Edcase

All,

I want to get some decent headphones because the standard ipod ones are a) crap, b) break regularly and c) crap.

does anybody have any suggestions, budget around £50 although I might go slightly higher if it is really worthwhile.

second question being, is it really worthwhile getting approaching reference quality headphones for a digital music player?

cheers

Ed

POC

IMHO no real need to spend massive bucks on inner-ear headphones, they are limited in quality buy their size. I replace my ipod headphones with Sony MDR-EX71 (in white of course) and they are nothing short of stunning! Bass is amazing from the ear buds, superb clarity and very reasonable cost, I got mine about 2 years ago and payed just north of £50 for them, these days you can buy them from power-sellers on ebay for £25 + postage (I actualy bought another pair for my brother last week).

That would be my reccomendation, if you want top top top quality sound (well as good as you can reproduce with an MP3 player) then you should look at some of the noise canceling headphones from bose etc, these have a good rep.

HTH

Paul

DrEvil

Humble ain't a word I'd use for you Paul!

Ed - also take a look at the Shure earphones, s'posed to be very good, a few mates have them.

delbert

i have the same ones in black and got to say they are the best ive had, dont fall out when you run and sound superb also cheap about £30 quid im told .

Graz

Etymotic are supposed to be quite good. Can get some good deals on eBay but haven't taken the plunge yet myself.

Neil W

Also have these and paid circa £30 from Dixons at Heathrow AP. Excellent sound.

hedgehog

There is no doubt that the Sonys are a great job for £25ish from Amazon. They give a good balanced sound but are a bit bloated at the bottom end to cover up for that fact that there is no real low frequencies. However, for general listening they are probably the best out there. I use them on the bus/plane etc. and enjoy my listening. Also they are not so good that they make MP3 compression sound really bad, sometimes a good thing. Certainly worth a buy.

If you want something that is really good and approaches reference quality then the Etymotic ER4P are well worth the money. They really are in a different league to the Sonys and providing you have uncompressed audio on your portable player and it has a good quality output stage then you will get a cracking sound from them. The frequency response is much more balanced than the Sonys, much better HF response almost like a set of ATCs, and they go lower without the need to give the bass a wee lift to cover anything up. The catch is the cost which is about £170 from Amazon I think. However, assuming a source with uncompressed audio and a good quality output stage you will have to go a long way to beat this combination. I mostly use them at home/work just because they can be a wee bit less easy to use than the Sonys. I personally think they are a very clever bit of kit indeed and most of those spending up to, say, £20,000 on hi-fi would do well to listen to an iPod, for example, and a pair of Etymotics (total £500ish) just to see what technology can do over old fashioned marketing hype. The monitors I will listen to this afternoon cost more than a good house and in all honesty are not that far removed from the abilities of the Etymotics. I suppose you just need to see if you can justify the cost, also remember they are a bit fiddly to use on the bus etc. which is the main reason I also have the Sonys.

Chris L

Shure E2c - the dogs Bs for about 60 quid. Proper noise cancelling headphones, that sound great and don't annoy everyone else on the tube because the sound is directed into the ear and doesn't leak out of the back like the crappy standard iPod ones.

Shure E2c link

Edcase

Thanks everyone, those shure ones look just the ticket! How is the bass response?

stevencotton

I have the Etymotic ER-6, great earphones. Listened to a pair or ER-4s and they were even better, perfect for tube/train/plane with the noise cancelling.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

4th vote for the Sonys - I have the SE equivelents, and they are the nicest sounding (non expensive) in-ears I have heard.

Maybe a touch lacking on top end, but the actual presence of some bass more than makes up for it (rather than non at all like most others - even if it's a little boomy).

Certainly makes tinny in-earphones a thing of the past.

Edcase

Right I'm going for the Shure's. Chris, any more qualitative feedback on performance? Esp. bass...

paulr

There was a v-good thread about 1 year ago in computer related on this subject.

Edcase

can you remember the subject title?

Edcase

this one???

