[Ryan41488]

In my never ending quest to find a great set of earbuds, someone on iLounge suggested I buy a pair of iFrogz Earpolution Noise Canceling Earbuds which can be seen here: Earpollution headphones - earbuds for iPods | ifrogz does anyone know of these earbuds, or perhaps good heard things about them?..I don't want them to be another brand of Skullcandy's (which I've heard from many people value marketing over durability and sound quality

). Or should I maybe look into a pair of Sony Mdr-Ex75 earbuds, even though I'm not sure they cancel sound very well?

 

[parhelictriangle]

Yeah. . . no. Please excuse my bluntness, but stop searching for "earbuds" and start searching for "in ear monitors (IEMs)" or "canalphones" if you want isolation and good sound quality. If you actually want earbuds, there are plenty of threads on this very site that will direct you to the best in your price range--say, a Yuin of your choosing. All but a search function away.

Your best bet, logically speaking, would be to trust the consensus of a bunch of raging audiophiles over "someone on iLounge" if you are, in fact, looking for good sound quality. No offense.

 

[Ryan41488]

Sadly. I do not have enough to afford one the more expensive types of IEM's, such as shure, the nice looking crossroad's, UE, etc, my budget is under 50.00. The iFrogz are actually not earbuds I suppose--they come with 3 different sizes of types, so I'm guessing that would mean they're canal phones?..

 

[parhelictriangle]

Yep, those are more in line with the Sennheiser CX-300 style of canalphone than true IEMs. If you can't find a review of it on head-fi, chances are it's probably not that great. Of course, there are always surprises, but the odds aren't great with the iFrogz, I would imagine. Looks a bit style over substance, and the product name doesn't really instill a lot of confidence.

I'd give you some recommendations, but my IEM experience is limited to my shures, and that's not what you're looking for. But if searching on head-fi doesn't get you anywhere, make a thread asking for some advice on sub-$50 earphones. Specify whether isolation is important or if you just want a good sounding standard earbud. Good luck.

 

[nickdawg]

I would give them a chance. Being on a budget myself I've tried lower-end IEM/headphones. Most recently I took the Skullcandy plunge with the Ink'd buds. Despite what the reviews may say, they are not that bad. Obviously if you're used to using high end products they will be crap. But if you're looking for a lower priced pair, maybe a "beat up" pair, they are pretty good.

I've never seen the iFrogz before, but seeing as they offer some isolation, they can't be too bad. FOr $19.95, I'd go for it.

 

[channum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by parhelictriangle /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you can't find a review of it on head-fi, chances are it's probably not that great.

I don't think that's even remotely close to being true.

If you find a bunch of positive reviews here on head-fi, it's probably pretty good.

If you don't find a bunch of reviews positive or otherwise it just means the people here went with the consenus again and haven't tried them.

Without looking around and seeing what other reviews are out there, you can't really draw any conclusions from a lack of data, that's just bad science.

I don't know anything personally about the iFrogz, but studogvetmed over on iLounge was "slightly impressed" by them, and he does know what he's talking about. I'd trust his word as well as anyone here (FYI, Ryan, I'm Code Monkey over at iLounge).

 

[nickdawg]

Often times the opposite is true. A headphone that is believed to be great gets a ripping on Head-Fi. Like Bose, everyone thinks they are great, but many reviews on Head-Fi say otherwise.

 

[parhelictriangle]

I didn't mean for that statement to be taken as definitive. While I realize that it is highly unscientific to dismiss a product's quality for lack of evidence, when someone is on a budget of $50 they probably have reason to be cautious with their purchasing.

That said, if iLounge yields enough good quality data on these things, factor it in. Didn't mean to to ruffle any feathers with bad science.

 

[gimmethatbeatfool]

I have the FX66 Air Cushions, and they are great.

Comfortable, great sounding and relatively cheap.

I actually prefer them over my SE210s.

If you do that little tape mod on 'em, it'll boost the bass by a large amount

 

[channum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by parhelictriangle /img/forum/go_quote.gif That said, if iLounge yields enough good quality data on these things, go for it. Didn't mean to to ruffle any feathers by improper application of the scientific method.

iLounge's official reviews aside, which I think someone here correctly pegged as better for "getting a feel of the product" instead of a definitive statement, the user base is just like here: you've got to read enough to know who's opinion is worth listening to. The crap to gold ratio is much worse over there, no question, but I had read the post he got the idea about the iFrogz from, and it's from a guy who's got his head screwed on straight so I stepped into defend him before he got lumped in with the crew over there who swears up and down that skullcandy are really high quality earphones.

 

[Ryan41488]

iFrogz actually remind me a lil of Skullcandy's. But, before I even came to this point with the iFrogz, I was looking at purchasing three possible pairs..The first were Philips Premium Sound earhook earbuds (even though they're more of a canal style due to having 3 different types of inserts), and was looking to get them, but some reviews said they were a little heavy on the bass side. The other pair was Scosche's Hi-Fi Noise Canceling earbuds, which, sadly their was only one review for that...I actually currently use a pair of Brookstone Surround Sound earhook earbuds, which, the quality, is AMAZING. The only bad thing is being earbuds, they don't block a lot of ambient noise and I cannot find any specs on them, even though I've had them for over a year or two. Anyway, I shall make a thread on here with my current budget number and see what suggestions I get.