Tell me about headphones…not the big ones

Looking for decent in-ear ‘phones for iPod usage.

What are good quality but good value brands worth having a look at?

Klipsch? Sennheiser?

I’m just looking to replace my Sennheiser headphones after 4 years of use in all weathers cycling and running.

They’re still working, but the right earphone has got a bit muffled.

I was just going to buy another pair as they’ve been great, but will hang off for a few days and watch this thread with interest before I spend the hard earned.

Skull Candy from TK Maxx. £10 and as good as you’ll need for wandering about.

There’s been a few threads on this – on one of them lots of people recommended Soundmagic E10s – I got some on the back of that and they are bloody amazing IMO, especially for the money. I have some cheap Skull Candy ones from Play as well and the difference is night and day.

Got some Sennheiser Adidas of ebay the other months for £15. Got the little rubber bit that hooks in the ear and have been great so far.

I use Sennheiser CX 400 withe the integrated beats audio on my HTC one s and all mp3’s are no less than 250k quality and I can hear every instrument crystal clear.

Use Sennheiser HD 25 for music producing so swear by Sennheiser.

Etymotic. Seriously.

I was going to replace my current Sennheiser’s with the PMX 685i’s which I think are the Adidas ones; they seem to get good reviews.

I wanted to make sure that the earphones had a band around the back of the head as I’ve always found that the ‘in ear’ ones fall out.

Sounmagic E10’s r great and were my fav until i heard the iphone 5 headphones they are just brilliant louder too

New Apple ear buds are pretty good IMHO…

IMHO x 2 for the apple

The new apple earbuds are rubbish sound quality compared to my Sennheiser CX380’s, and I don’t overly rate those (ok, they sound good, but not really that comfortable). They are improvements over the original apple ones, but really, a yoghurt pot and a piece of string is!

I’d like a pair that sound good, controls for answering calls, changing tracks, mic etc, and are sturdy enough not to dissolve in sweat.

I wouldn’t go apple or skull candy they are pretty crap! How much do you have to spend sound signature do you like is a good starting point. Sennheiser(depends which ones) are good so are klipsch if you like your music warm and bassy. IF you like something very neutral and detailed then Etymotic would be a solid bet. The best sound is normally customs often expensive but cosmic ears are crazy cheap I would have some myself if i didn’t spend so much on bikes.

[EDIT] Hifiman are great bang for buck as well!

Sennheiser’s are shockin for the price, not sure what new apple ones u tried but the latest are comfy punchy and bloody good value. These are the new shape that fit the ear rather than the old round type.

Check that the old ones aren’t just dirty- mine were!

Those are the ones I tried, I’m digging them out to have a listen now. I tried them whilst waiting for Nanobits to come out of intensive care (at 4 hrs old) so I may have been distracted, but I thought they were pretty rubbish.

I’ll have another go.

Edit: My Senhisers were free, given to a mate who’s a pro athelete to ‘showcase’ who handed them onto me. No idea what they sell for!

Just re-tried them and actually they are a lot better than I thought. They just don’t have the same clout as the sennhiesers, I think it’s bacause of the ‘seal’ that those earphones give you, so the bass really hits when it’s needed. I also don’t like the feel of them compared to some nice soft rubber (odd shaped ear holes).

Anyone want to buy a pair? Used twice!

I’ve some sound magic phones, had them a month. Precision and clarity is incredible, good staging. No bass 🙁

Shure are the best….. If you can stretch. They can be found at about 75.

Love these

Skull Candy are crap, Klipsch are horribly overrated, the new Apple phones are surprisingly good, despite what a few cloth-eared types might say, but the very best value for money phones, for comfort and sound, are the Shure SE215’s, especially if you use the triple-flange eartips. The one huge advantage they have over all other makes under around £300 is the cables are replaceable. You can get a cable with remote as an extra, which is easily swappable for the standard heavy-duty cable. I’ve used Klipsch, Sennheiser, Apple, (new style), MeeElectronics, and Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio, SuperFi 5 Pro and TripleFi 10 Studio, (£300, or thereabouts), and the Shure’s are outstanding.
Here’s my SE215’s, the flanged eartips are now taking on the internal shape of my ears, from wearing them so much:

Depends on your budget – what counts as ‘value’? For £50 or under, definitely checky Sennheiser or Denon. For around £100, Etys are the mutt’s nuts. Shure SE215s are apparently good, but Shure have a horrible reputation for longevity over the last few years – they have a lot of catching up to do.

I got a pair of these a while back, stunning build quality and sound incredible as well.

RHQ MA450i

I think the new apple earbuds are OK, Ive also go a pair of the JVC explosives which arent bad either and only a tenner:

also been looking at these Reid & Heath Acoustics recently, get good reviews and British (Glasgow) made.

