I have a pair of $5 wired iem's and they're fine. Besides privacy, there's also fewer things to go wrong with pairing, less audio latency, less batteries to keep charged and to fail, etc. And they're cheap. No idea what an airpod is but if you mean those ones with a separate radio and rechargeable battery for each ear, with the additional carrying case with its own rechargeable battery, I'd just stay away.