It's an old thread, I carry a pair as a spare in my EDC - it's okay, doesn't compare to my Sennheiser CX's IEM, which cost a bit more. In their price range, I highly recommend getting a pair of (authentic - bar/scan code can be verified on OEM's site) Xiaomi Piston 3, for about $25 USD and it sounded a lot better than the Airbuds, much closer to Sennheiser's specs and well built. Yes - foam tips upgrade made a lot of difference and on the road, not worry about losing the Bose. http://1drv.ms/1JBXCDb

Wrote them at Airbud about replacement foam tip and never heard from them, let alone getting the comp'd tips as above.