Choosing Earbuds Part 1
Understanding What You’re Hearing
In today's fast-paced world, our earbuds have become faithful companions, offering us a portal to our favorite tunes, podcasts, and audiobooks amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life. While I personally enjoy open room listening with home audio system, the truth is that I rarely get to crank it up and feel the bass make my chest thump. Way more than half of my listening is in my car or with my earbuds.
After using both wired and wireless earbuds, I’ve come to realize that not all earbuds are created equal when it comes to sound quality and the overall music listening experience. Let's embark on a journey to understand the nuances of earbud sound quality and how it shapes our auditory pleasure.
The reality is that there are a LOT of earbuds out there. Apple, Jabra, Beats, Sony, Bose, Status, Skullcandy, LSTN… and many more. Keep reading to help find the right pair for your enjoyment!
Understanding Earbud Sound Quality
1. Drivers and Components:
The heart of earbuds lies in their drivers. These tiny components convert electrical signals into sound waves. Dynamic drivers, balanced armature drivers, and planar magnetic drivers are common types found in earbuds, each offering different sonic characteristics. Some earbuds have multiple drivers for different bands of frequency response. Some use tried-and-true Dynamic Driver (DD) while others use Balanced Armature (BA) drivers. Generally speaking, BA drivers give a better response if they are sized correctly for their frequency assignment.
2. Frequency Response:
The frequency range an earbud can reproduce significantly impacts the sound quality. A wider frequency response allows for more accurate representation of low, mid, and high frequencies, resulting in richer and more detailed sound. Try taking a hearing test with each of your ears separately to find out what range you are capable of hearing, and then looking for earbuds that can match that range. If you can’t hear sounds over 12,000 Hz, then having earbuds that will produce up to 20,000 means the buds are doing work you can’t appreciate. But if you can hear 20,000Hz and your earbuds cap out at 18,000, they aren’t supporting your ability to appreciate the content you are listening to.
3. Impedance and Sensitivity:
Impedance and sensitivity influence how earbuds interact with audio devices. Low-impedance earbuds are more compatible with smartphones and portable devices, while high-impedance earbuds might require dedicated amplifiers for optimal performance.
4. Noise Isolation and Cancelation:
Earbuds with effective noise isolation or active noise cancelation (ANC) create an immersive listening experience by reducing external distractions, allowing you to delve deeper into the music. Similarly, if you often listen in locations with ambient sounds (like commercial airliners or a cube-farm office), noise cancelation can also give you auditory privacy in addition to a more immersive experience. NOTE: if you spend time in places where sound is a safety factor (e.g., construction site or driving) noise cancelation can also put you at risk for injury or worse. Most earbuds with ANC offer a customization tool (usually via their app) that can tune the noise cancelation to your ears.
Factors Influencing Music Listening Experience
1. Audio Source Quality:
The quality of the audio source significantly impacts the listening experience. High-quality streaming services, lossless audio formats, and uncompressed music files can enhance the overall sound quality. The lowest digital sampling quality that most people consider to be a “rich” listening experience is 128 kilo-bits per second (kbps). At 192kbps (50% more music data than 128!), most people can’t distinguish any quality loss. 320kbps is the equivalent of CD-quality audio. If you stream music on a major service (Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc.), you likely have choices of what quality you want to listen to while streaming or when you download music to your local device. Be sure to pay attention to your app’s settings to make sure you are getting a quality that fits your listening (and data use) preferences.
2. Personal Preferences and Genres:
Musical taste varies, and earbuds may perform differently with various genres. Some earbuds accentuate bass for electronic or hip-hop genres, while others emphasize clarity and detail for classical or jazz music. That said, a stand up bass, like used in both jazz and classical music, can produce tones as low as 40 Hz, which is clearly in the sub-woofer range (below 200Hz).
3. Comfort and Fit:
Comfortable earbuds that fit well contribute to an enjoyable listening experience, preventing listener fatigue during extended use. Different ear tip sizes and materials allow for a personalized fit. This may take a bit of wearing to determine. If you have earbuds with ANC, you may opt for a tighter, sound-proofing fit in order to block ambient sound from entering your ear canal around an imperfect earbud seal. Also, the material of the tips can effect comfort.
4. Durability and Build Quality:
Durability matters, especially for earbuds used daily or during workouts. Water and sweat resistance, sturdy cables, and robust build materials ensure longevity.
5. Battery Life and Connectivity:
For wireless earbuds, battery life and connectivity stability are essential. Long battery life and reliable Bluetooth connectivity enhance the convenience of using earbuds on the go. Many earbud brands have a recharging battery built into the carrying case, so that anytime your earbuds are in the case, they are recharging (as long as you periodically recharge the case itself). Cases that are Qi charging compatible can conveniently be set on a charging pad to recharge the case’s battery in addition to having a standard charging cable port.
Bluetooth versions make a difference in battery life as well as connectivity. Bluetooth 5 allows the earbuds to be more power-efficient as well as have a more secure connection with a higher data-transfer rate. This means that, in theory, they should not cut in and out as often when you move or turn your head and there should be less lag time events where audio seems to slow down or stutter while listening.
Coming Up Next Time…
Evaluating sound quality and choosing earbuds that are right for you.