Earbuds have completely changed our listening experiences. As of now, there is no need to disturb others by playing your favourite bass music publicly. But not only this, earbuds give us more high-definition and realistic audio quality as compared to general speakers. Its simple mechanism allows you to just plug it and start enjoying your favourite singer, regardless of any activity you’re doing.
With every passing day, the competition among the brands is becoming more saturated in an earbud market. Indeed, as a result, we get powerful earbuds within budget-range but the decision to choose the best one is becoming harder at the same time.
Don’t worry at all, we’re here to get you out from this confusing marshland. After inspecting and performing a tonne of research, finally, we’ve come up with some badass earbuds for you. There is also a detailed buying guide at the bottom of the article to make you a confident purchase. The guide includes important factors to consider when looking for the best earbuds for yourself.
Now, let us dive in and hunt your favorite music partner.
The Best GAMING Wired Earbuds reviewed:
| Rank | Name | Rating | Best Deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Boat BassHeads 100
| Best Offer | |
| #2 | Sennheiser CX 180
| Best Offer | |
| #3 | JBL C100SI
| Best Offer | |
| #4 | Boat Bassheads 242
| Best Offer | |
| #5 | Boult Audio Bassbuds X1
| Best Offer | |
| #6 | Honor Half AM115
| Best Offer | |
| #7 | JBL C50H1
| Best Offer |
1. Boat BassHeads 100
“Comes with a sharp Hawk-beak design to add extra points to your personality. Its powerful 10mm drivers have a wide frequency range, an ideal choice for bass, acoustic and pop lovers. This budget-friendly earbud is also available in 4 different colours.”
The Good Stuff:
- The first product is from the side of Boat. With BassHeads 100, the company has proved again why they’re the most renowned sound brand. The earbuds of Boat BassHeads 100 comes with a sharp look, anyone will quickly fall in love with it. The company took the inspiration from a Hawk to come up with this design.
- The microphone provided with the earbuds features an HD recording to provide a crystal clear sound to others during a call. Also, there is a single button remote that allows you to control the music and calls with user-friendly presses.
- This earbud completely stands on our expectations, when it comes to bass. Its powerful 10mm drivers produce a high bass tone that will put an end to your bass earbud hunt. The earbud is also a good match for acoustic and pop lovers. Just don’t forget to change the settings of the equalizer for complete satisfaction.
- The 1.2 metres is a perfect cable length that will allow you to experience realistic sound from the comfort of your lazy positions. On the other hand, it is not too long that you will not need to disentangle each time before using it.
- Boat Bassheads 100 is available in four different colours to get more personalized shopping. Now, choose between White, Black, Red and Pink colours according to your personality. Seriously, earbuds stuffed with so many features in such a decent price range is very rare.
The Bad Stuff:
- There is nothing worth considering.
2. Sennheiser CX 180
The Good Stuff:
- Sennheiser is one of the oldest sound companies since 1945. However, it is sad to say that the services this company provides are still underrated by many people. If you’re among one of them, the CX 180 earbud will surely change your perception towards the company.
- The CX 180 earbud is completely dedicated to the sound quality. Its drivers easily produce bass-driven stereo sound and manage it according to the type of music. The earbud also has a perfect frequency range of 20-20,000 Hz. It will keep your ears calm and soothe, regardless of the sound you are listening to.
- It has a canal-designed earbud that easily fits your ears without causing any strain to them. The design also helps the earbud to completely block the unwanted ambient sound, thus you’ll get distraction-free listening experience even in the busiest environment.
- With the premium built-in quality and 2-year warranty, there is nothing to question about the durability of this earbud.
The Bad Stuff:
- The CX 180 lacks major functionality. This earbud doesn’t come with an inbuilt microphone. You can still talk to someone by keeping the earbud plugged-in, the phone will use its microphone instead. However, many people can find this thing disappointing.
3. JBL C100SI
The Good Stuff:
- The C100SI earbud is another powerful choice to consider that comes from the family of the legendary audio company, JBL. With the JBL signature sound, it will be not wise to doubt the sound quality of this earbud. It produces deep sound notes and heavy bass to provide you with the most satisfactory listening experience.
- Its angled-in design earbuds easily fit into ears without causing unnecessary stress to them. The earbud only weighs 50 grams that, with the help of supportive design becomes your perfect travelling partner
- Sound cancellation in the microphone allows you to speak and record realistic sound without including the surrounding presence. With this, you get a single button remote to control your calls and music playlist as well. There is a 3.5mm jack with gold-plating to provide you with the accurate sound as it is. The main reason for using gold is to capture every electric signal with zero losses.
- The JBL C100SI comes with a metallic finish to ensure good durability of the earbud. This model is available in three different colours- Black, White and Red. Get your favorite one.
