[sochee]

Long story short - I'm trying to give someone a decent pair of earphones for their birthday. They've listened to stock Apple earbuds their whole life, but they really like music, and I want to get them nice sound earbuds (no IEMs or over-the-head yet).

I was looking at > $100 - Yuin PK2s seem nice. However, they are only 3 (!) months warranty, and I don't want them to break soon (which some people say they do) after I give them to the person. Is there an alternative for under $100 that sounds good and has a decent warranty?

 

[ljokerl]

This might be of interest. I would also recommend the ATH-CM700Ti, but I really have my doubts as to whether the ones you would find for under $100 are the real deal.

 

[naughty#9]

i don't come here much these days, so i don't know what is said about yuins quality, but i had a set of pk2's which i really liked. the jack came apart at around 4 months, so i put a new one them. about two months later one of the speakers developed a hiss.

i was not happy for the price i paid.

 

[DervishD]

I own a pair of AKG K313 and they are amazing... after a bit of burn-in. They sound better than many of the cans (full size, I mean) and IEMs I've tested, and the only problem is the utter lack of isolation. They're open and it is precisely that quality that gives them the amazing soundstage, the good basses and the definition they have. They're, IMHO, a great bang for the buck. They are about 20 euros in Spain (more or less, 30 USD) so they are damn cheap compared with your budget.

I have a friend who is an Apple earbud fan (yes...) and he couldn't believe it when he listened to the K313, specially when he knew the price.

In addition to SQ (which is, I'm afraid, pretty subjective), they are very comfortable. I usually can stand earbuds, because the place where they rest is small in my ears (while the rest of the ear is pretty big, but...), and for example the Senn MX-550 cause sore ear in minutes. The AKG doesn't, because they have a silicone ring in the driver rim, together with a very comfortable foam.

I've always been a Sennheiser fan, but I must admit that these buds sound much better than my old MX-550, specially in the bass department, and the detail is amazing for the price.

The main drawback are probably the colors. I don't mind the color of my earphones, I use them for listening to music, not as photographic models, but some people wouldn't wear an orange earphone. AKG K313 comes in orange and lime green only.

Not being an AKG fan, I'm eager to test new AKG models after the good surprise of the K313, which I bought because they were cheap and I needed a decent-but-disposable earphone.

Raúl

 

[a_tumiwa]

Crossroads hr1 ($175) and hr2 ($100), they have good sound quality and warranty more than 1 year