EARPHONES MEGATHREAD - All questions on earphones for riding asked and answered here

New earphones!

hi farkers, we all know that our friggen ipod earphones break like nothing, so mine finally did today, i need some good earphones an ideas???

cheers sam
 

harmonix1234

Eats Squid
Sennheiser. You can't buy a bad set of Sennheiser headphones/earphones.

I use them for all my mixing and engineering and love them.
Go for gold plated contacts, the thicker the cords the better, oxygen free cables, and something with a frequency range of approx 20Hz to 20Khz and you'll be on a winner.

Start about $80 (got some of these from JB HiFi for my iPod) for earbud style, and go to about $1,500 for the audiophile ones depending on your budget.

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private_headphones_audiophile-headphones
 
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mr_casual

Likes Dirt
dont have enough time to read what the first bloke said about sennhessier but i can tell you theyre well worth it. i have had 2 sets because i wore the old ones out, currently have the precision cx-300 II's and theyre awesome. got them for 33% cost price off ebay a couple of months ago. theyre absolutely sweet, and ebay seems to be the place to buy sennhessier, even still got warranty for ridiculously low prices. good luck with your new investment/music appreciation
 

rabatt

Likes Bikes and Dirt
skull candys sound great, havnt riden with them in much but when i first got em they kept falling out, changed the rubber size and its all good now.

just not sure on durabilty.

i had some sports ones that were indestructable but the sound was crap
 

Toff

Likes Dirt
I assume you're after in-ear canalphones?

I've had a few sets now;

First were a set of Koss Sparkplugs, about $20 posted from ebay. They were pretty awkward, hard to get in your ear and stay there but sound quality was decent. Unfortunately the cable quality was poor and they eventually snapped at the speaker end after a few months.

Next up were Sennheiser CX-300 II's. Nice finish, comfortable to wear and pretty good sound quality too, but from memory they retail for about $100. Sadly they broke after a few weeks, no snappage or anything but one day they lost all volume, got really hissy in one channel and lost all sound quality.

I decided to try the budget end with some $15 TDK in ears, they weren't as comfortable as the CX's and lacked the sound quality but for $15 I figured I couldn't go wrong. I was mistaken. Took a day and a half until the cable shat itself and refused to carry a signal.

Right now I've got a set of Sennheiser CX-200's, cost me $70 from JB-Hifi. They seem to be pretty much on par with the CX-300's, just a lower end finish. So far they've lasted about a month, in that time the outer cable to the left speaker has frayed, as has the outer to the connection jack. Bit of electrical tape has fixed 'em for now, but I'm not sure how much longer they'll last.

From what I've read on here and various other audio forums, Skullcandy stuff is overpriced, overhyped crap, with fancy graphics but zero sound quality.

I'd love to hear from someone who's particularly harsh on their headphones which type of in-ear style ones are more durable? $70 for something that lasts a couple of months at best seems a bit rediculous..
 

fairy1

Banned
Whatever you do don't get these Senheisser CX300B they suck balls they are bass heavy and the treble is harsh as hell, they won't be much better than what you have. I have a set and I hate them so much it's not funny, sure they are cheaper than my other ones but the performance is a flat zero, they eat arse!

Sorry my other phones are Shure sumfin sumfin they retailed for a stupid amount and the insululation cracked after a year, this is fine until you wear quick dry shorts and go for a walk you send a charge up the wire which will jump straight into your ear and it hurts like a mo-fo, not what you pay $800 for!
 
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aidz44

Likes Dirt
+1 for the senheisser. good brand, great sound.

however i currently have a $30 pair of sony in ear (with a funny looking earpeice). never fall out, decent sound, braided cord. can't fault them for the price. (same ones as duckypunk if i'm not mistaken)

i've also tried bose and skullcandy in-ear products. both where an epic fail when it came to staying IN.
 
Sennheiser. You can't buy a bad set of Sennheiser headphones/earphones.

I use them for all my mixing and engineering and love them.
Go for gold plated contacts, the thicker the cords the better, oxygen free cables, and something with a frequency range of approx 20Hz to 20Khz and you'll be on a winner.

Start about $80 (got some of these from JB HiFi for my iPod) for earbud style, and go to about $1,500 for the audiophile ones depending on your budget.

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private_headphones_audiophile-headphones
$1500!!! thats insane!, am looking to spend around $20-40 any more suggestions would be great!
 

