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Best in-ear headphones to buy?

Bengt77 said:
Once you upgrade from the iBuds to good earphones, you'll notice the mediocre sound quality of your iPod and you'll want a portable headphone amp, driven by the iPod through a line-out cable. Then, you'll notice the mediocre quality of your 'good' earphones, and you'll upgrade to the JH|13. Then, your amp won't satisfy you any longer and you'll upgrade it. Then, you'll miss the excellent sound quality when at home and you'll read yourself into full-sized headphones. After a lot of reading, you'll get something like the HD800, GS1000, ATH-A2000X, AH-D7000, SR-007MK2 or a used K1000. Of course, neither will give you the goods without a dedicated headphone amp, so you'll order some ultra high-end dac/amp system to do your new heavenly headphones justice. Then, you'll start to notice the lacking sonic qualities of your cd-player. You upgrade that, only to realize that your cables really are the limiting factor right then. And then, new technology comes out that puts all the older technologies to shame and the game starts all over again. And this is all ignoring the fact that you'll of course also want different headphones for different musical styles, at least for home use.
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Excellent post! That really made me laugh. This is all too true for some audiophiles. :D
 
Westone UM2. Stunning reproduction and well-balanced with enough bass to satisfy House/Trance listeners.

I've owned several generations now.
 
ntrigue said:
Westone UM2. Stunning reproduction and well-balanced with enough bass to satisfy House/Trance listeners.

I've owned several generations now.
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Our singer had a set of these and had a terrible time with distortion at barely listenable low volume levels - useless on stage. This was coming from an O1V96V2 and Sennheisser G2 Transmitter Packs, so certainly not crappy Live Audio gear. I ended up giving him my Shure E2s which were far better.

They may well suit House/Trance a little better than Rock/Pop so it could be a case of Horses for Courses! Just my 2 pence.
 
Thanks guys, I tried both and am contemplating between the Klipsch's for $80 at best buy and the Shure's at $90. They also have the SE210s for $150 which I really like..
 
Denon also makes some great in-ear headphones...

I have their C551, and they also make the C710... they are both slightly bass-heavy compared to the etymotic models, but sound great
 
Ultimate ear; don't!

A word of warning concerning super.fi's: don't buy these!
I had 3 pairs in 3 years, time after time they broke down, and since Logitech took ever service has evaporated totally. No answer, no service, don't go there!
Klipsch 4, are pretty good, so is Shure.
Best, Ronald
 
Eric S. said:
I'm quite happy with the Shure SE210.
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I was, too. Until I realized I was missing some bass. Then I upgraded to the SE530 and never looked back. It's so much better in every possible way that it's not even funny.
 
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pfealey said:
Our singer had a set of these and had a terrible time with distortion at barely listenable low volume levels - useless on stage. This was coming from an O1V96V2 and Sennheisser G2 Transmitter Packs, so certainly not crappy Live Audio gear. I ended up giving him my Shure E2s which were far better.

They may well suit House/Trance a little better than Rock/Pop so it could be a case of Horses for Courses! Just my 2 pence.
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I've owned the first two levels (SE110 and E2s) of Shure and they don't impress me until the 3-series. Fortunately, earphonesolutions.com has great satisfaction service.
 
i currently have a pair of etymotic hf2 ( the iPhone ones but you can get pairs without the remote) they sound absolutely amazing and the sound isolation is great.
i also received the bose in ears for christmas. sound good but really bass heavy.
i can not and will not recommend any vmoda earbuds. i went through 3 pairs in about a year and stopped using them.
 
I think im going to purchase the Klipsch S4i, iv been trying to find the best headphones since the apple ones are terrible! Thansk guys
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I got a pair of Sony MDR-EX300SL headphones this christmas and would definitely recommend them. They are in the same price range as the Sennheiser CX300, I chose the sony ones over those because of the detachable cable extension, which means I don't have to have such a long cable when I use my iPod radio remote.

Sound quality is really good too, thunderous bass and sparkly high end. They sound as good as my large Sennheisers I use for recording.
 
There are these ones I have called the "Jesus Christ In-ur-EARZ" that will literally enter your ear, feeling almost like liquid, and then mold to fit your ear. Also if you die you will instantly be resurrected with full mana and health points.

Or you could buy Skull Candy's
 
nuke123 said:
I think im going to purchase the Klipsch S4i, iv been trying to find the best headphones since the apple ones are terrible! Thansk guys
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The latter portion of that statement is highly debated. They aren't awful, in fact some find them to sound quite nice. The problem is price and quality.

dougbiznatch said:
There are these ones I have called the "Jesus Christ In-ur-EARZ" that will literally enter your ear, feeling almost like liquid, and then mold to fit your ear. Also if you die you will instantly be resurrected with full mana and health points.

