Earbuds vs. on-ear vs. over-ear headset in Windows 10












27














When I plug headphones into my Windows 10 laptop, the system asks me what I installed, and particularly, whether the headphones are "earbuds", "on-ear" or "over-ear".



I was not sure exactly what to choose (I have some old headphones and not sure if they are called "on ear" or "over ear") so I tried all three options and did not notice any difference.



What is the difference between choosing "on ear" vs. "over ear"? (and what is the difference between this and choosing "earbuds"?)






windows-10 audio headphones







share|improve this question




















  • 12




    To clear up the terminology: over-ear refers to headphones with large cups that fully enclose or surround your ears, on-ear are similar in style but have smaller cups and sit on your ear lobes instead. Some people, especially those with glasses, have problems with over-ear headphones while on-ear headphones can have more problems with audio leak due to the less head-sealed and softer nature of the design. I'd suspect that on-ear headphones might need more of a volume boost to deal with environmental sound but don't really know why windows cares hence only a comment.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago






  • 3




    I wear glasses and it's on-ear headphones that cause me issues. They squish the ear over the eyeglass temple, which hurts after a while. I suppose it varies though.
    – Carl Kevinson
    18 hours ago










  • @Mokubai Small correction: on-ear headphones sit on the whole ear, not just the lobe.
    – wjandrea
    17 hours ago










  • It may be trying to do impedance memory, where you tell it which device you plugged in and when it detects another device with the same impedance plugged in later, it applies the last volume you had set for it. This is great if you have a set of speakers where you keep the OS volume at 100 and earbuds where you keep the volume at 10.
    – PascLeRasc
    11 hours ago
















27














When I plug headphones into my Windows 10 laptop, the system asks me what I installed, and particularly, whether the headphones are "earbuds", "on-ear" or "over-ear".



I was not sure exactly what to choose (I have some old headphones and not sure if they are called "on ear" or "over ear") so I tried all three options and did not notice any difference.



What is the difference between choosing "on ear" vs. "over ear"? (and what is the difference between this and choosing "earbuds"?)






windows-10 audio headphones







share|improve this question




















  • 12




    To clear up the terminology: over-ear refers to headphones with large cups that fully enclose or surround your ears, on-ear are similar in style but have smaller cups and sit on your ear lobes instead. Some people, especially those with glasses, have problems with over-ear headphones while on-ear headphones can have more problems with audio leak due to the less head-sealed and softer nature of the design. I'd suspect that on-ear headphones might need more of a volume boost to deal with environmental sound but don't really know why windows cares hence only a comment.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago






  • 3




    I wear glasses and it's on-ear headphones that cause me issues. They squish the ear over the eyeglass temple, which hurts after a while. I suppose it varies though.
    – Carl Kevinson
    18 hours ago










  • @Mokubai Small correction: on-ear headphones sit on the whole ear, not just the lobe.
    – wjandrea
    17 hours ago










  • It may be trying to do impedance memory, where you tell it which device you plugged in and when it detects another device with the same impedance plugged in later, it applies the last volume you had set for it. This is great if you have a set of speakers where you keep the OS volume at 100 and earbuds where you keep the volume at 10.
    – PascLeRasc
    11 hours ago














27












27








27


2





When I plug headphones into my Windows 10 laptop, the system asks me what I installed, and particularly, whether the headphones are "earbuds", "on-ear" or "over-ear".



I was not sure exactly what to choose (I have some old headphones and not sure if they are called "on ear" or "over ear") so I tried all three options and did not notice any difference.



What is the difference between choosing "on ear" vs. "over ear"? (and what is the difference between this and choosing "earbuds"?)






windows-10 audio headphones







share|improve this question















When I plug headphones into my Windows 10 laptop, the system asks me what I installed, and particularly, whether the headphones are "earbuds", "on-ear" or "over-ear".



I was not sure exactly what to choose (I have some old headphones and not sure if they are called "on ear" or "over ear") so I tried all three options and did not notice any difference.



