Time to get updated reference information on this topic as technology especially earbud has advanced greatly recently. Please address EACH of following questions so the community can have a database when buying new Headphones AND EARBUDS. MUST BE PORTABLE ! ! !
NOTE : Many of us do NOT have money to buy $300-$500 devices so please fill out both A and B sections with B cost from $50 USD to $150 USD ( or note your currency ) noting use paid for price not RETAIL.

PLEASE USE FORMAT BELOW TO RESPOND

1. Name of Headphone using with walkmans and cost paid for and when.
A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased

C. Why you like or what not like about them


1. Name of EARBUD using with walkmans and cost paid for and when.

A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased

C. Why you like or what not like about them

FAKE HEADPHONES Beware of copies/knockoffs

Recently I have been looking to buy reasonable but higher end EARBUDS approx. $150 . I found that many Earbuds on Ebay are actually cloans made cheaply to look like original and sold as original name brand. Here is site that turned me on to this. It may help to Add to above information WHERE YOUR PURCHASED so if anyone buys we are getting the REAL THING.
Thanks for making this a Great Reference Topic.
FakeHeadphones.com

Some time ago I started a topic less defined than this one on same topic only Earbuds. Not to many replied but include here to better help this topics reference value.

What Earbuds to Buy

quote:

EARBUD

1. EARBUD

A. Etymotic Research, ER-4S, £220, about 4 years ago but was replaced 6 months ago as I broke them.

B. Bang & Olufsen, Earphone, £90, about 4 and half years ago was replaced about 2 years as I broke them.

C. Etymotic Research amazing sound quality and up to 42db of noise isolation.

Bang & Olufsen good sound at the time and it filled in while I was looking for a decent phones.

A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

Sennhesier HD201 $29, this year Myer

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased
Sony MDR-EX35LP, $44, Officeworks,2008

C. Why you like or what not like about them

Very nice bass

I have had a dozen. The last thing I bought were the M-Audio IE-40 for 500$ US. These are actually Ultimate Ears rebranded but in a cool lookink silver-black colour. They incorporate 3 balanced armature drivers in each earphone. I use them with comply t500 foam tips and they sound absolutely amazing. They are silky smooth, with for an iem an excellent soundstage and instrument separation. They seem very extended in the extremes and are a bit subtle imo. Nevertheless they do outperform the Shure SE530 and the Etymotic ER4S imo.

I would love a pair of custom made iems but audiologists are very expensive here and so are the monitors.

I was planning on getting the Etymotics again because of their superior isolation. Though they seemed sibilant to me, they can reveal every hidden detail in the recording.

But to be honest, none of these work well with a cassette players. They are extremely sensitive to hiss. In fact, any portable sound source doesn't quite measure up. That is their biggest flaw.

That is why I use cheaper phones with them. I have had Sonys - the EX714 and 91, some Philips, Pioneer, Sennheiser and other. Except for the Sony EX91, none of them were more than 30$.

I have not heard the M-Audio IE-40’s so can’t comment.

You are correct about most personal stereo’s can’t drive them but one personal that I have which drives them well is the Walkman pro.

For most people to use them and get the full benefit they need to be driving by a separate headphone amps like the Headroom Total Airhead.

I had custom moulds made for them but I prefer the better isolation I get from the foam tips. So I’ve gone back to the foam tips and I buy them by the 100 as I only use a pair for a week max.

quote:

Originally posted by toocool4:
I have not heard the M-Audio IE-40’s so can’t comment.

You are correct about most personal stereo’s can’t drive them but one personal that I have which drives them well is the Walkman pro.

For most people to use them and get the full benefit they need to be driving by a separate headphone amps like the Headroom Total Airhead.

I had custom moulds made for them but I prefer the better isolation I get from the foam tips. So I’ve gone back to the foam tips and I buy them by the 100 as I only use a pair for a week max.

