What sound system do you have?

Darn... I guess it might be a real 'problem' when listening to Arvo Part, then? Since he uses quite a lot of silence...



Well, since I'll be using my 'simple' pair while on the move, and these just when I'm relaxing and just paying close attention to the music, the sound quality and general comfort within the ear are my first concerns. I can imagine its quite annoying while wearing it in the train, on the bike, and such. I've had such a thing before as well, and it can cause the ear to plug out of your ear



Well, that's exactly what I'm going for. I would only pay this amount of cash for a completely new musical experience on the earphones. . But since you cannot return them, at all ('cause of hygiene issues), the ones I buy must be absolutely perfect.

How are the Shures in terms of 3D image, by the way? Left and right balance? When I heard King Kong on my previous earphones, the main orchestra tended to be on the left, with only specific other instruments on the right. And that was friggin' annoying, since the main orchestra was a lot more used, so the balance seemed totally off! It also tends to happen with some other scores. Do you recognise the problem?

I'm actually very, very, very happy with my little Sony MDR-EX71 in-ears.

32 dollars.

I think I wouldn't even dare travel with 300 dollar ear buds.
(Well, not without added insurance anyway).

Have you heard a pair of higher end earphones? Even going from a pair like that which I used to use to my current Shures is quite a significant difference. I imagine the same applies if I were to go from my SE210s to a the SE530s.

Well, it's not really about portability, since I wouldn't travel with 300,- earphones either . Also, I've read that the clarity of those earphones makes that you really hear the loss of quality in even 320 kb/s MP3's, as opposed to CD quality, so I won't use these for my iPod.

It's all for home use, yet for personal audio, being able to get a full and loud sound without annoying anybody else. But ear-covering headphones are just uncomfortable for me, especially when you want to hear a full score of 80 min. in one go. Ears get sore and warm, and stuff.



At the moment, I have no idea how big such a difference would be, but I'm eager to find out! I always thought you couldn't get a better sound from such plugs then the one I was having from my 30,- euro earphones, since it still gets the same CD source from a tiny speaker, but the things I've read about it really encourage me.

As for clarity, listen to music with these or these or these or these and then we talk about earphones again

Quite so, Tom. That's the only proper way forward.

It's not so much that, it's carrying them around with me that would prove impractical, plus there would be more chance of them breaking in my bag. With earphones I just wrap them round my iPod, put it in my pocket and Bob's your uncle (not BodDH). Also, if I drop earphones they don't break. If I drop a heavy expensive pair of headphones, they'll get damaged.

For outside use, it's completely pointless to use headphones. For indoor use it makes sense.

Steven, those are guaranteed and self-tested in the studio. Especially the BeyerDynamic models, will blow you away. Thomann.de is also the most guaranteed, professional way to shop pro audio stuff. This is where i bought all my stuff and they have very special extra guarantee rates at no extra charge! Check them out. Those BD headphones will stun you with their clarity and bass, you'll hear stuff you never heard before. The m-audio ones are at the same quality as well.

I can vouch for these, I have a pair of the over-ear Quiet Comforts (as opposed to the around-ear). They're never going to be as good as a pair of in-ear foam buds for cutting out ambient noise, but they do a pretty damn good job!

A strange thing I found out is if you turn them on and press each ear piece too close to one another, they squeal like a dying rat. The same also happens if you press them too close to your ears... I did it once accidentally and it fucking hurt. So watch out.

(But they are a bit pricey. Looking back on it I'd rather have spent the money on something like the ones Demetris linked to. They're purely about sound quality.)

I know, but believe me, the sound is at levels you will never get with anything else; the fast that other slicky, flashy and cool and / or portable sets are AS or even MORE expensive, it's because you're paying the coolness and the portability.

All those professional studio headsets have noise canceling. And when it comes to headphones' sound quality, there's AKG, BEYER DYNAMICS, M-AUDIO and sennheiser my friend. The rest is money thrown away, check their specs, TEST them and form your opinion.

Fair enough

Heaphones. Good ones, with sound isolation. As big as possible, lots of ohms so that they're strong and at least 20-2000hz coverage, around 200-300 euros you'll get a pair for life, from the brands i posted above

I've had my Stanton headphones for 20 years now and have only had to replace the foam once. If you buy good equipment and technology doesn't pass you buy, you've got it for life.
Thomas

...wow, specific.