What is the difference between choosing "on ear" vs. "over ear"? (and what is the difference between this and choosing "earbuds"?)






windows-10 audio headphones




windows-10 audio headphones






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 14 hours ago









Kevin Panko

5,859113648




5,859113648










asked yesterday









Erel Segal-HaleviErel Segal-Halevi

67261933




67261933








  • 12




    To clear up the terminology: over-ear refers to headphones with large cups that fully enclose or surround your ears, on-ear are similar in style but have smaller cups and sit on your ear lobes instead. Some people, especially those with glasses, have problems with over-ear headphones while on-ear headphones can have more problems with audio leak due to the less head-sealed and softer nature of the design. I'd suspect that on-ear headphones might need more of a volume boost to deal with environmental sound but don't really know why windows cares hence only a comment.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago






  • 3




    I wear glasses and it's on-ear headphones that cause me issues. They squish the ear over the eyeglass temple, which hurts after a while. I suppose it varies though.
    – Carl Kevinson
    18 hours ago










  • @Mokubai Small correction: on-ear headphones sit on the whole ear, not just the lobe.
    – wjandrea
    17 hours ago










  • It may be trying to do impedance memory, where you tell it which device you plugged in and when it detects another device with the same impedance plugged in later, it applies the last volume you had set for it. This is great if you have a set of speakers where you keep the OS volume at 100 and earbuds where you keep the volume at 10.
    – PascLeRasc
    11 hours ago














  • 12




    To clear up the terminology: over-ear refers to headphones with large cups that fully enclose or surround your ears, on-ear are similar in style but have smaller cups and sit on your ear lobes instead. Some people, especially those with glasses, have problems with over-ear headphones while on-ear headphones can have more problems with audio leak due to the less head-sealed and softer nature of the design. I'd suspect that on-ear headphones might need more of a volume boost to deal with environmental sound but don't really know why windows cares hence only a comment.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago






  • 3




    I wear glasses and it's on-ear headphones that cause me issues. They squish the ear over the eyeglass temple, which hurts after a while. I suppose it varies though.
    – Carl Kevinson
    18 hours ago










  • @Mokubai Small correction: on-ear headphones sit on the whole ear, not just the lobe.
    – wjandrea
    17 hours ago










  • It may be trying to do impedance memory, where you tell it which device you plugged in and when it detects another device with the same impedance plugged in later, it applies the last volume you had set for it. This is great if you have a set of speakers where you keep the OS volume at 100 and earbuds where you keep the volume at 10.
    – PascLeRasc
    11 hours ago








12




12




To clear up the terminology: over-ear refers to headphones with large cups that fully enclose or surround your ears, on-ear are similar in style but have smaller cups and sit on your ear lobes instead. Some people, especially those with glasses, have problems with over-ear headphones while on-ear headphones can have more problems with audio leak due to the less head-sealed and softer nature of the design. I'd suspect that on-ear headphones might need more of a volume boost to deal with environmental sound but don't really know why windows cares hence only a comment.
– Mokubai♦
23 hours ago




To clear up the terminology: over-ear refers to headphones with large cups that fully enclose or surround your ears, on-ear are similar in style but have smaller cups and sit on your ear lobes instead. Some people, especially those with glasses, have problems with over-ear headphones while on-ear headphones can have more problems with audio leak due to the less head-sealed and softer nature of the design. I'd suspect that on-ear headphones might need more of a volume boost to deal with environmental sound but don't really know why windows cares hence only a comment.
– Mokubai♦
23 hours ago




3




3




I wear glasses and it's on-ear headphones that cause me issues. They squish the ear over the eyeglass temple, which hurts after a while. I suppose it varies though.
– Carl Kevinson
18 hours ago




I wear glasses and it's on-ear headphones that cause me issues. They squish the ear over the eyeglass temple, which hurts after a while. I suppose it varies though.
– Carl Kevinson
18 hours ago












@Mokubai Small correction: on-ear headphones sit on the whole ear, not just the lobe.
– wjandrea
17 hours ago




@Mokubai Small correction: on-ear headphones sit on the whole ear, not just the lobe.
– wjandrea
17 hours ago












It may be trying to do impedance memory, where you tell it which device you plugged in and when it detects another device with the same impedance plugged in later, it applies the last volume you had set for it. This is great if you have a set of speakers where you keep the OS volume at 100 and earbuds where you keep the volume at 10.
– PascLeRasc
11 hours ago




It may be trying to do impedance memory, where you tell it which device you plugged in and when it detects another device with the same impedance plugged in later, it applies the last volume you had set for it. This is great if you have a set of speakers where you keep the OS volume at 100 and earbuds where you keep the volume at 10.
– PascLeRasc
11 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















37














I have a Dell laptop with an audio controller tool MaxxAudioPro, and these pictures are what it shows on plugging in the headphones.



