Hi guys, todays is my first day with my mp3 player ) Finally! Walking n listening to music. I commute a lot (metro) so I need this. Unfortunatelly I was unpleasantly surpised that there is so much outside noise (when metro is moving, ppl talking, etc.) that I cant hear my music thru the earphoens my H120 came with sehenheiser. The onlly way to listen is if I turn it up loud, but i dont wanna do that and damage my ears.

Can you recommend me the cheapest earphones which reduce the outside noise?

Well, if you really want the cheapest that eliminates active noise cancellation. Koss "The Plug" does a pretty good job of blocking out extraneous noises. Especially so if you replace the included foam with ear plugs from a drug store. It's cheap. It's effective. Sound quality is not the best. You get what you pay for. Good value for the money though.

Woody

OK. Thast interesting! I am looking at Koss' site and there is "PLug" and Sparkplug" models THey look identicle to me. On amazon "the plug" has got great rewviews. THey migh be a pretty good choice. COuld you explain what do you mean by "Especially so if you replace the included foam with ear plugs from a drug store" -- I thouight I am buying earplugs?

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphon...iser-hd-201.php

These are supposed to be great, isolating, and inexpensive.

I haven't tried 'em myself, but I'm sure you can find a demo pair somewhere.

I have a Philips SHE-9500 which, personally, has a quite good output.
Probably not too isolating, but it's enough for its price.
It's around US$20~25 I think.

Though probably it's not to beat Sennheiser and the likes...

Shade, im looking more for eabuds/ ear phones. Big headphones are not good for travelling.

Them philips ones seem to be European sold only, when i google them i get only resuts from europe and in pounds..

And as far as the Koss The Plug, heres a review I found:
http://www.powerbookcentral.com/columns/hi.../kossplug.shtml

And it sais to stay away from them and go for Sony MDR-EX71SLs...

I travel (in Montreal, Canada) with my HD280s, and they even keep me from the cold during the winter. They're fairly large.

I recommend you Panasonic RP-HNJ50 - a sport/portable modification of RP-HJE50 closed canalphones with a cool metal-in-selicon neck strap. It cost me ~$30 and I very pleased with the fact they don't fall out of my ears even when I run fast and turn my head left and right.

Read this: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=40728

Apparently, Creative EP-630 are better than Koss The Plug.


I also have another roundup (AUDIO magazine), let me post the conclusions:

Creative EP-630 - "Fits very well, silicone adaptors included. Looks the same as the Sennheiser CX 300, but the setup is a bit too bright".
35 Euro, 9 grams

Koss The Plug - "Great yield of the sound, good isolation. But not everyone likes this 'construction worker earplugs' feeling".
36 Euro, 7 grams

Koss Spark Plug - Same as The Plug.
36 Euro, 7 grams

Panasonic RP-HNJ 50 - "Average but honest sound. A bit bright, can get aggressive at high volume".
40 Euro, 9 grams

Panasonic RP-HJE 50 - "Too many mids, not enough bass".
35 Euro, 9 grams

Philips SBC HN 060 - "With noise cancellation. Stress-free, detailed, warm."
50 Euro, 9 grams

Shure E4C - "Ultra-dynamic and very neutral, perfect fit. But you have to like the directness".
355 Euro, 31 grams

Shure E2C - "Neutral, very direct. Can be irritating to wear".
114 Euro, 30 grams

Sennheiser CX 300 - "Excellent and cheap, one of the best in-ear plugs, stress-free to wear, flawless sound".
40 Euro, 6 grams

Sony MDR-NC 11 - "With noise cancellation. Free, fast, dynamic".
180 Euro, 47 grams

Sony MDR-NX 1 - "Doesn't allow harmful volume. Bass sounds diffuse".
50 Euro. 4 grams

Ultimate Ear UE10 Pro - "3-way converter, perfect sound, breathtaking presence. Can play very loud".
1100 Euro, 14 grams

These are all noise-isolating "In-ear-plugs".

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.

Head-fi.org is a great place to go to ask about such products, and you can probably score a used pair from the forums there for less money, if price is a concern.

CiTAY! this info is extremely! helpful, thanks.

Supacon, i dont think i want to sepdn such money for earbuds. And buy them used? Hmm, i dont like the idea of exchanging ear sercets with other ppl.

