Headphones Vs. Earbuds Vs. AirPods: Which Is The Best Podcasting Audio Equipment?

Want your podcast and videocast to be seen, heard, found and rewarded in this noisy digital world, you are not alone. Join the nonprofit community at Podcasters United and podcast industry experts Tom Hazard and Tracy Hazard as they debunk all that outdated and bad advice you've been getting from the podcast gurus and find out what actually works. Today, get ready to feed your brand with smart cut tactics proven to cast your original voice to the world.

Hey everyone. Welcome to Feed you'd Brand. I'm your host, Tom Hazard, and today I'm going to talk about a subject that should be of interest to all podcasters. I want to talk about headphones, and in fact, specifically I want to talk about headphones versus earbuds versus AirPods and which is the best podcasting audio equipment. And I'm going to talk a little bit about why use headphones at all. You know, do you need to. And then I want to talk about the pros and cons of these three different options, headphones versus earbuds versus AirPods, and then some recommendations and things for you to consider regarding this. And you know, it is a very personal choice at the end of the day which one you want to use. But like I said, there are pros and cons. And really, if you're a serious podcaster looking to create the best quality audio, I do highly recommend, when you're recording an episode that involves a remote guest interview, that you absolutely use some kind of headset when you're recording. It's really very important, and here's why. When you are recording somebody remotely using a tool like Zoom or any other, could be Riverside fm, it could be Skype, although that's kind of old school. Could be zencastr, could be squadcast, doesn't really matter. When you're recording someone remotely, I'm sure, you know, a lot of you listening to this and a lot of you recording would rather just not have anything in your ear you can hear people in, you know, through your computer speaker. Why do you need to wear a headset? Well, here's the reason. When you're listening to someone from your computer's speaker, their sound is going into the air and you're hearing it in your ears. But what can also hear it is your microphone. And while a lot of recording softwares have gotten a lot better and won't hear it, I have this happen all the time. I record podcasts every week. Not just this show, but other shows that I am either a co host or the only host on. But when there's a co host or a remote guest. Very often when I'm recording with someone who's not using a headset, at times I will hear myself coming back through their computer's microphone into my ear. I hear a little bit of an echo, and that's because the sound of my voice coming through their computer is into the air, and it can go back into the microphone that they're speaking into. That's kind of a bleed over, we call it, of audio. And it is very, very bad for audio quality. There's really nothing an audio editor can do to remove that from your raw recording and improve it. So this is why we highly recommend listening at, you know, each participants in the podcast, the interview, the remote interview, listen with some kind of a headset. Because what that does, when you think about it, you know, for instance, I'm wearing earbuds right now. Those of you that are watching the video can see this. Those of you listening to the podcast, you know, I recommend going to the blog post@potatoes.com for this episode and look at the video or some clips of the video. I'm going to actually be showing a few different kinds of headsets that you might consider using so you can see them. But when I am listening through these earbuds in my ear, that sound is not out in the environment. It's going directly into my ears, and the microphone that I'm speaking into cannot possibly hear them. It is absolutely separating what I'm hearing from what the microphone is recording, and if you think about, from what the microphone is hearing. So this is really very important. Now, I could listen with one ear. I can pull one out. I mean, that's not going to matter. I'm still hearing it. And this little speaker in the earbud that I'm holding up with my hand, to those of you watching the video, it's too quiet. The microphone can't hear it. Now, I know probably a lot of you women out there who have your hair just so and just right, and I'm including Tracy in this. She does not like to wear any kind of headset if she can avoid it. But she'll even wear earbuds which are, you know, pretty much won't bother your hair and are pretty unobtrusive visually. But sometimes, you know, she may just have one in which is less noticeable than having two in her ear, but still provides the function. But if you pull one out, then you could hear some ambient noise if you wanted to, or somebody else in your environment who might mention something to you or you Know if you wanted to. Personally, I like to have both in so that I don't hear anything else in the environment. But the point is audio quality. The quality of your final product of your podcast will undoubtedly be better if both you and the other guest or other participants are using a headset. Okay? So we always recommend that to our guests when we prepare them for being interviewed or being recorded on the podcast. So that's why you'd want to use them. I know a lot of people think, well, why do I need it? I don't really need it. I understand that initial thought, but I'm here to tell you it's very important for audio quality. So audio separation is the number one reason audio quality. The second reason I sort of hinted at a moment ago is really focus and less distraction while you're recording your episode. Like I said, I like to have both ears, have a headset going into them so that I don't hear potential other distractions in the environment. As much as I always try to make sure I'm recording at times when there aren't going to be distractions. There's no lawnmowers going on right outside my office window. And there's. I have a way I can switch off the doorbell for my building so that when Amazon delivers a package, they don't hit the doorbell. And that gets my dog barking. Because honestly, a lot of time when I'm recording, my dog is right at my feet because she's attached to the hip with me most of the time, and she is right now very quiet, thank goodness. So, you know, you want to minimize the number of distractions, and that's really important, too.

