What specifications do earbuds have?

Bluetooth is a specification that almost all earbuds have. With Bluetooth, you can wirelessly listen to your favorite music on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. There are also earbuds that don't have Bluetooth, you can connect those to your smartphone with a cable. Earbuds with Bluetooth are more expensive than wired earbuds, because they have some advantages. You won't have a cable dangling along your body and can move freely, for example. In addition, you never have to untangle the earbuds.

Noise canceling is a specification you see more and more often with earbuds. Noise canceling reduces ambient noise, so you can hear your music better. This allows you to stay focused at the office and you won't be bothered on the train in a busy coupe. Want to reduce ambient noise properly? Choose noise canceling headphones. The noise canceling technology for earbuds doesn't work as well ad that of headphones.

Almost all earbuds have a built-in microphone. This allows you to make calls without taking the earbuds out of your ears. With fully wireless earbuds, the microphone is built into the earbuds themselves. And the quality of phone calls is lower as a result. Want to be sure that the person on the other end of the call can hear you properly? We recommend using the microphone of your phone.

In the list of specifications, you can also see how waterproof the earbuds are. A higher IPX certification means that the earbuds are better protected against water. If the earbuds are waterproof, you can also work out with them. They won't get damaged due to sweat and you can wear them outside when it's raining, for example. Earbuds with an IPX7 certification can be submerged in water up to 1m deep for 30 minutes. Earbuds with a lower IPX certification are splash proof.

Some earbuds have NFC. With NFC, you can connect the earbuds to your smartphone extra fast. if you hold the NFC point of your smartphone against the NFC point of your earbuds, they'll connect automatically. That way, you don't have to manually open the Bluetooth settings every time. Note: NFC usually doesn't work with your iPhone.

Earbuds that have Hi-Res audio can play Hi-Res audio files. These files are larger than the standard MP3 size, so you can hear more details. Earbuds that support this reproduce these details more accurately. And you can listen to a higher sound quality as a result.