Originally Posted by Meanmotion I know a few other people have already addressed the issue in a roundabout sort of way but I just wanted to clarify, £100 is not a lot to spend on headphones. It's the entry level for a properly decent pair. I'd not considering anything that costs less. And yes, I'm still lamenting the loss of my Shure SE530s.
My opinion is different. £100 to me is a lot to spend on headphones, let alone earphones. I've spent about £70 on a pair in the past and aye, they're pretty damned good, but I expect them to be. I've never listened to music through £100+ cans and I can only assume that the audio from them should sound amazing, it's what I would expect! :) I couldn't really justify the cost though, unless I was quite wealthy.
As HTR pointed out in his post it doesn't make that much of a difference for most people as their sources [MP3 players] aren't that great to start with. If you don't use professional sources, why bother buying professional [and they'd be in the price range of the Ultimate Ears, HTR mentions] head/earphones?
Even though HTR tends to write short stories instead of posts sometimes I tend to share his point of view on audio hardware. ;)
Why spend $1000 on ... when you can get the same or a very similar performance with ... for $50?
Originally Posted by kenco_uk I was going to say, 'awesome' and 'just at the right time'.
How on earth can a £100 pair of earphones be 9/10 for value? It threw the whole roundup out of the window for me, at that point.
I know a few other people have already addressed the issue in a roundabout sort of way but I just wanted to clarify, £100 is not a lot to spend on headphones. It's the entry level for a properly decent pair. I'd not considering anything that costs less. And yes, I'm still lamenting the loss of my Shure SE530s.
I'd wager that the point of better headphones is moot, as the battery life on the iPhone is hilarious at best.
Example: iPhone - Three days between charges. Minimal phonecalls (I make and recieve less than two a week), about ten minutes of Bash.org, three daily alarms. Very few text messages. Yes, I was suckered by the gimmick of a touch screen phone. Yes, I regret it.
iPod touch (1st gen): Closing on an entire week of 1-2 hours of music playback per day, and anywhere up to an hour of bash.org per day.
Network hunting should not take four days of battery life away from the device. Both have wireless turned on, and the phone has bluetooth turned off.
Originally Posted by kenco_uk My opinion is different. £100 to me is a lot to spend on headphones, let alone earphones. I've spent about £70 on a pair in the past and aye, they're pretty damned good, but I expect them to be. I've never listened to music through £100+ cans and I can only assume that the audio from them should sound amazing, it's what I would expect! :) I couldn't really justify the cost though, unless I was quite wealthy.
Yeah this is where hobbies and personal favors come into play. I REALLY like high quality playback and thus, despite being a student, have speakers worth ~1000 € and headphones worth 100 €+. In the end it all boils down to what you REALLY want to buy with your money. I'm a student with little income, but I've never had any regrets about the audio gear.
Once you pop, you can't stop. While I'm not looking to any more expensive speakers/headphones at the moment, there's NO way I'd be going back to lousy market speaker-sets anymore... Just make sure you never listen to anything better than you already own or you're boned :D
I don't get the point of investing in high-quality earphones and plugging them to iPod which just butchers music. Want quality? Buy a MD player and record straight from TosLink. Portable mp3 players are for people for which "suitable for most listeners" is enough. Some time ago I plugged my STAX SRS-3050 into friend's iPod, made me laugh my ass off.
Originally Posted by n3mo I don't get the point of investing in high-quality earphones and plugging them to iPod which just butchers music. Want quality? Buy a MD player and record straight from TosLink. Portable mp3 players are for people for which "suitable for most listeners" is enough. Some time ago I plugged my STAX SRS-3050 into friend's iPod, made me laugh my ass off.
Your friends music were probably 96-128kbps, try it again with 192kbps and up you will hear the difference(s).
Should have thrown some B&O A8s into the review, it would have blown the others away on comfort and appearance ;)
Sound quality is decent but it all comes at a price of nearly £100.