One other thing that's very important that just happened to me as I'm recording this because I'm using Zoom, I'm using my computer. There are alert sounds that a lot of time go off on your computer when you get an email, when you get a text message. I just got an alert as I was speaking to you from my CRM, my, my, you know, customer relation management software with a task for me that someone in the company assigned to me. Or it could be slack, it could be, you know, some other kind of alert on your computer. And if you're not using a headset like this, that sound ding goes off on your computer and your microphone hears it. And now that's in your podcast audio. And there's nothing we can do to remove it unless it happened to occur at a time where. When you weren't saying anything. But it usually doesn't happen that way usually happens while you're speaking. And it really is not making the most professional impression. When you have, you know, a podcast that you're trying to have be professional and very serious, or even if it's fun and lighthearted, but to have these, all these computer alert sounds going off. So there are ways obviously on your computer to mute those sounds or make sure the alerts get turned off when you're recording. But let's say you forgot to do that. If you're listening with a headset, I'm the only one that's going to hear those alert sounds in my ear. What I hear is separated from what my microphone is hearing. So there's another good reason to use a headset when you're recording. Okay, all right. So now that's a little bit about why you want to use a headset when you're recording a podcast. Now, actually, before I move on, I will admit, if you're recording a solo cast, it's just you, then you know you're not communicating with the guests. Then there's no reason to have any headset in your ears unless you're wanting to. For that distraction factor, to have no distractions, you don't want to hear other ambient sounds in your environment so you can concentrate. You still might want to wear it, but you don't obviously need to hear anyone. So you would need to wear it. But you can either still have them plugged into your computer and pull them out if you're recording a solo cast, or you could mute your computer's sounds if you want so that you make sure that ding doesn't happen and isn't recorded over your mic.

So now let's talk about the three different kinds of headsets. So headphones. So now I know people might call these earbuds sometimes headphones. For this episode, when I'm talking about headphones, I'm not talking about earbuds. And for those of you listening to the podcast, I'm going to describe this for you, but for those of you watching video I'm showing you, when it comes to headphones, I'm talking about over ear headphones. And actually I'm a fan of these. I like using them because to me, over ear, this really does more noise canceling of my ambient environment. I hear less than I do when I'm using ear earbuds, which are smaller ones, but they both work to limit distraction from your local environment. But I kind of like this. Understandably. Many women I know hate them because, you know, depending on their hairstyle, it can get in the way. Mess up your hair when you're recording for an hour like this and take them off, you may have a dent in your hair. I don't have enough hair anymore that it causes a dent in my hair. Maybe when I was back in college, if I were recording podcasts, I would have, because, believe it or not, I had very long and, you know, wavy hair. I mean, whoa. It was different day back then, but today I keep my hair super short. It never really messes up my hair. So over ear headphones are one option. I think they're a very good one. Now, typically you're going to your over ear headphone. I'm going to talk about the plug and I'm holding this up for those of you watching the video. It's got a 3.5 millimeter plug for most of them, which will plug into the majority of computers, regardless if it's a Mac or a PC. And I do recommend a wired plugged in headset and I'm going to explain why in just a couple of minutes, because when I talk about AirPods, that's really going to relate to that. But you physically plug it in. They do make wireless versions, but I recommend a plugged in wired version. So just plugs into your computer. So then earbuds obviously are a little different and that would be, you know, very small, you know, mostly in ear. But I still like them being wired. You'll notice for those of you watching the video, the one that I'm wearing