Hello!

This is just a rant-post, I have to write my anger somewhere!

Just today I wanted to buy some earbuds for my portable CD/mp3 player, cause I've had enough of the headphones of it. I wnated to go for a budget solution, given thelistening circumstances (street and traffic mainly) and my unsophisticated hearing - so I bought a Grundig GHI-100 earbud set.
What a mistake!
This earbud is not even labeled left/right for proper stereo! The volume levels are very low, - I don't know why - with this earbud. It's completely un-ergonomic. And finally, even when unpacking it something was moving inside one of the buds. But, it had a gold-plated plug.
So, as fast as I could I went back to the shop and traded the mentioned POS for a Sony MDR E818 LP. At least some quality! I had one set of Sony earbuds before, and this one delivers the same fine quality. Only bad thing is, that this new Sony does not fit in the spool of the old one . So I have to be more careful with this one! It would have been worth to spend a few more [local currency ] to get this one at first.

I don't now so much about audio equipment, so maybe someone can tell me what SPL is in laymen terms. SPL was 96 dB with the Grundig and 108dB with the Sony. Can this be the cause of the former being too silent?

Sorry for wasting your time with this rant Thanks for listening

Heh, a Sennheiser MX 300/400/500 pair of earbuds would have been really good value for your money.

Disclaimer: You may not like it if you're the type who likes ultra-bass though.

I may not live in a country where this kind of stuff is easy to find Sennheiser is an exotic animal around here, after your post I found it only at one webshop.

Maybe next time Thx.

What about Koss The Plug ? It isolates noises pretty damn good, cause it's ear plug and bud at the same time... Some people have told it have quite good bass for outside use, cause it's boosted for outside use. Sennheiser buds could be too weak for noisy environments


bigger picture #1 at http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00001P4XA.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
bigger picture #2 at http://bloggers.ja.bz/sunouchi/archives/up...7/030715_01.jpg
30db noise isolation tweak for Koss The Plug


... For the quality I wouldn't go for ear buds, could Koss Porta Pro or Grado Sr-60 be option ?

Thanks for the ideas MiChael, this Koss plug looks awesome. I already made my buy though, and I'm way too far from being an audiophile, so Sony and earbuds will suit me well enough. But, Koss is even less likely to find than Sennheiser, I think. But maybe I know only the shops for masses, not for golden ears

(OK, I found one shop for each brand, so I was really out of picture)

Thanks for the ideas, again, my next buy will be more reasonable I think:)

After lots of good reviews on a Dutch well-known forum, I decided to buy the Sennheiser MX500's. Picture:




They cost me about 20-25€. After half an hour my ears started acheing ! I heard such good reviews about them, quality-wise. Well, I think quality-wise they are crap. The average Sony Fontopia is a lot better than this and certainly a lot more comfortable. The volume control was crackling after a mere month or so already.

So I purchased the Sony MDR-Q55SL's. 49€ they cost me. Picture:




These have excellent sound, they are comfortable, and they have a very nice cable. That was my first thought. After walking around with them for almost 4 months, one of the sides didn't work anymore. Luckily, warranty to the rescue and now I can pick a headphone for about the same amount of money. Good, because I don't want this kind of headphone again. It is comfortable, but the hing didn't clamp hard enough so it easily comes lose or moves about your ear. Not something I like when I'm walking, to have to adjust it every 2 minutes. The cord is something extraordinary. It's very strong, but likes to curl. It has a longer cable for the right side so it hangs in the back of your neck, which makes it harder to come of when pulled on the cord. So I think I'm going to go for the ones I had my eye on just after I bought the Q55SL's.

The Sony MDR-EX71SLB. They cost about the same. They should minimize the external sounds which the other 2 didn't at all. It also had 3 different ear bud thingies, so atleast I now can choose another size if they don't fit. Picture:





Anyone who has experience with these ?

Well, I take it that you use it on the move, because I also find that my music sounds tinny when masked by the roar of engines.

Assuming so, try listening to it in a quiet environment.

Well yeah, I don't need a portable audio if I can't listen to it everywhere. That's why it's portable

True, true

Well, I got my MX 300 with my player, so I can't complain..

I use a PX 200 for portable use, and even this suffers from bass masking at times .

I use mx300s, you can find a pair on amazons 3rd party and used seller listing under mx300 for around $15 shipped. These are hands down the best earbuds I've heard and perform better than any headphones I've used under $30. I've gone through a few pairs because i have tendency to step on earbuds a lot, I wish they still made them with one side of the y cable shorter so the cord hung off to the side... but alas that was too awkward for most consumers.

Most Sony earphones have that. In my opinion, Sony earphones have the best comfort and quality for the money. The MX500's I have don't sound better at all, they do hurt my ears !

I've used both Sony MDR-E868 and Sennheiser MX-500s, and frankly they sound almost identical. The Sonys cost me $60 in 1997 however, while I paid only $30 for my Sennheisers. These are Canadian $$ btw.

The frequency response seems flatter in the Sennheisers as well. I think the Sony's, while excellent, colour the sound somewhat.

EDIT: In retrospect this sounds like a TOS#8 violation... hard to ABX headphones though when even with my eyes closed they feel different!

Oh, I like these very much. I always had problems with earphones which don't go into the ear canal to stay put when I move. With these sonys you put the little rubbertip into the ear canal and this helps both to eliminate environment noise and to make them stay in the ears - very comfortable imho.

I tried both 71 and 51 models shortly but I didn't hear any difference between them, so I chose the cheaper 51 model. Worth trying out before deciding...

However, there are a few cons with them:
* The chord is really mushy and soft - I fear I will accidentally cut it if I store them together with anything sharper than cotton. ( well, not that bad but...)

* The rubber tip is detached when you accidentally pull the earplug out too hard (like when the chord get stuck somewhere...) I already had to buy one replacement set of these.

Oh my god. Those Koss things are _the worst_. I bought a pair last year. They foam doesn't expand and seal your ear properly usually, and when it does, you get this awful thumping bass, with the treble blown all out of proportion (like 180% louder than it should be) and sounding like it's coming down a PVC pipe (which it is.) I quickly went back to my stock iPod buds. For $50AUD I tried to like them, I really did, but they are craptacular. Highly NOT recommended.

I also purchased the Koss Plugs with great expectations, and was as disappointed as yourself. Then I did some thinking about the problems, and improved them massively.

Throw away the supplied foam ear-inserts and get some commercial/industrial earplugs, and pop a hole of about 2mm down the middle of two such earplugs, and put these on the Koss Plugs instead of the supplied foam. They wont fall out of your ears, and give much better acoustic isolation.

I also played with different types of baffling material behind the driver, and got some better results. Now I use the Plugs quite happily, although they are not my only set of phones.

I like the Sony MDR Earbuds

ie



I use them on airplanes... they help to isolate the plane noise, and sound good... and they only start to get a little bit uncomfortable after say... 16hrs, whereas normal earbuds give me earache after only 30mins

Anywho, they may colour the sound a bit, but I *like* the sound. The thing with them is they actually *have* bass, which is unusual in earbuds

I have had these two:

Sony MDR-ED268LP


and:

Sony MDR-ED238ML


They both had very good bass, because of the rubber earpiece. The first I found a little better, not as much gain towards the bass. They did cost between 30-50€ a piece. The first one I broke one earpiece in half (dunno anymore how that happened, stepped on them or something) amd the other I destroyed by playing at too high volumes, or the cord snapped. Either way, it happens to me more often. I still think Sony has the best comfort. Philips seems way to large for my ears.