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by elabajaba 30 days ago
There really aren't very many different tip types available for airpods, since they use a special clip attachment method that means you can't use any standard existing tips. I've been looking for aftermarket tips for my pro 3s and there's maybe 5 actually different tips available (crappy foam, decent foam, bad hybrid, basic sticky silicone, basic bad rubber). They're distinctly lacking in good quality tips with different textures (can help with comfort and keeping them in your ears) or different bore sizes (comfort and changes the sound signature). TRI clarion, Tangzu Tang Sancai, Penon Liqueur, JVC Spiral Dot are a few different standard tips that would likely be way more comfortable than the standard airpods tips if you could actually use them.

Shoes are actually a great analogy here, because the companies all use different lasts, so it doesn't matter that eg. Adidas has thousands of different shoes in over a dozen sizes, none of them actually comfortably fit my feet because the heel is always too wide and the forefoot too narrow.

Also, they only come with 5 tip sizes (4+1 on the buds) and use an oval shape which I personally find less comfortable than circular tips+stems.