I love my wired headphones and IEMs, I hate dongles. It's not their fault. I'm pretty hard-wearing on tech in general with my overstuffed pockets, and after my most recent emergency dongle purchase broke less than two songs in and started playing/pausing a track at like 15 times per second as an edible kicked in way harder than I had planned, I swore off the solution entirely.
thankfully my HiBy was already in the post. I actually love it. It's a lossless Bluetooth amp that fits on my keyring. In other words, it is everything great about wired and wireless headphones combined - the freedom to walk around while my phone's charging, to not have to worry about batteries (you can charge them and listen simultaneously, and I usually have a powerbank in my bag). It's on my keys! It goes everywhere with me! Yes, I'm not really a HiFi snob by any means, and I can't really tell my wavs from my mp3s, but there's something nice about the convenient solution also being the one with quality assured on a technical level. (see also - I use Qobuz for my streaming rather than Spotify because it pays artists the most - they also give me lossless streaming)
One of these and a pretty nice pair of wired IEMs will run you the price of your airpods or whatever, and to be honest, with a nice fitting pair and music playing, I don't miss the noise cancellation side.
I got the HiBy for free in the Linsoul Easter Sale with a set of ZiiGaat Odyssey IEMs, all in for about €150. That's not bad considering the ZiiGaats are seen for €220 and the HiBy for €50 most of the time. Linsoul is a weird website. (There was this weird sale feature where you'd buy a "reservation card" that added up to a €50 discount in the sale and a €50 gift card. I don't understand why they did this, but it means I have the best audio experience of my life?)
