It’s the player, not the buds. The buds (actually IEM) are Shure SE215, not shabby, and moving up to my fullsize Grado headphones, also about 5" of cord, only brings out the static and tinny edge.
Part of this is that I usually listen to 320 kbps mp3 or FLAC files, and FM transmission is already lower-fi, but there is also that staticky edge on a lot of stations. I can’t imagine that a real, dedicated radio from a known brand would sound worse.
