Don’t settle for second-best sound from your earbuds — get the best sound possible with just a few simple steps! Here’s how to make sure your in-ear headphones are always producing high-quality audio.
Why Audiophiles Prefer In-Ear Headphones
Here’s what audiophiles had to say about the best in-ear headphones:
- In-ear headphones have ultra-close proximity with your ear drums. With no space and disturbance in between, they offer HD sound quality.
- These headphones (of good quality) have a potential to seal out noise from the external environment. So, you’re literally disconnected from your surrounding and can listen to your favorite songs at relatively lower and safer volume.
- One of the best benefit of in-ear headphones over its counterparts has been the detail and depth. Even on lower volumes, it can provide amazing detail, which is hardly possible with other alternates.
The only thing you need to worry about is, both the earpieces should be sealed tightly, otherwise, you’ll not get what you’ve paid for.
#1. Getting that Perfect Fit
Naturally, we have unique set of ears, so not everyone can get the perfect fit. It’s a tricky exercise to do. Luckily, many branded in-ear headphones come with a variety of sizes and shapes.
You should try all of them and look for that ultimate comfort as well as best possible seal. Your aim should be to minimize the amount of external noise. Moreover, another thing that a perfect seal does is, deliver the fullest bass response.
Why Good Seal is Important?
Along with the fullest bass response, a perfect seal is essential for high-quality sound. The difference between good and not-so-good sealing isn’t subtle. That you will experience when you try different options and why shouldn’t you, because a high-quality music is worthy of some extra effort.
Another downside of poor seal is, the earpiece is likely to fall while you’re moving your head. While less secure fit is an annoyance for almost everyone, people who use in-ear headphones during workouts are more uncomfortable with it.
Tip: normally, left and right ear canals are not exactly the same. So, if you have this issues, you might, for example, need to wear the small-sized ear tip for the left year and medium one for the right year.
4 Handy Ways to Insert In-ear Headphones
#1. The Push-In Technique
- Try to twist or rotate the ear tip a little bit while pushing the headphones inside your ear. Do it gently, and keep pushing it until the external noise is reduced considerably. You’ll feel the quieting effect almost closer to the best sound reducing headphones around.
- If you feel that the ear tip is still loose, or the surrounding noise is still the same, you might need to replace the ear tip with a larger one. Conversely, if you feel them too tight inside your ears, replace them with smaller tips.
#2. The Lube Tug Technique
If you don’t get desired results with push-in technique, “lube tug” technique might help you. Here it is:
- Before pushing the ear tip inside the ear canal, tug the earlobe out and/or down gently.
- Push-in the headphone and then release the lube.
This technique works with almost every in-ear headphones, but is best with Monster Turbine Headphones. You need to experiment with the direction, before finally achieving the perfect fit. If you do it in the first attempt, you’re lucky.
#3. The Ear-Pull Approach
There is an opposite approach, just in case the Lube Tug technique fails, known as “Ear Pull”. Here’s what you should do:
- Before pushing the headphone in, hold your ear with your other hand and pull it gently.
- Push-in the ear tip and release the ear.
You can try different pulling angles. One might work for you.
#4. Try Moisture
Another handy way to place the ear tip inside your ear is by moistening it using your mouth. But this technique only works with silicon flanges or tips. Follow these steps:
- Moist the tips before pushing them inside
- Be quick to force the ear tip into the ear canal.
If you feel discomfort or got hurt, don’t try more!
#2. Headphone Cable
Headphone’s cable may just be the culprit that’s keeping you from high-quality sound. So, be very careful not to tangle it. The manner of folding and tying can damage the headphone’s wires, especially when they’re skinny.
- People often jumble up the cable in a hurry, which is not a suitable way to deal with delicate wires.
- Some people are generous enough to wrap the wires around their hand, in circle. But that may also damage the wires, no matter how careful you are.
All these issues lead to issues like distortion, in-sufficient sound, or no sound in one of the ear tips.
How to Manage Headphone Cable
If your headphones have thin tangle-prone wires (most of them do), then this tip will surely work for you.
- Fold the wires in a U shape – alternating U’s and upside down U’s. This is to make sure wires keep their natural flow and movement. With circular folding or jumbling, this natural structure is affected, causing the wires to damage.
- Now, fold the cable to put it inside your bag.
#3. Use Different Headphones for Laptops, Smartphones and Audio Players
People often use in-ear headphones meant for smartphones or audio players, with desktops and laptops. That’s one way to reduce the performance of headphones.
Every device has a different hardware, and the headphones you wear may not be suitable for it. For instance, the laptop may produce a sound higher in frequency than the actual capacity of your in-ear headphones. This, eventually, would result in poor sound quality, if you keep on using them for long.
Conclusion
There’s no question that over-ear headphones are the best headphones, but in-ear headphones are not far behind. They’re sleek, portable, lightweight, and easy-to-use. Plus, you can fold them inside your pocket.
In-ear headphones are better for listening music on the go, but you need to be very careful dealing with them. So, before you head out to find a new in-ear model, make sure you tried above mentioned tips.
