Hello!

I am looking for in-ear headphones that:

1: Isolate outside noise well and
2: Stay firmly put in the ear. (Maybe even a "hook" behind the ear?) Even when I am having my morning run.
I don't want to have to adjust them every 10 minutes.

(3:Can cope with little sweat or rain.)

Could someone please give me some links to comparisons and reviews, or even better share their own experience of headphones that meet my criteria.

Any brand goes, Koss, Sony, Sennheiser, what have you...
Budget: up to $50

So I am not looking for the high-end Shures or the ultimate headphones, sound quality-wise 3 stars out of five would be enough. (luckily close to 4 )

In my experience IEMs with "foamies" stay put better (at equivelent in-ear-tightness) than silicone sleeves.
Especially when your body-temp rises and any residual ear-wax goes all soft and KY-like.

Not being aware of what is available in the $50 price range - I will mention that I have successfully made foam IEM inserts out of generic earplugs by drilling the plugs after freezing them in water to make the drilling much easier.
I always seemed to tear (more than cut) the foam w/o freezing, your mileage may vary.

Now for the unsolicited advice.

1 - Running in an urban environment with IEMs in is not the safest thing you can do. Better to protect your skull than to have great tunes.
2 - I have a hard time running with IEMs in w/o being overwhelmed by the sound of my own footfalls echoing in my ears. Perhaps you have a smoother gait than me.

I too would be interested in some models. I have purchased everything from some rubber-like (I am guessing they are silicone) models from Sony and have even tried some expensive Sure i3c's (or similar model, I can't remember). None of them stay in even if I clean my ears, I can take 10 steps and they are ready to fall out. So I wear over the ear models but they consume more power and I would like to switch to some IEMs. I don't like turning the volume up to 85% just to hear the music (as I have to do with my over the ear models right now).

My experience has been that I can't tell much difference between $10 and $50 headphones. At that price point, you're best off looking for something that "fits well" rather than something that "sounds good". Getting a good fit is always difficult with this type of headphone because everyone has different size ears.

Taking all of the above into account, I would recommend the Sennheiser CX300. They fall somewhere between ear buds and canal phones and balance budget and sound quality rather well. They don't isolate as well as the $150 canal phones... but that's probably a good thing if you're going to jogging outside of a gym. The MSRP is $89.95... but I've seen them online for as low as $50 + shipping.

You might be interested in the headphones with a neck-strap - the cord is built into the strap which hangs on your neck. Neck-strap design helps ruducing the weight/force that pulls out a phone from your ear while you are moving. Panasonic makes such canalphones, it's RP-HNJ series, I personally use the older RP-HNJ50 in-ear canalphones on-the-go.

I own a pair, and I'm quite satisfied with them. dbAmp is right, I agree with him.

Hi guys, I'm interested in this topic as well.

My CX300 has gone today (only R speaker still works...) and I need for a quick replacement since I use headphones a lot. What alternatives are there (same/better)? I saw on AppleStore new CX400, how are they? I always wanted to try Shure, but they was quite expensive. And how about Etymotic er6i?

Thanks in advance for any help

p.s.: btw, do you know some good European online store?

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx

Found them on italian store for 45€! Is it me or it's a pretty good deal? From what I remember they are on the same level of CX300 (a little better because of better basses), can you confirm?

You guys should try the search command. There are countless threads discussing this sort of thing.

I've used the CX-300 and own a pair of CX-500's. CX-500 linkage

I can highly recommend the CX-500's. They have a slightly better sound than the 300's. The sound is a little more detailed and crisp and it still has some great bass output.

I wouldn't recommend running in these though.

Get a pair of the street style type headphones that wrap around the neck. I've used IEM's, ear buds and the street styles while running and the street style always worked best. Sennheiser PMX-100 linkage There are few more choices to choose from on the website I've linked to as well. I've also heard that the Koss Porta Pro's are good for their price, but I just don't like their styling and am not a big fan of the company.
JXL

If the other two posters have a higher budget the Atrios M5 by Futuresonics is absolutely superb at around $160
Excellent bass.
Great isolation with the Shure Olives.

Review: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/20...5-m8-review.php

Any reason why you're not just picking up another pair of CX300s?



I agree with you about the CX-500s... but the original poster was shopping to a $50 price point. The headphones I'd buy for runnings are the Sennheiser PMX70 Sport, but again, the original poster wanted canal phones. (When I jog, I'm use a mediocre pair of Philips/Nike headphones... but after briefly borrowing a pair of the PMX70, I'm ready to upgrade).

My primary pair of headphones are the Sennheiser PX100. I've yet to find a better balance of sound quality and price.

Thank you all for replies so far!

@dBAmp:

that PMX70 seems very interesting, but on that page there was link to
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Twist-Ste...d_bxgy_e_text_b
Sennheiser MX75. Anybody knows those?

seems even more interesting.... If I could find something like that (that has that extra holding support) and more like in-canal (so I could get more isolation) instead of in-ear buds.

And no, safety is not a concern during my running route (it is not very urban ), isolation is needed for public transport/noisy surroundings at work.

Ok, found for you the photo of that neck-strap thing that I have (hnj50 black):

The loop at the bottom can be detached, and the black plastic thing at the top is a safety lock.

See currently available neck-strap models on Amazon.com:
RP-HNJ200 Neckstrap Earbud Headphones (Black)
RP-HNJ300 Neckstrap Earbud Headphones (Black)
RP-HNJ300 Neckstrap Earbud Headphones (White)

- In my experience, IEM's don't block out noise enough to be dangerous while walking/driving.
- I have used two Creative EP 630 IEM's. At a price of about 20-30 USD, they are pretty good; great at blocking out noise; great sound quality and well-defined lows and highs.
-The JVC Marshmallows (15-25 USD) are pretty good too.

You shouldn't be listening to anything through headphones in a car. That is a driving hazard whether your headphones isolate sound or not.

I've owned a pair of Etymotic ER4Ps since 2002. Way beyond your budgeted price point, of course, but I've found their sound to be great, they stay put in my ears, and their noise isolation is very good. The two noisy environments where I most appreciate them: airplanes and long stints at the helm when sailing.

You're not fitting them right if you aren't getting 15 to 20 dB of isolation.

If music playing and 20 dB attenuation of background noises isn't a hazard to an urban pedestrian, I don't know what is.
On the driving issue I won't even waste my time arguing the safety merits. I'll simply state that in the USA it is illegal in most jurisdictions to drive with both ears covered.