How To Pick The Best IEM Earbud Tips

Even the most expensive pair of earbuds can sound bad if you don’t use the right ear tips. They may not come bundled with the buds, so here’s how to pick them.

Have you ever wondered what the best IEM earbud tips out there are?

Answer:

Ear tips can make or break the experience of using earbuds as they affect the comfort and sound of the device.

Getting them to properly seal off the ear canal is the most important step towards optimal sound quality, but it isn’t the only aspect to consider.

The material and form also have a significant impact on the overall encounter.

The ear tips are an easily overlooked bit of earbuds, but they’re arguably the most important part of getting the proper sound.

They might not be as impressive as drivers or as innovative as many of the cool new features that most earbuds come with, but they have the power to make or break the product as a whole, more so than any flashy non-essential feature could. After all, a whole plethora of problems can occur if you don’t use the best earbud tips for your ears.

The clearest example would be the earbuds coming loose or causing discomfort, but an incorrect fit can also miss sound isolation and even lower the audio quality in many ways.

This is why finding the best earbud tips for your ears is imperative.

Manufacturers aren’t oblivious to this: it’s the reason they package their earbuds with ear tips of multiple sizes and sometimes even multiple materials.

This, however, doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the tips that the earbuds come with. Ear tips can be bought separately.

We’re going to take you through all the kinds of ear tips out there to give you an idea of what might work best for you.

Table of ContentsShow

IEM vs. Earbud

IEM vs Earbud

Before we get to that, we need to make sure we’re on the same page.

Namely, we want to discuss the difference between IEMs (in-ear monitors) and earbuds so as to clear up any misunderstandings before they even arise.

Feel free to skip this part if you’re only here for the explanation on ear tips, but keep in mind that what we’re about to say could save you loads of headaches in the future.

According to some, the difference between earbuds and IEMs boils down to the way the device is placed in the ear. This distinction sees earbuds as devices that rest in the outer ear. They’re one-size-fits-all and don’t provide the level of noise isolation and stability that’s on par with IEMs.

They’re also typically all plastic, so comfort isn’t their strong suit. Furthermore, they don’t feature any tips, so to speak of earbud tips in this context would be pointless.

By contrast, in-ear monitors are devices that have ear tips that are placed directly into the ear canal. Provided that the ear tip is right for the ear canal in question, this results in superior noise isolation, a better bass response, and a more stable fit; for most people, this is also the more comfortable option of the two.

If you dig deep enough, you’ll even find mention of canalphones, which are in-ear monitors/earbuds that go further down the ear canal. Here at Earbudszone, we don’t subscribe to this nomenclature for two simple reasons: it’s inconsistent and irrelevant.

Not only do the diverse articles cataloging these distinctions disagree on some of the definitions, but, more importantly, manufacturers simply don’t use them. They use the term earbuds to mean all these things (or in-ear headphones, in some cases). So it would be foolish to expect this arbitrary knowledge from our readers.

If you saw an ad on YouTube for Raycon earbuds, how are you supposed to know that these are supposed to be IEMs? For that matter, we’ve never heard the term true-wireless IEMs being used. It’s always true-wireless earbuds, but according to these definitions, we’d only have true-wireless IEMs.

This is why, in this guide and all other guides on this website, we use the term earbuds to avoid any confusion. Should a device being reviewed happen to rest on the other ear or go further down the ear canal (which rarely happens), that’s something that will be addressed in the review.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s take a look at what kind of earbud tips there are.

Ear Tip Materials

The first defining feature of ear tips is the material used to make them.

The two most frequently used materials for creating ear tips are silicone and foam, even though there are other less popular options available.

Silicone Tips

IEM Silicone Tips

Silicone tips have the benefit of longevity and are also easier to maintain. They can be washed in water with impunity. Silicone is also unlikely to cause an allergic reaction (rubber ear tips are notorious for this, which is why they’re not a popular material).

However, silicone isn’t great at isolating noise. This can work in your favor if you like to stay aware of your surroundings, for example, when you’re jogging. But it can also be undesirable if you want to drown out the outside world and completely immerse yourself in music, for example, in public transportation.

 Just know that using silicone ear tips while exercising can cause the tips to become slippery due to sweat, which can potentially make them slip out of your ear, so there are always both pros and cons.

Foam Tips

IEM Foam Tips

In many ways, foam tips are the exact opposite of silicone tips. They aren’t as easy to use since they’re much more difficult to wash and need to be replaced after a while, no matter how conscientious you are about maintaining them properly.

On the flip side, foam makes for a more comfortable fit, as the material can adjust to the contours of your ear canal over time. As far as noise isolation is concerned, foam is king. It highlights the punchiness of the bass, although in some cases, it can also negatively affect the high treble.

If you want uninterrupted music listening experience, it far outdoes silicone, although the occlusion effect it has – i.e., how you hear your voice while your ears are plugged up – can be strange, especially if you plan on doing any talking while wearing these earbuds.

Other Tips

IEM Tips

In addition to silicone and foam tips, other noteworthy mentions are Comply foam tips and hybrid ear tips.

Hybrid tips feature both foam and silicone. They’re relatively obscure and aren’t found much outside of some Sony models, but aftermarket versions do exist.

