Some Thoughts On Earbud Design
Posted on 23 May 2009, at 4:30 pm, by Dan Cohen
It is was a perfect holiday weekend up here in eastern PA (before the rain arrived), and “the princess” (that would be the canine who owns me) and I have just returned from a 2 1/2 mile walk around the lake. A few things became clear during our trek…
1. Maisy is the happiest dog in the state right now. (New smells and a swim… what could be bad?)
2. I am terribly out of shape.
3. We are the only people in PA who clean up after their dog.
4. Jamiroquai and The Arctic Monkeys make for some good walking music
5. Manufacturers need to rethink earbud design.
Before we left, I grabbed my Nano and a pair of Scosche headphones I keep in my pocket at all times. I’m impressed with how good even mid-level earbuds sound these days. (Then again, the iPod isn’t known for its high fidelity.) The buds have a typical design- the earpiece, an in-line mic, a fairly long straight cable and the male plug that goes into the iPod.
In order not to fuss with a swinging cord, I ran the cord inside my shirt and down my back, plugged in the headphones, put the Nano in my pocket and placed the buds in my ears. (Yes, I know, the new shuffle would take care of this but I’m not using it until companies like Etymotic release high-end buds for it.)
Problem was, within a few minutes of walking the very weight of the cord was pulling on the buds. They never felt right and I had to completely adjust them no less than a dozen times along the way.
This does not, however, have to be the case.
A while back I reviewed a set of earbuds from i2i that had a rather different design. Instead of a single cord coming from the iPod and then breaking into a Y… like this…
these buds complete the circle like this…
The effect of doing so is that instead of any stress caused by movement or the weight of the cord and/or the iPod being transferred to the buds (the issue I encountered today), it is placed on the back of your neck. The result is that the buds themselves remain in place more securely.
The design looks funky when the headphones are lying on a table…
but if you are doing anything active, they can’t be beat.
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NewTe.ch Says:
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 pmSome Thoughts On Earbud Design:
It is was a perfect holiday weekend up here in eastern PA (before the rain ar.. http://tr.im/mdJg -
NewTe.ch Says:
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 pmSome Thoughts On Earbud Design:
It is was a perfect holiday weekend up here in eastern PA (before the rain ar.. http://tr.im/mdJg -
Ryan Phillips Says:
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:02 pmiPod… Some Thoughts On Earbud Design | Gear Diary: The effect of doing so is that instead of any stress.. http://tinyurl.com/qygxvq
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May 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
That’s a really great point about the dog mess. I notice that a lot.
Oh, good catch on the earbuds too
I assume there’s some type of extension that comes with them for when you have to connect to a regular iPod?
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Yes, it comes with a nice long extension. Unfortunately I neglected to bring it with me this weekend so it didn’t make it into the picture… but should have mentioned it.
May 25th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
That bugs me as well. I tie a slip-knot and make a loop in the cord and wrap the loop around something to take tension off – around a zipper, a button on your shirt, whatever.