EDIT: Monty posted while I was typing, think those RHA ones are the model above and also get good reviews.

the new Apple phones are surprisingly good, despite what a few cloth-eared types might say

Agreed. I’ve tested them against some £200+ headphones and I think they’re better than anything else Ive tried. They just don;t stay in my ears very well 🙁

Bose MiEi 2s are exceptional. I found Etymotics to brittle at best. Mine died 3 times inside of a year.

That’s good to hear daffy, I was eyeing a pair of those up last night, I generally like the bright, bass heavy Bose sound, so if they fit my ears, they could be a winner.

£300…!!! 😯
Amazed that folk spend that much money on them.
Let’s be honest, that’s a staggering amount of money for what they are.
I saw a tidy looking Mondeo for £200 yesterday. 😀

It is a lot of money, but then it’s only the same as a dropper post and I use earphones more! It’s typical of a shiney thing price, you can do just fine with a cheap one, but you can pay as much as you want

Another reccomendation for the shure se’s you can replace the cables which is a bonus as all the sennheiser Cx ‘s I have had in the past only last a year or so before the cables start to crackle and drop-out.

Etys are the mutt’s nuts. Shure SE215s are apparently good, but Shure have a horrible reputation for longevity over the last few years – they have a lot of catching up to do.

I’ve got a pair of Etymotics, first pair of quality ‘phones I bought, on recommendations on here. I was more than a little disappointed with them, so I got custom eartips made. Good sound, but no real bass to speak of. Shure’s issues centre around the wires breaking; a mate went through three pairs before giving up and buying a pair of Denons that cost £80.
The point with the 215’s, that I made, and that seems to have been missed, is that they have replaceable cables!
And there are no others that I know of under £200 with that facility. £75 is an absolute bargain for the quality you get.
Mine cost $145 with alternative cable when they were first launched around two years ago, and I haven’t had cause to regret the purchase yet.

they have replaceable cables!

Buuuut… the problem with the Shure cables is generally not the cable itself going – which replacing the cable would solve. The problem is generally where the cable enters the earphone – which may or may not be solved by replacing the cables. The jury’s still out to some extent.
BUT, Shure’s CS is excellent – as long as you buy them from a proper retailer, they’ll replace them if they do break. I had 3 sets of warranty replacements from Shure after my E4s kept breaking; in the end I sold them.

Agree to some extent on the Etys – they definitely do benefit from burn in, I’ve found; and the sound is definitely more “playing what’s there”, rather than bigging up any particular aspect of the sound.

In recent years I’ve had 2 pairs of the £40 Sennheisers, the first pair were brilliant (were attached to my Ipod when it was stolen), the most recent don’t seem to stay in my ear anywhere near as well.
Had some £40 JVCs but the sound quality is nowhere near as good and seemed to cause loads of ear wax for some reason.
Got some Skull Candys that have the over ear clips for running, reasonable sound quality but both earphones fell apart within a couple of months

Sennheiser i300s here. Sound good for the size (never going to compete with big headphones though), light and comfortable. Bit pricey though, but I’d happily buy another pair.

Shure SE215 for me, I’m a train commuter so isolation is important and Shure’s are the best I’ve found. Sound quality is also as good as I’ve heard for the money, at least after a couple of weeks, they sounded shite out of the box and I nearly sent them back.

They use the same cables as the new UE phones too, which is good as their replacement cables are half the price of the shure one

run your sennheisers under the hot tap for a minute before writing them off. That tip, off here, has saved me three new pairs.

Interested in the Shure with replaceable parts, as I have destroyed 4 pairs of Sennheisers over the last few years (30/50/70i’s). I use the headphones a lot, and they tend to get pulled apart one way or another, so replaceable sounds good to me… and I’ve easily spent £200 on the dead un’s.

Shure SE215-superb non-fatiguing sound which at first listen perhaps doesn’t sound very exciting but soon becomes obvious it is very good, almost complete external isolation via soft earbuds or foam earbuds (which may or may not be good for your usage)super tight bass, low-profile design with wire around back of ear.
Classy set of ‘phones in my opinion.

Shure SE215-superb non-fatiguing sound which at first listen perhaps doesn’t sound very exciting but soon becomes obvious it is very good, almost complete external isolation via soft earbuds or foam earbuds (which may or may not be good for your usage)super tight bass, low-profile design with wire around back of ear.
Classy set of ‘phones in my opinion.

Exactly, the thing with most better quality ‘phones is the ‘burn-in’ effect; they’ll usually sound a bit lightweight, but over a few hours of listening the bass gets deeper and tighter. I can’t rate the 215’s highly enough for the money.
Something else that helps their longevity is the fact that Shure use either 90 or 45 degree plugs, which makes the wires much less likely to fail through stress being stuck in a pocket with the wire bent over.
Makes a huge difference, and the stock, non-remote cable is really thick, with a memory wire where it goes over the top and back of the ear, all of which helps them last lots longer than the weedy little wires on other ‘phones.

Ive done the Sennheiser (various), Sony, Skull Candy, B&O and SoundMagic route and finally settled on RHA. They really do sound superb. SoundMagic are a close second.

In my humble opinion of course.