Sennheiser Cx300-ii ear canal buds vs Sennheiser DJ HD202 Headphones

I think I have narrowed my headphone brand choice to Sennheiser. I want decent quality but don't want to pay too much. Most of the music I am listening to is Electronic(house, progressive, trance etc), hip hop and some heavy metal(circa 1985 stuff). Most of the music will be in MP3 format on my IPOD. Which one of these 2 will sound the best? In general, do headphones or ear canal ear buds sound better(i.e. in the same price range)? Thanks.

 

Within the same price range, I'm guessing that headphones will sound better, but IEM's are better in terms of the portability, an listening to them on your iPod in public won't make you look like a nerd.

 

Apples and oranges my man. A full sized can will pretty much always crush an IEM in sound quality. Even more so in the price range. The only reason to get an IEM is because you need the portability and isolation.

 

the CX300-II is an excellent choice. i have one of these and i had the original CX300's too.

full size headphones are just too clunky to be portable.

im not sure if its always true that a full size one will always beat IEM's, i tried a few sony's at the sony centre the other day and the IEM's sounded better to me then quite a few of the other full size ones.

 

I'd actually say its the other way round... IEMs sound better compared to full sized headphones, at least true for 45 Pound Sony IEMs vs. I think 50 Pounds Sennheiser headphones...

In the end though, I believe a lot of people say the CX300 are bassy - try looking for example at Klipsch X1 (if you can get a good offer) - I haven't tried them, but a quick search showed positive feedback when they are on a lower priced offer.

In the end, ideally you take the products you want and then search for reviews and comparisons - head-fi is a nice site to search in that respect.

 

It may happen, but its very rare. My 200$ full sized headphones sound better than my 850$ IEM's. There are some IEM's that do sound very very good, but they can still be bested by full sized cans in the same price range.

 

Well, there is one thing though.
You are speaking about the products in the "upper range".

I haven't tried 200$ full sized headphones - I only have my little IE8 which would be hard to beat - but not necessarily impossible.
But these are high end products.

I can imagine it is the other way around in the lower priced products - you also need to remember that IEMs are smaller - and I could imagine the lower end ones may be easier to manufacture than the large headphones too.

 

A few comments...

1.) I am not worried about portability as I will only be listening to them at my desk. I will however need to wear them for a few hours at a time. The whole nerd thing, well, I don't really care as I said I am wearing them at my desk. So my main thing is sound quality between these 2.

2.) I have never tried phones/buds etc with noise canceling. The Cx300-ii have noise canceling, but I don't think the HD202 do. Except the HD202's design probably naturally allows for noise blocking since they have ear cups. Do the noise canceling from the Cx300-ii make that much of a difference?

3.) I have read a lot of reviews both on HeadFi.org and other sites for the 2 mentioned products. The Reviews on Newegg and Amazon are really good for the HD202. I looked at the Klipsch's you mentioned and I don't see too many of them for sale in the US, but did see a few in the UK. I read reviews of other earbuds/IEMs from Klipsch and they got really bad reviews. I have heard Klipsch 2.1 computer speakers before and they were real nice. Most people said that they love the Klipsch speakers but hate the headphones.

4.) I know it is hard to comment on whether Sony is better than Sennheiser since it is subjective an everybody has different preferences when it comes to music, but I was looking for some general guidance like Headphones are better SQ than IEMs in the same price range, stuff like that. Also since most music I am listening to is compressed lossy(MP3), isn't not like the source is that great(though they are VBR 256bit).

5.) I hear that Pro grade headphones are very flat in sound. I don't like sound to be too flat but not too exagerated either. Also since the source is not so great(MP3 from IPOD), I don't think PRO phones would do me much good and might actually be worse for my situation.

 

Well, I believe my Sennheiser IE8 fall into the professional range... and I don't think they are flat - they are nice and clear though

My suspicion with quality vs. price is that its dependant on the price range.

Noise cancelling on the CX300 - that's passive, isn't it? Then any IEM will do some of that.

 

Yes, it is passive, but some IEM's are actually open, so they don't isolate alot. But the CX300's are closed and have passive isolation noise reduction.

And about your IE8's those are some very good IEM's, one of the best sets you can get.

 

A good compromize and my choice are the Sennheiser PX100 headphones (now there is also a px100-II though I don't know if those are improved). They have great sound and much more portable than the 202s IMO. The only flaw is that they are open, so others can hear if they are loud enough and there is no noise isolation. I use them both at home and the gym (buds just end up hurting my ears).

 

the CX-300-II's are really good, however i just got a pair of sony EX-35's for my girlfriend, and i have to say, they come fairly close to the CX-300's, and they are only $11 on amazon at the moment :O

personally i find IEM's more comfortable to wear than headphones, especially for long durations (like when i fly from singapore-london 13 hour flight)