[Dave Runner]

My old earbuds had physical buttons and I knew exactly where to tap. With the SonaBuds touch controls I keep pausing stuff by accident when I adjust them. Anyone else take a while to get used to it? Not a big deal but curious if it gets better with practice.

[emily_r]

I keep the touch area away from where I grip to insert them, and that cut most of my accidental pauses. It took me about two weeks before it felt normal, though. If it still bugs me after that, I would just use the app for playback and leave the taps alone.

[HarperL]

Touch controls always sound nicer on paper than they are in real life. I usually prefer a physical button because at least I know when I’ve actually pressed it, even if it looks less sleek.

[Matt__]

Mine still catches me off guard when I’m shoving them in my bag or pulling them out. I’ve mostly learned to grab the stem part, but if I’m rushing it’s pause city. In the car or a hotel room it’s fine once they’re seated, just the handling that gets me.

[Tom 2020]

Touch controls on anything annoy me for exactly that reason. There’s no feedback telling you the tap registered, so you end up guessing or tapping twice and triggering something else entirely. With a real button you feel the click and move on. I had a pair like that and eventually just stopped adjusting them while music was playing because I got tired of the random pausing. It did not really get better for me, I just learned to avoid touching them unless I actually needed to change something. If the SonaBuds are your main translation tool though, that is a different situation since you are fiddling with them more often in conversation. Do the touch zones at least respond consistently when you do mean to tap them, or is it hit and miss there too?

[Dave Runner]

The taps themselves are pretty consistent when I actually mean to do them. It’s not hit or miss in that sense. The problem is entirely on my end, where my fingers land when I’m just nudging the earbud back into place. I pause things way more than I miss an intentional tap, if that makes sense.

I do use them for translation a fair bit, so I’m reaching for them more than I ever did with music-only buds. That’s probably why it bugs me more than it would otherwise. During a conversation I’m adjusting them constantly, and every so often I’ll get a random pause in the middle of someone talking.

I haven’t figured out a spot to grab that avoids it every time. I’m better than I was a few weeks ago, but I still catch one maybe once or twice a day. So the controls work fine. It’s my hands that are the issue.

[Tom 2020]

That makes sense. If the intentional taps are reliable, the control itself is fine and it is just a fit problem. My old pair was the opposite, missed half the taps I meant, so I gave up on them. If yours only misfires when you nudge them into place, that is a habit thing, not the hardware. Once or twice a day during conversations still sounds like enough to be irritating though.

[Jade Writes]

Took me a few weeks too, muscle memory catches up eventually.

[SarahM]

I had the same issue at first, mostly when pushing them back in. After a couple weeks I stopped touching the outer part and grab the edge instead. Still happens occasionally but way less now.

[Oliver Brooks]

Practice helps less than just grabbing the edge, which is exactly what I do.

[Emma Mirren]

Mine still catches a stray tap now and then when I’m pulling a hoodie over my head, but normal adjusting stopped being an issue after maybe a month. The touch area is smaller than I expected, which helped once I figured that out.

[Harper J]

It does get better, but what helped me most was figuring out which spot on the bud is actually the touch zone versus just the shell. I spent the first week tapping the wrong area and triggering things constantly. Now I aim for the flat part near the top and it’s fine.

[Eli]

I’d probably just stick with the buttons honestly.

[Zara W]

I keep going back and forth on whether touch controls are even worth it for me. On paper they sound slick, like a little sci-fi tap, but I know myself and I’d probably be that person muting a call while scratching my ear. My last pair had a tiny button I could find without looking, and I liked that dumb certainty. With touch controls I’d be relying on memory for where the zone is, and from what I’m reading here that memory takes a while to build. The app-based side seems handy for translation stuff though, so I get why they went touch. I’m just not convinced it’s a clear upgrade for everyday use. Did you ever get to a point where you stopped thinking about the controls at all?

[Dave Runner]

Not really, I still catch one now and then during translation chats.

[Zara W]

That’s the part that gets me. If it never fully fades for you, I’d probably be fumbling with it during an actual conversation and that’s exactly when I don’t want to think about my ears. Sounds like the app side is the real draw and the touch part is just what comes with it.

[Colin P.]

Physical buttons were easier for me too, though I mostly just adjust by the stem now and leave the touch area alone. The one thing that tripped me up was the double tap for skipping tracks, kept hitting it while pushing the bud back in. Takes a bit but you learn where not to grab.

[Author]

Posts