iPods are fantastic, but the most important part of any mobile music experience is the earbuds or headphones that you connect to your device. Plenty of people are happy to use the stock Apple iPod earbuds, but many are less than thrilled by their sound quality--or the fact that those hard plastic ’buds aren’t the most comfortable things to stick in your ears. Yurbuds are soft rubber eartips meant to work with your existing phones, offering better fit and improved performance.

Silicone tips improve the sound and comfort of standard earbuds.

Yurbuds come as two pairs of eartips (one smaller, one larger), although if you order online, there are six different sizes available for $19.99 a pair. They’re intended for use with Apple’s pack-in earbuds or other similar models. Adapters are also included for using Yurbuds with a variety of Bluetooth phone headsets. Installing the tips on your earbuds is a fairly straightforward process. Yurbuds cover the entire earbud and end with a small port that you place in your ear canal. It takes a few tries to get the Yurbuds positioned at the correct angle for the most comfortable fit, but once you’ve done that, inserting and removing the earbuds from your ears with the Yurbuds attached is easy.

The soft tips definitely increase the comfort level. Since they’re made out of grippy material, they also tend to stay in your ears better than earbuds alone. Anyone who uses an iPod while working out will appreciate their earbuds’ newfound ability to stay put. Sound-wise, Yurbuds definitely improve on the tinny quality of stock earbuds by channeling the sound and directing more of it into your ear canal. The result can’t match the output of high-end headphones, but the improvement in quality is immediately noticeable. As an added benefit, you can listen at lower volumes than bare earbuds allow.