UPDATED: Heres how to make sound-isolating earbuds for less then a $2. Pics!

[Tri-edge]

http://lifehacker.com/5347245/make-comfortable-noise+isolating-earbuds-for-less-than-a-dollar

How to Make Perfect Noise Isolating In-Ear Headphone Earbuds

Many people don't want or need to spend hundreds of dollars on premium earbuds, but want to hear the ones they have more clearly. Turn some basic and inexpensive earbuds into a noise-isolating pair with this simple hack.

All you'll need is a pair of earbuds with the plug-on-a-post design, as seen in the video below, along with some basic foam earplugs, and some basic tools like a pair of scissors. Watch the video below to see how to quickly and easily modify the foam earplugs to fit the earbuds:



One thing to keep in mind: foam earplugs are meant to be disposable and they will get cruddy over time. Not all earplugs are equal however; when you're purchasing them take a close look at the material. The absolute cheapest foam earplugs are open-cell and will quickly accumulate dirt and earwax. Nicer, and barely more expensive, disposable earplugs are closed-cell and can be cleaned and reused.

The open-cell plugs will have a slightly porous look to them and a texture that feels somewhat like an eraser. The closed-cell plugs have a slight shine to them and have a much smoother and softer feel. Either way, we'd recommend buying a couple pairs and bulk making replacements for when the original set gets worn out.

Have your own trick for modifying headphones? Sound off in the comments.

I'm going out in a half an hour to go buy the earplugs and try them out.  I'll let you guys know if it's worth it. 

[P3nnyw1se]

Looks interesting, o.o

[tmandt]

i would so do that. thing is i dont have a mp3 player anymore i always buy stuff and sell it i cant ever keep somin

[noah03ark]

saw it on lifehacker and tried it cause i have the same earplugs for sleep

but i don't have a biopsy tool so the hole wasn't easy to make.. and thus it fell apart

[Tri-edge]

I found something that works just as good.  I'll post pics of the process in a little bit.  Same goes for the result.

OK here's the pics of the process. 

Here's the finished result.


My earphones and my cousin's earphones. (doesn't purple look good?  )


Here's the tool that I used to cut a hole in the foam

I got it from this thing. I don't know what it is though, I just found it among the many nuts and bolts in my dad's part box.


I used a piece of wood and newspaper to hammer the tool into the foam.  I didn't want to scuff the table otherwise I really would have been dead   


And that's the process. AAANNNNDDD here's the result.      when I tested them out I found that is a HUGE IMPROVEMENT!  You can't hear 80% of the outside world and the sound sounds a little bit better.  The main difference is that you can't hear anything outside of the earbuds so they sound at optimum quality (or best performance) everything.  You have to be careful of the length of the foam or else the speaker won't be in your ear and you can't feel the rumble or the bass of your music.

Remember I'm no music expert but to me it sounds better. Worth every penny.

Also one more thing.

A cookie goes to who ever figures out what I'm going to do with this