[abbalongtoyou]

ive been reading for hours and hours but cant figure out....
 
simply put im looking for :
 
 
earphones with bass and good all around clean sound with mic line (would be nice) for my street riding places
 
 
budget isnt really an issue but would not drop $250 on a set of OK - nothin special earbuds
 
 
since im on the street riding i cant have iems that cancel noise outside 
 
 
 
using with my iphone 5s and mic line would be nice but not necessary 

 

[El Zilcho]

I recently purchased Bose Soundtrue In Ears for the reasons you mention (walking without losing situational awareness due to all external noise being blocked out).  Some on here will say they are terrible (Hey Tail,  haha).  They may be right, but when outside with external noise interfering they sound ok to me.  They are very comfortable and stay in place well.  They don't have much isolation, so you will hear what's going on around you pretty well (as long as your volume isn't cranked).
 
Inside, where it's quiet, I do prefer the sound of my other headphones.  But I just wanted them to listen to music and podcasts while I walk, and I'm very satisfied so far.
 
There are probably others available cheaper that do the job you are looking for.  The Bose aren't cheap ($100+ if you want a microphone/controls).  One issue Tail had with the Bose IEM was a cord failure.  I can't speak to their long term reliability for myself yet, as I've only had them about a week.

 

[abbalongtoyou]

i will look into those but i read many negative reviews on here for bose; will keep looking into them though im open to try them

 

[abbalongtoyou]

anyone else have anything?

 

[wskl]

I don't have any specific suggestions but there are various earbud threads on the site if you search, and also earbud reviews here:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/earbuds
 
You may also want to look into half in-ear designs such as 'Dunu Titan 1' because they generally do not isolate too well compared to traditional iems.

 

[Zankes]

I recently purchased pairs of these
 
http://www.amazon.com/FIDUE-A83-High-End-Triple-Driver-Earphones/dp/B00NEDC2TM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441084085&sr=8-1&keywords=fidue+a83
 
 
They have gotten huge praise on here, so maybe you should read about them. No mic though, but apparently they are super good sounding for the price, which I cannot comment on yet as they are on the mail coming to me, but I thought I'd mention.

 

[givmedew]

ive been reading for hours and hours but cant figure out....

simply put im looking for :


earphones with bass and good all around clean sound with mic line (would be nice) for my street riding places


budget isnt really an issue but would not drop $250 on a set of OK - nothin special earbuds


since im on the street riding i cant have iems that cancel noise outside 



using with my iphone 5s and mic line would be nice but not necessary 

I have the blue and white Bose sport headphones. Really the only reason I have them is because back in 2008 I bought Bose in ear for cell phone from verizon for $25 because we where getting rid of them (I worked there) after they broke Bose offered me these for $65 and they took my broken headphones. As someone else mentioned that they do not actually block much noise out is good and bad. Great for intended use of walking, jogging, running, cycling.

I live in Chicago and they worn great for that. Also I have found many friends who destroyed headphones from sweat. These should be better for that.

Sound quality? Bass is thin which honestly is a good thing as I can't stand bass that takes over everything... You can get good bass from open designs you need noise issolation for bass.

The mids are clear and musical. The upper mids at high volume as well as the lower highs start to get very harsh.

I find for most genre I can not listen to the Bose In-Ear over 60% volume on iPhone.

The have amount the highest voice quality which is good.

Mine haven't broken in yet but... Certainly these will be my audiobook headphones (that I sleep with) and my active headphones.

I am not happy with the quality from a critical listening point of view. I actually can't say they are better than the new iPhone in ears except that they stay in while running. But for walking and cycling the Apple where fine.

After that my recommendation would be the Sony H1 hybrid meaning they have a dynamic driver (normal) for lows and a balanced armiture (what's in the higher end in ears) to cover the mids and highs. You can have them as low as $120 from newegg they have been priced as low as $100 and it's likely you need to spend $250-300 to start finding thing that are as good or better.

They don't have a microphone but you can kinda add one. They make extensions that have that stuff built in. You could buy a Bose replacement cable for over ear headphones and it would plug right in. It would be super long but you could use rubber bands or something to tape it up. Your decision.

Must have a microphone? Well I am giving the Fidue A73 a shot. Got mine for $110 in America but be prepared for $150 from China. Reviews on them are great to amazing and I believe they have a microphone.

