Looking For In-Ear Headphones [Need Recommendations]

I recently purchased the HP HDX16t and still waiting for it to come. I have the Blu-ray drive, 1080p screen, and will be gaming on this laptop.

I'm looking for some In-Ear Headphones under $70. I don't know much about headphones and what ones are good and what ones are a rip off.

I found these at Best Buy, Any good?
V-MODA - Vibe Ear Bud Headphones They are on sale for $69.99

I want high quality build and sound quality for watching Blu-ray movies, listening to music, and gaming.

I also will be using these with my iPod, so no open air headphones. They need to be very portable, durable, and excellent sound quality

Thanks

 

Vmoda's are well made and fashionable but sound a little muddy in the middle to me. Sennheiser and Denon make decent sounding in ear phones in your price range. Denon 351 model is very good. Check www.headphone.com for a little more info. Also, Gizmodo did an in ear roundup several months ago that you should be able to find that was pretty informative.

Personally, my favorites are the Futuresonic's Atrios but they are $130 plus and heavy on the bass. Shure makes great balanced products but they are also out of your price range.

 

In ears could get uncomfortable for long periods of gaming. But have a look at the UE super.fi3, might look awkward if you are going to wear them out and about They are excellent though.

 

How bout these?
Ultimate Ears Metro.fi 2

or

Sennheiser CX300

or

Etymotic Research ER6i

or

Denon AH-C551K they are only $55.99!

Am I getting anywhere? ha

Thanks again

 

Er6i are excellent in clarity division. but they lack bass.
super.fi 3 are good if you can get a good fit.
cx300b are ok, but they are not that good.
metro.fi is a good choice, not the best but stylish and good sound.
no idea about the denon
v-moda vibes are good, but they break easily
alterntively you can try out beyerdynamic DTX 50.

 

where did you get the atrios for 130$?

 

The ER6i would be the best sounding pair, but also with the least bass. The CX300 would be good value for money. Metro.fi2 are pretty decent too. I have no idea about the Denons.

 

having used shure se110 and e6i, i would say e6i sound better overall

shure has a better clarity in the higher range but the bass is... what is bass? oh wait, there is none

where as e6i has everything

however, the foam offered from shure is of much better comfort to my ears

 

I found the SE110 to be pretty flipping horrible...

 

Thanks for all the input.. I'm still unsure.. If anyone else has any input on some let me know, have to know this week!

Any brands I should just stay away from? and how bout ones I should be looking into more.
Thanks

 

I personally did not like my Shure e2c's. The black earpieces hurt my ears after stuffing them in and they needed to have a really good seal to get any kind of bass (of which there was little). I suppose the treble or higher frequencies were better, but I like more bass.

I actually far prefer using some cheap earbuds that came with my SE walkman cell phone. The bass is a lot stronger and it sounds a bit muddy, but they are extremely comfortable to wear and so far are still going strong.

I have some skullcandy headphones and one set had decent sound quality but lost connection in one of the earbuds in a couple months and the other is going strong still, but doesn't sound as good.

 

At the moment I am using a pair of Westone UM1 over your budget but are extremely comfortable. Light weight, and the ''comply'' ear tip foams that comes with them are great.

 

apple's iem's are coming out soon for about $70... they are supposed to be high quality dual driver.

 

I am using a V-Moda Bass freq earphones. And i bet they are best for the price of $30. They fit so well and cut all the noise. The high bass gives magnificent effects. If you need a good in-ears for as less as $30 go for V-Moda Bass freq

Cheers..

 

Cx-300 is great for the price.

 

look at these these are durable, long lasting and sound great.
http://www.amazon.com/ProTone-m100-...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1228266881&sr=8-41

 

give it a little time, they were horrible when they were first bought, give it a week to get broken into, it was better

but if you listen to heavy metal, i can't help

 

Naw I don't listen to heavy metal at all. I only tried my friend's pair. I was also quite used to my Super.fi 3s at the time.

 

i can only say shure sound really different from 3 other headphones i have, i like my e6i better, but i don't think it is better cuz shure has its strength but a major flaw

i am a little wary of trying super.fi, are they good? sometimes futureshop is not the best place for me to get something trust worthy of...

to the topic:
anyone find foam better than silicon?

 

it is always about fit with the super.fi. if you get a good fit they sound awesome. it is kind of weird they stick out .

foam is way better than silicon except for the constant maintenance. they get dirty very quickly. if you let them be dirty, risk of ear infections. so either throw them out or give them hydrogen peroxide treatment. either way 3 months is the max i ever got out of a foamie. alternatively you can get the shure olives, which last a bit longer.

i have to shift from the to silicon on um1's because they are costing a fortune with the foam tips.

E6i are pretty good except for lack of bass, but you must change the filters after they get clogged with wax. i used to change them once in 3-4 months. the filters with the e6i will last a full year and half if you use them carefully. after that, go out shopping.

if you intend to use these with your computer, why don't you get a open air headphones? way way better sound quality than IEM's at the same price point.

