headphones

Make Comfortable Noise-Isolating Earbuds For Less Than A Dollar

9:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Many people don’t want or need to spend hundreds of dollars on premium earbuds, but want to hear the ones they have more clearly. Turn some basic and inexpensive earbuds into a noise-isolating pair with this simple hack. More »

Convert Your Earbuds With Over-the-Ear Wraps

1:40AM Adam Pash | If you find yourself on the occasional jog wishing your earbuds fastened a little more securely to your ears, reader Yasmeen writes in with her clever solution for making your own quick-and-dirty ear-looping headphones. More »

Use Unplugged Earphones To Avoid Pesky Interruptions

12:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Interruptions can really disrupt your workflow. You spend time dismissing or addressing the person doing the interrupting, and then on regaining your focus. Earbuds, even those not playing anything, are a sneaky defence. More »

Laser-Cut Earbud Owl Keeps Your Cords Tangle-Free

8:00AM Adam Pash | We’re already big fans of anything that corrals our cord clutter, but we can’t help but appreciate the craftsmanship that went into this very clever DIY earbud owl. More »

Turn An Old Contact Lens Case Into An Ear Bud Protector

11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | If you’re a contact lens wearer with a cluttered stockpile of extra lens cases, don’t toss them out. Use them to protect your bud-style headphones. Instructables user Mowdish shows how to modify an old contact case to both stash your ear buds and keep the wires from getting tangled up. You simply cut away enough material from the side of the case to accommodate the stem of the ear bud when the cap is screwed back on. As shown in the photo above, you can cut away the plastic to make a perfectly sized slot for your particular style of ear buds. Not a contact wearer, or not sure where to drum up a contact case you can mod? Try asking real friendly-like at an optical store, or check out some previously posted methods for keeping your headphones tangle free—the DIY ear bud cord caddy is a starter. more details and pictures, check out Mowdish’s full tutorial below. Thanks Adam! Ear Bud Case from a Contact Lens Case [Instructables] More »

Get the Best Sound From In-Ear Headphones

1:10AM Kevin Purdy | When you grow weary of the pedestrian sound from “ear bud” headphones, the in-ear models might be your next step up. Here’s a few tips on making your music sound great inside your ear canals. Audiophile Steve Guttenberg, who had no role whatsoever in Police Academy, suggests creating a very specific, personalised fit for the pointy headphones. One ear canal may be bigger or differently shaped than its companion, so try all the fitting pieces in each ear. You generally want to gently push the tips until you hear external noise soften. If that doesn’t work, try the “lobe tug”: Before you push the headphone in, gently tug your earlobe down and/or out, then push the headphone in, then release the lobe. I use this technique with my Monster Turbine headphones. Again, experiment with the tugging direction, as it might take a few tries before you get it right. There’s an alternate “ear pull” technique, and many more fitting specifics, in Guttenberg’s guide linked below. How have you gotten the best in-ear headphone fit? What brand are you rocking, or which do you dream of getting? Air your audiophile aspirations in the comments. How to get the best sound from in-ear headphones [The Audiophiliac/CNET] More »

Create ‘Speakers’ From Earbuds And Paper Cups

10:30AM Lifehacker US Edition | It’s hump day and I was looking for a quick, fun project to try out. So I figured I try something easy I found over at the Make Magazine blog earlier this week—a set of speakers made from paper cups and a pair of earbud headphones originally created by artist Dmitry Zagga (in no small amount of jest). The PaperCup speakers are based on the principle of a megaphone: Energy from sound waves from the earbuds would normally disperse in all directions. Instead, the cups focus the sound waves in a particular direction, making it louder for those in front. While pretty self-explanatory, I figured I’d whip up a how to, especially since the folks at my local coffee shop were happy to provide the materials for free. More »

Keep Your Headphones Tangle-Free With A Toy Capsule

2:00AM Adam Pash | We’ve all struggled with tangled headphones at one point or another, but the Berkeley Innovation student group offers their own clever and cheap solution to the common problem. Rather than requiring you to adopt a complicated wrapping technique, they use a plastic toy capsule (the kind you get from a vending machine with a toy inside) to help the cord maintain its shape. The capsule-encased headphones don’t tangle regardless of your wrapping method, since nothing can disturb the wrapped cord. Handy! Solution to tangled headphone cords [Berkeley Innovation] More »

Build yourself an IKEA headphone stand

5:03PM Angus Kidman | A good set of headphones is a key requirement for your home office, but keeping them untangled and out of the way can be a nuisance. Wiretap at IKEA Hacker details how to build your own stand using some basic IKEA parts. A quick calculation suggests the parts will cost around $56 at your local branch. A quality headphone stand for cheap[IKEA Hacker] More »