actually has a little microphone in it. And that's because people sometimes plug them into a cell phone and use it as the way they're speaking to people, you know, over their phone. But of course, this microphone we don't really recommend you use to record your podcasts with. If can use a pair of earbuds that doesn't have a microphone, it's a little easier configuring your equipment because Zoom won't necessarily pick up this microphone and you don't have to make sure that setting is set properly. But if there is a microphone in your earbuds, you can just double check your Zoom settings and make sure you're using the microphone you want to like. This one that I'm using for recording this episode. Hopefully, as I'm saying that, I'm going to check my settings, but usually my system is using it. Yep, it's using the right microphone. That's good. So I've really taken to wearing these earbuds more often than not. Just because it's kind of easier. But I do personally like the over ear headphones, so the over ear headphones, headphones in general. I have a link that is going to be in the blog post for this episode that has a review on cnet.com of a bunch of different headsets over your headsets. I am not here to recommend anyone and the real reason why there are hundreds of them, there are tons of them and it's really a personal preference. There is sort of a classic version that most new podcasters, especially if you started between five and 10 years ago, everybody bought, which was by Sony. It's a pretty reasonable priced pair and does well. I brought one when I started my first podcast and I recorded so many episodes that I wore out the leather padding right on around the ears here. And for those of you listening to the podcast, you can't see them showing on the video. But those leather pads sort of wore out. In fact, if you get leather ones, they usually last better than if they're a fake leather material. They tend to wear out anyway. I think that's a great thing. If you have a headset you wear and you're wearing out the pads means you're recording a lot of episodes, you're doing a job, you probably have a very successful podcast. And you know what, if you're doing that well, after a couple of years, splurge, buy yourself another headset. You know, when it starts wearing out to me, that's all good. So I'm not going to recommend a particular pair of over ear headsets. I think really there's some trial and error that needs to occur. I would probably make sure you're ordering something that you can return if you don't like it. And that's where I would probably buy it from Amazon. I'm sort of an Amazon guy and I know I can return something after I try it. It's not the end of the world, but you know, I encourage you to try different things. I still am going to come back to the wireless issue because some of those over ear headphones are wireless or you have an option to have a wireless battery operated version that's not plugged into your computer. So hold that thought. All right. So we talked about the over ear headsets and that CNET article for the earbuds. I do have a recommendation. Now, I'm only offering this one not because I have any interest or benefit in sharing this with you. I don't get any kind of affiliate money from saying this. I'm just telling you, from my experience, I have a kind that I have used, and it just happened that I found this brand when I was traveling in an airport and I needed a new earbuds because mine broke or got lost. And I was in an airport shop and they were very pretty. And I'm going to. I'm showing. For those of you listen to the podcast, you might want to check the video, but I'm showing it. These are actually made of wood, a very small amount of wood. And, you know, I kind of liked that look. And then when I tried them out, the quality was excellent, and I've been using them for years. At one point, I ended up breaking them myself, unfortunately, because I accidentally had them in my pocket and ran them through the laundry, and they're just not made to go through a washing machine. So I bought another pair. I liked them so much. And the company's called the House of Marley. And I've had good experience with these. They're relatively inexpensive, I think $25 or so for a good pair. That's got a nice braided sort of fabric cord on it. Kind of an older style, but new and modern and well done. And so if you're looking for a pair of earbuds and you would like to try out this brand, the link to this particular kind is in the blog post@poditize.com so check that out.

