Recommend me some new Earphones! (please) ;)

Hey!

I have a rooted Nook Color tablet and am looking for some new earphones to use with it (and also my Palm Pixi Plus).

(Once, again my beastly cat got a hold of some Phillip's ones I had and destroyed them)... (3 strikes he's out).

If I could also use them for biking, walking & running that would be great.

I can go up to about $40(ish) for them, looking for comfort & general great sound to come out of them.

TIA..

Cin'

 

The JVC Marshmallows are supposed to be very good for the price

Otherwise, it just depends what deals you can find.
Shure's E2Cs ( their old entry-level IEMs) used to be available at some pretty good prices from time-to-time. I don't think the e2Cs are made any more but the current equivalent might be worth a look.

 

Thanks : )

I was looking at those JVC's they are decently priced and have some pretty decent reviews I will also try and find those Shure's to take a look at.

 

I recently got these: Amazon.com: Skullcandy INK'd Earbuds S2INCZ-045 (Silver/Black): Electronics

They are cheap and I'm impressed with how they sound.

 

Amazon.com: JBuds J3 Micro Atomic In-Ear Earphones with Travel Case (Jet Black): Electronics

I have owned several pairs of earphones and I have never been so impressed as I was with these. After their break in period, they sound just as good as most of the $75+ sets I have used. I don't know how they make any money on these because the build quality alone is worth more than the cost.

 

Nicely priced!

And, thank you for the information on the JBuds. I will definitely check them both out.

 

Sennheiser CX300-II

 

^^Thanks Sennheiser makes great earphones!
Looks around $30 at amazon not bad.

Logitech has these on sale for $49.99:
Ultimate Ears? SuperFi 5 Noise-Isolating Earphones

 

These Sony's are pretty nice

Sony MDR-XB40EX

I've also heard good things about Sennheiser.

Regarding the J3's, I've had a pair for a year till they broke on me and they sounded great... when you weren't moving. However, since you've been looking to bike/run with them- I wouldn't recommend them as you can hear a sound every time the wire is touched or moved. It gets annoying on long runs. The cable on those is also quite short/thin, so just keep that in mind.

 

Ok will check those Sonys out. Do you use them? Thanks for the feedback on the J3's.

Would the Sonys be good for about everything I want to use them for?

 

Yeah, I have a pair and enjoy them. The sound quality is great and the cord (tangle free) is something that you'll appreciate. However they do sometimes slip out of the ear during intense workouts, not too often though.

 

I've owned ~10 pairs of Skullcandies (various Ink'd Buds, Smokin' Buds, TiTan Buds, Lowriders, and Skullcrushers because a young teenage boy didn't use to know any better ) and take it from me, they sound like COMPLETE CRAP. The build quality is among the worst you'll find anywhere and if you think they look cool, well... you'd best save your ears and eyes some regret. The only good thing about Skullcandy is that they're cheap and offer an industry-leading lifetime warranty, which I've used more times than I can count on one hand. Skullcandy's customer service will replace any broken pair, no questions asked, with any new pair of equal or lesser value and pay for fast one-way shipping to boot. Rad.

That said, if you're looking for IEMs (in ear monitors), this thread should be everything you'll ever need to make an intelligent purchase: Multi-IEM Review - 182 IEMs compared (Soundmagic E30 & Blue Ever Blue 866B added 7/06). Top contenders include the MEElectronics M6 and Klipsch Image S2. For a basshead, I recommend V-Moda.

Otherwise, some top-notch choices for over-ear/on-ear models:
-Panasonic RP-HTX7
-JVC HA RX700
-Koss PortaPro

Edit: Just saw you want to work out in these, too. Take a look at H2O Audio's offerings. Their headphones are waterproof so you can wash them in the sink after a sweaty morning in the gym . More detail's in ljokerl's thread, link is above.

Good luck!

 

I have the Klipsch Image S4s. The sound quality is pretty great.

 

V-Moda should be lumped in with SkullCandy in the 'do not touch with a barge pole' category.

The iLounge review of the Vibes provides a modicum of insight as to why they're not worth risking your money on, though I can say from personal experience as someone who was an active member of iLounge at the time the review was written, that's a very watered-down version of events.

 

If you're willing to shell out 60-70bucks I'd recommend the klipsch image s4. It's quite praised on the sound quality department, many people(from amazon product reviews) says it's on par with other products in the $200 range.

I compared it to my friend's ibeats(~$100) and another one from some Japanese brand(~$150) and we found the sound quality to be very similar.

One con about it is the cable. It's not tangle resistant and looks quite thin and fragile. Both my friends' sets have thicker and more durable looking cables.


Here's the amazon link Amazon.com: Klipsch IMAGE S4 In-Ear Enhanced Bass Noise-Isolating Headphones: Electronics

Amazon has it on sale constantly, the price changes on a daily basis, I have seen it went as low as $5x, right now it's $63.51 plus tax.

 

I have a pair of Koss Portapros. They are light, comfortable, and not hot at all when you put them on for a long time: very clear. However, they are not completely over the ear, in case you want that. Around 35$ or so.

http://www.headphone.com/headphones/koss-porta-pro.php

 

Muddy, bloated, no detail.

 

Thats a pretty good discount. Ive never tried the SF5 but i see them getting reshelled into customs, so there must be some merit to it.

I had the XB20EX and channel blew within a week. Got it replaced, blew again like 8 months later. They come with Sony hybrid tips so isolation was great giving a better bass response

Not really IME. Did you buy from an authorized Sennheiser reseller cause the fake ones are being sold everywhere.

These are great for under $40

 

I think Klipsch makes a "rugged" version of the S4 called the S5i, but you'll pay a heck of a lot more for it. As an additional note, if want your headphones to last, do NOT buy anything that terminates in an I-plug (straight jack) unless you know how to replace it yourself (just takes some old cable, heatshrink tubing, a heatgun, and patience). ALWAYS BUY L-PLUG. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is.

From the iLounge review:

(emphasis added of course.) That doesn't seem like a "do not touch" recommendation to me. And that's at the $100+ price point, while the Vibes are readily available these days at under $25. I own two pairs of V-Modas myself (Bass Freq and Crossfade LP) and my friend owns the Vibes, and I have also been consistently impressed by their build quality, particularly the higher-end models.

 

You've missed the point a bit.

It's not about whether or not V-Moda are capable of producing good-sounding 'phones, it's the issues of quality control and constantly tweaking/changing their designs that make purchasing any of their range far too much of a lottery.

And the re-review only came about because V-Moda were paying for a lot of advertising at the time - money talks.
The original review, one not bought an paid for, was far more scathing and rightly so.

 

I see... kind of. I'm frankly surprised any journalistic publication worth its weight in salt would recant harsh criticism for a bit of green paper. All I can say is, in my limited experience with the company, I haven't heard (or heard of) any such inconsistencies with the sound (always bass-emphasized) and haven't had any problems with V-Moda's quality or service.

 

I wouldn't exactly describe iLounge as a journalistic publication.
Like any website, it's a beholden to it's advertisers - same goes for here ( NB that's not a criticism, just an observation).

As I say, I'm not suggesting V-Moda are incapable of producing decent 'phones and the issues covered in the iLounge review could well be sorted just now but I'd be a little worried about recommending any of their wares is all.