In Pursuit of Sonic Bliss and Decoding Value: Freepods 4 vs. SpacePods

Recently, I made a lot of purchases for items that I considered necessary. One of the items was a pair of earphones. Telling a few dear ones that I purchased yet another pair of earphones by a particular brand, they would often wonder if I was some sort of ambassador for this particular brand or if I was just obsessed with them or something. Their eyebrows would even go higher when I told them the cost.

You see, I used to own a pair of earphones that were always in my ears for longer than the hours I would sleep every day. Music is my drive—but it’s more liberating to hear sounds from my phone through earphones that are wireless, as they are way more convenient than their wired counterparts. However, one faithful day, I lost it on my way back from a distanced journey.

The Oraimo Freepods 4 that I used to own served me very well. I particularly liked it for the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) feature it had, where it allowed me to choose between transparency, normal, and noise cancellation modes. Those modes came in very handy in times when I wouldn’t want to take the earphones off to hear sounds around, when people spoke to me, or when I needed full concentration by blocking away with the noise. The pain I felt when I realised that it must have fallen off along the way shattered my heart.

At some point, I wondered if I had had the earphones vanish into thin air because I had recently criticised them for a flaw that I discovered in them—something that made me feel a little dissatisfied with them. A Flaw to Not Miss in the Freepods 4 went live, and then the earphones eloped a few hours later. Just coincidence?

Fast forward to the day I visited the market. I put buying a new pair of earphones in the budget and hoped to find the same earphones or something interesting to try. I was more inclined towards the latter, though. And then I found this newer model by the same brand, Oraimo. It was the SpacePods tuned for Afrobeats by the popular Nigerian artist Burna Boy. Like a flashlight in the night, my eyes shone over it, and I immediately inquired about its cost.

“$33 for the SpacePods,” said the attendant. That’s roughly thirty-nine thousand naira, and that’s no small money. I paused for a minute, and then I asked about Freepods 4. $24 for Freepods 4, which is about twenty-nine thousand naira. I was even more surprised—it was only 24% less when I bought it the last time. Notwithstanding, I had envisaged these contingencies; in Nigeria, the prices go up every blessed day.

The cost of these earphones was nowhere small, but they were still way more affordable than their Apple counterparts. I came prepared anyway, but I was in a dilemma about which to go for. I wondered if the SpacePods were truly worth that amount of money, and then I contemplated if I wanted to deal with the one issue I didn’t like in the FreePods 4. If in my shoes, what would you have done?

I mean, there were other models that were probably way cheaper, but guess what? I have actually used them before. Freepods 2, 3, and now 4. The other variants of those models didn’t pique my interest either. And the very reason I was only considering the SpacePods and Freepods 4 was primarily because of the ANC that I talked about earlier.

I considered what I didn’t like about the Freepods 4, which was the poor audio quality people got wherever they called me and I was using them, and chose to go for the SpacePods in hopes that such a problem wouldn’t exist on them. And, also, I was curious about how much of a difference it was going to be.

I thought about the fact that I wouldn’t be able to publish a review of something that I have already written about and that there really was not going to be anything to explore—no adventure. Therefore, I asked for the SpacePods. I really hoped that it would take me to space with the amount I was paying for it.

It has been a week since I bought the Oraimo SpacePods. I haven’t actively tested it out, though, and so I cannot give a verdict on whether it’s worth the money yet. I am just glad that I have pretty good earphones to use again for great audio listening. Trust that I am enjoying this lo-fi music through it as I write with the noise cancellation feature on.

At this point, it would be hard to convince people that I do not work for Oraimo as an ambassador. It is not just for the fact that this is my fourth model of their wireless earphones that I am using, but also for the fact that I have purchased many other devices from them, ranging from wired earphones, keyboard and mouse combos, shaving clippers, and powerbanks.

I know that not many people would agree that spending so much on earphones is worth it. The truth is, we all place value on different things because we are all different. If my girlfriend told me she liked a pretty expensive pair of heels, I really wouldn’t see much of a difference between it and the cheaper ones, but it’s what she wants and she knows its worth anyway, so I’d rather try to understand. Until I test this out and publish a review, I’ll keep rocking this new guy.