Just because you have smaller ears doesn’t mean finding the perfect earbuds is impossible! Click to learn how to choose the best earbuds for small ears.
Earbuds are an everyday necessity for students, athletes, music lovers and professionals, but for people with smaller ears, options might feel limited. Normal off-the-shelf earbuds—even ones that come with different-sized rubber tips—tend to fall out, hit all the wrong pressure points and deliver muffled sound from being forced to fit.
If you face the same challenges, know that you’re not alone! Most manufacturers use a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t always take smaller ears into consideration. That leaves those of us with smaller ears in a bit of a bind. Either we learn to live with earbuds that don’t really fit us, spend our money on countless pairs hoping for a set that’ll actually fit or forego earbuds altogether, opting for over-ears even when it doesn’t make the most sense.
Let us help you out. We’ll explain which features to look for so you can find the best earbuds for small ears.
Try a Custom Fit
Off-the-shelf earbuds are made for the masses, but you’re not like everyone else, so why would you settle for earbuds that aren’t customized to you?
Aside from feeling awkward and downright uncomfortable, generic ear tips aren’t guaranteed to fit securely, especially if you have smaller ears. Although it’s tempting to push the earbuds further into your ear canal so they don’t fall out, it’ll only lead to increased discomfort and stress on your ear and will muffle the audio from the earbuds.
Custom earbuds will give you an instant personalized fit for you and nobody else. UE FITS are custom-molded to your ear shape—all it takes is 60 seconds.
Use Correctly-Sized Tips
If your ears are on the smaller side, you already know that finding the perfect fit is everything. While you’re shopping for earbuds, stay clear of one-size-fits-all tips—they almost never fit right!
By choosing eartips that are the right size, you’ll experience a proper fit that aligns with your ear canal, resulting in unparalleled comfort that you can enjoy all day. And because we know that one size doesn’t fit all, UE FITS offers different-sized tips for customers. We’ll happily send you smaller or larger tips for free within the first 30 days of your order through our Custom Fit Guarantee!
Ditch the Wires
Untether your listening experience with True Wireless earbuds. True Wireless technology is better than ever, making it a great time to make the change from wired earbuds to a seamless (and completely wireless) listening experience. Plus, ditching wires helps if your earbuds are prone to falling out—a huge problem if you have smaller ears.
Aside from the annoyance of tangles, wires can cause your earbuds to fall out for two reasons. The first reason is your earbuds getting physically pulled out by the wires. The second is the added weight from the wires. If you already have issues with your earbuds falling out because your ears are smaller, taking wires out of the equation could help.
Read Customer Reviews
Manufacturers talk a big game about their products—it’s their job after all—but you should always see what actual customers think of a specific pair of earbuds before you spend your hard-earned money on them. And while most review pages don’t have a filter for smaller ears, you can use your browser’s search feature to find reviews that mention key phrases like “small ears” to read what people with smaller ears are saying about their experience.
Reading customer reviews is a great place to start, but it’s also worth seeing what professional reviewers have to say. Tech insiders have the scoop on everything, and they also understand what people expect from a quality product. By reading some review articles written by the experts, you can make an even better decision about which earbuds are right for you.
Try Them Risk-Free
At the end of the day, you need to be able to rely on a company that won’t leave you hanging, whether you have a quick question about the ordering process or a problem that needs to be addressed after you get your earbuds. At Ultimate Ears, we take pride in our 30-day Custom Fit Guarantee. Part of that includes shipping smaller replacement tips free of charge if the tips that ship with UE FITS aren’t working as well as you’d like.
We believe everyone deserves a great fit, and you shouldn’t settle for anything less than perfect. If problems or questions arise, you’ll always receive help when you need it.
Choose a Sweat-Resistant Design
Your earbuds should be built to handle anything in your daily routine. You don’t necessarily need earbuds that are built like a tank, but they should at least offer some level of IPX-rated sweat resistance so they can keep up with your lifestyle.
If listening to music while working out is your jam, go with earbuds that are at least rated sweat-resistant. IPX ratings determine how waterproof a device is, and every electronic device has one.
Go with the Best Sound
Finding the best earbuds for small ears doesn’t mean a lot if the earbuds don’t also sound phenomenal. When you’re listening to your favorite music, you deserve nothing short of pristine audio quality.
To get the best experience, your earbuds should reproduce a wide range of sounds. For example, the 10mm dynamic speaker drivers in UE FITS are optimized for supreme clarity and faithfully reproduce frequencies from 20Hz to 20kHz—the entire range of human hearing.
To keep background noises like traffic or room ambiance from ruining your sound, most audiophiles choose earbuds with passive noise isolation. Unlike active noise cancellation, which creates an equal but opposite noise to cancel outside noise and is prone to distortion, passive noise isolation blocks outside sound by creating a natural seal with your ear. That means you won’t have to crank the volume up to hear all the details of your music, whether you listen to bass-driven EDM or true crime podcasts.
Check for Extra Features
A perfect fit and crystal-clear sound aren’t the only things to look for in a great pair of earbuds. Modern earbuds should come with loads of extra features to make your listening experience even more enjoyable.
One example is tap controls. These days, you don’t have to take your phone out to change songs, adjust the volume level or take calls. Tap controls allow you to do it all by tapping either earbud. Whether you’re exercising or on the go, this intuitive feature will make life a whole lot easier.
UE FITS takes tap controls a step further by allowing you to set customized single- and double-tap controls for each separate earbud so you can set up a flow that works best for you. Assignable controls include going back and forward in your playlist, increasing or decreasing volume, answering calls and play/pause.
Another example is extra sound features. Once you buy a pair of regular earbuds, you’re typically stuck with the same sound signature—the EQ to which the drivers in your earbuds are tuned—and that sound signature doesn’t always work equally well for different genres. With the UE FITS app, you can choose from a collection of carefully crafted EQ presets or customize your own from scratch.
Buy from a Reliable Brand
Audio is an industry where experience matters. By purchasing from a reliable brand, you can feel confident that the earbuds you are purchasing are backed by a great legacy, real experience and expert knowledge. Ultimate Ears products have been trusted by music professionals since 1995, and we use what we’ve learned throughout the years—plus some new tricks we’ve learned along the way—to craft the best earbuds around.
Find the Perfect Fit
The best earbuds come from reliable brands and have extra features that go beyond a perfect fit and impeccable sound quality. If you have smaller ears, and you’re in search of the perfect earbuds for you, choose UE FITS, the only True Wireless earbuds that shape to the exact contours of your ears.
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