I'm a mechanic by trade and a computer nerd by night, I purchased a Zune two months ago and not even a week into using the Zune the headphones blew and started to crackle so I bought some Phillips headphones and now the earpiece has broken away from the speak and all that is left holding it is a wire. I was wondering if the reviewers could provide a roundabout stress test as I do some pretty hefty work when crawling under eighteen wheelers.
My basic question would be this, which earphone are the most durable and out of those which ones stay in your ears without falling out. I work in various positions, laying down, leaning over at horrendous angles, and other various oddball types of positions. I'm prone to having my headphones always fall out when I'm working which really ruins my my flow when jamming out and earning a paycheck.
Some decent canal phones would certainly stay in your ears, my Etymotic ER6s are a pain to get out.
Whether they would last for a long time with lots of abuse I don't know.
I recently got a pair of Shure SE530s with the shure mic. Love them! Mic is really good quality, and the SQ on the phones is incredible. Absolutely 100% happy with the purchase :)
Originally Posted by n3mo I don't get the point of investing in high-quality earphones and plugging them to iPod which just butchers music. Want quality? Buy a MD player and record straight from TosLink. Portable mp3 players are for people for which "suitable for most listeners" is enough. Some time ago I plugged my STAX SRS-3050 into friend's iPod, made me laugh my ass off.
Your friends music were probably 96-128kbps, try it again with 192kbps and up you will hear the difference(s).
Nope, they were straight from iTunes (they use AAC afaik). The point is - there is no portable music player with decent sound quality, it's impossible. Good DACs (not to mention HDAMs) need more power than the whole iPod uses. MD players were (and still are) the best in terms of quality, leaving all ipods, Zens, Zunes and the rest of the crowd far behind - and they are still behind decent home audio. But that is easy to understand - you wouldn't like to carry a 65Ah accu in the backpack, would you? :)
This article is the first one I read that tests in deep iPod/Phone head phones. I tested most of the above head phone myself as a consumer.
The Sennhizers and Shures I found ok but not very comfortable in the ear. The Etymotics have a beautiful sound quality but the con shaped butts pressed the earwax into my inner ear so I had to go to the ear doctor to get the wax removed and as a consequence returned the head phones. The bose have nice sound quality but they are to bulky for me.
Second highest in my ranking are the vModas vibe II The sound is nice and crisp missing some bass though but even those don't sit to comfortable in the ear, may be I have unusual ears.
I have not found my perfect match but the V-MODA Bass Freq Earbuds are by far my favorites. They are light and sit very comfortable in the ear and don't hurt The sound is very balanced with a nice full bass. The best thing they sell at Amazon for $ 22 in different colors. The only negative on those that after 6-10 month of active use one or the other channel would give up on me but for $22 who cares right.
One word about the new Apple ear buds with remote and mic. I am a usually an Apple junkie but... The mic is very nice but the remote is to close to the ear and difficult to operate. The sound however sucks, I think they sound worse that the head phone that come with the iPods/Phones, trebelish and tin canned. Apple has it together but with those head phones they produced total lemons in my opinion.
I think theres a small typo in the apple earphones review... "...with a neat Y-split after 106.5cm, and a further 33cm of cable to the earphone." Which would make the headphone wire over 1m 36cm long. I may be wrong but could the author just take a quick look please!
The title of this review ("Replacement iPhone earphones...") is completely ridiculous, an embarrassment to bit-tech. As the review notes, "the iPhone uses earphones with a standard 3.5mm stereo jack". Basically the title assumes bit-tech readers are idiots who think that particular headphones go with particular devices. The same readers who are read up on the latest technology and build their own computer systems.
Yes, but all the earphones featured include a mic and/or remote control button. This is what makes them iPhone-friendly. It's actually pretty hard to find decent iphone earbuds so the review is most certainly welcome, although most are outside of my price range.
The whiteness of my standard iPhone buds irritates me, and they're not the most comfortable. On the other hand, I love the remote control. So I wonder if the BiT readers have any suggestions for me - I'd like some sub £50 iPhone earbuds with a remote control (± mic) that aren't white. Is that too much to ask?
