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Everyone wants to find a great a great pair of earbuds at a good price. So what do you need to look for in order to get a good pair that will last as well as not break the bank. Here at the top 10 things you should look for when you start your search.

1. How much do you want to spend? Let’s be honest if everyone had an unlimited budget this would not matter but we don’t and it does matter. So decide before you start shopping around what you are willing to spend.

2. What are you going to do with them? If you are going to use them for very casual listening or listening to audio books then you don’t need to spend more money to get a fantastic pair of earbuds. Just buy a very cheap pair that is comfortable. If you are going to use them for running or as your main source of sound then it will be a very different story.

3. What is the earbud made of? Take an extra minute to really look at the package and see what material the earbud is made of. I personally prefer an all metal earbud because I find them to be more durable than the plastic earbuds.

4. Does the earbud have a strain relief? One of the quickest ways you will ruin your earbuds is when the cord get ripped out of the housing. So it is important to check for an actual strain relief where the wire goes into the earbuds. A strain relief is just a bit of rubber that is thicker that helps protect the cord from being pulled out of the housing and shorting out.

5. Will the earbuds fit properly? This is are hard thing to know before you have ever bought them but the main complaint with earbuds is that people say they fall out of their ears. The main reason for this is because they do not have the right size tip to fit their ear. It is not that they have freakishly small ears or even huge ears it is that they just don’t have the right size tip to fit their ears. So make sure you check the package to see you have as many different size tips as possible to not have this problem. If you have the right tip to fit your ears earbuds are magical.

6. What is the speaker diameter? A general rule of thumb is that the bigger the better when it come to speaker size. Yes, the speaker in an earbud is super small but by having a bigger diameter speaker will usually help in the overall sound quality.

7. What accessories does your earbud come with? Just like women won’t leave the house until they have the right accessories make sure when you buy a pair of earbuds you get everything you need. Accessories to look for include, cable wrap, carry case, extra tips, extension cable, skype adapter etc. You will most likely not get all of these with every pair of earbuds but the more you can get the better.

8. What is the frequency response? The human ear can hear from about 20 Hz to around 20k Hz so make sure you earbuds will produce sounds in at least that range.

9. Do you like the looks? People that say looks don’t matter are lying. You have to like what your earbuds look like so take that into account. You might not want to have a big bulky thing hanging out of your ear.

10. How good are they at sound reduction? Most earbuds are sounds isolating.

Replacement earbud tips can block out the sounds of your environment around you. Check if they list how much of the background noise they are capable of blocking out.