The Bad Stuff:
- Many people have reported poor customer service for this company. It might be a bit problematic if you face any issue with the earbud.
4. Boat Bassheads 242
The Good Stuff:
- The Bassheads 242 of Boat is specially designed for fitness freaks and roadies. It is one of the lightweight earbuds that only weighs 14 grams. Its ear hook design of the earbuds ensures a proper fitting and doesn’t lose even in intense workouts or running activities. Also, the Bassheads 242 is IPX4 water-resistant that will continue your motivation supply in every sweating condition.
- Its 10mm dynamic drivers produce HD sound quality within the frequency range of 20Hz to 20,000Hz. This will provide you with utmost listening experience without causing any harm to your ears. It also doesn’t negotiate with the bass quality to satisfy bass lovers as well.
- The superior coated wire has a tangle-free characteristic and ensures a long life to the earbud as well. Thus, you can easily plug-in without tackling complex disentangling processes. Also, there are three different buttons with a decent microphone to control the volume of the call or music along with other configurations
The Bad Stuff:
- There is nothing worth mentioning
5. Boult Audio Bassbuds X1
“A badass earbuds from a new-arriving brand. Its earloop design provides extra support during intense workouts and jogging activities. The kevlar wire and high-grade aluminium-finish provide durability to the earbuds along with sweat-proof properties.”
The Good Stuff:
- Here comes the newcomer! Boult Audio is a new Indian company that has gained plenty of goodwill within no time. Talking about the Bassbuds X1, the earbud surely helps the brand to gain your trust.
- Let us begin with the design of the earbud. Bassbuds X1 will be a perfect choice for your morning walks or workouts. The earbud comes with an ear loop hold that provides a snug fit to the ears. Now, you’ll not have to adjust the earbud every time, thus getting distraction-free motivation while running and exercising.
- The Bassbuds X1 is one of the best earbuds in terms of durability. The high-grade aluminium finish is provided to the earbuds to ensure their longevity and sweat-proof characteristic. Yes, now you can wear it even during intense workouts. Moreover, the wire used here is made with Kevlar fibres. This fibre is famous for its heat resistivity and bearing gunshots due to its high tensile-strength.
- Now, coming to the sound quality of this earbud. 10mm powerful drivers support high fidelity acoustic produce HD and realistic sound quality. Its drivers also work like micro-woofers to add bass crisp response and bright tones with improbable precisions.
- There is a one-button control system to manage all your phone calls and music playlists. The variation in presses gives you versatile and multifunction access over the device. Its condenser microphone provides a crystal clear voice recording and calling experience by managing the speed of your voice.
The Bad Stuff:
- It is not worth mentioning, but few people haven’t experienced the utmost satisfaction in terms of sound quality. In my opinion, the sound quality is decent, and the best in such a low price tag.
6. Honor Half AM115
The Good Stuff:
- The HONOR Half earbuds AM115 will be an ideal choice to consider if you’re running on a tight budget. It has an ergonomic design that causes no stress to your ear, even after continuous hours of usage.
- There are multiple vents on the side of the bud that allow air to get in to add deeper bass and acoustic to the sound. Thus, you experience realistic sound while playing games
- The earbud comes with a three-button control that provides you with overall access to the connected device. Now easily, control the music playlists and calls as well. You just need to press to answer a call and hold up for a while to reject it. Similarly, press twice to play the next song.
- The Honor Half AM115 has a decent frequency range that produces all the sound types within the human audible range. A favourable frequency range is important to cause zero to minimal harm to the ears.
The Bad Stuff:
- It’ll be not wise to expect everything from an economic earbud. The AM115 earbud of Honor might be unable to provide you with utmost bass tone. Not preferable for hardcore bass lovers.
7. JBL C50H1
“A lightweight earbuds of only 13 grams that comes with an angle-fit design to provide maximum comfort level. Its noise isolation microphone leads to record and speaks crystal clear and realistic sound.”
The Good Stuff:
- The JBL C50H1 is another ideal choice if you’re in love with JBL sound quality. But at the same time, the earbud provides you with a tonne of comfort as well. Its earbuds come with an angle-fit design that easily gets adjusted with your ears. Moreover, it is one of the lightest earbuds that weighs only 13 gms. Thus, super comfortable for travelling and running purposes as well.
- Like all the other products of JBL, C50H1 also doesn’t compromise with the sound quality. The JBL signature sounds have a high fidelity acoustic to produce HD and realistic sound quality. Its 8.6mm drivers also effectively produce high clean bass according to the type of music.
- The noise isolation microphone lets you speak and record clear sound by cancelling all the other sounds of the surrounding. There is a one-button remote so that you can easily control your calls and music preferences.