Or you could buy Skull Candy's
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Say what.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
The Bose In-Ear garbage piles are the worst product that the company has ever made IMO. While I generally think Bose is overpriced, I do think that occasionally they make a product that isn't half bad, but immensely overpriced. Those hopes could not be further from the truth when talking about the In-Ear product.

As for other's, there are varying levels. Please understand that Skull Candy and Shure are not on the same level at any sense.
For Under $50 - Sennheiser CX300
For Under $100 - Shure E3 (A lot of people recommend the Klipsch S4i, I've never heard them, so I can't say anything, other then others recommend it)
For Under $200 - Shure E4
For Under $500 - Shure SE530 (You can read my review, here)
For $501-$1000 - I'd still go with the Shure SE530s, some prefer the Westone 3s, it's a personal thing. You could go and get the UE10s, but I like my Shures more then my UE10s.
For Over $1000 - I really want to try the JH 13 Pro six drivers. :eek: (Never heard them though)​

Alternatives to the Shure at the $300ish price range: Grado GR8 or Sennheiser IE8. If you do plan on exploring anything about $200 (or even if you don't,) lurking around head-fi.org is a good idea.
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Unlike this person i absolutely love my bose in ear headphones. You should use these recommendations as only a guide to what models to take a test listen on. It doesnt matter what other people think are the best only what u like matters.
 
dougbiznatch said:
There are these ones I have called the "Jesus Christ In-ur-EARZ" that will literally enter your ear, feeling almost like liquid, and then mold to fit your ear. Also if you die you will instantly be resurrected with full mana and health points.

Or you could buy Skull Candy's
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hey, ive bought skull candy's.
i have had 8-12 pairs break or fail on me.
skull candy has horrible head phones.

i forgot if the op wanted in ear monitors or not but i have a pair of westone um'1 and they are very clear and crisp. on the other hand my beyerdynamic dt 770 pro's ( full ear headphones ?, cans) are pretty much the "jesus christ cans". i know they are a little old but i have never listened to anything better, and i have had a lot of headphones. they are prob way cheaper now than they were originally to.
 
borno24 said:
Unlike this person i absolutely love my bose in ear headphones. You should use these recommendations as only a guide to what models to take a test listen on. It doesnt matter what other people think are the best only what u like matters.
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You and I agree oddly, if you read the final paragraph of my review:

The two most important things in this discussion are sound and fit, both of which are somewhat irrelevant and immune to this review. Some people prefer to have the bass just booming, others prefer to have things that sit on the ear, not in the ear and others are still stubborn about their white cables; these are personal things, things that a review will likely not change. Call a local music shop or audio store and see if they have a pair you can test or know of somewhere – we think you will absolutely love them, but, you are the ultimate judge. With that being said, if you don’t like these your standards are getting so high as even audiophiles adore these amongst the IEM category. These command a five star rating, five gold stars, because after all, they are the gold standard. Available about $300 on Amazon.
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a lot of the earphones mentioned so far are well out of your price range, and only seem to be there to brag about what they own rather than help you out. :confused:

The answer is 'Depends on what you listen to.' If you want a bit of bass for rock, dance, rap, etc, AND I had a sub $100 budget, then I wouldn't get the Shures. I also wouldn't get Etymonics, Ultimate Ears (UE), or a few of the other brands people have mentioned so far. Some of them lack bass for the types of music I mentioned.

For around your price range, I have a pair of Sony EX85s, and the bass really is the best for the price. People will complain abou the highs (treble) not being great, but just select the right preset on your iPod and you're fine. Also, this recommendation is only for the types of music I mentioned earlier.


Another option in the price range are the Sennheiser CX300. They're a bit annoying though due to the 'microphonics'. Google that. ;)


If you listen to music where highs are appreciated, such as acoustic, folk music, indie music, classical, etc, then bass isn't he most important criteria. In this case, Etymonics and Shure are ok choices.

I've also heard great things about the Apple in-ears. I don't know how they sound, but for the price, they're supposed to be really good value for what you get.

I bought my brother a pair of Klipshe S4i for Xmas, but I don't know what they sound like, unfortunately. :eek:
 
If you're looking for something in the sub $100 range and will generally listen to pop/rock music without really looking for audiophile quality, I suggest the Klipsch S4 or the Denon C710. I find the low-end Shure IEMs to be flat, and the low-end Sennheiser IEMs to be muddy.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...H_C710K_AH_C710_In_Ear_Stereo_Headphones.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...IMAGE_S4_Image_S4_Noise_Isolating_Stereo.html

Both are bass-heavy (but not in a bad way) and are really enjoyable IEMs.
 
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