Need help, low budget canal/ headphones

Oct 3, 2004 at 2:35 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 28
Bigwill

Bigwill

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Of all of the low budget canal phones, which ones are the best bang for my buck? ex71sl? I heard the sharp md33s are better, but how do they compare with the e2c and er6? Are there any other ones I'm missing?

Also what would be the best value for a set of headphones? Absolute max price at $100?
ksc-35, portapro? which one of the portapro series do you find sound best?
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 2:45 AM Post #3 of 28
I have the sony ex71. They are ok. they were my first decent phone. If you are just coming from stock phones, the immediate presence of bass is impressive. However, its weaknesses are soon apparent. Bass is too boomy and overshadow everything it seem.

From my own experiences with various phones and the forum, the forums has always been very accurate so I have no doubt the md33 are very good/better than the sony to most ears.

Never try the ety or shure, they are imo totally different class than sony. Sony is disposable, those you take good care of. I won' hestitate to just toss my sony into my bag, I will treat anything 60+ with more care.

I've been doing some research on the future sonic phone. I am somewhat tempted to get this... or one of AudioTechnica's clip on or their ear bud... sigh... There is not much about it here. There are some discussion. some place it somewhere between e3 and e5. They are also branded Sennheiser IE3. http://futuresonics.umsebiz.com/stor...75&item=370255
at the very top end of your budget.

Never tried the koss, tho I was just at 3 of the radioshack stores around trying to find the koss 75
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I do have the Senn 497 which is like 50-60 bucks and they are very nice. I do prefer my Audio Techinca a500 quite a bit, unfortunately, its a few bucks over the 100 dollar limit.

edit: It should be obvious that you are looking for portability :P if so, disregard the headphones I mentioned, especially the a500
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Oct 3, 2004 at 4:28 AM Post #6 of 28
I like the Shure E2's but the only other canalphones I have listened to are the ER4P's
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 4:50 AM Post #7 of 28
I'm in the middle of doing a Sony EX71 / Shure E2 comparaison (the one I don't like goes back to the store).

As it is, the EX71 has a HUGE comfort edge, but the shures sound better. Not quite as veiled, and a little more fun.

They're both good, and I enjoyed the EX71 for a couple weeks before the shures got here, and they were quite nice. It was only by comparaison that they suffered. The EX71 were a large step up in enjoyment over my previous portable cans (mx400).

If you have the money, I'd go for the E2 (of the two) but the EX71 is also a good value.
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 6:13 AM Post #10 of 28
I owned the e2c's for about 3 months and the ex71's for 5 months (I still use them actually). While the e2c's definatly sound better (cleaner is maybe the word I would use to describe the difference), the ex71's TOTALLY win out when it comes to comfort. As a matter of fact, the ex71's are the only pair of headphones I found comfortable enough to last me over 3 months. And I have tried alot of supposedly comfortable headphones.
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 12:37 PM Post #11 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by commando
How do you rate the detail between the two?


I'd say that the EX71 has more percieved detail in the treble, but that the E2 has much more percieved detail in the mids/bass. This may be due to a function of their tonalities though.
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 3:25 PM Post #12 of 28
I am also looking into getting some lower-end canalphones, as soon as I settle on and buy an mp3 player
rolleyes.gif


I am currently using HD-280 pros (bought them by recommendation from a friend, and this forum) how would the md33/e2/ex71 or any other sub-$60 canalphones you can find compare? Should I buy one of these or go for the er6i? What about amps? Will I need to use an amp with all these phones, or which ones can I use ampless?

Currently, I'm a bit low on cash, but i think that by Christmas, I'll be set to buy my stuff...

BTW: 1st post whooohoo....
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 9:55 PM Post #13 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by ChickenScrtchBoy
I am also looking into getting some lower-end canalphones, as soon as I settle on and buy an mp3 player
rolleyes.gif


I am currently using HD-280 pros (bought them by recommendation from a friend, and this forum) how would the md33/e2/ex71 or any other sub-$60 canalphones you can find compare? Should I buy one of these or go for the er6i? What about amps? Will I need to use an amp with all these phones, or which ones can I use ampless?

Currently, I'm a bit low on cash, but i think that by Christmas, I'll be set to buy my stuff...

BTW: 1st post whooohoo....


Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet
wink.gif


Which earbuds to get depends on what you want. EX71s (which I have) are a little bass heavy but to my ears have pretty good clarity, are comfortable, but don't isolate as well as other canal phones. MD33s are meant to be better ballanced but as comfortable with similar isolation. ER6i's will have better clarity again, but the bass will be a bit weaker - plus they're a bit more than $100 I think.

I wouldn't recommend an amp - it defeats the purpose of a portable system IMO. Amps didn't help the Shures I had, and don't help the eX71s either. Most canal phones are designed to be very easily driven because only lunatics like the people on here have portable headphone amplifiers
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Oct 3, 2004 at 10:42 PM Post #14 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by commando
Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet
wink.gif



hah yeah...

Quote:

Which earbuds to get depends on what you want. EX71s (which I have) are a little bass heavy but to my ears have pretty good clarity, are comfortable, but don't isolate as well as other canal phones. MD33s are meant to be better ballanced but as comfortable with similar isolation. ER6i's will have better clarity again, but the bass will be a bit weaker - plus they're a bit more than $100 I think.


I think I want a quite a bit of isolation, especially since one phone can easily be removed with canalphones (unlike the bigger cirumaural phones I use at home.) but, this is not 100% needed...

Another thing I am looking for is comfort... since I will be wearing these from anywhere between 15 minutes to over 6 hours (car ride from just south of San Fran up to Seattle
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)

Sound quality is an obvious one, but since I haven't developed and audiophile ear quite yet, I don't think this will effect my choice too much, but I dont want crap either...

Right now, I am thinking of getting ER6i's (~$120?) but maybe E2c's since they seem to be a good buy at $60 American...

Quote:

I wouldn't recommend an amp - it defeats the purpose of a portable system IMO. Amps didn't help the Shures I had, and don't help the eX71s either. Most canal phones are designed to be very easily driven because only lunatics like the people on here have portable headphone amplifiers


Good to hear!
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 10:52 PM Post #15 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by ChickenScrtchBoy
Right now, I am thinking of getting ER6i's (~$120?) but maybe E2c's since they seem to be a good buy at $60 American...


I had Shure E3's and hated them: the treble is so recessed it sounds like they have no details. I honestly far prefer EX71s to them - actually i'm using them now, at work. I wouldn't buy any of the current Shure range, maybe the E5's, but probably not even them: i'd go straight to the UE5's.

Some people seem to like E2's though. I think they're crazy, but everyones ears are different.
 
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