The Bad Stuff:
- The earbud with this price range should’ve come with tangle-free wires for easy plugging and storing. The JBL C50H1 gets tangled easily whenever you keep it away from you.
Important Factors to consider while choosing a pair of earbuds
There is something that I should clear before proceeding towards the buying guide of earbuds.
The term “Cheap earbuds ” and “Budget earbuds” hold completely different perspectives.
Cheap Earbuds have nothing to do with the quality of sound, their one and only aim is to offer the cheapest possible product to the customer. People who don’t pay much attention to the sound quality in front of the budget tend to buy these earbuds.
Budget Earbuds on the other side provides the audio quality as much as possible within a decent price range. Their primary aim is to provide you with the essence of the premium features at an affordable price. Also, they’re worth investing every penny that provides utmost entertainment without causing any harm to the ears.
Their price is decided with the number of features and comfort they come with. This is also the point where every brand faces a very tough competition. Now, let us understand what are the technical specifications that are included to make your life comfortable.
Frequency Response:
Generally, sound devices work within a certain range of frequencies. Similarly, earbuds also produce sound within a particular range of frequency. An ideal earbud should have a frequency range between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. It is because the range is similar to the human audible range as well.
Earbuds that claim high-frequency ranges are nothing but a foe to your ears. Never consider such products.
Sound Profile:
In common words, the sound profile is the overall combination of the sound quality, an earbud is capable of. It basically includes bass, treble and wide fidelity acoustic characters.
Let us take an example for better understanding. If an earbud comes with powerful drivers but fewer frequencies then it’ll surely have a great bass with it.
The majority of the people often believe that higher bass and higher treble is the key for utmost sound quality. But the truth is a bit tricky. Always consider earbuds that come with equal base and treble ratio.
Noise Isolation and Noise Cancellation
Again, they might sound similar but noise isolation and noise cancellation are completely different terms.
Ever come across people who plugin earbuds which leak audio and make sure that everyone in the subway is listening to Kanye West? Or maybe you plug in your earbuds and put your volume high and still able to hear the lady beside you yelling at her husband?
Noise Isolation is completely dependent on the design of the earbud. They are designed in such a way that creates a vacuum-tight air seal into your ears. Thus, for complete noise isolation, the earbuds make sure that no other sound is passing through it.
On the other hand, noise cancellation is a completely technological process. The inbuilt microphone records the sounds of your surroundings and produces the same sound wave into your ears. These soundwaves act as anti-noise waves that cancel the outside noise coming to the ears.
Drivers:
Drivers are the main characters behind this game. They’re hardware that converts electrical signals to the sound signal. The amplitude or loudness increases with the increasing size of a driver. It also refers to a driver that can easily handle a wide frequency range without any distortion.
Frequency Range/ Frequency Response:
Frequency Range or Frequency Response is the range of sound frequency which you would be comfortable to hear and at the same time, enjoy. Typically, humans have a comfortable hearing frequency range of 20 to 20000 Hz.
While some headphones may offer higher and lower ranges as well some headphones offer even low 5 Hz to high 33000 Hz frequency ranges), they are not an advisable nor enjoyable option. The earbuds mentioned above have an average frequency range that is the most comfortable range to your ears.
Total Harmonic Distortion
THD or the Total Harmonic Distortion is the voltage or current distortion that occurs due to the harmonics of the sound signal. THD is one of the important factors as it tells you the margin of quality error that might occur. In ideal cases, lower the THD, better the quality of the earbuds are.
Sensitivity and Sound Pressure Level (SPL)
The term sound is not just a word, but a combination of multiple characteristics. The sensitivity of an earbud is the capability of how effectively the bud can convert an electrical signal into a sound signal. It is also sometimes called the efficiency of the earbuds. SPL is the measure of this sensitivity and the units are usually SPL per milliwatt. Good quality headphones come with a sensitivity range of 85 and 120 dB SPL per mW.
Design
We’ve mentioned enough technical specifications. Now, let us end this guide with the most important physical factor, that is design. The design of the earbuds serves the purposes of utmost comfort, durability and noise cancellation experience. Many earbuds even come with ear hooks to provide additional support while exercising or running.
Wrapping it up:
I hope the information provided above will help you to make a satisfying purchase. There is no doubt that there are plenty of factors to consider before making any choice. But in the end, it is only there to help you. If you’re still figuring that which one is worthy to be your best partner, then I would love to mention my favourite. My recommendation is to go with boAt BassHeads 100. It is a budget-friendly product that comes with everything that a premium earbud should have. Moreover, if you’re willing to spend more on your music experience, you should really give a shot to Sennheiser CX 180 earbuds
While that was our list, we are interested in and intrigued by what you think. Did we miss out on anything? Or could we have added something to this list? If so, feel free to write to us in the comments section below. Our team of product experts will write back to you as soon as possible.
