Top 10 Best Retractable Earbuds in 2024 – Our Top Picks

The retractable earbuds are essential accessories for those who want to use convenient and secure support for and receive calls at the wheel.

These earphones integrate Bluetooth technology for remote connection and have effortless operation. It is sufficient to carry out the pairing, some products integrate the double pairing with two different cell phones, and position the device on the shirt or shirt thanks to the clip on the back.

The retractable technology is also called roller shutter and allows to limit as much as possible the clutter and clutter that usually the earphone wire generates. Therefore they present themselves as a safe and reliable solution for all drivers who can have an effective system for receiving calls in your car.

Here we had listed out the best retractable earbuds that are present below.

Buying Guide to Select the Best Retractable Earbuds

For Sport: Comfort Above All

If you are looking for a product to play sports, comfort is one of the main elements of evaluation: the best Bluetooth headset is the one you can forget about wearing.

The products created for this purpose, generally, are attached to the ears and neck, with a thin filament, or can be worn inside the ear, without any type of cable that connects them. They must be light, but ensure stability in movement and, possibly, resist sweat and water.

Almost all of them are now equipped with a microphone to answer phone calls: the synthetic voice announcing the sender or reading an incoming message is increasingly widespread.

In any case, they need to connect to your mobile phone or, at least, to a Bluetooth device on which you have loaded the music you prefer.

There are models of headphones that also allow you to store a certain number of files locally, but in this case, Bluetooth technology is not needed: these are earphones with a built-in Mp3 player.

The maximum distance between the signal and the receiving device should not exceed 10 meters. There is a theoretical possibility for a Bluetooth signal to travel up to 100 meters. Still, it is unlikely (if not impossible) that you have a mobile phone or notebook with a chip of this power.

In a Bluetooth headset, however, good autonomy of the rechargeable battery and the convenience of manual controls are essential.

Some models with a microphone allow you to use the iOS and Android voice assistants and to connect to Amazon’s Alexa.

Bluetooth Power

Most devices with Bluetooth transmit with a power of 2.5 mW (milliwatt) and are defined as class 2. But there are additional discriminators to understand the quality of Bluetooth signal and reception.

We speak, in fact, of a transmission that travels on radio frequencies: the same ones that your home Wi-Fi uses, but 35 times less power.

If Wi-Fi is used to connect multiple devices spread over a large surface, Bluetooth usually pairs two. However, this is not an insurmountable limit (a computer can be paired with a mouse, keyboard, and Bluetooth headphones, without problems).

The versions currently on the market range from 1.0 to 5.0. The differences between one update and another are different: from the possibility of encrypting the signal to the transmission speed.

It seems that the latest addition, 5.0, is the most significant leap forward made by this technology so far.

To fully exploit the potential of the latest versions, both devices you want to connect must be supported: if we’re going to listen to music on a headset with Bluetooth, for example, 4.0, we must choose a transmitter (be it a cellphone or a stereo system ) 4.0.

Headphones for Sound Lovers

If your goal is not a Bluetooth headset for sports, but you are more interested in sound quality and isolation, you may be heading towards a completely different type of product, and on average, more expensive.

These are not earphones to be inserted inside the pavilion (in-ear), a practice that still involves some “hygienic” problems, but old-style headphones that completely cover the ears (on-ear – over-ear).

It is not uncommon, by now, to meet people who adopt these models, equipped with a microphone and sophisticated background noise elimination functions, even when traveling on a bus or train.

In this case, the difference is the quality of transmission and reception of the signal. As mentioned, this does not depend only on the characteristics of the headphones you buy, but also on the power of the “transmitter.”

Earphones without Earphones

While you try to understand how to choose a good Bluetooth headset, nothing prevents you from evaluating the models that exploit the bone transmission of sound.

The rest, for example, on the base of the skull and have the main advantage of not forcing you to put on and keep a silicone plug in your ears, perhaps in a situation where you sweat a lot.

Besides, they reduce noise insulation, potentially risky if, for example, you run in the city, and you have to cross a traffic zone. There are places and circumstances where it is essential to maintain a good perception of the sounds around us.

How to Use Retractable Earbuds

After carefully comparing the offers on the market, having made your choice, the purchase must work. A Bluetooth headset potentially pairs with any device that is predisposed to the same technology: stereo system, TV, computer, mobile phone, tablet.

Not everyone knows it, but it is possible to use them even if, hypothetically, our TV or our stereo system is not exactly avant-garde.

You need to have a Bluetooth transmitter that connects to the audio inputs of an old TV or vintage speakers, with an expense that can go from 20 to 100 euros, and you’re done.

The instructions for making them talk can vary depending on the type of product and the software used.

In general, you need to activate the Bluetooth function on both devices, then, via software, wait for the name of the device to which we want to pair to appear and connect.

The earphones generally provide for starting with the product turned off. Then you must identify the multifunction button, which usually regulates the reception of calls from the mobile phone, and keep it pressed until a LED starts to signal that the pairing function has been activated with another device.

Many products are now encountered that communicate the successful or failed “coupling vocally.” All Android and Apple phones allow easy access to Bluetooth activation from simple and clear menus.

For Android, you need to search and select the Settings icon, then access the item Wireless and networks, and, finally, in the Bluetooth subsection.

Move the virtual lever that is right next to Bluetooth to ON. After a while, you will see the name of our headset among the available Devices.

The procedure on an iPhone is equally simple: from the settings icon (the toothed wheel), you go to a general overview of the functions, including visible among the first ones, the Bluetooth one. The unique lever is moved to ON, and the rest is history.

Codec Issue

The quality of the sound that comes to a wireless headset is largely determined also by the supported audio codecs, and an element underestimated in the online shopping recommendations.

The word Codec is the synthesis of “compression-decompression.” In practice, digital audio is compressed at the source, to allow the wireless transmission to the earphones, and decompressed when it reaches its destination, to be able to listen to it.

Some codecs guarantee fidelity to the original sound better than others, but it is all in vain if the source device and headphones do not support them.

Among the most common and universally supported codecs is SBC, with a maximum bandwidth of 328 Kbps.

If you are looking for high-resolution sound, it is not for you. Furthermore, it tends to show high latency, i.e., an excessive time interval between the moment when the sound is produced, and the moment it is transmitted.

An obvious flaw if you use Bluetooth headphones to listen to TV, and the audio may be misaligned concerning the images.

The Best Sound

The apt-X Codec, purchased years ago by Qualcomm, capable of getting very close to the original audio quality of a CD, does not suffer from these problems.

The company has recently developed a more updated and efficient version, called apex HD, which allows you to encode audio in 24-bit resolution with sampling rates up to 48 kHz, theoretically higher than those of a CD.

Apple users cannot do without the AAC codec, necessary for iTunes, but also used in some game consoles, high-resolution digital audio players, and car entertainment systems. AAC offers more faithful audio than the widespread MP3 codec, with the same bit of transmission.

Finally, Sony developed its LDAC, with a bandwidth of up to 990 Kbps, audio encoded in a resolution of up to 24 bits and sampling rates of up to 96 kHz.

Stay in Control

It is essential to access some functions directly from the earphones, such as volume, receiving a phone call, or switching from one song to another.

To do this, many manufacturers place some buttons on the right or left, in comfortable positions for the fingers. The experience is even simpler if the symbols that characterize the different functions can be recognized by touch.

The new trend is to prepare a touch-sensitive surface on the headset that responds to certain movements. If you slide your finger from the back to the front, you can move to the next track in the playlist.

On the other hand, when you slide your finger up or down, you adjust the volume. Other functions are activated based on the number of “taps,” that is, touches with the finger, which is carried out on the device.