[bras0782]

Firstly, let me begin by saying how great a resource I think this forum is - people here seem to know what they're talking about and seem very helpful. Well done and thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I am after a pair of earphones to replace the crappy ones that came with my SONY NW-MS70D - I can't believe SONY has the nerve to bundle crap earphones with such an expensive player

!!! I am after EARphones that fit inside my ear like the SONY FONTOPIA series - I think HeadRoom call these canal earphones - but want to stay clear of HEADphones. I don't want anything too flashy because I can't afford it

- my budget is £20 (roughly $30) max.

Here are a few things that may be useful to know. I use my player solely for commuting on the trains so there is a fair amount of background noise (hence the need for inner-ear earphones), and so even though my volume will be high I doubt I will ever be able to hear crisp sound even with great earphones. I listen to mainly Hip-Hop and R&B music so bass is fairly important, although a general descent quality sound across the board is required. I only listen to the player for a total of 1 or 2 hours a day. I'm not sure if any of that is useful, but please let me know if I can give any more info to help.

Here are a few earphones I've liked the looks of, but I'm not sure if they're any good:

Sony MDRED21LP
Sony MDRED31LP
Sennheiser MX 500

I like the SONY ones because they will fit in my ear and not fall out due to sudden movement. Also, the inner-ear/canal design means they should substantially reduce the interference of external noise. However, there are loads of threads which sing praises for the Sennheiser MX500s - should they be picked above the SONY ones? What about the outside noise factor mentioned above ad the comfort of the inner-ear Fontopias?

Please suggest any other earphones which you think are the best given what I've written. I am from the UK so if anyone knows of a descent website to buy headphones from here or anything else that's handy please let me know.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Hiker]

The Senns represent a good value for sure, but I am not sure of their isolation capabilities. I haven't heard those sonys you mentions nor have I even heard of them. Unless they are some yet to be discovered gems, I would imagine that they aren't all that good. Your $30 budget really restricts your choices, especially if you want isolation and want it in an earbud/canalphone. Actually, there are really no choices at that price level that satisfy your requirements. I know how important isolation is in the environment you mentioned, so I won't mention any open headphones. I think the cheapest type canalphone that you are looking for that sounds good would be the Shure e2. I think it could be found for around $80. Some might recommend the Sony EX71, but I caution you to get this from a place where you know you can return it because in my opinion they sound like crap. However, some people actually like how they sound (can't figure out how) so they might work for you. I believe they can be found for around $50 or less.

By the way, welcome to Head-Fi . . . and sorry about your wallet. Spending lots of money due to upgraditis is an epidemic here (all for good reasons of course).

 

[chillysalsa]

"Bass Boost" and "Acoustic Twin Turbo" are two good reasons to stay away.

I used to like Sony earbuds in that price range.
Then I came here.
Then I got Sennheisers.

 

[bras0782]

Thanks for the responses guys

Quote:

Originally posted by Hiker I haven't heard those sonys you mentions nor have I even heard of them. ..... Your $30 budget really restricts your choices, especially if you want isolation and want it in an earbud/canalphone.

I'm surprised you haven't heard of them, they are pretty similar to - but lower models than - the EX71s you mentioned but I don't know of any reviews/opinions on them. Like you say I too have heard mixed opions on the EX71 - some people love them others hate them.

I agree that my budget lets me down, but I thought I'd be able to get a fairly good pair for that price. Of all the earbuds I've found very few (maybe only the EX71s) that are out of my price range. HeadRoom doesn't have any earbuds, canal ones they have are indeed very expensive - but I'm sure they would be an overkill for my needs. Those canals would most likely block out almost all background noise, but something like the SONY FONTOPIAS I've mentioned block out more than standard earbuds, but don't form a seal on the ear (one of the reasons for the lower price I assume). I am by no means an audiophile (although sieving through the masses of great posts here may change that

) and so I do not need top-of-the-range, high quality earphones.

Quote:

Originally posted by chillysalsa "Bass Boost" and "Acoustic Twin Turbo" are two good reasons to stay away. I used to like Sony earbuds in that price range. Then I came here. Then I got Sennheisers.

Are those Sennheisers the MX500s you refer to? Also, can you tell me why to avoid the Bass Boost? I ask because I have been told to look for this feature when buying a pair of Sony earphones.

