In spite of the fact that some people do not mind spending a small fortune on a state-of-the-art pair of headphones with a limited three year warranty, they do get upset when the quality of the sound is ghastly. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases the poor sound quality stems from the fact that they did not purchase the right pair to start with. In other words, when it comes to headsets, it is best to shop around until you find something that suits you, rather than acquire an expensive pair of earpieces only simply because they are popular. The good news is that even if you did get stuck with a pair of headphones with poor sound quality, there are still a few hacks you could try before storing them away for good. Let’s elaborate!

1. Try to clean them first

Even though cleaning the earpieces regularly might seem intuitive, you would be surprised about the number of people who “forget” about this little aspect. In the eventuality that you notice the sound in your headphones has decreased lately, then it is time to clean them up. Besides, washing them is a fairly easy activity as you all need to do is wipe them with a mildly wet cloth and soft soap. In case they include metal parts that are extremely dirty, then you can clean them with a toothbrush.

2. Are you using them properly?

While this is surely not the only pair of headphones you had, it is necessary to point out that no earpiece is like the other. To put it simply, it could very well be that you grew accustomed to your old pair of headsets so much that you are using your new headphones in a similar manner. This is especially true for the in-ear buds and a good method of getting the best sound out of them is to “tinker” with them until they feel comfortable and the sound improves.

3. You could turn them into speakers

If the cleaning did not do the trick, then you could always try to turn them into speakers. More often than not, people often find themselves in the situation when they would absolutely love to listen to some music while cleaning the house, organizing their desk or doing a repetitive task. Sadly, the only thing they actually have in their home is a pair of headsets. However, did you know that you could attach two paper cups to the earpieces and transform them into veritable speakers? And, the best part is that this “construction” also improves the quality of the sound.

4. Integrate some noise isolating features

In the eventuality that regardless of what you do, you keep hearing the background noise rather than your favorite music, then you should consider adding some noise isolating features. The open pair headsets’ sound quality can be boosted exponentially if you attach it to a nice set of industrial earmuffs, whereas for the in-ear buds you can use some earplug foam to isolate the background sound. As a side note, there are plenty of DIY guides on the web as well as specialized services that could lend you a hand in this case.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Richard Simpson loves technology and music. He works with a premier online headphones retailer based in Australia.