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simon1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 19, 2004
18
0
Teesside, UK
I'm looking at getting some decent earphones for the ipod. Anyone recommend any. No more than £80.

Cheers
 
Re: earphones

simon1 said:
I'm looking at getting some decent earphones for the ipod. Anyone recommend any. No more than £80.

Cheers

This question gets asked quite a bit - search the Head-fi forums at http://www.head-fi.org/ and you'll learn more than you ever wanted to. (Careful though, those guys can talk you into spending more money than you set out to..). :)
 
Note of warning. Grados have good sound, if you can endure the pain they put on your ears. The padding on the cups are basically cheap foam, from the budget model to the flagship model. I'd try it out before dropping money on them.
 
FuzzyBallz said:
Note of warning. Grados have good sound, if you can endure the pain they put on your ears. The padding on the cups are basically cheap foam, from the budget model to the flagship model. I'd try it out before dropping money on them.

I have the SR-60's with no problem with ear pain. I think it depends on your head, plus you can relax the tension in the headband if you're having a problem. And I agree with jxyama, they're the best out there for the price.
 
another problem.... do you really want to be flauting your new ipod/ipod mini, but whilst wearing headphones that look like they were made during the Boer War? I mean, its the 21st century people! :D
sr60.gif
 
They aren't the best- but a good cheap alternative earbud-wise are the Sony Fontopia Earbuds

I got them a month ago and they have been 100 x's better than the stock Apple earbuds....it's a whole different experience. Good noise reduction-the people standing next to me can't hear my music and I can't hear anything going on around me on the NYC subways-....just my 2¢
 
grado's are kinda cool, but not the essenence of cool. First of all they are clunky. second they have an open design which means that the people around u will know whatu listen too. Third they don't cancel any noise.

I'm sure they soudn great in a quiet place near the fire but grados are not everryday headphones for the average person.

I have a pair of etymotics i love dearly.
 
JFreak said:
take a look at shure "E" product line - the E2 should retail at under 100 us dollars.
I second these- they are excellent. However, for home usage, the Grado's are the BEST. Get the SR-80's for an extra 15 bucks from HCMaudio.com . They are superb- lots of wonderful detail and transience, tight bass- they are phenomenal- I keep my $150 dollar Sony's in a drawer- they suck compared to the Grado's. They ARE really ugly though.
 
I've been very happy with my Sennheiser PX100 headphones - got them on Amazon for about $40 US. The sound is great, and they are very comfortable - plus they fold up!

They are "open" style headphones, but at normal listening levels the sound doesn't carry at all - so if you're listening to Nirvana at full volume on the train these are not the best choice. :D But open style headphones seem to have better bass response than the closed style ones.
 
I would go with a pair of Koss PortaPros, they rule. They fold up nicely, they aren't in ear headphones, have nice bass and can be loud as f$%k.

I swear by them.
 
kristo said:
I would go with a pair of Koss PortaPros, they rule. They fold up nicely, they aren't in ear headphones, have nice bass and can be loud as f$%k.

I swear by them.

You know, it's funny you should mention that.
I started reading this thread for the fun of it a few days ago. A guy above (sorry, I can't be bothered to scroll down and quote you ;)) gave a web address to a bunch of audiophile heads that would have great advice. I snooped around that forum for a few hours, and came across a thread talking about the Koss PortaPro2. While none of them believed that the quality was as good as their $200 headphones, they said that they regularly sell for $40, which is a good dear, but that CircuitCity.com had them for $20. Quite a few of them said this was outstanding, and picked up a pair as a beater/on the road pair. I was influenced a little by this, and picked up a pair for myself yesterday, and I'd have to agree, they are pretty good.

They aren't the ear cupping style, nor ear buds, but they have very decent bass and quality, far better than any $20-$40 pair of headphones I've ever tried. They are very comfortable (which is something I often times have problems with) and they fold up real nice. If you don't want to put down $100 for a pair of earbud/headphones yet, pick these Koss headphones up. Can't go wrong at $20 :D

Tyler
Earendil
ps It should be noted Circuit City outlets sell them for $40, you have to go online(though you can do store pickup...)
 
Sennheiser HD590

Cheers[/QUOTE]
SR225 Grados are not available in the UK so they are out.. they have a good reputation but not one worthy of importing. I would recommend the Sennheiser HD590. A good review between grado and the sennheiser can be read at http://www.goodcans.com/HeadphoneReviews/bigreview.htm
HD590 headphones are openbacked and have cable running off one side for extra convenience (award-winning sound quality). England is the cheapest place in the world to retail Sennheiser headphones they usualy cost £130-£150 or $290, but can be found for £99.95 I know they cost a little more than £80 but try them the extra is worth it. Only supassed by Sennheiser HD600 which have drivers so big ipods have trouble powering them. Your nearest stockest is richersounds 94-96 Clayton Street, Newcastle NE1 5PG,(no affiliation) they are the cheapest i've found and very friendly. ask to try before buy and you will buy, foam is like velvet.
appleIIe>macplus128>macII>CX>FX>PM7100>G3 300>G4 450DP>G4 1.42DP>waiting in hope til july for new G5's
 

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simon1 said:
I'm looking at getting some decent earphones for the ipod. Anyone recommend any. No more than £80.

Cheers

I like my Sennheiser HD 202s. They're awesome sounding, and I picked them up for $25 on Amazon. They're really comfortable, closed headphones; however, they aren't extremely portable. I don't know if that's an issue.
 
Ryan1524 said:
Shure E3c. have a pair, loving it.

i have a pair of E1:s and E5:s and have tested E2:s also, but never tested the E3 which i believe is the successor of E1. how would you say the E3 compares to the rest of the line? i mean, the E1 lacked bass but was very good in monitoring vocals and the E2 lacks accuracy (compared to E1) but has deeper bass - i wonder, is the E3 as accurate as the E1 but having as much bass than the E2?

the E5 though is completely different beast - everything you hear is true.
 
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