The ear canal tip part is a huge contributor to what makes good sound possible on ear-bud style headphones. So with that in mind, earpods are likely pretty close to as good as you can get with that style of earphone, and will have working buttons. So I guess if, as you say, "they don't need to be brilliant": why not just earpods?

If you're looking for better quality than that, without them actually going into your ears, you're gonna be looking at over-ear headphones as another commenter has said