Are repairable earbuds actually worth buying? What the Fairbuds 2 get right

Fairphone’s Fairbuds 2 let you replace seven parts — including the batteries in the buds and case — so a dead battery no longer means buying a whole new set.

Yes — repairable earbuds are worth it if you keep your buds for years, because the part that usually kills wireless earbuds is the battery, and Fairphone’s Fairbuds 2 let you replace it yourself instead of throwing the whole set away. Most earbuds are sealed shut: when the tiny battery fades after two or three years, the buds become e-waste even though the speakers still work. The Fairbuds 2 attack exactly that failure point.

Seven parts are user-replaceable, including the batteries in both buds and the charging case — and even a single lost or damaged bud — so the most common reasons people replace earbuds become cheap fixes instead. They are on sale now in the UK and Europe at £99 / €119, with a US launch at $119 on November 2. The case is about 37% smaller than the first generation, total battery life runs about 40 hours with noise cancelling off — roughly 8 hours per charge from the buds, about 6 with ANC on — and you get LDAC high-quality audio plus two-device multipoint.

The trade-off: there is no wireless charging.1. Do the replacement math. Price a replacement battery or a single bud against a whole new set from a big brand.

If the parts cost a fraction of a new pair, repairability pays for itself the first time something wears out.2. Check LDAC on your phone. Most recent Android phones support LDAC; iPhones do not.

Know which high-quality codec your phone can actually use before paying for it.3. Decide about Qi charging honestly. If your nightstand and car both have wireless pads you rely on, the missing feature will annoy you daily.

If you charge by cable anyway, you will never miss it.4. Register the extended warranty. Fairphone backs the repairable design with an extended warranty — but only if you register, so do it the day the buds arrive.Pro tip: repairable buds pay off only if you keep them three years or more.

If you upgrade every year chasing sound quality, buy for sound instead and recycle the old pair responsibly.