[Berlioz]

After work the other day, I met up with one of my friends for coffee. It was pretty boring actually, until conversation drifted onto something actually interesting - headphones.

She brought out this little candy box that had her iPod shuffle in it, and showed me these little pink earphones. The outside had a bright pink transparent bead on it with little white cats. She said "These are like - the best headphones evah!"

Intrigued, I gave them a listen. I wasn't exactly sure what the track was, but it sounded quite a bit like....noise. It's a little hard to describe them really. Just imagine everything you'd ever want in a headphone, and now imagine everything else.

I wasn't surprised, but I was shocked. It couldn't have sounded like the original song at all. It completely removes the point of listening to music. You might as well be listening to ambient noise or just raw distortion.

Obviously, these products exist all around us. I'm curious as to what other peoples experiences are like. Is low-fi going to destroy music?

Lastly, there's just something I want you to try. Afterwards I went home and dug out my old iPod, charged her up, and listened to some good old 128 kbps tracks off the stock earbuds. I have never, ever been so glad to have my portable system. Try it out. It will make whatever setup you have seem ever more satisfying. Probably the cheapest upgrade possible!

 

[hockeyb213]

probably the apple buds are about the worst pair of earphones I ever had along with many other stock buds. Outside of that the only other headphones I have bought were the westone 3's that I was really unhappy with. No matter how hard I tried it was impossible for them to sound good for me. I think the shape of my ear canal had something to do with the issue. But I don't think stock buds are any danger to us especially considering most don't even keep them and get slightly better crap like skull candy or bose XD

 

[cornman]

These earbuds that came with a portable dvd player. I didn't even recognize the song they were so bad.

 

[PG21]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berlioz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is low-fi going to destroy music?

Nope, it won't.

However, Skullcandy FMJ's were the worst pair of headphones I've tried.

 

[koven]

apple earbud

 

[younglee200]

1 dollar earbuds that my friend bought from the dollar store when her apple earbuds broke... utill I bought her a new one for her birthday.

The plug had some strange color that I haven't really seen before

 

[ljokerl]

1.) 10 year old $4.99 Maxell earbuds from radioshack
2.) Sandisk Sansa buds (2 diff't types, 2 "signatures", 2 different ways to destroy music)

 

[ma_t14]

The stock earbuds that come with the Nokia N95. No bass at all. They only produced noises that sounded a bit similar to the music I was feeding them

 

[saintalfonzo]

gameboy earbuds... I remember as a lad barely being able to stomach Bach's French Suite No. 3 while playing Tetris. It's a horribly disturbing memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

 

[xkRoWx]

True, compared to our higher end gears, Apple earbuds are bad, but they're free. I don't consider them "low-fi" since I didn't have to pay a penny for them.

But they were "tolerable". If you know how to fiddle with the EQ, it gets a tad bit better. But not anywhere as good as my MS-1. Also, having a good fit with the iBuds with your ears are quite important as well, since the buds aren't quite designed for loud volume playbacks without distortion.

Worst headphones I've heard (and paid for) were these..

I took apart of the headphones, and guess what? The transducers are placed backwards!! The "filter" is stuffed with cheap porous foams. "Virtual surround sound"? All you hear are backwaves and reflected soundwave from a poorly damped, thin piece of plastic with a breathing hole. Talk about muddiness and non-existence in higher frequencies. These are by far the worse piece of sh!t I've heard, much, much, much worse than iBuds.

Don't believe me? They're only $10, and you're in for a treat for garbage sound quality. Try it out for yourself, and you'll appreciate your iBuds. I'm serious.

 

[saintalfonzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xkRoWx /img/forum/go_quote.gif True, compared to our higher end gears, Apple earbuds are bad, but they're free. I don't consider them "low-fi" since I didn't have to pay a penny for them. But they were "tolerable". If you know how to fiddle with the EQ, it gets a tad bit better. But not anywhere as good as my MS-1. Also, having a good fit with the iBuds with your ears are quite important as well, since the buds aren't quite designed for loud volume playbacks without distortion. Worst headphones I've heard (and paid for) were these.. I took apart of the headphones, and guess what? The transducer is placed backwards!! The "filter" is stuffed with cheap porous foams. Talk about muddiness and non-existence in higher frequencies. These are by far the worse piece of sh!t I've heard, much, much, much worse than iBuds. Don't believe me? They're only $10, and you're in for a treat for garbage sound quality. Try it out for yourself, and think how much better the iBuds are.

ibuds cost more than $10. Just because they come with the ipod doesn't mean they're free; trust me, you pay for them and they are crappy just like any earphones that come with an mp3 player.

 

[xkRoWx]

The problem is, iBuds are not durable. I have not, and will not ever spend $29 on a pair of headphones that'll last for 2 months of use. They are notorious of having either one driver blown, cracking (distortion) or ripped cable. Not to mention their cheaply terminated 3.5mm jack with white heatshrink that'll rip in weeks.

I will label anyone as an "Imbecile" for spending that kind of money on a pair of iBuds. They are clearly not meant to be purchased.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Theses ones, are an imitation of apple iem sold in Morrocco.
Cost 5$ (after conversion). The sound is worse than default apple earbud.
Sound is very veiled by the vibrations of the cheap plastic.
And can't speak of any "clarity" with them.

These were my first iem. And never again this.

 

[krmathis]

Koss The Plug. Just horrible!

 

[plonkersaurus]

The ipod earphones that came with my ipod touch werent actually that bad, they were a bit tinny but quite detailed, I was quite surprised, much better than previous generations.