[morning]

haha, sorry the title was cut-off. I am currently debating between similarly priced headphones on Amazon, namely: TF10, CK10, SE530, IE7, UM2, W2. I also debated the PFE112 and Klipsch Custom 3's. I listen to mostly rock music but sibilance and harsh highs really hurt my ears. My budget has increased to between 200-300 dollars. What do you guys think is the best bet? Going to be used on long airplane rides in a few weeks. I forgot "durability" in my title and that seems to be a question mark with the shure's, custom 3's and the tf10s...

 

[semisight]

Klipsch Custom 3? If you can bear the terrible cables. Save some money on a discontinued product that's just as good as the Shures and probably better then the TF10s (overrated IMO, but then I'm not a fan of the recessed mids).

 

[morning]

I had two pairs of Shure E2C's whose cables have resulted in exposed wiring over time. I think it must be the Canadian winter. Would you think that I could be lucky with the Custom 3's?

 

[rawrster]

well TF10 isn't great for isolation, comfort and there are durability issues with them. The CK10 isn't exactly a warm phone and probably will be harsh to your ears but is well built and comfortable.

 

[Bum Rush]

I have Westone 2s and they are really good for rock. I can honestly say that they meet all of your requirements; they are very durable, have good isolation, great comfort, a fairly large soundstage, and a slightly warm sound signature. I use a Sansa Fuze v2 with LAME V0 encoded MP3s, and I only get sibilance on older recordings such as Killer Queen by Queen. Also, I've yet to find any highs harsh, but YMMV.

 

[mark2410]

se530
 
no harsh highs and isolates

 

[Flavio T]

For comfort you can eliminate TF10. Long plane rides: W2.

 

[morning]

K, I went with the Westone 2's! $264 all in. Hoping these blow my e2c's and re2's out of the water lol. Thanks for the advice!

 

[morning]

Loving the Westone's but I do find the sound pretty muffled with the comply's. Am I doing it wrong? I roll up the foam and hold it a few seconds in my ear, is there a way to brighten them up a little (could it be that the size is too small?) or is that the case with all comply's?

 

[ajkda]

Don't know if you still want the info. But I went with Um2s when I tried CK10, UM2, W2. Um2s have more bass and CK10 sounds cleaner with the W2 I think I had a bad fit and heard little to no bass at all. I tried them in this order CK10>W2>UM2.