Earbuds pic

(Earbuds)



On-ear pic

(On-ear)



Over-ear pic

(Over-ear)



Depending on how the tool optimizes the sound quality regarding the headphone/headset type, you might get different depth, bass, detail, etc. the differences might be unrecognizable in some cases, but you can apply different settings to each type.
For instance, I like high bass. For the earbuds, I set max bass. As the over-ear already has a good bass, I have set it to mid.






share|improve this answer



















  • 11




    Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago










  • I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
    – Drunken Code Monkey
    12 hours ago













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1 Answer
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oldest

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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









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oldest

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active

oldest

votes









37














I have a Dell laptop with an audio controller tool MaxxAudioPro, and these pictures are what it shows on plugging in the headphones.



Earbuds pic

(Earbuds)



On-ear pic

(On-ear)



Over-ear pic

(Over-ear)



Depending on how the tool optimizes the sound quality regarding the headphone/headset type, you might get different depth, bass, detail, etc. the differences might be unrecognizable in some cases, but you can apply different settings to each type.
For instance, I like high bass. For the earbuds, I set max bass. As the over-ear already has a good bass, I have set it to mid.






share|improve this answer



















  • 11




    Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago










  • I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
    – Drunken Code Monkey
    12 hours ago


















37














I have a Dell laptop with an audio controller tool MaxxAudioPro, and these pictures are what it shows on plugging in the headphones.



Earbuds pic

(Earbuds)



On-ear pic

(On-ear)



Over-ear pic

(Over-ear)



Depending on how the tool optimizes the sound quality regarding the headphone/headset type, you might get different depth, bass, detail, etc. the differences might be unrecognizable in some cases, but you can apply different settings to each type.
For instance, I like high bass. For the earbuds, I set max bass. As the over-ear already has a good bass, I have set it to mid.






share|improve this answer



















  • 11




    Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago










  • I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
    – Drunken Code Monkey
    12 hours ago
















37












37








37






I have a Dell laptop with an audio controller tool MaxxAudioPro, and these pictures are what it shows on plugging in the headphones.



Earbuds pic

(Earbuds)



On-ear pic

(On-ear)



Over-ear pic

(Over-ear)



Depending on how the tool optimizes the sound quality regarding the headphone/headset type, you might get different depth, bass, detail, etc. the differences might be unrecognizable in some cases, but you can apply different settings to each type.
For instance, I like high bass. For the earbuds, I set max bass. As the over-ear already has a good bass, I have set it to mid.






share|improve this answer














I have a Dell laptop with an audio controller tool MaxxAudioPro, and these pictures are what it shows on plugging in the headphones.



Earbuds pic

(Earbuds)



On-ear pic

(On-ear)



Over-ear pic

(Over-ear)



Depending on how the tool optimizes the sound quality regarding the headphone/headset type, you might get different depth, bass, detail, etc. the differences might be unrecognizable in some cases, but you can apply different settings to each type.
For instance, I like high bass. For the earbuds, I set max bass. As the over-ear already has a good bass, I have set it to mid.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 7 hours ago









Mateen Ulhaq

2,46252951




2,46252951










answered 23 hours ago









Amir-MousaviAmir-Mousavi

40637




40637








  • 11




    Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago










  • I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
    – Drunken Code Monkey
    12 hours ago
















  • 11




    Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
    – Mokubai♦
    23 hours ago










  • I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
    – Drunken Code Monkey
    12 hours ago










11




11




Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
– Mokubai♦
23 hours ago




Good answer. I'd add that generally as the cup size goes up you can use larger speakers that moves the performance down towards the bass frequencies. Smaller speakers tend to be better at high frequencies and needs good mechanical design and a little boost from the incoming signal to compensate.
– Mokubai♦
23 hours ago












I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
– Drunken Code Monkey
12 hours ago






I think the main reason they ask is not for EQ, but rather for the spatial audio plugins included in Windows 10 (Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos), or via your laptop`s audio controller. You can turn those on and off by right-clicking the mixer icon in the notification area. The type of headphones or the position of speakers has a greater impact for those calculations.
– Drunken Code Monkey
12 hours ago




















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