GoKawiilApple's courageous decision to drop the 3.5mm headphone jack in 2016 seems to have worked in the company's favor. The AirPods are by far the most popular truly wireless earbuds globally. Competition has also caught up in terms of sound quality and features, and it's generally pretty difficult to end up with a bad pair of wireless earbuds these days. With most higher-end offerings touting active noise cancellation, lossless audio codecs and customizable EQ settings, the purchase decision often comes down to comfort and ecosystem benefits.
Most truly wireless earbuds ship with ear tips that are made of silicone. It's a material that's cheap to manufacture and flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of ear shapes. Manufacturers often throw in two more pairs of ear tips in different sizes to maximize the chances of users finding a fit that works. Unfortunately, human ears come in a vast range of shapes and sizes. In fact, a multi-ethnic study involving more than 1,400 people found that the human ear is a reliable biometric identifier, not unlike a fingerprint.
Besides not providing a secure and comfortable fit, the wrong set of ear tips can also negatively impact sound quality. Unlike over-ear headphones that create a wider seal around your ears, earbuds rely almost entirely on the ear tips to form a proper seal. If it's not a good fit, sound can leak out, and outside noise can get in. This results in weaker bass and noticeably poorer noise cancellation performance.