The iPod pushed this category to new heights. Before you could only buy cheap earbuds for Walkman from big box retailers. With the iPod the high-end in ear headphones or earphones started to be displayed by high-end niche merchants. Manufacturers like Shure, Etymotic and Ultimate Ears started by catering to professional musicians with their single and multiple balanced armature drivers earphones (video on the left shows how balanced armature drivers work).
The most advanced in ear headphones have more than 1 balanced armature driver on each earpiece. They are divided into 3 categories:
Single Driver Headphones
Dual Driver Headphones
Triple Driver Headphones
For the multiple driver earphones to work (dual and triple driver earphones) they need to be equipped with a crossover. They could be a 2-Way Crossover or a 3-Way Crossover. Watch the video on the right to find out how a crossover works on a high-end in ear headphone with multiple drivers.
<-Armature Driver | Crossover->
Headphones with Single, Dual and Triple Drivers
The in ear headphones above go inside your ear canal providing maximum noise isolation and extreme sound quality. Due to its proximity to the ear canal, you can listen to your music at lower volumes since you don't need to compete with outside noise. The single driver has one driver on each earpiece that delivers all three frequency ranges: highs, mids and lows. The dual driver in ear headphones have two drivers per earpiece and a 2-way crossover improving frequency drop, delivering a more separate sound and stronger bass. The triple driver in ear headphones have three drivers. Each one of these drivers is designed and specialized in handling one frequency range, so you have the highs being handled by the high driver, the mids by he mids driver and the lows by the lows driver. In order to do that, these in ear headphones come with a built-in 3-way crossover which divides and manages the frequency distribution between the three drivers. It's top notch technology that is used by high profile professional musicians and singers. You can also read our review of the new Shure SE535 headphones with removable cables.
Full-size Headphones
Full-size headphones encompass the whole ear. Most headphones use dynamic drivers which are identical to those woofers you see on speaker cabinets, but much smaller of course. The full size headphones can be:
Portable Headphones - smaller earcups that usually don't cover the entire ear
Regular size headphones that cover the entire ear
Open design headphones - you can usually see a grill or foam or openings on the outside of the earcup. The open design provide a, well, more open sound experience. The bad: they let more external sound in and they let more music sound out. So if you are in a library you will probably be providing music service to others around you. If you are in a noisy environment, the noise will interfere with your music.
Closed design headphones - this type of headphones are preferred by studio engineers, frequent flyers, and anyone that wants more isolation from their headphones. The bad: some people will get that "claustrophobic feeling" if they were looking for, or prefer, a more airy experience.