Hey! Yeah, they work best with a separate amp. this is not the forum for it, but since you've mentioned it... I had the airhead but sold it. For the price, it is as good as it gets for the price. Now I am planning on getting the D10 cobra which has a built in dac. So with that connected to the discman via an optical out and the IE-40s, I think it will sound really good.

But I think that any portable player can sound good if you use the RIGHT headphones. For instance, newer cassette players from Sony and Panasonic, such as the EX6xx and SX sereis sound really good with high sensitivity and high SPL headphones such as the Sennheiser HD485. These headphones cost 100$ and I know it is too much fo many, but they sound absolutely amazing for the price. They have it all - detail, punch, finesse and soundstage and they are extremely comfortable and soft to the ear. They actually remind me of the Sennheiser more expensive models such as the HD555 and HD595 which is not a bad thing at all! IMO they outperform the Grado SR80i in every way.

Then I had the Koss Portapro and the Sennheiser PX100. The Koss was actually better than the Senns imo and cheaper too! They were first introduced in the 1984 and haven't changed since! So you can call them vintage.

All of the mentioned work great an all cassette players and I recommend them from the heart. If you cannot squezze more than 40$, Koss Portapro are the way to go.

For 100$ I recommend the Senns HD485. There are meny headphonbes to choose from at that price level so pick carefully. All of the ones I mentioned are open-back. Closed-back ones imo are too coloured, at least at this price point.

This is strictly my opinion guys, you have different ears so you are welcome to choose yourselves!

i just got my koss kt-pro1 in the outgoing mail today. those i got new 2 months ago for 21.00 on ebay. hopefully in a week or so i will have a new set. one headphone died on the set i sent back. other than that i seem to always have a set laying around. i would have bought the koss porta pros but they don't have an inline volume adjustment which i really like. some day i would like to try a set of sound-proof inner ear headphones.

Hey Rerooted, my Panasonic-lover buddy I see what you mean as the inline volume control is very handy, especially if you use a big machine such as the DC2 and put it in a backpack. The problem is, that is not a real volume control but simply an attenuator with resistors inside. In most cases it degrades the sound quality but not critically imo. In any case, in environments these devices are supposed to work, convenience is more important than sound for most people. As for sound-blocking phones, there are tons to choose from regards!

i am missing them already. as i sit by the computer i keep looking for sound adjuster which isn't there. i had a pair a good while back which were really bad and the sound was very badly degraded to say the least. with the koss pro 1's i really can't hear any difference. that part has never failed even once. it's always the part that plugs into the player. i had a bad feeling with this set as they switched the type of plugs to the ipod style. i was careful with how i unplugged them but it didn't help. they started cuting in and out on one side and that was it.

BUMP REMINDER USE format thank so much for response guys.

quote:

Time to get updated reference information on this topic as technology especially earbud has advanced greatly recently. Please address EACH of following questions so the community can have a database when buying new Headphones AND EARBUDS. MUST BE PORTABLE ! ! !
NOTE : Many of us do NOT have money to buy $300-$500 devices so please fill out both A and B sections with B cost from $50 USD to $150 USD ( or note your currency ) noting use paid for price not RETAIL.

Smile Leaving PLEASE USE FORMAT BELOW TO RESPOND

1. Name of Headphone using with walkmans and cost paid for and when.
A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased

C. Why you like or what not like about them


1. Name of EARBUD using with walkmans and cost paid for and when.

A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased

C. Why you like or what not like about them

my koss headphones were returned oct.8 due to a faulty plug-in. i got them back today "the 26th" that's about 18 days. i think that very good product service on a warranty. back to set 1 again....

I am using the Shure SCL5-CL.

quote:

Originally posted by will1066:
I am using the Shure SCL5-CL.

Good ones!

BOSE in-ears, love them.

