Yurbuds Personalized Ear Buds

(4.0 star rating) Written by: Samuel Warren

It's a sad fact that most ear buds are created as an after-thought to the device they are sold with - and so a replacement set of earphones is needed to fully enjoy music listening with your MP3 player, cell phone or other electronic device. With a huge selection of in-ear headphones and ear buds on the market today, finding the right ear buds is difficult. Sound quality of ear buds can vary dramatically by manufacturer and model. On top of that, everyone has their own desired sound for their ears, and everyone's ears are shaped slightly differently.

The product we have under review today – the Yurbuds ear bud enhancers - is definitely not an afterthought. They are designed specifically to provide a more personalized fit to your ears, without the high cost of custom-molded ear tips. Typical pricing for custom-molded ear tips is $500+, while a set of personalized yurbuds runs only $29.99. With such a huge difference in price, can the yurbuds really hold a candle to custom-fit ear buds? Let's find out. 

Design

Yurbuds is a unique product from the beginning. Rather than plug a perfectly round ear bud into your ear canal, which is not perfectly round, they have wrapped the ear bud with a soft flexible fitted ear piece. They can be used with either existing ear buds, or you can buy the enhancers with a set of dynamic drivers already built-in. This ear piece is the key product difference between Yurbuds and other ear bud designs.

Overhead view with accessories

With stock iPod ear buds

Setup and Fitting

The fitting process for the Yurbuds involves taking a picture of your ear with a reference object in the same picture. This allows the company to take measurements directly from the image of your ear. In my case they recommended a picture of one of your ears with an Apple branded ear bud inserted into your ear. The size sent to me was a size seven, and it’s turned out to me slightly too small, which allowed a good amount of air flow around them. If after reading the instructions you are still having trouble with getting the ear buds properly inserted in your ears, the company also provides an instructional video on their website.

Isolation and Comfort

While some ear buds try to isolate noise completely, Yurbuds are designed to allow some outside noise to come in. The idea is that if you’re bicycling or running while listening to music, you need to be able to hear your surroundings too. But, with the right fit they sound better than most regular ear buds. Sizing is the most important thing. It is critical to get the right size. Too small or too big won’t fit or be comfortable. Once you get the right fit though, you can wear them for hours without ear pain.

One of the keys to maximizing sound quality with in-ear headphones is noise isolation. Over the ear headphones achieve this by pressing a soft foam-filled ring around the outer edge of the ear. This provides a tight seal which decreases the sound level necessary to vibrate the ear drums. The ear bud uses the same principle, but with the idea in mind that you can simply wedge the ear bud into the top of the ear canal thereby stopping air flow. The Yurbuds work of the same technique, but instead of wedging a round device in, they have made an ear canal shaped fitting to handle the noise isolation.

Closeup of right ear tip

Overhead closeup

Sound Quality

There isn't a whole lot to say about the yurbuds sound quality, since the actual ear buds that were shipped with them were the stock Apple iPod ear buds. They can be applied to just about any type of ear bud, so you have flexibility with whether you want to use them with the stock ear buds or whether you want to purchase a separate set of ear buds. With this in mind - the sound quality is very much dependent on the ear buds you use with the Yurbuds.

Yurbuds Personalized Ear Buds

Overall, the yurbuds are a very unique product that comes in at a quite an inexpensive price. There aren't too many universal-fit ear buds that come in under $30, let alone a personalized fit offered by the yurbuds. While the sound quality certainly won't blow your socks off, it is acceptable for everyday use. Extreme audiophiles who expect superb noise cancellation will likely be disappointed, but that's really not the target user that these ear buds were designed for in the first place.

What we were really impressed with is the comfort level – it is truly phenomenal. While it did take two pairs to find the right fit, it was worth it in the end. They also sell the ear bud enhancers in regular retail stores, so if possible I would suggest going to the store to try them out to find the best size fit.

Pros: Soft form fitted design; Inexpensive; Comfortable.

Cons: No real improvement to sound quality.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5

www.yurbuds.com