Live2DieTrying

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I'd love to hear from someone who's particularly harsh on their headphones which type of in-ear style ones are more durable? $70 for something that lasts a couple of months at best seems a bit rediculous..
Sound like that person is you. How do you manage to destroy so many pairs? I've had some cx500's for about 18 months and they're still going strong. Don't look as nice as they did, but my cable isn't snapped or frayed or anything.
You just have to take a little care, and don't walk around with one in, the other swinging in the wind.
 

dog boy

Likes Dirt
just go buy another pair of apple buds. there like $40? mine last me atleast 6 months, i usualy only replace them because the rubber falls off the ear peice. having said that the sound quality seems to vanish after 6 months anyway.
 

Toff

Likes Dirt
just go buy another pair of apple buds. there like $40? mine last me atleast 6 months, i usualy only replace them because the rubber falls off the ear peice. having said that the sound quality seems to vanish after 6 months anyway.
What sound quality? If you're talking about the ones that come with iPods, they're possibly the worst sounding earphones I've ever heard, similar to the ones you get free on airplanes..
 

dcrofty

Eats Squid
I'd love to hear from someone who's particularly harsh on their headphones which type of in-ear style ones are more durable? $70 for something that lasts a couple of months at best seems a bit rediculous..
I've got a set of sony ones that I thrash pretty hard. I have to bush bash a lot at work so the cords are constantly snagging on lantana and stuff and the buds get pulled out of my ears all the time. Still work a treat though. I also dunked one bud into a can of paint one day and once it dried and I used a needle to pick the paint out of most of the holes it still works fine. Been using them off and on for about 2 years-prob about 6 months of daily use in that time, quite a lot of that in the rain.

MDR-E818 according to the cord. No idea what they cost, I pinched them from my girlfriend.
 

dog boy

Likes Dirt
What sound quality? If you're talking about the ones that come with iPods, they're possibly the worst sounding earphones I've ever heard, similar to the ones you get free on airplanes..
ahahah, NO. not the official ipod ones in my mind they match or beat anything within the $40 mark. however my mate had some 'extras pack" or something come with his touch he gave me some ear buds that were identical to the old apple style ones and yes they sounded exactaly like aroplane earbuds.
 

Toff

Likes Dirt
Now I'm just annoyed. CX's shat themselves a few weeks after my first post here. Did this odd thing where one side was slowly but surely getting weaker and weaker until eventually it cut out altogether. So I went without for a while (I can't afford $70-80 every few months just for headphones) and about a fortnight ago I really wanted my music back so I got another set of TDK's from JB, my reasoning being that the last set might've been a bad example. Wrong. Get about a week outta them, then one side dropped almost instantly.

So again I'm after some suggestions for durable in ear headphones. Had a look at the Sonys dcrofty, but they're not the in ear type. Might try a set of Sonys in ears if no-one else has any suggestions. Anyone else as hard on their headphones?
 

LJohn

Likes Dirt
Sennheisers or Ultimate Ears. They both have a reasonably good trickle down system going. But Sennheiser's new jack is shocking. Terrible design. I have a pair of the cx200s though, and they're still going. My cx400IIs have a metal jack now, but that was a pain.

Ultimate ears are great too. Go to officeworks, look for Metro 150v (ones with mic). They are about $9 there. This is for a $40 set of headphones. Frequency response is lovely and flat, with slight peaks up around bass and high mid. I put some sennheiser tips on but they are fantastic for budget.
 

sam705

Likes Dirt
I'm after a new set on earphones after the rubbers on my bog stock Apple jobbies is seperating and they are starting to crackle.
I've decided Sennheiser is the way to go as there doesn't seem to be a bad word on them.
Main use is for work, plugged into my iphone.
Problem is i don't know whats good and what isn't in reference to Sennheiser.
I've found a set of CX500 G4ME on evilbay for $30 and am leaning towards purchasing them, should they do the job?
 

The_Luke

Cannon Fodder
SkullCandy 'Full Metal Jacket'

These are iPod/iPhone ready, with inline mic (and button). Metal housing with braided metal lines... They look good, and sound excellent. Apparently produced in the same Chinese factory as the Bose in ear.

They are hard to find, and especially the ones with the mic inline.

Mine cost about $80, but they were bought in Singapore, and hard to find there too.

These will be replaced with another set from SkullCandy... once they eventually die.
 
I'm onto my second pair of SkullCandy Ink'd. First pair worked well for about a month then they started to die. But the sound quality was awesome and for $35 from JB-Hi Fi I went for another pair. I go through headphones pretty regularly but these have probably been my best so far and $35 isn't too bad.
 
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