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Looking for a new pair of in ear headphones.

post #1 of 5
9/1/11 at 11:27pm
Thread Starter 

Hey I'm looking for a new pair of in-ear-ear buds; however, there is such a wide variety I'm unsure as to where to begin. First off, I plan to use these on a motorcycle under a helmet so isolation would be a good thing. Secondly, I would require that the profile of the ear buds is as small as possible so that my helmet doesn't push the ear buds into my ears. Thirdly, solid construction, thus far I’ve been using a pair of Nixon wires and they are ok for the second ones but terrible for the remaining qualities I’m looking for. In addition for the year that I have owned them they have broken 8 times and I’ve had to send them in to be replaced under warranty. Finally decent sound quality would also be good hopefully with a budget ~100. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

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post #2 of 5
9/1/11 at 11:39pm

Heya, welcome to Head-Fi. You might want to start by looking into Westone's UM1 and Westone 1--they're both about as small as Westone can go, and the design has them sitting flush against the ear.

 

Similar designs come from Shure and Earsonics. Note that for all 3 companies, the higher end the model, the more drivers (i.e. miniature speakers) per earpiece--which means bigger earpieces. But they all have fairly ergonomic design, which should suit your purpose.

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post #3 of 5
9/21/11 at 11:15pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks a bunch ive done some shopping around and was wondering what the difference between the UM1 and the Westone 1 is 0_o as far as i could tell they are just different colours. After a quick search of the site i didnt really find any thing to answer the question. I was also thing about etymotics supplying that they fit under my helmet. Im gonna try to visit a couples places that will let me try them on first to make sure they fit properly.

 

Regarding budget i think the shures and earsonics are out of my price range of ~150. I was wondering do they sell iems at that price point? because i couldnt find any.

 

Thanks

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post #4 of 5
9/22/11 at 6:27am

UM1 comes from the "UM" series, meant for stage musicians. 

Westone 1 comes from the consumer-targeted line.

 

Westone 1 sounds bassier, "fuller", richer than the UM1. This doesn't mean UM1 is inferior; it depends what you want in an earphone.

 

Trying the Etymotics is a good idea. Nothing beats trying earphones for yourself--if you try something and like it, that information outweighs any reviews you could find here.

 

If you still need to search the forum for recommendations, try searching "$150 iem" or "motorcycle iem" or something like that to fit your criteria.

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post #5 of 5
9/27/11 at 12:59pm

 

I reviewed them here... Went with the Westone 1! Perfect...
 
 
 
I purchased the Shure s215 and the Westone 1 for motorcycling. After listening to them I thought the Shure s215 sounded great for low and mids- highs were a hair muddy it seemed; However, almost sounded like a dual driver. It really came down to the fact that the s215 didn't fit my inner ear canal that well. I put in the Westone 1 noticed the clarity and lightweight  "ness" about them and was worried but not only was the fit wonderful the sound was crystal clear and fitment was amazing. In regards to sound the Westone 1 didn't have but some of the bass and ok mids with exceptional highs0 In my opinion it's a very balanced sound without the "Gimmicks"... 
 
As of today I returned the Shure s215 as I'm KEEPING the Westone 1. 
 
A HUGE THANKS TO: = )
Headphone Solutions
Divisions of FMA Solutions Inc.
 
 
THIS COMPANY IS AWESOME AND HIGHLY RECOMMENED!!!
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