[studeb]

Hi,

my 10 year old sony earbuds just died. Any recommended replacements that meet the following critereia:
1) Under $50
2) Well balanced sound, i am not a bass head, and listen to almost everything at work.
3) i would prefer not to have full noise blockage i.e. Ety style. i prefer to be able to hear some of what is going on around me.
4) Will be driven by a sony walkman. NOT discman. And micro plug would be a bonus.
5) Fairly easy to get. i don't want to wait 3 weeks to be able to listen to music here again.

Thanks,

Stuart

 

[Theresamarie1]

Hi,
I have tried numerous pairs of non-isolating buds and my favorite so far are the Sennheiser MX-500's. The thing about earbuds, at least for me, is that if I try a pair indepenant of any others, they always sound great. It's only when I try several pairs side by side (like I can now with my collection), that I can tell the sonic differences.
I like the MX-500's over all of the Sonys i've tested (currently have 848s and liked them much before I purchased the MX-500s) and mid-end Panasonics (can't read the number but they were in the $20 range). So you don't have to spend much for decent sounding buds.

If you're willing to spend a little more and try isolating buds, I like the ER-6s from ETYmotics for traveling.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Uncledan]

Koss KSC35

 

[studeb]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. My $50 is fixed as money is limited at the moment (job ends 12/31/3).

Stuart

 

[davei]

Go to Rat Shack and get some MX500s. Relatively cheap and nice sound.

 

[Jodiuh]

The shack has those buds! Sweet, thanks bro, but wagnerone was talking about a different style of mx500's called the headmax in this thread. I wonder

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally posted by studeb Hi, my 10 year old sony earbuds just died. Any recommended replacements that meet the following critereia: 1) Under $50 2) Well balanced sound, i am not a bass head, and listen to almost everything at work. 3) i would prefer not to have full noise blockage i.e. Ety style. i prefer to be able to hear some of what is going on around me. 4) Will be driven by a sony walkman. NOT discman. And micro plug would be a bonus. 5) Fairly easy to get. i don't want to wait 3 weeks to be able to listen to music here again. Thanks, Stuart

If you want to stick with buds, the Sennheiser MX400 or MX500 seems to be the best bet as far as something readily available. The 400 is the same as the 500 except it doesn't have a volume control. Both are available on sennheiserusa.com.

There's also the Senn PX100, PX200, and Koss KSC50, KSC55, KSC35 all under $50 if you want to try headband or earclip styles.

If you search for any of those model numbers you should find more posts than you'd ever want to read about them. ( said with intent to provide info, rather than to discourage questions)

 

[bubsdaddy]

I highly recommend the MX500's usually available for $16 including shipping from newegg.com. That leaves you $34 or so and if you want a second type of phone you could get the Koss KSC35's from koss.com or the Sennheiser PX200 from ecost.com.

 

[strohmie]

I'll echo the Senn recommendations, and would put the 400s on top of the 500s because I personally don't like having the volume control in the signal path. But your mileage may vary.

Beyond that, the Sony MDR-E888s can be had on eBay for about the asking price, and I think there's someone on this board who was trying to sell a pair he had. They run about $50, and may be more comfortable for your ears than the Senns with arguably better sound.