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...ght=headphones

kammy

The review for the Sonys' is very poor with regards to quality these days. I ended up getting some Koss Spart Plug Metalics. Very good, but are difficult to posistion correctly.

See reviews etc here:http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/...ex.php?cPath=6

Fulham71

Just brought the sony ones & They sound good to me !

mightyyid

Shure E2c are quality headphones and certainly the best for the money and better than most others I have heard. Winning awards as well with good punchy bass...

Andy

Nick

Another vote for Shure E2Cs. Excellent sound quality & good bass response from my Rio Karma.

Edcase

ordered

Will let you know my thoughts later this week

Chris L

Sorry Ed - just catching up with this thread. The bass response is very good - as long as you make sure that the earphones are in your ear correctly. Sounds daft I know, but it can make a big difference. The Shure headphones come with a number of adaptors, so take a bit of time and find the ones that best suit the size and shape of your ear.

Chris

DazW

iTrader: (1)

Bit late but ive got a pair of MDR-EX81's ...similar to the EX71's but with an arm that hooks behind your ear ...my 71's kept pulling/dropping out

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I figuered out why my 71's kept pulling out.....your supposed to thread the wire over and round the top of your ears, that way, when the wire gets pulled it pulls off your ears instead

flynnstudio

I was snarled up in this for a while...depends on your ears...I sent mine back - thought the sound improvement over the stock ipod earbuds was marginal and they are an **** to keep plugged tight - without that PERFECT seal the bass is history...FYI : the 5th gen ipod has much bigger bass and better stereo seperation than the previous models which could be a bit tinny for my taste...since I got my new one I've not hankered for this mod...I'd be careful about sticking things in your ears...

whatever you do though - BE CAREFUL - it may seem like one of these crappy things people say but listning for a long time with too much volume ( esp washy trebley hi-hats/percussion ) will give you tinitus - a ringing in your ears and if you do that for about 5 years you'll end up going deaf...

hedgehog

This is an important point and well worth taking on board. Everyone likes to play things a bit loud now and again for a kick but it is important to take care and just because you meet people who say "i've played loud music all my life and it never did me any harm..." doesn't mean to say it will not harm you. In fact it doesn't mean to say it hasn't harmed them either.

One advantage of the in ear earphones is that many offer some isolation from the outside world and so can actually allow you to play the music at a lower level than might normally be the case. With this in mind it is worth thinking about the level at which you are playing the music and it really is worth taking care. Also you don't need to do it for 5 years, I have worked with people who have lost frequency response performance much more quickly than that so enjoy your music and be sensible, try to listen at the lowest suitable level rather than at the highest.

A useful, though flawed, experiment can be to listen to some solo piano and set the level to that you would expect to experience sitting in a concert hall with a live acoustic solo piano. Then try some of your other music at this level. I know it doesn't take into account the possibility that your audio is recorded at different levels etc. but even so it is good for awareness.

As I've said, most of all enjoy the music as that is the main thing but keep in mind that you want to enjoy it for a lot of years yet.

Edcase

FYI just found this useful review which includes most of the headphones mentioned in this thread

http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/artic...98515328321276

Nick

The OP wanted in the ear headphones.

flynnstudio

I got the worse ear ringing I ever had with these things - it's not natural to listen to music in an ear-canal vacuum - they just don't allow your ears to breathe - awful things......just make sure you've got a returns policy just in case... ...

of course you know this isn't the end of it - next you'll be looking for a nice headphone amplifier and a good set of audiophile cans - NOW that's when you start to get REAL BASS!.

wwp8

can anyone give a very short review between the 3


Sony MDR-EX71SL

Sennheiser MX500

Sennheiser MX550

Fulham71

I cant give a report on that but I have the MX450s & have just brought the EX71s! Both are far better than the standard IPOD ones I had

The ex71s are far better ! They fit in my ear better & cut out exterior sound Plus have a fuller depth of sound with more bass !

One down side is the short standard wire & the stupid long extension one on the ex71s !

Just my opinion & no doubt others will disagree !