Also I have used some noise isolating lower cost Sony headphones and it's always surprising what I'm hearing from them. Rarely perfect across all frequencies but the details that come out are amazing. I think it's partly because Sony I think is the only brand to make their drivers and because they are noise isolating with a good amount of plugs to choose from you get so much more from your amplifier. When you have to battle background noise you have to use more amplifier power. No idea what small headphones use but let's say with the cheap Sony your using 1/10th a watt and it's super clean with no distortion. With the Bose if the impedance and sensitivity stayed the same you'd easily need 1 watt or 10x the power to overcome the background noise and you would still have some background noise and your ears would be a bit taxes from all the loudness. The driver doesn't work as well and the amplifier makes more distortion.

So I guess I have been surprised by Sony.

I don't think I'll return the Bose.

I'm looking for something that give me great imaging and that is not them so I need more headphones.

I'll be trying out the Fidue A73 and A83 and will be diving into the custom art music one custom in ears. But dr visits included with removable cables those are closer to high $300s.

As for DACs. Depending on price and what your music library is and how serious you are at different places... Personally on the go I don't think I'll be OK with my iPhone and lossless music. Long plane trip? Laptop and NuForce mini DAC/amp. At home PC w/ DIY iDSD capable DAC when the wife's asleep otherwise my near field listening setup on my PC with a huge dedicated amp and good speakers or my living room full floor standing Vienna Acoustics with all separates.

 

[Tail]

   Some on here will say they are terrible (Hey Tail,  haha).  

Hello!  
 
Yeah, I think they are terrible overall, at least that was my experience comparing to anything else I've tried for the similar price, or even lower (from 20$ Sennheiser CX150 as cheapest all the way to similar priced Vsonic GR07).
 
But, if you really don't want any noise at all period, than I guess there aren't many choices, Bose earbuds are certainly noticeably better than pretty much all other earbuds I've tried that have no isolation, including all those you get with smartphone. They are not that terrible but literally useless in my opinion outside, since to hear music well you need to crank up volume to almost hurting levels, depends on how loud outside is of course. For example in gym there were useless since music there is too loud, can't listen to 2 different songs at the same time... for bicycle wasn't good because of wind etc. But if you don't want any isolation at all Bose might be the best choice (there aren't many choices then to be honest).
 
If you however want earphones that seal ear canal (by doing so they give some level of isolation) story is different from my pov and there are many better choices, especially since budget isn't a bit problem to you. But again, if 0 isolation is what you seek, Bose gets +1 from me too (even tho I generally don't like them at all). 

 

[givmedew]

  Hello!  
 
Yeah, I think they are terrible overall, at least that was my experience comparing to anything else I've tried for the similar price, or even lower (from 20$ Sennheiser CX150 as cheapest all the way to similar priced Vsonic GR07).
 
But, if you really don't want any noise at all period, than I guess there aren't many choices, Bose earbuds are certainly noticeably better than pretty much all other earbuds I've tried that have no isolation, including all those you get with smartphone. They are not that terrible but literally useless in my opinion outside, since to hear music well you need to crank up volume to almost hurting levels, depends on how loud outside is of course. For example in gym there were useless since music there is too loud, can't listen to 2 different songs at the same time... for bicycle wasn't good because of wind etc. But if you don't want any isolation at all Bose might be the best choice (there aren't many choices then to be honest).
 
If you however want earphones that seal ear canal (by doing so they give some level of isolation) story is different from my pov and there are many better choices, especially since budget isn't a bit problem to you. But again, if 0 isolation is what you seek, Bose gets +1 from me too (even tho I generally don't like them at all). 

The sound on the bose are not good enough to use them as my only in-ears... but for walking, running, biking (in chicago), I don't want something that blocks out sound.  If I am on the lake shore trail I really need to hear if some one is ringing their bell behind me to get by.  Also when listening to audiobooks I prefer something that I can have in my ears for 4-8hrs and that if the dogs are acting up or wife is trying to talk to me I want to hear that stuff.
 
I just bought a pair of Fidue A73... hope they sound good.
 
My primary listening station is a NuForuce uDAC connected to a B&K Ref 4420 and Vienna Acoustics Haydn's and a Sunfire TrueSub MKII.  They serve as my computer speakers and I can plug my headphones into the uDAC and it cuts off the speakers.  I have the computer monitor plugged into a power sensing surge protector that shuts off the amp when the monitor shuts off.
 
Anyways we moved downtown and that made for less space so I no longer have my own office and I need headphones more than ever.  The Sennheisers I have owned since 2002 (HD 590) are open air and I can hear everything going on around me including my very loud wife.
 
Hopefully I can find something I like.