Cheapest earphones to isolate noise, portable mp3 player Options

[CiTay]

No. They are no fakes. They are the same thing

They look the same. They are not the same thing.

The full review text for the Creative EP-630 in AUDIO magazine reads:

"These earplugs resemble the Sennheiser-model CX300 like identical twins. Only the markings of the companies make the visual difference. Despite that astonishing similarity, the Creative-plug sounds brighter, less bass-potent, overbrilliant. A completely opposite tuning compared to the civilized Sennheiser."

So maybe you should get your facts right. The hardware might be the same, but the adjustment/tuning is done by the companies later and produces different results.

[Anansi]

While were at it, im not sure if this still belongs in the same topic but im also searching for some cheap canal headphones to replace some sony mdr-71 lost in a fistfight/mugging (so altough I've heard poor reviews of the mdr-71's durability I have to say this one isnt their fault and they actually survided a lot of stuff)
However the mechanical sound from moving around made them extremly irritanting, is there any cheap alternative with equal or better sound quality (or pretty much better bang for the buck)
but with a more reasonable price and less mechanical noise (I always irritated me to start walking faster and starting to hear the seal loosening and rubbing in my ears )/better in canal fit (how does the koss plug compare quality wise? )

(if this request is to specific to be included as a repply, please let me knwo so I can place it in a topic in a proper fashion, thanks in advance )

This post has been edited by Anansi: May 14 2006, 17:22

[The Seeker]

I would recommend looking into products made by Etymotic. I own and love their stellar ER-4Ps, but you can get the ER-6 and the ER-6i for quite a bit cheaper, and they work the same way.

I too can recommend Etymotic's earphones.

I recently bought a pair of the ER•6s (along with an iAudio) and I'm seriously impressed with the noise isolation, not to mention the clarity of sound.

[Egor]

I too can recommend Etymotic's earphones.

Are you sure it's on the cheapest side?

This post has been edited by Egor: May 14 2006, 19:29

[CiTay]

but with a more reasonable price and less mechanical noise

The Creative/Sennheiser should be fine, according to the previous test, although these types of earplugs just seem to be prone to mechanical noise, there will always be a bit of it.

[William]

No. They are no fakes. They are the same thing

They look the same. They are not the same thing.

The full review text for the Creative EP-630 in AUDIO magazine reads:

"These earplugs resemble the Sennheiser-model CX300 like identical twins. Only the markings of the companies make the visual difference. Despite that astonishing similarity, the Creative-plug sounds brighter, less bass-potent, overbrilliant. A completely opposite tuning compared to the civilized Sennheiser."

So maybe you should get your facts right. The hardware might be the same, but the adjustment/tuning is done by the companies later and produces different results.

I am not sure how authentic AUDIO magazine is (it sounds very like head-fi imo), so maybe I will go to have a trial for all the headphones, but as far as I know from the source, Foster made all of them in a lot of batches, then stick labels acording to orders, and there is no tuning at all (nothing to be tuned actually, as the headphones are already manufactured when they reach the buyers). Sennheiser just pack them into boxes, and send them to the world.

Anyway it seems I am able to find a chance to test all of them. I will try my best to do so.

[AtaqueEG]

Cheap Creatives here.

This is the way I got mine. I also got the Sharp MD-33 which are supposed to be the same, but the plug is 4-pole, making them useless with anything except my cellphone.

[CiTay]

I am not sure how authentic AUDIO magazine is (it sounds very like head-fi imo)

Your scepticism is justified, nowadays every audio magazine (not just AUDIO) contains questionable reviews, cause in the end, all the expensive audio hardware has to be sold somehow. However, they had these earplugs back-to-back and from what they wrote, i simply do not believe that both came from the same batch of the same manufacturer as finished products.

Interestingly, the Wikipedia article on Sennheiser contains the following note:

It should be noted that the design of the Sennheiser CX 300 looks similar to the Creative EP630 and the Sharp MD33 canalphones in physical appearance (all of them are thought to be OEM of FOSTER　　382326[2]), but with some touches that differ Sennheiser from Creative and Sharp.

Looking at Sennheiser's page, they only seem to use their own production facilities; two in Germany, one in Ireland, one in the USA. It might very well be that they receive parts from Foster, but after reading the review, it seems unrealistic that Sennheiser receives finished products which would sound identical to Creative's offering, since apparently they don't.

P.S. Not to mention the 3 gram weight difference?

This post has been edited by CiTay: May 15 2006, 01:56

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[William]

Interestingly, the Wikipedia article on Sennheiser contains the following note:

It should be noted that the design of the Sennheiser CX 300 looks similar to the Creative EP630 and the Sharp MD33 canalphones in physical appearance (all of them are thought to be OEM of FOSTER　　382326[2]), but with some touches that differ Sennheiser from Creative and Sharp.

Looking at Sennheiser's page, they only seem to use their own production facilities; two in Germany, one in Ireland, one in the USA. It might very well be that they receive parts from Foster, but after reading the review, it seems unrealistic that Sennheiser receives finished products which would sound identical to Creative's offering, since apparently they don't.

