Headphones are big business right now. We all want them, we all need them and our awareness and desire for high-quality audio has gone through the roof. You want us to justify these bold claims? Sure.
Fact – we all walk around with music-players in our pockets whether we think about our mobile phones like that or not. Fact – the choice to stream whatever songs we like direct to our ears is just £10 per month away. Fact – since illegal music downloads have drifted out of fashion, file format and quality are the main differentiators on the agenda. So, add the facts together and you get lots of people interested in good sound and probably the most important link in the portable chain is what headphones you’re using. So, which are the right headphones for you?
The answer, naturally, depends on who you are and what you like but, even then, the task in hand choosing a pair might not be all that straightforward. There are all sorts of different types out there with each one promising its own set of advantages. As ever, MSN Tech is here to untangle this unruly mass of jargon and geek speak into something nice and condensed that you don’t need a degree in physics to understand.
In-ear heaphones are the tiniest of them all. Quite literally, they are the ones that go right inside your aural canals. They're the ones that come free with your phone but you can also end up spending upwards of £200 if you want a pair of the very best. A bad set of in-ear headphones probably offers the worst listening experience of all. They can be incredibly tinny and a poor fit can cause them to fall out over and over again.
Pros
You can pick them up for very little and they're portable in the extreme. Wrap them up, stuff them in your pocket and away you go. They're not going to mess up your hair, make your glasses feel uncomfortable or get in the way at all. You don't need a bag to carry them around and they hardly weigh anything at all.
As far as listening goes, technology has come on such that they can offer a very decent audio experience. A good fitting pair will also provide an effective seal between your ears and the outside world and that makes for good isolation of sound and, therefore, fewer disruptions from external noise.
Cons
Sound likes space and there's not an awful lot available inside these tiny little things. So, generally speaking, you'll get better performance out of an on- or over-ear pair at the same price point.