Best in ear headphones

[nodoubtt]

What options do I have in terms of in-ear headphones for a price of roughly around $100? I'm willing to buy online/ebay as well

[ZorroAMG]

AKG

http://www.akg.com/personal/cproduct...nguage,EN.html

I have their headphones for my voiceover/studio work and they are great.

[dragonone]

v-moda vibes

[GQBalla]

for your price i would say go for the bose in ear.

i have a pair and they are awesome, nice bose quality - nice and loud, bassy, people complain about the treble but i find its quite nice for my taste.

the fit is awesome - you can pick up a pair in store for about 100 bucks.

[962 kid]

AKG is balla and I've heard good things about the vibes. Bose is overrated, like always. Another one I would consider is the Westone UM1, a smaller but great company.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
AKG

http://www.akg.com/personal/cproduct...nguage,EN.html

I have their headphones for my voiceover/studio work and they are great.

I'm a big AKG fan as well. I like circumaural designs, but if I were buying IEM's I wouldn't hesitate to go for the AKG's.

As a side note, don't buy AKG in-ears from Ebay, there's tons of fakes on there.

[dj_rice]

Sennheiser MX-75 for sports/working out
Sennheiser MX55 V Street for everyday use

[pinoyhero]

Honestly man see if you can find some to try out, if the fit doesn't work for your ear you'll be suffering through using in ears.

[ZorroAMG]

I was waiting for dj_rice's thoughts

Seems DJs prefer AKGs or Sennheiser and have a loyalty to one or the other. Both brands are great.

BOSE FTL.

[slick2404]

Originally posted by dragonone
v-moda vibes

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG


BOSE FTL.

I'm going to add Skullcandy to the FTL list as well. Complete crap.

[ryanallan]

Good timing for this post !

Recently I bought both the, Bose In-Ear Earphones (44437) ($99.99), and the Harman Kardon Noise-Isolating Headphones (EP720BKH) ($189.99) for testing purposes as I want a new pair. I bought both from Future Shop, and ended up returned the Hks for a full refund.

Here is what I found

Bose:
-Even though these are $90 less than the HK, I like them the best. They are very comfortable to wear, and you could even forget they are in after awhile. The sound is actually better then the HK, with deep base and crystal clear vocals being selling points to me.
The only bad thing about these is that they do not cancel outside noise. After trying the noise canceling HK though, this gimmick is best left to the over-ear headphones.

Harman Kardon:
-These were the second pair I bought to test, and after spending $189.99 on these things, I had really high expectations. I was all excited unwrapping them, and removing all the protective shipping padding. Then I plugged them in . . .
The sound was flat and baseless compared to the Bose. And preforming opposite to the packaging media, they didn't even cancel outside noise coming from my TV. Still in disbelief that these nearly $200 ear buds have worked about as good as my cheep ($19.99) generic Sony ear buds, I opened up the user manual to see if i missed any setup procedures. Turns out that I did intact miss NOTHING! Now I figure I would jam these things as far into my ear as I could with out hitting my brain and see what happened.
So there I was sitting at my desk with these things about 1 inch into my ear. I again turn on the TV and MP3 player, and to my surprise they performed much better, but still not $90 better then the Bose. They now did effectively cancel the noise coming from the TV, but still did not deliver the sound clarity and base that the Bose ear buds were able to produce.
After about 15 minutes with these things in, my ears started hurting, and I was forced to remove them.

Cheep Sony ear buds that came with my MP3:
-I have had these things for a long time, and all I can say is that after using the Bose for less than 20 minutes, I cant believe I have been using these for as long as I have.
Compared to the Bose, the sound is flat, there is absolutely no base, and the clarity sucks. About the only good thing to say about these is that they are comfortable.

End Verdict:
-Fist let me say that stepping up to the Bose from my cheep Sony ear buds is like trading in my 1987 Chrysler for a brand new Mybach. It really is night and day.
Even though the Bose buds don't cancel any outside noise, I still prefer them over the HK. And even with HKs ability to cancel outside noise, you have to really jam them into your head. At this depth into your head they still don't produce sound as good as the Bose does. If you really wanted noise canceling head phones just get a pair of over-ear headphones. Otherwise pick up a par of Bose ear buds !

[ZorroAMG]

You probably love monster cable too, right?

[Cowtown_Raider]

My motorcycle buddies and I all use Etymotic Research ER6i earphones for their small size (fits under helmets very well) and wicked noise isolation. Sound/bass is quite good. Got em for about $80 off ebay.

You can't hear anything with them in except your music so these might not be ideal for general use.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx

[ZorroAMG]

Uh, so you ride a motorbike with the inability to hear? Smart.

Remind me to never share the road with you, I don't want to fix my fender when you bite it.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
I was waiting for dj_rice's thoughts

Seems DJs prefer AKGs or Sennheiser and have a loyalty to one or the other. Both brands are great.

BOSE FTL.

Yeah both brands are good, I just prefer Sennheiser because of their design, shape cause other in-ear brands always fall out of my ear, and the designs of Sennheiser always stay put...


And as Berserker said, be cafeful buying Sennheisers on Ebay also, tons of fakes, Google before you buy so U know what to look for

But I still prefer DJ cans to in-ears

[Cowtown_Raider]

Somehow I knew you would say that. I should clarify what I mean by not being able to hear anything with them in. They reduce noise by about 26 decibels I think. Combine that with music and you can't hear shit.

Do you ride a motorcycle? In case you haven't, there is a lot of noise. Mostly from wind, especially on the highway (which is when I listen to music...not in town). They make great earplugs in town and I can hear just enough to keep safe. I can hear a car horn or EMS siren if that's what you're referring to.

And it's not my inability to hear that would introduce me to your fancy MB fender....that would be you yakkin on your cell phone and changing lanes without shoulder checking. Or maybe turning left in front of me. How many bike accidents do you think would be caused by a rider listening to music?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Is your bike so boring, and sounds so bad, that you need to drown it out with music while riding?

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by Cowtown_Raider
Somehow I knew you would say that. I should clarify what I mean by not being able to hear anything with them in. They reduce noise by about 26 decibels I think. Combine that with music and you can't hear shit.

Do you ride a motorcycle? In case you haven't, there is a lot of noise. Mostly from wind, especially on the highway (which is when I listen to music...not in town). They make great earplugs in town and I can hear just enough to keep safe. I can hear a car horn or EMS siren if that's what you're referring to.

And it's not my inability to hear that would introduce me to your fancy MB fender....that would be you yakkin on your cell phone and changing lanes without shoulder checking. Or maybe turning left in front of me. How many bike accidents do you think would be caused by a rider listening to music?

This isnt a whos dick is bigger contest here please....



Topic is in-ear headphones, keep your PMSing out of here

[962 kid]

I had a pair of etymotic ER6is, nice buds for the money but I had a couple complaints about mine. One was lack of bass - most people chalk it up to them sounding "natural," but they were simply lacking in that department. The worst thing about them though, was the microphonics. The little clip on the cable helped to cancel them out a bit, but anything touching above the clip was horribly irritating. They are small though and they block more sound than my new buds, but they broke after a year. Since then I've been a fan of my ultimate ear super.fi 5 pros for many many reasons. A friend and I traded buds for a while, he had a set of shure E4s and we both preferred the UEs. I forgot to mention those as well, ultimate ear has a couple of sets around the 100 dollar range.

Mostly, it depends on what kind of music you listen to. The etymotics are great for jazz/classical, probably unbeatable there but they fall short in every other category. You can't really go wrong choosing between UE, AKG or Westone, just stay away from skullcandy, bose and sony.