[nierika]

I'm having trouble finding a pair of portable-use headphones that isolate well for <$50. Right now I'm using a pair of Senn HD 280 Pros. I'm satisfied with their sound out of my ChromeX, but I'd like to find something a little less bulky. I've considered the following...

Audio-Technica ATH-R5: just got these in from Audio Cubes, but my head is too big.

Koss KSC-35/PortaPro/SportaPro: open and not enough isolation

Sennheiser MX-400/500: not enough isolation

Sennheiser PX-200: if they're anything like the HD 25sp's (small supraural earcups), they'll drive my ears/earrings crazy

Etymotics: too expensive


Any advice?

 

[antness]

The Shure E2C are similar to the cheaper Etymotics but less expensive. I believe you can find them around $79. Reviews so far seem to be mixed...but I'd bet they're still a big improvement over any of the cheaper ear buds.

 

[swalker]

If you want cheap isolation in a small package, you only have 3 options really...

Aiwa VX100, Koss Plugs, Sony EX70. These are all canalphone (although they don't really go that deep into your ears) and isolate reasonably well. As for sound quality... well.. the search function will give you many opinions on those, especially for the Sony model.