Falcon Max?
Getting sound like that under 10,000 yen is just ridiculous, even counting wired models
It's called the Rex5
Brings back memories. The 65t was the first earbuds I ever bought, around 10,000 yen
Nice, you've got a good one there.
Looks cool too
The plasticky look kind of put me off at first, but I've grown attached to it
That's a headphone, not an earbud!
I mean, I've had it over 10 years, so I've definitely gotten my money's worth.
Still just as satisfied with it as ever
They really last that long, huh
My yara-phone already broke
Someone posted proof pics of Noble's Khan.
Said they bought it because they just couldn't forget that piercing, soaring treble.
With high-end gear, I feel like there's often this overwhelming character you can't reproduce with any other model
I want to hear it, but I don't have the guts to actually buy one 🥺
I'm confident I could tell apart the ones I actually own.
Though I don't own anything that fancy
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
In recent years, Chinese and other newer manufacturers like EarFun and Noble have been gaining ground in the earbuds market thanks to their strong price-to-performance ratio, and the fact that they get mentioned in the same breath as Sony’s flagship models reflects that trend. Where opinions in the thread diverged was on how much a price difference actually translates into sound quality: many felt a noticeable difference in the range from a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of yen, but the prevailing view was that above 100,000 yen, it’s less about universal performance gaps and more a hobbyist’s pursuit of the unique character only that specific model can offer. Anker came up as an example of bass-heavy tuning that splits opinion, suggesting it’s not a one-size-fits-all choice. The thread also raised the question of whether people could actually tell the difference in a blind test, hinting at the tension between genuine performance gains and the “self-satisfaction” that’s part and parcel of the audio hobby.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “What earbuds do you NanG folks use?“
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