I know you have found a solution, but for those who use search to find information later, this may be useful. The best headphones for helmet use are the flattest. Helmets are supposed to be decently tight, tight enough to snugly hug your head, if there is any free movement it is too big. Bearing that in mind, the headphones need to be next to completely flat, I'm talking they remain inside the ear cavity. Over the ear is therefore a must, I've tried a few that wear straight down and it inevitably gives me a headache within half an hour. PL50's are good for this, PL30's are ok, as are MEelec M6, probably q-jays as well.
Secondly, sound quality is really not important. Why? Because you pay most attention to your riding and not the music, it's going to be background noise and that's just a simple fact. In addition, there are many other noises that filter in past the phones that ruin the quality anyway. Lastly, you're out riding, the point is to enjoy the ride not listen to music.
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You know it's illegal and will possibly kill you.... right?
You know you're a blithering moron and have no clue... right?
1. The is the biggest point by miles. You say you don't test yourself with anything in your ears. Well if you wear a helmet (not sure if you are in the backwards places that still think living in the stone ages means personal liberty), particularly a full-face helmet, you are constantly subject to 100+ dB of high pitched swirling wind noise through your helmet. This does two things. a) it damages your hearing b) it brings you much closer to the sensory overload point. I find the wind noise at much over 120-130 km/h is pretty much unbearable when trying to properly concentrate on your twisty road riding, that is when riding without hearing protection my brain doesn't let me get over about 80 mph on the mountain and hill country roads because the input is just too much. But it does damage your hearing, I would put it nearly on par with drumming in terms of loudness - go talk to any drummer about hearing loss.
I normally wear the foam insert ear plugs that are about 29 dB attenuators. I think most IEM's are around 19-20 dB, not as much but quite reasonable. With these in the sensory input of the wind in ears has disappeared and can fully concentrate on what the eye's see not what the ears tell. That top speed barrier falls to dust.
2. You can't hear other traffic anyway. You just can't. You might be able to hear a horn in close range or a truck accelerating and compression braking or other bikes, but that's all. You can't even hear a car creeping up beside you. Riding is all done with the eyes and if you start leaving things to your ears, you are selling yourself short. Add to this an aftermarket exhaust kit and most of all you can hear is your bike and wind noise.
3. It's not illegal so stop passing on old wives tales unless you can back it up. It's certainly not in Australia, nor anywhere else that I've hear of. Prove me wrong, the road rules for your particular locality should be readily available from your road authority so find the particular rule that mentions riding with phones under your helmet. Do you know that specifically designed speaker kits have been made for helmets? As well as cb radios and bluetooth sets for communicating within a group. These all use headphones or speakers.
