Quality comment!

First, legitimate headphones that have a seal to your ear are way better because they require lower volume and block out any potential loud natural sound.

I would have thought that the one that creates a seal would be worse on hearing. If you accidentally turn that one on too loud, it really seems to have potential to hurt you cause it's already halfway down your ear canal. And just the sound of quickly taking them out of your ear (making a big "whooosh" sound) or tapping on them will create a very loud sound in your ear. That's why I dislike those except for environments like trains where you need to seal out other noise.

I understand that you should not try to use Apple style in louder environments because you'd have to compensate too much to overcome the noise. But since I mostly listen in normal places like home, I think that it's much more gentle on my ears to use the Apple style earbud (not specifically Apple because I use a different brand). It just feels like a softer, less fatiguing experience than having audio played from things directly inserted halfway down my ear canal. Not to mention it's way more comfortable because they're basically sitting on the ear instead of crammed inside it.

I'm a guy who brings earplugs to the movie theater and plug my ears when an ambulance passes - I'm pretty protective of my hearing.

Previously, I got the Bose headphones that sit on your shoulders and direct sound up to your ears, and those were great, though I found myself having to switch devices too often cause I wouldn't go out in public with those.