Comments 26 to 48 of 48
ReplyMy opinion is different. £100 to me is a lot to spend on headphones, let alone earphones. I've spent about £70 on a pair in the past and aye, they're pretty damned good, but I expect them to be. I've never listened to music through £100+ cans and I can only assume that the audio from them should sound amazing, it's what I would expect! :) I couldn't really justify the cost though, unless I was quite wealthy.
Even though HTR tends to write short stories instead of posts sometimes I tend to share his point of view on audio hardware. ;)
Why spend $1000 on ... when you can get the same or a very similar performance with ... for $50?
WHat happened to your SE530?
Example: iPhone - Three days between charges. Minimal phonecalls (I make and recieve less than two a week), about ten minutes of Bash.org, three daily alarms. Very few text messages. Yes, I was suckered by the gimmick of a touch screen phone. Yes, I regret it.
iPod touch (1st gen): Closing on an entire week of 1-2 hours of music playback per day, and anywhere up to an hour of bash.org per day.
Network hunting should not take four days of battery life away from the device. Both have wireless turned on, and the phone has bluetooth turned off.
Yeah this is where hobbies and personal favors come into play. I REALLY like high quality playback and thus, despite being a student, have speakers worth ~1000 € and headphones worth 100 €+. In the end it all boils down to what you REALLY want to buy with your money. I'm a student with little income, but I've never had any regrets about the audio gear.
Once you pop, you can't stop. While I'm not looking to any more expensive speakers/headphones at the moment, there's NO way I'd be going back to lousy market speaker-sets anymore... Just make sure you never listen to anything better than you already own or you're boned :D
Your friends music were probably 96-128kbps, try it again with 192kbps and up you will hear the difference(s).
Sound quality is decent but it all comes at a price of nearly £100.
My basic question would be this, which earphone are the most durable and out of those which ones stay in your ears without falling out. I work in various positions, laying down, leaning over at horrendous angles, and other various oddball types of positions. I'm prone to having my headphones always fall out when I'm working which really ruins my my flow when jamming out and earning a paycheck.
Any feedback would be really helpful.
Whether they would last for a long time with lots of abuse I don't know.
Nope, they were straight from iTunes (they use AAC afaik). The point is - there is no portable music player with decent sound quality, it's impossible. Good DACs (not to mention HDAMs) need more power than the whole iPod uses. MD players were (and still are) the best in terms of quality, leaving all ipods, Zens, Zunes and the rest of the crowd far behind - and they are still behind decent home audio. But that is easy to understand - you wouldn't like to carry a 65Ah accu in the backpack, would you? :)
The Sennhizers and Shures I found ok but not very comfortable in the ear. The Etymotics have a beautiful sound quality but the con shaped butts pressed the earwax into my inner ear so I had to go to the ear doctor to get the wax removed and as a consequence returned the head phones. The bose have nice sound quality but they are to bulky for me.
Second highest in my ranking are the vModas vibe II The sound is nice and crisp missing some bass though but even those don't sit to comfortable in the ear, may be I have unusual ears.
I have not found my perfect match but the V-MODA Bass Freq Earbuds are by far my favorites. They are light and sit very comfortable in the ear and don't hurt The sound is very balanced with a nice full bass. The best thing they sell at Amazon for $ 22 in different colors. The only negative on those that after 6-10 month of active use one or the other channel would give up on me but for $22 who cares right.
One word about the new Apple ear buds with remote and mic. I am a usually an Apple junkie but... The mic is very nice but the remote is to close to the ear and difficult to operate. The sound however sucks, I think they sound worse that the head phone that come with the iPods/Phones, trebelish and tin canned. Apple has it together but with those head phones they produced total lemons in my opinion.
The whiteness of my standard iPhone buds irritates me, and they're not the most comfortable. On the other hand, I love the remote control. So I wonder if the BiT readers have any suggestions for me - I'd like some sub £50 iPhone earbuds with a remote control (± mic) that aren't white. Is that too much to ask?
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