recommendations for ear buds

[Marin85]

Hi,
I´m looking for some ear buds with good sound quality to attach to my ThinkPad, hence preferably black, during flights and similar. I´m quite sensitive to the sound quality and I often listen to classics, mostly piano, which makes things even a bit harder I guess. I was very disappointed by my previous ear buds as they produced some very metallic sound out of the piano and I sent them back... Anyway, any recommendations are welcome!

Thanks

Marin

[Stargate199]

I have the Bose Tripoint in-ear earphones and I like them very much. They are very comfortable and sound great. They won't be the best sounding earbuds, but they are much better than most headphones under $100.

[Mike Blake]

The SoundMagic PL30 has been causing some excitement on a
headphones forum I sometimes monitor, their quality surprising
folks for the price. Geez, that almost sounds like an ad.

No, haven't ordered them myself.

One of the threads:

http://tinyurl.com/536qyw

Scroll down below the ads and annoucements once there.

[RealBlackStuff]

These get rave reviews: V-MODA Bass Freq Earbuds - Bling Bling Black
http://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-Bass-Freq- ... B000FUESSU
They're amazing. Got a pair for my teenage daughter, and she's delighted with them (on an iRiver MP3 player).

[Superego]

I use a pair of comply earbuds (http://www.complyfoam.com/) and I love them. The earbuds have foam tips that you pinch before putting in your ears. The tips then expand like earplugs and seal up your ear. They work pretty well, although I still prefer my Sony noise-cancelling headphones for flights. The other benefit to these earbuds is that because they're noise-cancelling (in a sense) you don't have to turn the volume up as high, thus avoiding potential hearing loss. However the foam tips can get a bit gross after a while and you have to order replacements.

As far as the sound quality goes, I'm happy. They're not on par with my Sony full-ear headphones but they come close. I attribute this to the noise-cancelling foam...you can just hear more of what's playing. Are you absolutely set on earbuds? I ask because you mention listening to piano works on flights, which to me seems like it would difficult and that you would be better off with a more traditional, full-ear headphone.

[Marin85]

Thanks for your replies. Now I have a few options to look for

Are you absolutely set on earbuds? I ask because you mention listening to piano works on flights, which to me seems like it would difficult and that you would be better off with a more traditional, full-ear headphone.

Well, I´m not really set on earbuds, but I thought that everything bigger might get hurt in my hand baggage. Also, I´m not set only on piano works, but sometimes when I travel I like to listen to such kind of music (especially in the night if I can´t sleep like most normal people...), otherwise watching a movie (I haven´t watched Flight93 yet...) or listening to some heavy metal in the plane is also a good alternative for me

[skitty4gzus]

Shure SE310's for about $100 or less on ebay or if you want something with dual drive or triple driver the price goes up from there. I would recommend the 310's though because I have the predecessor to them which is the Shure E3c's and they are fantastic. Very highly recommeded earphones across the proaudio industry and on CNET. You can step up from there, but honestly for $100 the 310's are pretty nice and worth they money any day. They come with a fit kit as well with multiple sizes of tips and different materials too. My favorite are the black soft comply tips because they are easy to remove earwax from and they fit amazing and are probably the 2nd best at outside noise cancellation!!

[Marin85]

Thanks, that sounds great too. If they cost about 100$ from ebay, I don´t want to imagine what they would cost in Germany (despite the currency ratio...)

Marin

[usernotabuser]

I have some ER6 from Etymotic Research (http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6.aspx) and I've been very happy. Good thread though, but I'm curious as to what type of quality you're going to get out of a thinkpad headset output. Definitely not audiophile quality, but probably plenty good for 99/100 people.

Good luck.

[Marin85]

I have some ER6 from Etymotic Research (http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6.aspx) and I've been very happy. Good thread though, but I'm curious as to what type of quality you're going to get out of a thinkpad headset output. Definitely not audiophile quality, but probably plenty good for 99/100 people.

Good luck.

I agree, you made a point here, but at least I don´t want those earbuds to deteriorate the sound quality even more I seem (or at least I think I do) to be somewhat sensitive as to sound quality (I used to be piano autodidact with 10 years old ), but as of now I have nothing mobile and better than my ThinkPad Thanks for your recommendation, I´ll definitely have a look at it.

Cheers

Marin

[Mike Blake]

I use a pair of comply earbuds (http://www.complyfoam.com/) and I love them. The earbuds have foam tips that you pinch before putting in your ears. The tips then expand like earplugs and seal up your ear.

Yeah, many of the PL-30 users on that forum
I mentioned recommend using the Comply foam
tips instead of the ones SoundMagic gives you!

[skitty4gzus]

Etymotics are nice, but the soundport is a tad large and they dont fit my ears that well because i guess my ears on the small side, but im not the only person who dislikes the way they fit. The ER6's are nice though, maybe even a tad bit more low end than the E3c's, but i cant say much for the SE310's personally because i haven't listened to them myself yet. But they are the new version of the E3c's so im assuming they are as nice or better. The audio output on the thinkpad is not that bad though really, they are comparable to the ipod. Take that for what its worth i guess. The ipod output isnt flawless, but its pretty decent for what it is.

