[brass]

I know nothing about headphones, but I'm planning to get an archos jukebox soon so here's what I want:
very portable
comfortable
something where I'll be able to hear in a noisy environment without cranking the vol up too much (I used to have a cd player with some earbuds and they drove me crazy because of this)
very well-distributed sound
I like sound with a lot of very smooth accurate mid-bass, not boomy bass, and no hissy tinny treble
I don't want to spend more than $30 on them

what would be my best bet?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Well, brass, that's an extremely tall order. None of the sub-$30 headphones deliver anywhere close to what you're looking for. You want balanced sound, excellent portability, at least some isolation, high efficiency, and no boomy bass or screechy treble - all for under $30? All of the sub-$30 headphones that I've seen and heard suffer from two or more deficiencies against what you're looking for. And that makes them no better than mediocre overall.

The only headphone that I can think of that meets most of your requirements and desires is the expensive ($300) Etymotic ER-4P. But then again, you may not want all that isolation that the canalphone design offers (it may block out too much external noise).

 

[brass]

hmm, well those earbuds I had before were the sennheiser mx400s ($12) . I thought those sounded great, so if there's anything that has similar sound to those, but gives me more isolation, while still being portable, I'd be happy

 

[LTUCCI1924]

brass
HI: for the little bit of money and if you allready have the senn.mx400 I would sugest a set of slicsound. Cost 15.00 shipped. www.slicsound.com and read about them

 

[Hamsterball_Z]

AHHH!!! Not the SlicSounds again!!!

You know, the only thing that really gets me about those things is the price. I find it hard to justify $15 for a piece of plastic to go on $12 earbuds. Whatever (questionable) sound qualities they may have they just gotta cut that price in half.

(HBZ)

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

what about those Aiwa canal-buds (vx100??? v-500??) what was the model again? run a search on the aiwa buds. im too lazy right now.

 

[JaZZ]

Most important: don't use low-impedance phones with the Archos Jukebox! I own one – and there's no bass at all with the Sony MDR-F1 (12 ohms) and not much of it with the Grado SR 80 (32 ohms), but the Koss Portapro (60 ohms) work well (although they don't provide isolation...). Note: most of the portable MP3 players suffer from this phenomenon: bass rolloff with low-impedance phones. Alternative: separate amp.

JaZZ

 

[Magicthyse]

Hmmm. For sub-$30, there's only really the Koss Plugs delivering isolation and acceptable sound quality. They do have a problem with fit though - and the design may make the sound worse than the included phones...

So, spend a bit more and go for the EX70.

VX100's are supposed to be good, but with one earbud size, I dare say some might have sizing issues - the EX70 comes with three sizes of cushion.

On the Archos, you can crank up the treble EQ and back off the bass to get something resembling a 'normal' sound on the EX70.

Jazz: Couldn't you get an impedance matching cable or something if that really is an issue?

 

[JaZZ]

Magicthyse...

...yes, an adapter (cable) with two serial resistors that bring the system impedance to at least 50 ohms would fix the bass flaw. The disadvantage therefrom: seriously affected efficiency.

JaZZ

 

[kelly]

If you could consider bumping your budget up to around $55, the Sony V6 would become an option. This is a closed headphone so it'll be easier to hear in a noisy environment without causing you hearing damage and it has a little bit of a bass hump that would probably compensate for the Jukebox's shortcoming. It also folds for portability and is pretty rugged. If you decide not to go with earbuds, you should at least consider them.

 

[JaZZ]

No Sonys, please!

(Kelly...

) All Sonys have low impedance voice coils – one thing the Archos (like most of the other MP3 portables) is allergic to. It isn't bass-shy at all otherwise. Anyway, the roll-off due to the undersized outlet capacitors can't be compensated by any «bass hump», there will be a lack of low bass in this case.

JaZZ

 

[fiddler]

You did say your 60 ohm Portas work though, JaZZ. The Sony's actually have higher impedance than that (63 ohms) and are more efficient.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

«The Sony's actually have higher impedance than that (63 ohms)...»

Thanks, fiddler, and sorry to kelly!

I didn't find any data regarding the V6's impedance in the internet and simply assumed they were the usual Sony style (20-32 ohms)... But with 63 ohms, they will work well with the Archos, of course!

JaZZ

 

[kvman]

Well, this is my first post here (congrats are accepted).

After I failed to find MX400/500 in my little town of Moscow I found myself at this forum (and on a headwize.com one) and found invaluable info. In short, the choice of earbuds/light ports is not that big MXs, EX70, 888s, KSC-35 and top-of-the line Aiwa (though Aiwa is sort of terra incognito)

Since Sony rarely provides best price/quality ratio, KSCs cost >40$ here, MXs were absent, I decided that I'll bet on a "dark horse". Today I've bought Aiwa ED500 headphones (its the same ED400 headphones blr+ was talking about, with a volume control). There is some confusion about namings, but thanks to another forum (at headwize.com) I found the light. North American V551/V553 are the same headphones as European ED400/ED500 (btw v161 is ED100, so fi you want smth near top of the line look elsewhere). There is also ED700 (that with some sapphire coating and so on, but nearly all ppl who listened to them on the web say they suck in comparison with ED400/500). So ED400/500 is "de facto" top of the line. I paid 14$ for my new earbuddies.

Now for impressions. In noisy places it was hard to judge, since I didn't manage to achieve good isolation - that rubber things suck IMHO (I think I'll mod headphones in a way Blr+ did it - will put foamies instead of that rubber thors). But when I got to more or less quiet place, I was more and more amazed. I'm not an audioexpert or smth (all I can compare my buds to is behind-the neck-Philips HS501 and old AKG K4 (btw does anyone knows smth about that AKG phones?), but it seems that no detail can hide from that ED500s. (on Bach CD every push on pedal and even at one moment some subtle and strange vibration of organ, that clearly was not welcomed by sound engineers were clearly audible; on "the 3 Tenors" CD I could easily hear every movement in orchestra band, chairs and floor squeaks and so on. On Queen CD in "Somebody to love" during most important point of Freddie's solo I was surprised to clearly and unexpectedly hear like he swallows saliva before going to another peak (never heard it before).

Highs and mid-highs are very clear. I'd like bass to be stronger, but IMHO the modification will improve it. Mid-lows, hmm there's smth I don't like about them in some moments, but I don't understand what - sound was a bit muddy a couple of times (or maybe some recordings are not so clear).

And finally, at some moments the sound is VERY realistic. When I was walking alone on a road, listening to "Wish you were here", and in one track there is that laughter in left channel, well when I heard it, I started from suddenness and looked over my left shoulder as if someone was behind me. I believed the sound of human voice that much only while watching "StarWars1" in Dolby-equpipped cinema (I looked behind my shoulder everytime the mother of Anakin called her son - i was thinking the controller wants to ask me about smth

All in all, very pleased with my first quality earbuds (but not totally blown away - all in all its earbuds), but I think I'll also buy MX400/500 for comparison.

P.S. Woooooh.