We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-19 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a five-pack of wired 3.5 mm earbuds you can scatter across a bag, a desk and a car without worrying about any single pair, choose geeboy 5; if you need a single USB-C gaming headset with a detachable boom mic, a smart DAC chip and RGB lighting, choose Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming.
• geeboy 5 — biggest strength: You get five complete sets of in-ear headphones with in-line mics for one purchase, all on a standard 3.5 mm plug, so you always have a spare pair.
• geeboy 5 — biggest trade-off: No USB-C option and no detachable boom mic — it's a classic analog earbud, and the bundled Type-C adapter is explicitly not compatible with Google Pixel, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL or HTC devices.
• Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming — biggest strength: A digital DAC chip inside the plug, a detachable high-sensitivity microphone plus a built-in inline mic, ear-hook fit and RGB lighting — purpose-built for USB-C phones and gaming.
• Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming — biggest trade-off: It's one headset, not five, it only works with USB-C ports, and the sound and call quality depend heavily on getting the earbud tips seated correctly in your ear canals.
• Who each pick is for: geeboy 5 is for the person who wants cheap, plentiful, plug-and-play spares; Poihiom is for the gamer or USB-C phone owner who wants one serious headset.
geeboy 5 is a quantity play, and it's honest about that. The listing is literally five pieces of the same wired earbud with a microphone, a 3.5 mm jack, 20 ohm impedance and a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz dynamic driver. That 20 ohm impedance is the interesting number here — it's low, which means ordinary devices like a laptop headphone jack, a Chromebook, an MP3 player or a budget phone can drive these without struggling. You're not buying them for headroom or detail; you're buying them because they'll make sound out of almost anything with a headphone socket.
The feature set is what I'd call practical rather than clever. There's an in-line multi-function button handling play/pause, answer/end calls, and next/previous track, plus a built-in mic for hands-free calling — including rejecting calls from the earphone itself. The earpieces use rounded tips in a plastic and TPE enclosure, and the light, flexible cable is meant to be threaded through a jacket, bag or backpack. Noise isolation is listed, so the seal is part of the design intent. The manufacturer also describes a shockproof membrane and tuned sound units for better sensitivity and noise reduction than "traditional" headphones, plus active noise cancellation listed under noise control with touch-based media controls.
Who should buy it: anyone who keeps losing earbuds, a household with several 3.5 mm devices, a teacher or commuter who wants a pair in every bag, or someone who needs a cheap spare set for running and jogging where the noise-isolating fit matters more than fidelity. Who should skip it: if your phone or console only has USB-C and you don't want to deal with an adapter — especially if you own a Pixel, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL or HTC device, since geeboy states the Type-C to 3.5 mm adaptor does not work with those — this isn't the pick. And if you want a proper boom mic for voice chat, look elsewhere.
Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming is the opposite philosophy: one headset, built around one specific job. The headline spec is the upgraded smart DAC chip inside the USB-C plug. What that means in practice is that the digital-to-analog conversion happens in the cable rather than relying on your phone's own headphone circuitry — Poihiom claims Hi-Fi stereo sound, no buzzing or popping, no latency and low power consumption, all plug-and-play. That's the pitch for USB-C-only phones like the iPhone 16/15 Pro Max and Pixel 8, 7 and 6, where there's no 3.5 mm jack to fall back on anyway.
The gaming side is where the design shows. You get a detachable high-sensitivity microphone that picks up your voice clearly for party chat, and a built-in inline mic for when you're out and about and don't want the boom attached. Poihiom lists compatibility with mobile gaming, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo and PC. There's RGB lighting, a gaming theme, metal-and-plastic construction, black finish, a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz dynamic driver, sound isolation, call control on a wired remote, and a one-year warranty. Weight is listed at 1.28 ounces.
The fit engineering is worth calling out because Poihiom spends a lot of words on it: decompression gap ear hooks that adjust to your ear size so the buds sit deeper and snugly, contoured to the human ear so they don't fall out during movement. The brand also warns, fairly, that if the tips don't match your ear canal size or the headset isn't seated properly, sound and call quality suffer — so tip swapping is part of owning these.
Who should buy it: someone gaming on a USB-C phone, tablet or console who needs a real mic for chat; a commuter with a USB-C-only phone who wants wired reliability instead of Bluetooth latency. Who should skip it: anyone with 3.5 mm-only gear, anyone who wants multiple pairs lying around, and anyone who dislikes ear-hook designs or fiddly tip fitting.
• Best for having spares everywhere → geeboy 5. Five complete sets means one for the desk, one for the gym bag, one in the car.
• Best for voice chat and gaming → Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming. The detachable high-sensitivity boom mic plus inline mic is a genuine two-mode setup that geeboy simply doesn't offer.
• Best for USB-C phones with no headphone jack → Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming. It plugs straight into Type-C; geeboy needs an adapter, and that adapter has known Pixel and HTC exclusions.
• Best for older and mixed devices → geeboy 5. The 3.5 mm jack and 20 ohm impedance work with laptops, Chromebooks, MP3/MP4 players, speakers and most phones.
• Best for running, jogging and gym use → geeboy 5. Lightweight, flexible, noise-isolating, and if you wreck a pair you still have four more.
• Best for fit security during movement → Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming. The adjustable ear hooks are designed specifically to stop buds falling out — though you'll need to get the tips right.
• Best for a single, do-everything wired headset → Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming. One pair, one cable, mic included, one-year warranty.
• Best if you hate fiddling → geeboy 5. No tip matching, no detachable mic, no ear hooks. Just plug in.
In my opinion, the right buy depends entirely on which problem you actually have. If you're gaming or taking calls on a USB-C phone or console and you need a working microphone, I'd buy Poihiom USB-C in-Ear Gaming — the DAC chip, the detachable boom mic and the ear-hook fit are all aimed at exactly that job, and no amount of extra pairs makes up for a missing mic. If your devices still have headphone jacks and you just want reliable, cheap earbuds in every bag, I'd buy geeboy 5 and treat the five-pack as the feature it is. Neither is a compromise pick; they're built for different people.
FAQ
They use a 3.5 mm jack, so a USB-C phone needs an adapter. geeboy notes the Type-C to 3.5 mm adaptor does not work with Google Pixel, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL or HTC devices. If you're on one of those, Poihiom's native USB-C connection is the safer route.
I don't quote prices here — check the current price on Amazon using the button on this page, since it changes. On value, geeboy 5 gives you five working sets in one purchase, while Poihiom gives you one headset with a DAC chip, detachable mic, RGB and a one-year warranty. Different value, different job.
Poihiom designed them with adjustable decompression ear hooks contoured to the ear specifically to prevent that, so the fit is a core feature rather than an afterthought. The caveat from the brand itself: if the earbud tips don't match your ear canals, sound and call quality drop, so try the different tip sizes.
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