[Purcy]

I own many makes of earbuds, my two best ones are the Shure sound isolating earbuds and the V-Moda Bass Freq earbuds mentioned above. I paid $60 for the Shure (on sale) and I paid $20 for the V-Moda (ebay) but the V-Moda have a better sound to my ear and are almost as sound isolating as the more expensive Shure ones. If you get a pair of the V-Moda you will save enough money to buy an affordable small .mp3 player which will fit in your handbag a lot easier than your Thinkpad Just saying, I've been there - on a plane and wanting to listen to music. I now carry my .mp3 player everywhere with me.

[Marin85]

I certainly don´t complain about my ThinkPad sound output As for carrying my ThinkPad, I have to take it with me anyway, also those earbuds won´t be only for listening to music during a flight, but also for watching a movie or the like, and not only during a flight but generally if I´m somewhere else but not home (yet I suspect I will be using them at home too ). A mp3 player is maybe not that bad idea at all, maybe I should start a new thread for recommendations for a mp3 player

Cheers

Marin

[Purcy]

The .mp3 player that I own is the Creative Zen, it also plays videos and has a large screen. I got mine on Ebay for $35, but here are the specs: http://us.creative.com/products/product ... duct=16999

I like that you can use an SD card for extra storage.

[skitty4gzus]

it seems on this forum apple products dont get much love, but i would recommend an ipod. Depends on how much storage you want though. If you need 8gb or less i would recommend a 3rd gen nano. You can get them off ebay factory refurbished for less than 80. If you need something larger I would get a classic which comes in 80 and larger. I got an almost brand new looking 80 off of ebay for $120. I myself think that iTunes is a much better music program than media player, but its about personal preference.

[Marin85]

Oh, guys, leave it like that, I´m still not looking for mp3 players If I did, I would have started another thread for better readability Anyway, thanks for the additional recommendations

Cheers

Marin

[hart22]

For the OP:

You may consider taking a look at this site:

http://www.headphone.com/

Which offers the largest collection of retail earbuds, in-ear-monitors and headphones of all makes and models I've found online, ranging from ~$10 earbuds to ~$1,300+ headphones, as well all makes of headphone amplifiers that are mostly way overpriced. Even if you don't ultimately buy from there the comparison shopping, reviews and headphone diagnostic charts are very helpful.

For your original question, can you clarify whether you wanted actual "earbuds", or were you considering the deeper in-ear-monitor/ear-canal-phones as well? Some people have recommended the Yuin Pk2, which I have, as a plain "earbud" style phone. It is overpriced probably, but I haven't run across a better sounding "earbud". The deeper models are a whole different class. I don't like the fit of those, even the hybrid models that are a bit shallower like the Sennheiser CX500's, etc.

The Yuin Pk2's are very good for Classical music, which is actually what I primarily listen to (300+ CD's and counting now...). Handles piano ranging from Handel/Scarlatti/Bach keyboard music, to Beethoven piano sonatas, to the Romantic greats, through Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Boulez, Messiaen and more very well. Just as long as you're not throwing too much large-scale Classical vocal music at it, which would be difficult for most headphones anyways, you should be good to go.

Hope that helps...

[Marin85]

Thanks for your reply! That link is really a great reference. Actually, I don´t even like the "regular" earbuds because they have to sit in my ears. Anything that would go deeper would be even bigger inconvenience for me

Really helpful

Marin

[skitty4gzus]

if you want something for plane rides and general music you almost have to go the route of noise cancelling type earphones with comply tips. Unless you like turning it way up and disturbing people around and a lack of audio clarity and quality. Ear bud type headphones just dont cut it when it comes to audio quality and the need to cancel outside noise, which is key to a quality audio experience.

[Marin85]

if you want something for plane rides and general music you almost have to go the route of noise cancelling type earphones with comply tips. Unless you like turning it way up and disturbing people around and a lack of audio clarity and quality. Ear bud type headphones just dont cut it when it comes to audio quality and the need to cancel outside noise, which is key to a quality audio experience.

Thanks, I´m aware of this During a flight I don´t really need "studio-like" quality from the earbuds, just because of the fact that the sound environment on a plane is that aggressive. But since I´m not going to use these earbuds only during flights, it makes sense to me to buy something with better quality for the moments I really have the opportunity to enjoy the sound

[skitty4gzus]

thats the point. in order to get any sort of decent quality on a plane ride you will need noise cancelling in-ear phones, not the bud type. In ear's with comply tips will cancel out quite a bit of outside noise on a plane and let you keep the volume at a lower level to keep your ears safe!! Plus in-ears are going to give the quality you will want. You can get single driver, dual drivers, and triple drivers. Depends on the amount you wanna spend of course