Thanks again for the responses guys. Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

if you do a quick search you will find someone posted a review of MX500 against E888 (the most expansive sony earbud), eventho the M500 are much cheaper, may people seems to like mx500 more then e888

as for bass boosted headphones.....sony's lower price range earphones/headphones has nasty bass. and "Acoustic Twin Turbo" is just a fancy name to make the phones sound cool so people will buy them. there's not such thing as "turbo for heaphones" (lol...pump air into phones

)

 

[skagen]

Quote:

Originally posted by bras0782 I don't want anything too flashy because I can't afford it - my budget is £20 (roughly $30) max. Here are a few things that may be useful to know. I use my player solely for commuting on the trains so there is a fair amount of background noise (hence the need for inner-ear earphones), and so even though my volume will be high I doubt I will ever be able to hear crisp sound even with great earphones. I listen to mainly Hip-Hop and R&B music so bass is fairly important, although a general descent quality sound across the board is required. I only listen to the player for a total of 1 or 2 hours a day.

I have the MX-500. Nice phones, easily better than any Sony earbuds in my opinion - and cheaper. But it lets in a significant amount external sounds, so:
a) it wouldn't sound as great on the train
b) you will have to crank it up to hear it, which is bad for your ears

For your kind of usage, you are better off with an in.ear-canal phone. You I think the cheapest in-ear-canal phones you can get are the Sony EX-70 and 71. You can probably pick up a used pair on the ''For Sale/Trade'' section of this board for $25 - $35 at the worst. Also on the message board at MinidiscT.com, a lot of people have that model and you can probbaly get it used there. Just post a message. No need to waste money ($50) buying a new one.

There is also the Koss ''The Plug'' which is the owest priced in-ear-canal phone at about $15-20. Its not world class sound, but it does seal out external sounds which is critical in your situation. The Koss Plug can be found at Radio Shack or at best buy, I think.

Just so you dont misunerstand, I think the sound of the MX-500 is somewhat better than the EX-70/71, and definitely better than the Koss ''The Plug''.

BUT, I tried the MX-500 vs 'The Plug' in my gym and the Plug was comparable due to the fact that its very loud in that situation. Outside on the street, or at home, of course the MX-500 is better, but that's not your situation. In a loud environment, you just wont get to hear it, so really there's no point. And the EX-70/71 is better than the plug, so for a mere 5 bucks why not get it?

 

[bras0782]

Quote:

Originally posted by ProFingerSk8er if you do a quick search you will find someone posted a review of MX500 against E888 (the most expansive sony earbud)......

Yep, I saw that yesterday. The thing I've noticed about SONY earbuds - what I've read online - is that the higher prices do not necessarilly reflect better products, and more noticeable, newer models aren't always better than older ones. The EX71 is a good exampled - apparently it's much worse than it's predecessor the EX70.


Quote:

Originally posted by skagen I have the MX-500. Nice phones, easily better than any Sony earbuds in my opinion - and cheaper. But it lets in a significant amount external sounds, so: a) it wouldn't sound as great on the train b) you will have to crank it up to hear it, which is bad for your ears For your kind of usage, you are better off with an in.ear-canal phone. You I think the cheapest in-ear-canal phones you can get are the Sony EX-70 and 71. ............. BUT, I tried the MX-500 vs 'The Plug' in my gym and the Plug was comparable due to the fact that its very loud in that situation. Outside on the street, or at home, of course the MX-500 is better, but that's not your situation. In a loud environment, you just wont get to hear it, so really there's no point. And the EX-70/71 is better than the plug, so for a mere 5 bucks why not get it?

The Sony MDRED21LP and Sony MDRED31LP which I posted above are both 'in-ear-canal' and within my budget. I guess they may not be technically called 'canal' phones, but having owned a very similar designed old pair of SONY FONTOPIAS I know I will find them comfortable. Thanks for all the links and prices, but unfortunately I'm from the UK and so can't make the most of them

.

Your comparison of the MX-500 and the Koss in the gym is very useful to me - it replicates the kind of scenario I face - thanks for that. I assume URL=http://www.mp3players.co.uk/site/uk/koss_plugs.html]these are the Koss plugs[/URL] you refer to.

