[Venro]

I'm looking for an earbud headphone with the following requirements:

1. White or light grey (it's for an iPod)
2. isolation - the outside world can't hear your music and you can't hear the outside world
3. cord has to be portable length
4. bright presentation, but not too bright. Decent bass but mids are most important.
5. easy to drive, no amp required
6. COMFORT! - the most important thing. I owned the Apple In-Ears for about 2 weeks, and i just COULDN'T get those things in my ears. I need something that can go in and come out as fast as possible.
7. cheap - $50-150

These are for portable use only, for exersize and moving about. I have my HD650 setup for home use.

Is there anything that suits my needs?

 

[DaHoboFest]

jw, do u want to have white ear buds to have the "cool" ipod look?

 

[radicaltothemax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venro I'm looking for an earbud headphone with the following requirements: White or light grey (it's for an iPod) isolation - the outside world can't hear your music and you can't hear the outside world cord has to be portable length bright presentation, but not too bright. Decent bass but mids are most important. easy to drive, no amp required COMFORT! - the most important thing. I owned the Apple In-Ears for about 2 weeks, and i just COULDN'T get those things in my ears. I need something that can go in and come out as fast as possible. cheap - $50-150 These are for portable use only, for exersize and moving about. I have my HD650 setup for home use. Is there anything that suits my needs?

OOO damn
my recomendation made 6(5.5??) out of 7
The gerneral feeling around here are the CM7s are the best buds availible.
They arn't as exciting as my Grados, but still have the majority of the details, and the overall signature is really good with slower, more acoustic music.
You'll probally like the bass, its nice and focused, but not all that punchy and overpowering.


However, if you need isolation, your going have to look at the shures and the etys. Which, unfortunatly, I have never heard.

Edit: OOO man I am currently listning to some Depeche Mode with these babies....nice!!!

 

[sahwnfras]

Ety er6i seem to fit you, there white, there canal phones so they block out alot of noise and people cant hear your music, and there portable.

 

[catscratch]

Isolation and ease of wear are mutually exclusive, unless you're talking about full-size closed cans. I assume that's not the case.

Isolation means canalphones, which means that they won't be easy to put in and take out, nor will they be all that comfortable. Most canalphones use soft tri-flange or two-flange tips, which provide excellent isolation, but really irritate your ears until you get used to them. But, the same canalphones also usually come with alternate foam tips, which are a great deal more comfortable, but are disposable, and have to be replaced regularly, which will cost you some money (not much).

Based on your sound preferences, I'd say the Etymotic Research ER-6i is your best bet. They're white, so you can be all cool and trendy, though you won't hear people's "Is that an iPod?" comments, since they also provide ca. 20-30 dB of isolation. They're pretty bright and fairly detailed. Well, at least they're supposed to be, as I've never heard them. But, I have the ER-4P, their more upscale cousin, and I expect sound signatures to be pretty similar. The ER-4P has a fairly sharp high-end, and is a bit bright overall, but nicely balanced despite that brightness, and exceptionally detailed.

The ER-6i should be within your budget (ca. $130-150ish).

The Future Sonics IE3 may also be an option, but I know very little about them, save that they're also in your price range ($99 from the manufacturer) and are supposed to be quite good.

The Shure line (e2c and e3c are within the budget) have a different sound signature - warm, dark, with rolled-off treble - which probably won't be to your liking.

No isolation probably means earbuds, and the Audio-Technica ATH-CM7 may be what you're looking for. They go for $129 from www.audiocubes.com

 

[PachmanP]

the sony ex71's and 51's and the sharp md33's are suposed to be more comfortable than the shure's or ety's. The ex-71's I've seen come in pod-person white so that'd be set, but none of the above are supposed to sound as good as the er-6i's or the shure e2c (which aren't white) and then e3c's; but I haven't tried any yet so take my word with a grain of salt and/or use it as keywords for a search.

edit: I sepll goodly.

 

[viper_45]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PachmanP the sony ex71's and 51's and the sharp md33's are suposed to be more comfortable than the shure's or ety's. The ex-71's I've seen come in pod-person white so that'd be set, but none or the above upposed to sound as good as the er-6i's or the shure e2c (which aren't white) and then e3c's; but I haven't tried any yet so take my word with a grain of salt and/or use it as keywords for a search.

I have the Sharp MD33s and I have to say they are very comfortable and easier to insert than any other canalphones I've tried. Their overall clarity is good, although some might say the mid-bass is too strong (like myself). They are comfortable enough to sleep with them on (they are low profile aswell) and the isolation is good enough for most purposes. I would recommend them unless you have a particular distaste for strong mid-bass.