 

super.fi 3 to um1's . whats next?

 

trimmed some reply so that it doesn't get too long...

i don't intend to use it on computer as the macbook pro's audio out is noisy and the speaker itself is good as is, i am using it mostly on iphone/psp and finally sometimes mbp

i too would like an open air headset, but using it at hoe only and the cost is a little steep (200 now again for hd600... -_-')

ps. if e6i lacks in bass, what is shure? i actually find its bass sufficient, as long as you keep it with foam, the other plugs changes the sound so much it is not funny
the bass level of earbud seems to come from the insert than the driver itself?

 

the likes of hd 600 require an amp to operate. a good amp will cost you a fortune . i have a pair of senn hd 485 that work with all portable sources without an amp. they are pretty good considering i picked one for 55$. they blow out all the iem's within 100$. you are right they are not portable.

spending money on shure is waste of money, there are better quality products out there for less. but shures do have amazing comfort. if you are drawn by the shure olive tips , i suggest buy something else like westone um1's or super.fi 3 and port shure olives on top of them. i dont know about e6i, but you might head over to head-fi.org and see the thread for IEM tips. it might give you a short list of earphones you can port the shure olives to.

on the other hand, you might want to look into the shure e2 which are selling at 40$. for that price point they are good. but you are getting the e6 for only 50$, the decision is yours. i forgot that e2c dont have the same tips as Se 110. they use silicons, which are also quite capable

 

Well, I have only had the UM1's for 2 months, loving them for their comfort. My Super.fi 3 are still sitting on my desk. People give me weird looks when I am wear them around...LOL Especially because I have small ears. ;p

 

sorry, i read it wrong, it was hd555...

i find e6i to be sufficient as i will not and would not spend an extra dime anymore on any headsets (lost se110 + e6i = quite a bit for such quality...)

open air on the other hand is something i have not thought of, i would say a speaker is good enough for anything for the computer, unless all of the sudden santa decides to lower the price of hd 555 to a comfortable price point, but even that, my head is too big and heavy to put anything on and still be comfortable to my neck -_-

 

my super.fi's are getting the same desk treatment since i got the UM1's. frankly they are not happy. how are the comply's holding? if you have smaller ears, do you find the medium comply's comfortable? if you can, try out the shure olives.

you are right, super.fi's attract weird looks. but atleast you are isolated from them

 

i think HD 555 is 85$. but you need an amp for it. alternatively you can look at HD 280, closed ear and costs around 80$.

alternatively, you might want to look at the beyerdynamic DTX 50. it lacks the clarity of E6i, but has a very good bass.

 

They came with small and some bigger ones. The bigger ones go too far it. The small ones are working just fine!

 

sorry, i meant the small ones. the small comply's are about the size of the medium super.fi tips. are you cleaning them regularly?

 

Sort of...i clean my ears more though...LOL

 

you might also want to take a look at Altec Lansing inMotion iM716. i herad they are as capable as the ety's with better bass.

 

i would like to get all those but i am not living at a permanent location right now so i need to keep myself mobile

and i probably need just a better earbud later since i wouldn't need a headphone so much (maybe a speaker, but too cucumber some for now

but i might not be able to get one as my monetary advisor won't allow me for such budget on a headphone
she will say "anything cost 5dollars is good, now hand me over yours" -_-'

 

either E6i or Altec Lansing inMotion iM716 sounds good. good luck on convincing your advisor

 

How are the UM1s? I've been looking into sub-$200 IEMs and those have come up quite a few times. I am also considering the ER4Ps, Super.fi 5 Pros, and the Klipsch Image X10s.

 

I don't want open air headphones cause I will be using them with my iPod occasionally too.. Along with my laptop, forgot to mention that sorry.

 

Well, I'm not sure what others may say about these, but I have a set of Koss in-ear headphones that I picked up at Walmart for about $25. They seem to have rather nice sound quality and good bass response as well. These are also noise isolating headphones, so when you are using them, you won't hear a thing unless you have the volume turned down. These headphones also have an in-line volume slider. If you want to spend as little as possible, I would suggest giving these a try.

 

Well the other three you mentioned are all better in terms of sound quality. Again, comfort wise the Um1 is top class. Sound isolation is excellent too. Sound quality, it really depends what I am listening too. One thing that I have noticed is that it doesn't do the trebles too well, it becomes extremely obvious at times. Other than that I really enjoy them. I got mine for $100.

 

Best site on the web for headphone info is: head-fiDOTorg

Be forewarned, it's expensive to hang around and ask questions there! Just stick to your budget...unless go over it gives you much better sound.

 

I'm really happy with my Shure SLC2s (updated E2c). They take a while to reach their best, the Shures have a slightly different shape so give your ears a while to get used to them. They don't sound good at all while your ears are still trying to push them out.

The over-the-ear design Shure, Ultimate Ears, Westone and a few others use helps to reduce cable microphonics and reduces the weight resting on the actually earphone itself which is quite nice IMO.