I think overall I am leaning towards the MX500s since everyone here loves them and no one seems to have heard of the Sony MDRED21LP or Sony MDRED31LP. I'm gonna try checking the local stores tonight to see if any of them stock the MX500s and then hopefully I can decide or get some advise

.

Any further advise/tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Eagle_Driver]

bras0782,

I own the predecessor of the MDR-ED31, the MDR-ED238LP. I don't like that 'phone at all; it's painfully uncomfortable to wear and very difficult to put on correctly, the highs are nonexistent and the low end is muddy. Its overall presentation is surprisingly "honky" for a small earbud, as well. Furthermore, they isolate much less than the true canalphones and earplug-type 'phones do deliver.

The MDR-ED## series are not true canalphones - but instead they are regular earbuds with a modified canal "groove cap". And that rubber piece that goes inside your ear canal is the major factor in muffling the sound from those Groove-series 'phones. Why? Because the rubber cap covers more than half of the driver area - but the entire driver area needs to be unobstructed for best sound.

 

[Lou Erickson]

I haven't tried Koss' "Plug", so this is all second hand, but most of the reviews I've seen, people didn't like them much.

Over at Headwize, there's some directions on how to improve them, but I don't know how interested you are in hacking merrilly on phones to make them sound better. None of the steps sounded really difficult, but it would require a lot of fiddling about.

Here's the link: http://headwize2.powerpill.org/proje...=cmoy4_prj.htm

 

[skagen]

My experience was that only useful mod on the Koss plug was the cheapest and simplest one - the so-called ''Silver mod''. I just used generic masking tape over the holes and that helped a tiny bit.

But overall I don't think the Plug is a phone you pick for audiophile reasons - you pick it as a cheap way to get the isolation of a canal phone. So in that sense, I understand all the negative reviews - they are a bit muffled and so on.

But once you're in a noisy environment all these comparisons from ideal situations are useless - you need isolation. So useda dual solution - I used the ''Plug'' in the gym, where it was noisy and the MX-500 for running outside.

After using the ''The Plug'' for about 3 months, I had more money in my budget and I switched to a more expensive canal phone (Ety ER-6), which I love.

But I think in the beginning, not having money to spend, ''The Plug'' gave me good value for money. I have no regrets on spending the $15, no matter how negative the reviews were from audiophiles.

 

[bras0782]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lou Erickson ........ Over at Headwize, there's some directions on how to improve them, but I don't know how interested you are in hacking merrilly on phones to make them sound better. None of the steps sounded really difficult, but it would require a lot of fiddling about. ...........

Quote:

Originally posted by skagen My experience was that only useful mod on the Koss plug was the cheapest and simplest one - the so-called ''Silver mod''. I just used generic masking tape over the holes and that helped a tiny bit. .................. But I think in the beginning, not having money to spend, ''The Plug'' gave me good value for money. I have no regrets on spending the $15, no matter how negative the reviews were from audiophiles.

Oh my god - modding headphones brings a whole new dimension to what I pictured as an audiophile

. I'm a complete newbie and so am picking things up as I go - but whoa, didn't realise the depth to which you can go with a pair of earphones. Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver bras0782, I own the predecessor of the MDR-ED31, the MDR-ED238LP. I don't like that 'phone at all; .............. Because the rubber cap covers more than half of the driver area - but the entire driver area needs to be unobstructed for best sound.

Thanks. I think this and other posts here are putting me off the SONY earphones.

Well, I have narrowed my list down to the Sennheiser MX500s or the KOSS 'The Plug'. The MX500 is winning so far since you guys say it produces the better sound by far, but 'The Plug' is hanging in there purely for the noise reduction factor.

Here are the specs:
MX500:
Frequency response: 18–22,000 Hz
Nominal impedance: 32 Ω
Characteristic SPL @ 1 kHz: 117 dB
THD: < 1%

[color=dark red]'The Plug'
Frequency Response: 10-20,000 Hz
Impedance: 16 ohms
Sensitivity: 112 dB SPL/1mW
Distortion: <0.3%[/color]

I have a question about Impedance: am I correct in saying it is better to have a higher impedance in the earphones so that it draws more of the voltage (greater P.D. across it) and hence more power? Also, how important are the last two rows of each spec - I have only a vague idea of what they measure?

Thanks

 

[matheis]

hello bras0782!!!

you've got pm

later
nikolaus