When it comes to technology, every part of a contraption serves as a way to complete a bigger picture. You will rarely see anything extraneous inside of a piece of technology as a result. You don’t find exra buttons on a remote. You don’t find extra steering wheels in a car. The same concept applies to your music. So, you decide you want to listen to some jams, and you realize that the earbuds you’re using make your ears bleed. What gives? The general rule of thumb is that the more expensive the ear buds are, the better the sound quality and overall craftsmanship will be; however, it is still important to take earbud tips into consideration when shopping.
If you’re trying to save money, and you are stuck with having to choose between two earbuds, always look for the shape and contour first. You never want to settle for anything that is flat shaped because such shapes do not complement the shape of your ear canal. Those who buy flat shaped earbuds tend to have many complaints of the tips falling out of their ears while they are engaging in normal, every day, activities. The shape of the devices, itself, causes sound to be impolitely reverberated off of the entrance of your ear and back into the headphone; furthermore, some of the sound- if not a lot of it, simply jettisons into the atmosphere.
When buying earbuds, make sure you take into account that the tips are round; therefore, they are able to actually stick inside of your ears. Now, you have about three major options when choosing between earbud tips once you cancel out anything that is flat shaped.
The first option is that you look for rubber tips. Rubber is pretty inexpensive, and it creates an excellent suction in your ear in order to keep your music where it should be- in your ear! You can find many earbuds with rubber tips. Many sports earbuds have some variation or polymer of rubber in their earbud tips in order to give their ears that extra bounce.
Silicone tips tend to block out sound even better than rubber, but you should take great care in selecting what you do with the tips. If you’re not the type of person who takes legitimate care of his or her things, then these are probably not the way to go. Even though silicone does a better job performance-wise for earbuds than rubber earbud tips, rubber has a major advantage: Rubber it simply stronger. It can withstand extremes better.
The main debate is really between Rubber and Foam tips. Foam is excellent because it really match the shape of your ears. Shure actually markets its earbuds with such quality. Shure’s tips are made out of a special type of memory foam that really matches the shape of your ear. Since everyone is different, the earbud tips will really adjust and make a great home. Foam makes it so that external sounds fall into significantly lower disturbance levels than music heard through other materials. Generally, though, foam tips come with expensively expensive buds, so expect to be dishing out some good cash.
If you’re trying to be more conservative, then your best option is to go for the rubber tips. They will last you a very long time when compared to silicone tips. Now, these are not laws of any sort. We understand that in various situations and mixes, any of these three can topple the other two; however, as a general rule of thumb, go with the foams. They create better suction, they last longer, and they really isolate the sound. If you can’t do that, go rubber. Avoid flat shaped earbuds at all costs, though.