Sony MDR-51
Aiwa HP-V9
Koss Porta Pro
B&B Form

Koss Porta Pro (to me these are my favorite and bought the years ago since the 80s
Sony MDR-W24 ( i use these instead of earbuds because which i have as well, but i like that these have a headband the can go around my neck when the phones not in use...plus they have a headphone volume control...

Time to get updated reference information on this topic as technology especially earbud has advanced greatly recently. Please address EACH of following questions so the community can have a database when buying new Headphones AND EARBUDS. MUST BE PORTABLE ! ! !
NOTE : Many of us do NOT have money to buy $300-$500 devices so please fill out both A and B sections with B cost from $50 USD to $150 USD ( or note your currency ) noting use paid for price not RETAIL.

PLEASE USE FORMAT BELOW TO RESPOND

1. Name of Headphone using with walkmans and cost paid for and when.
A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased

C. Why you like or what not like about them


1. Name of EARBUD using with walkmans and cost paid for and when.

A. Expensive Brand , Model, Cost , purchase date Where Purchased

B Reasonable Brand, Model, Cost , Purchase date Where Purchased

C. Why you like or what not like about them

Okay, here I go.

Headphones:

A. Sennheiser HD650 - 500$ in Croatia in 2008
B. AKG K240 Monitor (not the studio version) - traded a minidisc walkman Sony MZ-RH910 for them, they were NOS BNIB, traded in 2006
C.
- Sennheiser HD650 are by no means hi-end, but they are very close. Transparent, pleasent midrange and laid vack atmosphere make them ideal for listening sessions. They are extremely comfortable and light. Sound great with every genre of music, especially jazz. For rock and metal there are other better phones but not so many of them are that good at everything so it is a good all-arounder.
- AKG K240 monitor headphones are my old but worthy headphones. They were made for studio use as they have a 600 ohm load and low sensitivity. In another words, they are unusable for portable audio. The only player I have that handles them is the DC2 walkman - and it handles them really well. AKG's themselves are good and you can get them for 25$ on ebay. For that kind of price, they can't be matched. To my ears sound better than the Grados SR802. A lot better actually..

Earphones:

A. M-Audio IE-40 (Ultimate ears triple-fi 10 pro) - 500$ in Croatia in 2008
B. Sony MDR-EX71 - 50$ in a Sony store in croatia in 2005, Sennheiser CX300 - got them as a present
C.
- I like M-Audios best naturally. They are truly amazing, have outstanding clarity and midrange, excellent resolution and great imaging and soundstage for earphones, very transparent and easy on the ears, extremely smooth and unfatiguing. They do need a dedicated power amplifier however. They work great with tube amps.
- Sony were my first earphones that go into the ear canal. They are nothing special however but offer good improvement on the phones that usually come with portable player
- Sennheisers are similar to Sonys but more solid bass anad a sense of real punch but as the Sonys, they sound veiled and muffled a bit which is to say, the high frequency extension is not that good.

I am using logitech Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10vi, I own alot of earbuds Grado, Shure Bose and B&O, but these blow me away, all I have to say is WOW!! logitech actually made a good set of headphone, well worth the $400 if not more that they are asking for these.
http://www.logitech.com/index....evices/5620&cl=us,en

Best sounding earbuds I hear to dated, I listen to music the way it was recorded, these will let you hear every bit of detail, both good and bad, Incredible sound! Bright highs, without being tinny; solid, punchy lows, without being boomy; an overall well-balanced presence with unparalleled clarity.
-Versatility. I can hear the artist take a breath and whisper to themselves as they count themselves in. The soundstage is incredible. There are plenty of options for sizing the earbuds, and they didn't take long to get used to. (although the human anatomy varies surprisingly in this area, so again, just MY experience.

Pickup some off of craiglists brandnew a few days ago I hate to admit it, but......, These UE earphones sound even better than my B&O AND Shure SE530 easily and has two tune ports and three drivers for highs and two woofers for lows also very well built replacable cable, they are IEM built for professional musicians will takes some pictures of them.