[breakfast]

I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD-555s that I love... but I wouldn't want to take them to school to study with due to their open-ness and sheer size.
 
I've gotten used to how comfortable and massively sounding they are so I'd be open to get a smaller pair of headphones that don't leak like crazy or possibly a pair of in-ear headphones.
 
I'd like to spend less than $100 but would be willing to spend up to $200. I'm not looking for studio-quality sound, just something better than the crap iphone headphones that I'm still using.
 
Edit: Just thought I'd mention that I'm in Canada in case that makes any difference (as it did for finding a fair price on my 555s...)
 
Edit2: I should clarify I'm looking for something really portable (easy to stow in backpack kind of thing).

 

[breakfast]

Bump. Any suggestions?

 

[DCofficehack]

HD 448. Great isolation. Comfortable.

 

[manarius]

Take a look through these threads and see if anything strikes your fancy. If you spot some that you like, feel free to ask more specific questions.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478568/multi-iem-review-158-iems-compared-westone-4-radius-twf21-added-03-27
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/433318/shootout-72-portable-headphones-reviewed-monster-beats-studio-added-03-22

 

[breakfast]

I've seen both the threads and don't think either have really helped me decide... I hate to say it but I'm pretty much looking for someone to spoon feed me a few ideas.

Perhaps to narrow it down, I'm looking for something extremely portable (ie for headphones they would have to be able to fold up small enough to throw into my backpack and similarly for IEMs and the like) yet comfortable enough to wear for potentially hours on end while studying. I don't need anything CRAZY AMAZING but decent enough to blow my iphone headphones away as well as ideally isolating sound a bit.

... it would also help if that IEM review page had a performance-to-cost column in the chart for the best bang-for-buck IEM

 

[bunch]

Maybe give the ATh-M50's a look.

 

[breakfast]

 
Quote:

Maybe give the ATh-M50's a look.

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm looking for something a lot more compact.
 

 

[manarius]

Alright. What kind of music are these for?

 

[DCofficehack]

Try downloading the xl spreadsheet associated with the big IEM comparison charts. Once you have that in excel, you can screw around with the data sort functions and organize by price, for example. I found that to be helpful.  If you don't know how to do that kind of thing with excel, frankly you should see this as an opportunity to learn to do so. It's one of those little skills in life that will prove to be very useful.
 
Quote:

I've seen both the threads and don't think either have really helped me decide... I hate to say it but I'm pretty much looking for someone to spoon feed me a few ideas.

Perhaps to narrow it down, I'm looking for something extremely portable (ie for headphones they would have to be able to fold up small enough to throw into my backpack and similarly for IEMs and the like) yet comfortable enough to wear for potentially hours on end while studying. I don't need anything CRAZY AMAZING but decent enough to blow my iphone headphones away as well as ideally isolating sound a bit.

... it would also help if that IEM review page had a performance-to-cost column in the chart for the best bang-for-buck IEM

 

 

[breakfast]

Quote:

Alright. What kind of music are these for?

It would be for some folk, rock, punk... a bunch of crap. Check out my last.fm if you'd like: http://www.last.fm/user/breakfast144


Quote:

Try downloading the xl spreadsheet associated with the big IEM comparison charts. Once you have that in excel, you can screw around with the data sort functions and organize by price, for example. I found that to be helpful.  If you don't know how to do that kind of thing with excel, frankly you should see this as an opportunity to learn to do so. It's one of those little skills in life that will prove to be very useful.
 


 

Yeah, I can check it out. I'm considering the Westone 1 IEM or  but I'm not sure if I'd be able to get them at a decent price in Canada.
 
 

 

[5370H55V]

How about the meelec ht-21 or audio technica ath-sj55? These are a bit cheaper than your stated budget but have gotten good reviews on headfi. Or if you'd prefer something bassy and dark, phiaton ms-300/400 are within your budget.

 

[breakfast]

Quote:

How about the meelec ht-21 or audio technica ath-sj55? These are a bit cheaper than your stated budget but have gotten good reviews on headfi. Or if you'd prefer something bassy and dark, phiaton ms-300/400 are within your budget.

I like what I hear about the ATH-SJ55, I'll definitely consider them.
 
Does anyone have some input for IEMs?
 

 

[hrbballman]

Audio technica ATH M-50's ALL THE WAY! I was in your same position a year ago when I first got into all of this. they are quite large but they isolate better than anything else i've tried.  They fold in on themselves and are decently portable when folded.  they are also pretty rugged.  I throw them in my bag and they have never cracked or broken.  My one complaint though is that after listening to them for an 2 hours or more the headband is a bit uncomfortable on the top of my head.  I know a lot of people really like them and they have a lot of good reviews.   They sound pretty good without an amp too.  If you do buy the ATH m50's i'd also buy the Shure SRH-840 earpads and swap out with the stock earpads.  its more comfortable and has a bit better isolation.  I've seen them as cheap as $70 in the for sale forum.  You should really really reconsider the M50's

 

[iem222]

Soundmagic PL-50 IEMs. Great sound quality (Balanced armature, typically only found in higher priced IEMs) at a bargain price (about $60). I haven't compared them to many other HPs, but they hold their own against my Grado SR-60i's and blow iBuds out of the water. Liquid vocals and mids and good speed and attack. They sound great any genre of music and don't really have a sweet spot in this regard. This can be good if you have wide tastes in music. MP4nation.net is based in Hong Kong and sells these headphones and he's a great guy to deal with, I bought mine from there and he has free but slow (He ships fast but HK Post takes a while) shipping to anywhere in the world, including Canada. The Westone 1's can probably outdo these sonically, but if you're looking for a good bargain in the IEM department, I recommend these. The ATH M-50's others have been mentioning I have not tried myself but have heard nothing but good reviews of them.

 

[TekeRugburn]

get customs.... learned all of physio and neuro with them on....and u can use them as ear plugs during tests.