Help me decide on new headphones

I use Etymotic ER6i's for both airplane travel, listening to music, and even inside my helmet in my racecar as combination noise reduction/radio pieces. As long as you don't mind in-ear stuff they are fantastic.

Steve
 
klankymen said:
Not when it comes to earbuds. My friend and I both have/had some sennheiser earbuds, and they both broke within half a year. Though they were nice while they lasted.
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never used Sennheiser Earbuds because IMO earbuds are not meant for good quality, more for better portability/smallness.
 
NooDle said:
never used Sennheiser Earbuds because IMO earbuds are not meant for good quality, more for better portability/smallness.
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Most earbuds don't have the best sound quality, but some of the better ones might surprise you. I think the sound quality from my Creative buds is actually better than my over-the-ear set (just some older $30 Aiwas), which in turn, I actually prefer to the Bose TriPorts (which, while nice, definitely aren't worth $150 IMO).
 
i've got a pair of sony MDR-XD100

MDR-XD100.jpg


and i have to say, first weeks my ears hurt because they're made a little weird and uncomfortable, you can't listen to music too long, but the sound is nice
 
Earbuds can be excellent, but then, they become nastily expensive. My Shure E500PTH are very close to my Sennheiser HD650, and that is really good.
 
I realize this isn't helpful for the OP because they are the over-the-head style, but my favorite headphones by far are the Sony MDR-V600's. I need to buy a new pair because after a decade my old pair are finally biting the dust. They're not for everyone however, as they have much flatter sound than most are used to (less coloration than consumer headphones).

As for earbuds, people who have never used high-quality ones would be surprised at how nice they can be. I have a pair of Shure E2C's which sound wonderful, are very comfortable (they have different sizes of earpieces), and have very good passive noise-canceling (They block your ears so you can't hear the outside). The E2Cs are only about $50 now (they were $100 when I bought mine), so I'd recommend checking them out if you're in the market for good earbuds.
 
Well, I got the earbuds in yesterday and have been using them for a couple of hours so far today. Using the smallest bud thingies they fit very comfortably inside my ears; good and snug to stay in and soft enough so that they don't feel like they're pushing on the inside of my ears, though extended comfort is of course unknown at this point. Just like the box says, these things are VERY bassy. The highs are good, though someone with particularly discerning ears might want better, but even I find the mids to be a bit muddy. After lots of toying with the EQ with little success, what turned out to be the best song in my library for getting it right came on; The Ecstacy of Gold by Ennio Morricone. I set the EQ to make this song sound as it should(well, as close as possible, anyway) and then checked against Metallica's cover, which I am very familiar with. Freakin love that song. I made one or two very minor tweaks and was quite pleased.
The next song to come on was Forty Ways by Static X. It sounded pretty good, but with more bass than I'm used to. Actually it was the low-mids, which are very difficult to adjust well with the player/headphone combo I have. Overall though I liked the sound and by the end of the song I had pretty much stopped noticing that smal quibble.
Next came Fire Your Guns by AC/DC. Right away I though "ah crap". The low mids were now sounding a bit muddy, and I don't approve of AC/DC not sounding it's best. Fortunately, I got lucky and one tick on one of the EQ ranges fixed the problem.
Then a Dethklok song, I forget which one now. It doesn't really matter though because all of their songs are super bassy aside from some way-the-hell-up-there guitar stuff. The bass overall was certainly more than I'm accustomed to, but it sounded even better that way.
Now came the big one. This song is not my favorite, and I actually tend to skip this band's songs just because their stuff doesn't really fall into my general taste, but no one can deny their awesome. It was Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin. It sounded absolutely PERFECT! Several times better then I had ever managed with my other sets of headphones.
So I am at this point pleased with my new earbuds, I just need the cord to be about 4 inches longer which I can take care of with a 4 inch extender I happen to have at home.
So thanks again the 73GMCSprint for the recommendation and I will back him up on it as well. As I said they can be had for as little as $12 plus shipping on Amazon, or for $21 plus shipping on Newegg.
 
Glad you like them. I know there are better headphones out there, but not anywhere close to that price.
 
After having using them for a total of about 20 hours over the past three days I have to say I am very happy with them. This place tend to be pretty noisy, what with various machines not too far away, an HVAC fan right above me, and the occasional(but earsplitting) air hose about four feet away when I least expect it, and just having these things in brings all of that to a merely somewhat noticeable. Well, the air hose is still annoying, but just not painful. After an hour or two they tend to get a bit uncomfortable, but a few minutes with them out alleviates that, and it's only a minor issue since I rarely go over an hour without being bothered for something.
 
smib said:
Well, I got the earbuds in yesterday and have been using them for a couple of hours so far today. Using the smallest bud thingies they fit very comfortably inside my ears; good and snug to stay in and soft enough so that they don't feel like they're pushing on the inside of my ears, though extended comfort is of course unknown at this point. Just like the box says, these things are VERY bassy. The highs are good, though someone with particularly discerning ears might want better, but even I find the mids to be a bit muddy. After lots of toying with the EQ with little success, what turned out to be the best song in my library for getting it right came on; The Ecstacy of Gold by Ennio Morricone. I set the EQ to make this song sound as it should(well, as close as possible, anyway) and then checked against Metallica's cover, which I am very familiar with. Freakin love that song. I made one or two very minor tweaks and was quite pleased.
The next song to come on was Forty Ways by Static X. It sounded pretty good, but with more bass than I'm used to. Actually it was the low-mids, which are very difficult to adjust well with the player/headphone combo I have. Overall though I liked the sound and by the end of the song I had pretty much stopped noticing that smal quibble.
Next came Fire Your Guns by AC/DC. Right away I though "ah crap". The low mids were now sounding a bit muddy, and I don't approve of AC/DC not sounding it's best. Fortunately, I got lucky and one tick on one of the EQ ranges fixed the problem.
Then a Dethklok song, I forget which one now. It doesn't really matter though because all of their songs are super bassy aside from some way-the-hell-up-there guitar stuff. The bass overall was certainly more than I'm accustomed to, but it sounded even better that way.
Now came the big one. This song is not my favorite, and I actually tend to skip this band's songs just because their stuff doesn't really fall into my general taste, but no one can deny their awesome. It was Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin. It sounded absolutely PERFECT! Several times better then I had ever managed with my other sets of headphones.
So I am at this point pleased with my new earbuds, I just need the cord to be about 4 inches longer which I can take care of with a 4 inch extender I happen to have at home.
So thanks again the 73GMCSprint for the recommendation and I will back him up on it as well. As I said they can be had for as little as $12 plus shipping on Amazon, or for $21 plus shipping on Newegg.
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I may be missing it, due to huge amounts of text, with few paragraphs, but.... you got what earbuds?
 
Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I hadn't posted it in this thread(I did mention it in the mp3 player thread.) I got Creative EP-630's from Amazon for 18USD shipped.
 
I recently got a cowon I7 and started to look for good earphones to use in the gym, I found a pair from Pioneer that sounded and fitted great (they had the hook thing that goes around the ear. Anyways, after a week the right one started to cut out. In the end I gave up, now I use my Sennheiser HD201 in the gym, they have been in the floor 1000 times but still sound fantastic!

ec8482f39575904baf05bfdfcd605edd.jpg
 
I suggest iGrados or Grado SR60. Very cheap, entry level but excellent headphones.
 
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