QUOTE (CiTay @ May 13 2006, 20:35)

I also have another roundup (AUDIO magazine), let me post the conclusions:

Creative EP-630 - "Fits very well, silicone adaptors included. Looks the same as the Sennheiser CX 300, but the setup is a bit too bright".
35 Euro, 9 grams

Koss The Plug - "Great yield of the sound, good isolation. But not everyone likes this 'construction worker earplugs' feeling".
36 Euro, 7 grams

Koss Spark Plug - Same as The Plug.
36 Euro, 7 grams

Panasonic RP-HNJ 50 - "Average but honest sound. A bit bright, can get aggressive at high volume".
40 Euro, 9 grams

Panasonic RP-HJE 50 - "Too many mids, not enough bass".
35 Euro, 9 grams

Philips SBC HN 060 - "With noise cancellation. Stress-free, detailed, warm."
50 Euro, 9 grams

Shure E4C - "Ultra-dynamic and very neutral, perfect fit. But you have to like the directness".
355 Euro, 31 grams

Shure E2C - "Neutral, very direct. Can be irritating to wear".
114 Euro, 30 grams

Sennheiser CX 300 - "Excellent and cheap, one of the best in-ear plugs, stress-free to wear, flawless sound".
40 Euro, 6 grams

Sony MDR-NC 11 - "With noise cancellation. Free, fast, dynamic".
180 Euro, 47 grams

Sony MDR-NX 1 - "Doesn't allow harmful volume. Bass sounds diffuse".
50 Euro. 4 grams

Ultimate Ear UE10 Pro - "3-way converter, perfect sound, breathtaking presence. Can play very loud".
1100 Euro, 14 grams

I would take this info with a big grain of salt as Panasonic RP-HJE50 and RP-HNJ50 have identical sound reproduction drivers. Also I just verified this fact with my one year old RP-HJE50 and brand new RP-HNJ50 by plugging them both into "1minijack-m=>2minijack-f" adapter (3.5 minijack splitter). Then I listened to audio cd with left phone of HJE50 in the left ear and left phone of HNJ50 in the right ear - got a pure mono signal without any difference between my L/R ears (also tried with right phones of both pairs with the same result).

There is no contradiction. In the detailed review, they made quite similar remarks about them:

RP-HNJ50: "One of the better In-ear-plugs with combined necklace. It's fastened with a small lock/key system. Three silicone adapters are included, for S, M, L-sized auditory canals. The sound is on "M"-level: strong and pleasing in the mids, no bragging in the bass. Higher volumes can sound shreaky."

RP-HJE50: "It sounds fresh, but the bass sounds thinned out. The mids are too present and it sounds a bit too bright."

Also, one note, could you guys recommed stuff I can buy in US. For example, the Creative EP-630 - I cant find them anywhere on the popular online stores like Amazon.com.. Ran thru pricegrabber.com and no results. I guess some of you are located in Europe but I cant buy your recommedations.

He-he, I see...

Most Panasonic stuff you usually can get from Panasonic Direct.
Also Froogle may help in some cases.

Heh... usually high-end canalphones come with a kit containing several pairs of earpieces. For example, the Ety ER4Ps come with three pairs of (washable) silicone eartips, and about ten+ pairs of medium foam earplugs. You can buy more. If you buy such headphones used, generally the person will throw the used eartips away, so you won't be getting second-hand ear wax

I like my Etys, but they are kinda bad for microphonics (you can hear noise from the cable rubbing on stuff). For high end stuff, Shure has some good phones, but CiTay's post is probably more up your alley. For my own use, I'm only interested in medium-priced high quality gear.

(Perhaps in the future, I'll have to check out the custom fit Ultimate Ear products, but $1,000 is a little rich for me right now).

Just a little warning: i think there's a reason why portable players are supplied with earphones letting in quite a lot of outside noise. It may be inconvenient, but it may save your life.

Just my personal experience: i often listen to complicate music, that makes me think deeply about it's content, so with isolated outside noise most probably i would have been already involved in some street accidents...
(to tell the complete story, i must confess that i'm pretty dangerous even without earphones )

hope my posts is not too useless/offtopic

IM not that bad. PLus if I have 5 min walk to the metro station, and then about 1 ohur ride on the metro. SO I can put them on once im in the metro..


BTW, what is that complicated music of urs

Like some progressive metal pieces, telling a whole story and so on (DeadSoul Tribe, Opeth, Pain of Salvation - when i was listening the album "BE" while walking in the city i was becoming quite afraid for my life )

Creative sells them directly in their online shop: http://us.creative.com/shop/shopcategory.asp?category=437&
(hm, out of stock)

But maybe you can get a better price on the slightly better Sennheiser CX 300.

I just want to add some facts here...

First take a look at these headphones...

Creative EP-630
Sennheiser CX300
Edifier H260

No. They are no fakes. They are the same thing, which comes from this ODM.

The difference? Only the labels and the brand, and thus the price.

Edifier is a China brand, so it is the cheapest. But the same earphone, with the Sennheiser brand, sells at more than double the price.

I just want to say that this is the reality of headphone manufacturing.

See how familier you are with these headphones?

Foster is currently the biggest headphone manufacturer in the world, and the OEM and ODM of virtually all headphones we see today. It is a japanese company, with the manufacturing plant located in Panyu, China.

William, this is startling information, at least for me.

William,

The question is where to get these?

Would this help? (Wow, even Edifier is expensive, probably because of exportation and transportation cost).

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.

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 )

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.

Are you sure it's on the cheapest side?

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.

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.

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.

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:



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.

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.

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?

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.

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...

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.

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.

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?

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?