Comfy earbuds?

October 21, 2007 4:20 PM

Best earbuds for little ears?

My wife has small (and oh so cute) ears, she finds the earbuds that came with her ipod uncomfortable. We've found several pairs that look like they might be more comfortable but am wondering if any small-eared mefites might have some suggestions, the links below are the three my wife likes: Sony, Centrios, and JVC

posted by Cosine to sports, hobbies, & recreation (19 comments total)

I don't have small ears, but I do have these Sennheiser earbuds, and they come with different sized inserts. Excellent sound for the price.
posted by Brian James at 4:21 PM on October 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

My ears are small and I've never found earbuds that work for them. they're uncomfortable or don't even fit. If there's an answer I'm all ears, too! (ha).
posted by sweetkid at 4:24 PM on October 21, 2007

ipod earbuds are too big for my ears, too.
"smokin buds," by skullcandy, stay in my ears quite well, even when going upside down and doing drops on trapeze. they come with sleeves in three different sizes.
whether they're comfy depends on how she feels about having something literally plugged into her ear (they are also supposed to be noise canceling, hence the earplug feeling).
posted by nevers at 4:31 PM on October 21, 2007

I have small ears too, so that regular earbuds don't fit comfortably and are always falling out of my ears. The JVC Marshmallow style that you linked work very well for me; even when I'm exercising they don't fall out.
posted by beandip at 4:38 PM on October 21, 2007

Like your wife, I don't like the ones that come with your iPod, because they are way too large.

I bought Sony in-ear earbuds from Target that came with three sizes of ear inserts. I think it's this one (although it doesn't mention the three sizes for inserts thing in the online description). The "small" of those are very comfortable to me.
posted by gemmy at 4:41 PM on October 21, 2007

My 7-year old has the JVC pair you linked to and they stay in her tiny ears quite well.
posted by bizwank at 4:43 PM on October 21, 2007

I had lots of trouble getting earbuds that fit right until I found the Brookstone Surround Sound Earbud Headphones. They fit just right, but everyone's ears are different.
posted by fx3000 at 4:44 PM on October 21, 2007

The buds that come with the iPod work ok for my wife, but the sound quality is lacking a bit, so we got her a pair of the white version of the Sony in-canal phones that gemmy linked to. She found them uncomfortable, even with the smallest sleeves, so I have them now.

I like the better isolation and the better bass, but they aren't necessarily the thing for small ears.
posted by Good Brain at 5:29 PM on October 21, 2007

I have the same problem and I use the skullcandy earbuds that never linked to. The key is to get ones with the little gel covers that come in various sizes. Then she can switch to whichever size fits best.
posted by MsMolly at 5:46 PM on October 21, 2007

I find the earbuds that come with the ipod painfully large, too. I recently got a pair of Shure E2c (now discontinued) earphones and am very happy with them, as long as I'm using the smallest sleeve. It looks like the SE110 model is the closest replacement.
posted by hades at 7:19 PM on October 21, 2007

Sony has some called MDR-XL51 or 81 that you can get at Amazon for ~$20-30, and they come with 3 different sized earbuds.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:33 PM on October 21, 2007

I am on my second pair of the Sonys mentioned above and I am very happy with them. I bought a pair of the Skullcandys a couple monhts ago when my first pair of Sony's broke and the sound is nowhere near as good. Very muddy.

Some people say the sony's don't hold up but I haven't had a problem. I broke the first pair by tugging them off by the cord but it took me nearly three years to do it.
posted by fshgrl at 7:54 PM on October 21, 2007

I stick with various in-ear earbuds - my ears are too small to even put the standard-size earbuds in. I've used sony and phillips brands in the past, as well as the in-ear apple earphones, which had relatively poor sound quality but high build quality.
posted by ysabet at 9:03 PM on October 21, 2007

I've gone through several pairs of earbuds over the last year and like Griffin EarThumps the best. I think they sound much better than the Sony MDRs and the earbud covers are much more durable.

The Griffins are smaller than the Sonys. They come with 3 sizes of inserts, a small nylon case, and you can get them on Amazon for as low as $9.
posted by lorenzism at 9:17 PM on October 21, 2007

I got the Apple in-ear ones and they're much more comfortable than the standard earbuds. They come with three sizes of covers, and I was surprised to find I like the middle ones the best!
posted by bink at 9:23 PM on October 21, 2007

I too have a problem with the iPod earbuds (& earbuds in general) - basically, they press on the top of the entrance of my ear canal (inside the flappy bit; imagine giving yourself a Wet Willie and moving your finger up, and that's where they press*).

Bought myself a pair of the canalphones Brian James links to above. Around here, the Etymotics & Shures are all $100+, and out of my price range (I wasn't going to buy earbuds worth as much or more than the damned iPod!). All the Sony ones have a bad rep for being boomy and bassy; JVC's have a rep for being muddy all over; but the Sennheisers are clear and quite nicely balanced. Maybe a little muddy when compared to my $300 Koss "proper" headphones, but only just. On top of that, the reviews I've seen seem to indicate that they're some of the most rugged and long-lasting cheap canalphones around.

A friend with truly tiny ears tried them mine out with the smallest adaptors just this morning - she was so impressed with the fit that she was going to buy a pair for herself on the way home.

(Just on Koss: their earbuds are supposed to be only average, and not worth the money. Same goes for Bose, but I guess that's no surprise...)

One caveat: there's a lot of fakes around on eBay and Amazon Marketplace, so buy them retail or from a good trusted on-line source.

These are also supposed to be good - about the same price as the Sennheisers, better sounding, but worse build quality.

(* I knew I should have studied human physiology or anatomy...)
posted by Pinback at 9:32 PM on October 21, 2007

My wiife has the same problem. I got her some of these and she thinks they're great. Not quite as good as cans, but much more compact.
posted by singingfish at 10:21 PM on October 21, 2007

I have tiny ears and most earbuds hurt or fall out. I ended up getting etymotic 6i's and then called the number on the card and they mail you some even smaller eartips. I really reccomend them. They are expensive (around 175 cdn when i got them) but they block out all sound so you can turn down the volume and save your ears a bit. They're so comfy I wear them motorcycling too.
If that's out of your price range try any other in-ear style earbuds that have small size tips. Small squishy-foam style tips are also good.
posted by captaincrouton at 11:38 PM on October 21, 2007

Pinback, I have that same.. bit? It's like torture! I'm not sure if I have small ears but I do have that 'bit.' So thank you for posting that!!
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 10:31 AM on November 11, 2007