P.S. Not to mention the 3 gram weight difference?

This sounds very interesting, and it seems it is justified that Sennheiser is different from Creative or Edifier. As I am planning to buy a Creative or Edifier, I may as well check out the Sennheiser and have the comparison on the real thing too.

[Unknown]

Cheap Creatives here.

This is EXACTLY what I was gonna ask. It seems ebay is the only way to get the creatives in US (creative.com dont have them available). BUT look on the picture of all those ebay auctions! The picture of the earbuds does not show the little triangles (creative logo) on them as they are supposed to. So I guess those are fake and have nothing to do with creative ep 630.

[CiTay]

It seems ebay is the only way to get the creatives in US (creative.com dont have them available).

The shop i linked to before was Creative's Singapore online shop, sorry for that (it was the first thing that came up when i searched for "creative shop")... In the US shop, it's out of stock indeed.

But seeing how Sennheiser CX 300 seem to use similar components and have a better tuning, why not get a pair of those?

[William]

I have taken a look at Edifier, and frankly speaking, I now do NOT recommend buying the Edifier. The QC is just unacceptable.

I have looked at 3 H260, and all of them have some kind of visible defect. This makes me think that the quality is not really assured (sound quality included).

I have not investigated the Creative as it was nicely sealed, but I believe it would be better than Edifier.

Seeing that the Sennheiser, Creative and Edifier have the same look, it is reasonable to say they have some kind of relationship, such as using similar components, or from simialr production lines.

But I would think that it is similar to the relation of Pentium 4 and Celeron. The QC determines that the higher quality chips become Pentium 4 and the little-defective chips become Celeron.

I have yet to look at the Sennheiser, but with my highly satisfied MX500, I think Sennheiser should have a much better QC, and you get the assurance of quality with it, just like you get an assurance of quality and performance with a Pentium 4.

With some luck, you may get a bargain Edifier or Creative that performs similar to Sennheiser, just like you may get a bargain Celeron that performs similar to Pentium 4, but I think the stricter QC and thus the generally higher quality with Sennheiser is what you are paying the extra for.

This post has been edited by William: May 18 2006, 02:04

[smiler]

Sorry to resurrect an old post, but this topic is of interest to me.

I'm interested to know if William has managed to compare the Sennheiser, Creative and Edifier models. The similarities between the products certainly intrigued me when I saw my friend's Creatives side-by-side with the Sennheisers in Dixons yesterday.

Having looked into the tech specs, it seems Creative are claiming an unbelievable 8Hz - 23kHz frequency response, while Sennheiser is rather more conservative at 18Hz - 21kHz. This would suggest to me that either someone is lying, or there are distinct differences in their construction.

Also, for general portable use (I had closed back HD465s for home use), would anyone recommend these over the PX100/200s? Bearing in mind I live in London, and use the Underground some what too...

[CiTay]

Also, for general portable use (I had closed back HD465s for home use), would anyone recommend these over the PX100/200s? Bearing in mind I live in London, and use the Underground some what too...

I have the PX 100, and while they provide good sound quality, they barely dampen any outside noise. Unless you turn it up a lot, you will still hear almost everthing/everyone around you. I, for one, use them on my PC late at night, and i appreciate the wearing comfort and the sound quality, plus i can still hear what's going on around me.

You might wanna look at the PX 200 then, which are closed, or the PX 250 which are closed and have an active noise cancellation.

[Mike Giacomelli]

Cheap Creatives here.

This is EXACTLY what I was gonna ask. It seems ebay is the only way to get the creatives in US (creative.com dont have them available). BUT look on the picture of all those ebay auctions! The picture of the earbuds does not show the little triangles (creative logo) on them as they are supposed to. So I guess those are fake and have nothing to do with creative ep 630.

They're OEM. Creative doensn't make headphones, they resell them. The ones you get on ebay were not sold to Creative, and so do not have the Creative logo on them.

[Anansi]

Do the seinheiser phones have the neck wraparound cable (like the sony mdr-71) I know the creative don't and its a big deal breaker for me I wan't to carry them around all the time and that makes it much easier (also the sony plastic casing is very big plus as I seems to have a knack for ear infections so keeping earplugs out in the open is not the brightest ideia for me), also I think most of the mechanical noise I got from the mdr-71s were from the dangling extension cable plug pulling weight, are the mdr-51 (bigger cable no heavy plug) noticieably worse?

[Fuchal]

I have the Sennheiser CX 300 and I like them a lot. I would recommend them. I get a great seal with the included earbuds and there is no noise from the cable or from wind. The cable wraps around the back of your neck.

[Anansi]

I have the Sennheiser CX 300 and I like them a lot. I would recommend them. I get a great seal with the included earbuds and there is no noise from the cable or from wind. The cable wraps around the back of your neck.

does it come with some kind of carrying case for the earplugs?

This post has been edited by Anansi: Aug 17 2006, 03:33