Happy Plugs Clip

Modding and a review

What would be a review without modding? Since my previous - also modified - open Bluetooth earphones, the Sony SBH-70, finally completely disintegrated and stopped working, I needed new ones.

A quick search on the local stores yielded very little results. There aren't that many open earphones available nowadays, and most have a behind-the-ear hook to keep them in place. This was a no-go for me since I wear eyeglasses. But then I noticed these Happy Plugs Clip earphones. They're rather cheap (it was around 50 euros when I bought them, and I've seen them cheaper), the brand is completely unknown to me, and the form-factor was really interesting. They clip around your ear in a different way than usually. Intrigued, I decided to give them a try.

Later on I did bump into some other earphones with similar form-factor, such as the Bose Ultra Open.

Why open and not closed?

The first question one might have is: why would anybody want open earphones? To me the answer is rather obvious, but apparently not many people understand or have the same problem. While it is true that closed earphones provide superior bass, superior noise-cancellation and insulation from the environment, they also make every sound coming within your own body sound really loud. I for example can't walk, eat, or get my heart pumping with closed earphones as the thumping sounds coming through drive me crazy. In addition, unless the earphones have been custom-molded, they might at some point start to hurt your ears.

Whereas an open design lets your ears breathe, you hear no noises from within your body at all, they don't hurt at all, and actually hearing the environment is a plus in some (or most) use cases.

Happy Plugs Clips first impressions

Right out of the package the earphones were easy to connect and once connected, the user experience is rather nice: you just open the carrying/charging case and they connect automatically. They disconnect and power off when you put them back to the case.

The fit at least to my ears wasn't secure, though. I did some machine sewing in the local library the day after I bought the earphones. Sitting calmly and doing quiet stuff like that while listening to podcasts was perfect. I hardly felt the earphones and the voice from podcasts was very clear. If this is your use case, I can already recommend the Happy Plugs Clips.

The earphones mostly seem to connect really quickly and I've had very little hickups using them. The plugs have touch-sensitive "buttons" which I accientally kept pressing all the time in the beginning, but later on they haven't been that much of a problem. Although, I would much prefer physical buttons if any, as currently the buttons are quite unusable except perhaps for play and pause.

The earphone batteries last for a few hours of listening and are charged by the case. The case is charged via a USB-C connector. I don't have the exact numbers (and it would depend on the volume anyway), but I have never been out of juice while usually using them an hour or two at a time.

The need for modding

The nice feeling of the fit was forgotten immediately after I put on a beanie and took it off later. The earphones were ripped off my ears at the same time. Also, the sound quality for music was rather bad with the loose fit.

I really needed a more secure fit. After fiddling for some time I came to the conclusion I needed to get the earphones a few millimeters closer to my ear channels in a specific angle.

I first made a mold out of some air-drying clay. I covered the small holes (reflex ports I presume) in the earphones with tape so that they wouldn't be accidentally plugged, put some clay in my ear and pushed the earphones in. The concept felt like it might actually work, but figured the clay might break at some point. For the final product I used kingtsuglue, which is a rubber-like material that hardens but still stays just a bit flexible when dry. I glued the hardened kingtsuglue in place with super glue. The end result has been durable and comfortable in use.

Eventually I ended up cutting away a lot of the mold I had made to make the earphones lighter, a bit more comfortable in my ears, and especially smaller. Since now I had another problem to tackle: how to fit them in the case.

Modding the case

Using a magnet, I could sometimes trigger the electronics in the case to think I had closed the lid. I deduced there must be two magnets in the lid. Unfortunately I didn't get a very good idea what's happening inside the bottom part. I actually sent an email to the manufacturer and asked about it. They did answer me but couldn't really say the specifics. They seemed a bit amused and wished me luck and congratulated me on my ingenuity, so kudos to Happy Plugs for a nice actual human in the customer support!

So anyway I started blasting with my Ryobi multitool and eventually I could fit the earphones inside the case. I almost destroyed the Hall effect sensor but luckily it still works despite some scratches. The case looks a bit nasty from the inside now, but outside it looks completely original and works exactly like it should.

Conclusion

I have now been using the modified earphones for over half a year. I say they are worth it. With an equalizer, music doesn't sound that bad - it's actually quite comparable to the Sony SBH70 I used to have. But comfort of use is very good and they stay in my ears no matter what, so they are perfect for doing sports. It's a shame they apparently have very bad microphones, as wearing them everyone I've tried to have a phone call with has complained about noise or not hearing my voice clearly. I guess in ideal conditions they would be usable, but if you or the other person is on the move, they're not.

Pros:

• Adequate sound quality when equalized and modified to fit your ear.
• Very comfortable to wear, both modified and stock.
• When they fit (or if modified), they stay in place securely.
• Ease of use, they connect quickly and mostly reliably.
• Very affordable.
• Customer service seems legit.
• Clever form-factor for eyeglass users.
• Modifying was quite easy.

Cons:

• If they don't fit your ears and no equalizer is available, lacking in sound quality.
• Might not fit all ears, might not stay well in place.
• The touch-sensitive buttons are prone to accidental presses and don't work well when needed.
• Bad microphone quality for phone calls.
• At least somewhere, perhaps even in the manufacturers brochure, I saw a claim that they have active noise-cancellation. That is not true, unless they are speaking of the microphones. For listening these have no noise-cancellation features.

If you have a similar specific need as I did, there aren't many options in the market. If you are fine with modding or if the use case is mainly for listening to podcasts when cooking or staying still, I totally recommend these. For any other use case, weight your needs.