Good earbuds?

JJtheunicycle · March 18, 2009, 9:48pm

I’m going to Portland tomorrow and my stupid crappy Skullcandy ear buds just stopped working.

I prefer the ones that go inside your ear like this
Not the kind that iPods come with.

Can anyone recommend some good ear buds for under 50 dollars?

SirSkillz · March 18, 2009, 9:53pm

I have these with my ipod
-Griffin TuneBuds Earphones - 9402TUNBDSS - Silver

They’re 30 dollars(Canadian). They’re not great, but they get the job done.

Jerrick · March 18, 2009, 9:59pm

I mount a pair of close field monitors at 30 degree angles to my ear on my head.

wickedbob · March 18, 2009, 10:25pm

I use these all the time for everything and really like them, they sound really good for buds and stay in place unlike most. Probably not as good as the skulls though. I like them a lot and they are very comfortable. They don’t shove into your ear, but they don’t have a crappy bass lacking sound like alot of buds out there.

For a few more bones, pretty sure over 50, you can get these Really good sound quality, I’ve never used this version, but have something very similar by Sony. Same buds, different style/body. Pretty comfortable.

john_childs · March 19, 2009, 12:11am

JVC has some descent in-ear phones. Fred Meyer carries them.

The HA-FX66 is about $30 or less
The HA-FXC50 is about $40

I haven’t heard the HA-FXC50 so consider it an unknown and I’m not sure if Fred Meyer carries it.

saskatchewanian · March 19, 2009, 2:54am

I had these for just over a year and they were a huge improvement over the standard iPod ear buds. Both more comfortable and better sound.

kerosian · March 19, 2009, 2:19pm

I like the zune pro headphones, good sound, comfortable. $50.

BillyTheMountain · March 20, 2009, 10:25am

Now that it’s spring time, I look out at my ear tree and look forward to watching the ear buds open up.

john_childs · March 20, 2009, 10:29am

There is something about that quote that just makes me smile.

Ben_Ceyssens · March 20, 2009, 10:46am

I got these: Philips SHS3200/37 Earbuds. They’re quite awesome since they don’t fall out of you ear when doing trials :).

Phil_on_uni · March 20, 2009, 10:51am

you know… skullcandy’s usually have a life time warrenty… might just have to call them, or mail them to them.

I have a pair with titanium speakers that i love…

john_childs · March 20, 2009, 12:04pm

But then you’d end up with a coupon good for 50% off from MSRP on a replacement Skullcandy. Why would you want to do that?

Skullcandy headphones honestly don’t sound very good. There are better sounding headphones out there for the same money. The stock Apple earbuds aren’t that good either. Why listen to bad sound if you don’t have to?

BillyTheMountain · March 20, 2009, 2:41pm

don’t earbuds cause MORE hearing damage than other headphones?

Jerrick · March 20, 2009, 3:42pm

+1

I never liked skullcandy and the hype around them. But its hard to talk people out of them.

john_childs · March 20, 2009, 4:34pm

That depends.

Earbuds are those little earphones that sit in the ear next to the ear canal but don’t actually block or seal the ear canal. They don’t block any outside noise so if you use them outside or in a noisy environment there is a tendency to turn them up louder to hear the music over the outside noise.

There are also canalphones (a.k.a. IEM for In Ear Monitor) that go all the way into the ear canal. They have either a silicone rubber or foam tip that blocks the ear canal like an ear plug. They block out outside noise so there isn’t a tendency to play them as loud to hear the music over any outside noise.

So earbuds could be causing more hearing damage.

The Skullcandy earphones that JJtheunicycle posted a picture of are of the canalphone style. They block some outside noise.

BillyTheMountain · March 20, 2009, 5:11pm

john_childs:

That depends.

Earbuds are those little earphones that sit in the ear next to the ear canal but don’t actually block or seal the ear canal. They don’t block any outside noise so if you use them outside or in a noisy environment there is a tendency to turn them up louder to hear the music over the outside noise.

There are also canalphones (a.k.a. IEM for In Ear Monitor) that go all the way into the ear canal. They have either a silicone rubber or foam tip that blocks the ear canal like an ear plug. They block out outside noise so there isn’t a tendency to play them as loud to hear the music over any outside noise.

So earbuds could be causing more hearing damage.

The Skullcandy earphones that JJtheunicycle posted a picture of are of the canalphone style. They block some outside noise.

good info. thanks!