Actually I totally feel the pain of dropping huge money on tiny things that just disappear. Losing a pair of expensive buds last year on the train made my heart stop. Its so stressful carrying around 250 bucks in your pocket and worrying every time you lean over a sink or a drain... honestly it just ruins the fun of the tech for me. Being happy with a more sensible approach is the way to go imo. I wanted that Apple integration without the massive price tag and I am pretty satisfied with how these work:

• Beats Studio Buds + usually around 130 dollars on sale
• Apple AirPods 3rd Gen with Lightning Case, found mine for like 140 Everything connects instantly to my 14 Pro Max and I havent had a single connection drop yet. No complaints at all about the sound and I dont feel like I am risking a car payment every time I go for a jog.

Any updates on this?

The AirPods Pro 2 are the obvious choice for iPhone 14 Pro Max users. They offer seamless iOS integration, excellent noise cancellation, and spatial audio. The sound quality is outstanding, and features like Find My tracking and automatic device switching make them worth the premium price.

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation).