[isamu]

Hi. What do you guys think about the whole cans vs ear plug type headphones debate? I tried out a pair of Shure E2Cs from Circuit City the other day and they were nowhere near worth the $200 I paid for them. Took them back right away for a refund. Got back home and continued using my Sony cans. Don't ge me wrong. The Shures sounded pretty darn good but after wearing them for the few minutes I thought "Boy are these uncomforatable!" It also made me realize that (IMHO) earplug-like phones don't deliver the fullness and richness of cans. Cans cover the whole ear and therefore gives the listener more sonic dimension. Not too mention they're way way WAY more comfortable!

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should give plugs another chance. What do you guys think? Plugs or cans? Which is capable of delivering the best sound quality in your opinion?

 

[cherepashka]

You must be joking...There's no contest. Plugs for convenience only...

 

[steviebee]

Eh?

E2c's are 200 bucks?!

Shurely shome mishtake....

 

[xnothingpoetic]

plugs for portable, cans for everything else.

 

[UltraEvo]

Well because those are canal earphones, you can hear things better with some bass and stuff. Its better than some lower grade headphones. But then it still can't fight the quality of a headphone. No matter what the plugs have no soundstage. And they spoil ur ear faster lol.

 

[isamu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steviebee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Eh? E2c's are 200 bucks?! Shurely shome mishtake....

Well the ones I bought from CC were $200. Maybe there were E3C? E4C? I honestly can't remember. But it was definitely a Shure Exx brand.

But the thing is, if cans destroy plugs sonically, how the hell are these stores justifying an asking price of $200, $500, even $1500 for some plugs!

I am going to dig up this one website. They have plugs there for like $2000!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[SactoMan101]

Actually, I'd recommend the Creative EP-630 if you're looking for an in-ear headphone. For US$30, you get excellent noise isolation and amazingly good sound quality (to get anything better requires at minimum US$120 investment for a good model from Shure or Etymotic Research).

 

[bellsprout]

$200 for e2's is daylight robbery

$200 for e3's is more probable, but still a ripoff. a lot of people don't like the sound of e3

$200 for e4 is a more reasonable price, but i get the feeling if u got e4 u won't be complaining about the sound.

about earphone vs headphone debate. the term to which u were alluding is sound stage (or more specifically, head stage). some people can't get past the sound being in their head. some people rather listen to cheap speakers to high end headphones just because the sound is coming from far away.

comfort. some people can't stand the feelings of things in their ears, others don't mind too much. but a major drawcard of iems is isolation. people who don't like iem's have to get lesser sounding noise cancelling headphones for the same effect.

other than that, headphones can reproduce >16k frequencies. everything else, i'd say earphones and headphones are comparable. i think they are both priced fairly. and headphones and earphones get compared to each other quite a bit here...

Quote:

Originally Posted by isamu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well the ones I bought from CC were $200. Maybe there were E3C? E4C? I honestly can't remember. But it was definitely a Shure Exx brand. But the thing is, if cans destroy plugs sonically, how the hell are these stores justifying an asking price of $200, $500, even $1500 for some plugs! I am going to dig up this one website. They have plugs there for like $2000!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

don't listen to one and think u heard them all.

 

[isamu]

Hmm you may have a good point.

 

[isamu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SactoMan101 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, I'd recommend the Creative EP-630 if you're looking for an in-ear headphone. For US$30, you get excellent noise isolation and amazingly good sound quality (to get anything better requires at minimum US$120 investment for a good model from Shure or Etymotic Research).

Creative makes good plugs all of a sudden?

 

[SactoMan101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by isamu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Creative makes good plugs all of a sudden?

I kid you not. The EP-630 is actually a major bargain considering its very good noise isolation and very good sound that belies its US$30 price. Creative's higher-end IEM, the Aurvana, actually sounds very good, with sound quality that is better than a stock Shure E2c or the Bose TriPort IE.

If you really want a quality IEM you probably want a Etymotic Research model, with the ER-6i for starters.

 

[Twitchy_one]

I had to own a pair of plugs & cans in order to make up
my own mind as well. I like wearing my cans for home
use. I don't like the sound completely closed off in case
a telephone rings or something so I can know what's
going on. However, I would not get rid of my E3cs.
Besides portability, they're very good at blocking all
surrounding noise so you just get the music & so far
it's not a bad thing. Sometimes it's good at work as
well to block out all your noisy co-workers.

Now the plugs themselves can start to irritate your
ears after a few hours, however they have these
yellow disposable foam plugs you can get & I hear
they are very comfortable. Another thing you can
do for ultimate comfort is to get some molds made
for your ear plugs. I paid $160 for them 3 years ago
on Amazon.

Also, Shure is very good on their two year warranty.
My pair of E3c's had a problem right up on the month
before the warranty expired. They sent me a replacement
pair with no problems. That pair for some reason crapped
out after 6 months, so they sent me another pair. Life
is good.

 

[grndslm]

I would recommend cans because I'm just not an IEM kinda guy. The Sony MDR-V6 can be had for $80 on eBay everyday. This is the *only* Sony product I could ever recommend, and it's one that I recommend strongly.

Bass sounds gooood to me, clearer than I expected... mids and highs aren't bad at all either, kinda sharp to me -- prolly 'cause I turn the volume up too high! But, I've only listened to decent music on an altec lansing surround system w/ *tiny* sub and some KSC-75s (which I also recommend *everyone* should own; how could you not?). People say that it's neutral (reason why I'll be getting MS-1s for open cans), and I'd like to stick with neutrality since headphones are new to me and I'm not yet sure why I'd want something else.

Anyway, the V6s are pretty damn decent for some closed cans (tho I haven't tried too many headphones). They don't look half bad either... ya know Sony can't do anything without style. It also has one long, thick, coil-type wire. This thing really is built like a tank, and they collapse rather nicely to boot -- *excellent for portability*.

They're pretty dang comfortable...my ears get pretty hot every coupla hours, and I would imagine someone with above-average sized ears would want something larger like Beyers DT770/880 (maybe V6s wouldn't be that bad, dunno tho). But I'm going to see if the velour-ish pads that fit the V6 allow me to go a couple more hours without my ears heating up.

If you can stand some sound leakage and would like to hear your surrounding, like when riding a bike or exercising... ksc-75s can't be touched with their performance/cost. They are EASILY your best bang for the buck. Their only downside is they can't be used in totally quiet environments.

 

[rb67]

Hm, my ER-4P's on a CMOY certainly give SR-125's on a CKKIII a run for their money in my opinion. Maybe you just got the E2C's. Whether they are a better value for the money, who knows, that's a personal call. The sound signatures are never going to be the same, no matter how hard they try.

 

[sidewinder]

The only IEM I found to be priceworthy is my secondhand Shure E1, bought it for $30. For this price you simple can't go wrong in the IEM world, and it even has better SQ than any universal IEM I've ever heard. The KSC75 beats it easily though when interaction and overal impact comes to play. But for on the road listening and blocking out noise, my E1 never fails me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grndslm /img/forum/go_quote.gif Their only downside is they can't be used in totally quiet environments.

How do you mean? They sing is this kind of situation...