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which are worse for the ears the earphones that go into the canal or ear buds? also which...

post #1 of 18
4/9/10 at 4:41am
Thread Starter 
I have using earbuds all this time, i have seen the in ear(canal) ear phones and was always afraid that they would damage my ear.
I have always listened to my mp3 at a 1/5th the max vol.
So I was wondering which are worse for the year the canal ear phones or ear buds.
Also which of these provide a richer listening experience. I'm a bass lover, so thats priority along with clarity. Lets just say that I'm so particular about bass that I really disliked the bose headphones for the lack of alot of bass.
Though I love the senheisser pmx-60 and the behringer hpm-1000.
Please tell me accordingly.
Thanx!
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post #2 of 18
4/9/10 at 5:09am
1. Ear canal phones do not damage the ear. In fact, they provide better isolation and thereby lower listening levels in noisy areas.
2. In general, the ear canal phones provide better sound quality for the same amount of money spend on ear buds.
3. To choose your ear canal phone, you must decide how much money you want to spend. Ear canal phones can be bought for $5-$1500.
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post #3 of 18
4/9/10 at 5:10am
IEMs should be better, as they go further into your ear canal, thus you won't need to turn up the volume all that high. BOSE are complete garbage for the price, they are pretty bad overall tbh. IEMs provide a lot more bass than just normal earbuds.
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post #4 of 18
4/9/10 at 5:49am
I think it depends on how are you going to use them (IEMs or earbuds).

In a noisy environment, I suggest not to use earbuds, as one usually crank up the volume to 'compete' with outside noise, because earbuds offer zero isolation. However, in a quiet environment, or in some situation that you shouldn't shut out outside noise (ie: if you are staying with you family and your mother call you for dinner from downstairs), then earbuds might be a good choice. By the way, for some people they hate IEMs because of comfort issue; they can't bear having 'alien' things inserted into their ear canal.

As for IEMs, some offer great isolation, and some offer only average isolation. If music is playing even IEMs with average isolation should be able to shut out most of the outside noise. And like others have stated, IEMs offer isolation so you can have a low listening volume which is good for hearing.

As for sound qualityof IEMs and earbuds, I can't really say which is better, but nowadays IEMs are more popular If you had a chance I suggest trying out some IEMs in shops and see how you like them.
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post #5 of 18
4/9/10 at 5:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KLS
if you are staying with you family and your mother call you for dinner from downstairs
That is if we are rich enough to even afford a two story house
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post #6 of 18
4/9/10 at 5:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stang View Post
That is if we are rich enough to even afford a two story house
I am staying in the hostel currently, but my parent's home is a two-story

So OP how many stories are yours?
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post #7 of 18
4/9/10 at 6:01am
Even if I could afford it, I probably wouldn't like to live in a two story house They would get annoying and not to mention they cost something like $600k+
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post #8 of 18
4/9/10 at 6:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KLS View Post
I am staying in the hostel currently, but my parent's home is a two-story

So OP how many stories are yours?
Well, in that case, the mom has to come upstair and yell at him. Good thing when the OP spend his money on good IEM tho, the mom doesn't have to worry about him blasting music on some cheap speakers.
And to OP, as what they like to say, welcome to Head-fi, and sorry about your wallet
Typically earbuds does not isolate noise as in-ear canal earphones, so you have to play it at a louder volume than it's required. Since in-ear canal earphones isolate better, you can use a lower volume. And if you get a good seal out of in-ears, you will usually get better bass than just normal earbuds. In terms of price range, in-ears usually go higher than earbuds. But then again, earbuds like those Yuin Pk series are said to be really good, tho i have not heard them yet. It all boils down to your preference, do you commute a lot? Do you listen to music on the go? if you dont, then earbuds/headphones might suit you better. The problem with IEM is usually seal, if the seal is bad, then a good IEM can sound sucky too.
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post #9 of 18
4/9/10 at 9:07am
I use earbuds when in situations where I dont want to isolate myself from the environment totally, background listening is very effective using earbuds
you shouldnt be using earbud if u want isolation from noise, its almost the same as using open headphones and encourages u to turn up the volume which isnt a good habit to have..

i use IEM only when Im alone, else it will be too annoying to put it in and out constantly when people want to talk with me..

but SQ wise, theres a lot more high end IEM compared to earbud and also a lot more going technology wise for IEM like multi drivers etc..
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post #10 of 18
4/9/10 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
well I stay in a 2 and a 1/2 story house(the top being a terrace), and Yes i do stay with my parents in India. And i'll probably go for creative as they are inexpensive and provide superb quality.
So the canal one it is.
and to blow your heads away i stay in a house of which the current price would be :
17,938,659.35$
But thats also because My family has been staying at the same place for the past 70 years. My great grandad bought the place for 156.96$
WE EXPANDED LIKE HELL!!!!!!!
Sorry for shouting, but it's not easy to express emotions through text without such means.
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post #11 of 18
4/9/10 at 10:16am
Wow, expensive. Average house in our suburb would be valued around $420,000.
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post #12 of 18
4/9/10 at 12:24pm
What kills the ears is prolonged high volume. Avoid that, no matter what you.

I use IEMs exclusively to take care of ambient noise. I'm curious to see how the earbud fans handle that, as there are some models I'm considering using (like the OK1).
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post #13 of 18
4/9/10 at 12:36pm
I don't think either are bad for you. They just have different functions imo since one has no isolation and the other has a lot. It really depends on how high the volume is when you are listening to it. If it's reasonable then both should be relatively safe.
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post #14 of 18
4/9/10 at 1:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stang View Post
IEMs should be better, as they go further into your ear canal, thus you won't need to turn up the volume all that high.
This!
At least that makes sense to me..
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post #15 of 18
4/9/10 at 1:45pm
You will get more bass from in earphones than usual earbuds with great clarity and i recommend these Denon C710, Hippo VB, UE SF5EB, image S4, ATH-CKS70 and JVC FX500.
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