Let's talk about AirPods. So I have some very strong opinion about AirPods. And, you know, I'm using that term generically. I'm not necessarily talking about the ones made by Apple. Of course, that's their brand name, AirPods. And of course, there are dozens and dozens of different companies making the same type of product now. And here's one of them, and I'm holding up the sort of case of these for the video. Those of you listen to the podcast, this is another point where you may want to check this out. So there's a few things about these that I'll tell you I don't like, personally. One thing I don't like is how they look, you know. Now, these ones that I'm showing, admittedly are smaller than some and don't look quite as goofy in your ears. There are some that are larger sticking out and look goofy. And I kind of think it kind of looks like I, you know, was a reject from the set of Star Trek or something, you know, with. You remember Lieutenant Uhuru used to have this big thing sticking out her ear before, you know, these things ever existed. Anyway, I just, I Don't know. I just don't think they look good. That's not really my strongest reason for not using them. My strongest reason for recommending that you do not use any kind of AirPods is that they are wireless and they are battery operated. Meaning when that battery runs out, you've got to take them out of your ears and recharge them. So the last thing you want to have happen is you're in the middle of a really good podcast interview, you're in the groove, your head is in the groove, you're having an engaging conversation, and then all of a sudden you cannot hear the person on the other side of the conversation because your battery dropped out on your AirPods and you can't just plug them back in and immediately start recording again. You got to, all right, now I got to stop and put them back in this case, which can charge them and then, you know, eventually resume. So that's my number one reason. And the same thing is true because I've, I've had a pair and tried them of these over ear headsets, which I had a pair by Beats and you know, Tracy had a pair and she tried and used them for a while and great. You don't have to deal with a cord, but there's two other issues. You have to deal with a Bluetooth connection to your computer, which can at times be more complicated. It's another level of complication of your tech, getting it set up properly with your computer and using in your recording software, which can have problems, but let's say that's very stable. You still have the same problem with the AirPods is that in the middle of that interview, if your battery runs out, you can't hear them. It's a major interruption and distraction. You lose your train of thought. To me, it's just not worth it and I just do not recommend it. That's why, and I was talking about before that, with either the over ear headset or the earbuds. I recommend having the plug with the 3.5 millimeter jack that will plug into your device. You never have a battery issue. Okay? So that is why when it comes to wireless battery operated headsets, I say no. And at the end of the day, as a podcaster, it's your choice. It's a personal preference. You've got a really good pair of AirPods or, you know, wireless over ear headset that you know that battery is going to last all day long and it's charged. Okay, go for it. Do it. I'll be surprised if at some point you don't have a surprise and a difficulty in using that. But I just don't want to tempt fate and you know, have a problem when I'm recording. So I say no wireless and then let's see. But oh, personal choice. Yeah. Honestly, other than the battery issue, I don't think it really matters much if you like the over ear or the in ear earbuds, whatever you want, there is a personal choice. The other thing I think it is important that I mentioned about AirPods. They do have a microphone in them. Now in this episode, I'm not really talking about microphones per se, but if you're tempted to use your AirPods as the microphone to record your podcast, I would, in a more forceful way or stringent way, really deter you from that idea. Recommend that you do not use AirPods as the microphone you use, even if you are going to use them to listen and hear your guests. Because that microphone being so far from your mouth, in my experience and observation of others, is that the audio quality of the microphone in the AirPods is not anything near as good. Honestly, I prefer you use this little microphone and those of you listening to the podcast I'm talking about the one that's in the wired earbuds, I'm holding that up in the video, I would prefer you use that than the AirPods. At least this is a little closer to your mouth or I can hold it out and make sure it's closer to my mouth. But honestly, for your microphone we would always recommend a really high quality USB microphone that's in the traditional sense. What could be a handheld microphone or you know, you having a stand on the table in front of you or holding it in your hand either way. So really, even if you use the AirPods to listen, don't use it to record your audio. The quality is just not near as good. All right, so remember, I do have links in the blog post@pedotas.com to both that CNET article of the best over ear headphones, the link to the House of Marley to if you're interested in the one that I was talking about that I use, check all that out. And I don't have a recommendation for AirPods because I don't really think you should do it. So I'm not even giving you a link to that. If you're interested in that, do some Google searching and check out some reviews on your own. So I guess that's about it. So thank you for listening everyone. Hope you've gotten some value out of this discussion about headphones versus earbuds versus AirPods, and we'll be back next time with another great episode. Until then, this has been Tom on Feed.

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