The Big Debate : Earphones V/s. Headphones

In-ear or Over the Ear is an age old debate in the Tech world, which one is better over the other and why? While in-ear may be smaller over the ear offers better sound.

Which one should you buy? Depending upon a person’s uses they make chose from either based on

Portability

Portability is the biggest aspect to look out for when you are in the market to buy a new pair of earphones or headphones now whether you a pair for workout or gaming you can choose between an earphone for workout or any other activity which needs mobility while if it’s going just sit on your table for either music needs or just basic gaming you can go in for a nice pair of headphones.

Driver-Size

Driver-size is another important aspect to be considered and a basic rule of thumb is that a bigger drive should essentially give out better sound. So the bigger the driver the better the sound now headphones have bigger drivers than earphone which means better audio output but since over the ears are literally over the ear (hence the name) the sound gets distributed and gives a surround kind of an effect while the in-ear ones are better at isolating and giving a clearer and distinct sound.

Comfort

The comfort level differs hugely between the in-ear and over the ear sets while in-ears are comfortable for shorter but more frequent listening bouts headphones do the job on those longer sessions where comfort is of utmost importance.

Sharing and hygiene

Since headphones never really go on the inside of your ears there is no residual which makes for easier sharing and better hygienic conditions. Earphones, on the other hand, sit inside the ear canal and are prone to dirt and residue which isn’t good for sharing.

Power

Since in-ear speakers are small in size they don’t require a lot of power to be amplified and can work well on almost all devices while over the ear speakers are bigger and drive more power out of the device it is plugged into which may not be suitable for some low powered devices, in-ear speakers, on the other hand can be plugged into any device and they’ll perform.

Budget

In-ear speakers being small in size use smaller components which are easier and cheaper to produce while on ear ones are big and have higher production costs. These costs can be a major make or break point in choosing either in-ear or over the ear speakers since not everyone is willing to spend large sums on money on small items.