As for Comply foam tips (foam tips manufactured by the company Comply), they feature dynamic memory foam and are generally softer and more comfortable than regular foam tips, although they still suffer from the same downsides.

Ear Tips Shapes

IEM Ear Tips Shapes

The second defining feature of ear tips is shape. According to their shape, ear tips are defined by how many flanges they have.

For the most part, we make the distinction between these three types of ear tips:

  • Single flange
  • Double flange (or bi-flanged)
  • Triple flange

Solo flange ear tips feature a solo piece of silicon or foam to seal off your ear canal. Foam tips only ever come with a solo flange, which some don’t take to be a flange at all since it can have different shapes. In any case, the point is that there is only a solo piece of whatever material is used. This is by far the most favored ear tip shape, and it works well with most earbuds.

Double flange ear tips feature two flanges, a smaller one and a larger one. They still come in various shapes, but far fewer than can be found with single flange tips. Their biggest strength lies in the fact that they can provide a better seal than their single-flange cousins, thus improving the bass response and strengthening the noise isolation.

Nevertheless, you should only look at double-flange alternatives if single-flange tips don’t allow for a proper fit since these offer a far narrower selection of shapes and sizes.

Triple flange ear tips double down on this idea of better bass response and improved noise isolation, but this is again only if you can even fit them inside your ear. Some people don’t have ear canals deep enough to accommodate them, and even those who do won’t always find them to be comfortable.

There are ear tips out there with unique shapes, but each member here is in a category of its own, so there isn’t much we can say about the group as a whole.

And, of course, if none of the other options suit you, you can always get custom-fit ear tips. No two ears are alike, even when they belong to the same head, so custom-fit tips offer a way for folks who otherwise simply cannot stand the discomfort of using earbuds to give them a try.

This is easily the most expensive route to take, but if you’ve got the money and are willing to spend it on comfort, there are companies out there that will mold ear tips specifically for your ears.

How Ear Tips Affect Sound

IEM How Ear Tips Affect Sound

To achieve good sound quality with earphones, a correct fit is crucial. If the fit is not right, the earphones may not work well. Just attempt using different ear tips, and you will understand. That is why ear tips are vital, and you should consider alternate options if the ones that came with the device do not satisfy you.

But the material also affects sound quality. We’ve already mentioned how the insulation properties affect the bass – silicone lets some of it escape, while foam directs all of it inside the ear, making the bass tighter and punchier. However, foam has also been known to have a negative effect on the highs.

Unfortunately, the effect ear tips have on sound quality isn’t a hot topic of research, so we don’t know the exact reason why this happens. There are claims out there that the foam absorbs some of the high treble. We can neither confirm nor deny this. However, we can refer to the tests done by Tyll Hertsens for InnerFidelity.

In this article, Tyll measured the frequency response of different ear tips using a dummy to get some objective clues regarding the way tip material affected the audio. Interestingly enough, these tests didn’t show any impactful changes in the frequency graphs between Comply foam tips and silicone ones. On the contrary, he found that triple flange tips cause the most discernable change in the frequency response.

This led him to conclude that the material itself doesn’t affect the highs but rather the way the earbuds are inserted into the ear. The tests ran aren’t comprehensive enough to dismiss the complaints various people have had with foam tips, but they are something to consider.

How to Insert Foam Tips

IEM How to Insert Foam Tips

The anatomy of foam ear tips is simple: there’s a plastic inner tube, and there’s the surrounding foam.

If you compress the foam while inserting the earbuds, it elongates. Then when you put the earbuds into your ears, the additional foam can deform, causing a part of it to block out the tube. This obstruction will inevitably affect the sound in some way, which is how Tyll rationalizes the adverse impact foam tips are perceived to have on the high treble.

To avoid this issue, we need to make sure that the tube isn’t shorter than the foam. This can be accomplished by pushing the foam back. Once the tube is longer than the foam, the possibility of something obstructing its exit becomes far less likely.

This method was proposed specifically for Comply tips, but if the hypothesis is correct, it should work to clear all foam tips of the bad rep they get from some users.

To this end, some users have even suggested trimming the surplus foam of the tip or fitting the tips in reverse.

Conclusion

IEM Conclusion

We can explain the advantages and disadvantages of various materials and shapes used for creating ear tips, but regrettably, we cannot inform you about the most suitable ones for your needs. All ears are distinct, so this is a decision you must make on your own.

Some earbuds are designed to be pushed further inside the ear canal, some less so. Unfortunately, the only way to find out which would work for you is to try them out.

Once you do this, however, you need to be honest with yourself.

If the earbuds are causing pain or discomfort, don’t put up with it or hope it will get better on its own just because your friends don’t have that issue when using the same model. In this case, the pain/discomfort is letting you know there is a problem that needs addressing.

Changing the ear tip can help sometimes. This is why knowing the benefits of different ear tips can help guide you in the right direction. But there will also be cases where certain earbuds will simply not be right for some people.

Ultimately, it’s a trial-and-error exercise. We hope this article will help simplify this process, but after a certain point, all we can do is wish you luck!

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James Hudson

James is a self-proclaimed audiophile and tech geek. With his CS degree, 5 years of experience as a software developer and 2 years of experience testing audio devices, James is more than fit to be trusted in this field.