Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I just wanted to be one of the first reviews (I don't write many reviews at all)...but I actually got these a day early and played around with them for a bit. Great craftsmanship, solid design and feel...and I'm very impressed with the sound. I normally am not the biggest fan of headphones that go in the ear, as they tend to somehow make my ears very warm...but these didn't do that at all for the test run I gave them (about 45 minutes). Good noise cancellation, deep bass, high trebles and the best part of all: Alexa at the ready. Pretty cool to just be able to say what song to play and there it goes...even knowing the distance/space from other Echo/Alexa devices and picking the closest ones to the voice saying Alexa (something I had been worried about). I do wonder what would happen if someone near you said "Alexa" while using these...will have to try that out in the future. Though this might be common sense to some, when setting up the Echo Buds with your phone, you need to turn the bluetooth on in your phone. I know that shouldn't be a thing, but a lot of people don't know that and for some reason the directions never mention turning the bluetooth on. Again, these seem awesome, I'm very impressed with them and extremely happy to have them...but it's only been half a day or so. But from the initial outlook, I would definitely recommend these to anyone as they seem like a great set of buds and a vast improvement over the first generation. I will update this review if things get worse or somehow get better...but as of now: A+. ***Update*** Though it says I just bought the "charging case" version in my heading (I don't know why/tried to correct it 3 times), I actually bought the wireless charging case and the optional pad that it sits in that has the built in indentation just for the case. The whole time it was supposed to be here the day after the release, Friday, May 14. I am now getting a notice from Amazon that it won't be here until July 21...and that pretty much ticks me off. I did check the case against a wireless charger that I have but don't trust, because I saw a review of someone getting a normal case by accident...and it does work as a wireless charger. One other little inconvenience, if you are buying new wall plugs (because these buds as well as the 2 month backlogged charging pad do not come with them) it should be noted that the cables are USB-C to USB-A. I purchased 2 Anker wall plugs with the C plugs thinking that the cables coming with these items would be "C to C"...now I need to buy extra adapters, new cables or new plugs. Just something to think about before you buy any extras and end up with mismatched pieces such as myself. "2nd Update and yelling ALEXA" I used the Echo buds today (Friday, May 14) while cutting the grass for about an hour. No problems with power, as the battery life was great. I decided to use the ANC to drown out the mower's noise, and it effectively did that...so much so that I actually stalled my mower because I didn't realize how thick/high the grass was and how the mower was struggling with it. I normally base those things on the sound of the mower, as that is what I listen for...but I really couldn't hear those nuances at all. Don't get me wrong, it didn't get rid of all the mower's sound entirely by itself, but with the music playing loudly I really didn't hear it until it wasn't running. HOWEVER...I really have no desire to pull out my phone to change channels, songs or the volume...so this is why I wanted these buds, so I could just tell Alexa to do that (maybe not on a plane, but you get my point). The problem is that maybe the ANC works too well, as I was yelling "ALEXA" and she just couldn't hear me most of the time. As good as these were at canceling out the mower sound, they were canceling out my voice as well. It was truly pretty bad and annoying, so much so that I shut it off and went with the pass through sound option, and then Alexa was able to hear me ask to play a song or change the channel...all without yelling. But then the mower's sound was there again...so I don't have an answer or a solution to this little predicament. Maybe there is an easy way to fix this, but nothing that I could figure out as of yet. I still would highly recommend these, no "warm ear feeling", Alexa ready to help and great overall sound.