The best earbuds debate

[wobbles]

Klipsch s4 /thread

[Smiles]

Sol Republic Amps Hd's.

[AxeD]

Wtf is this crap about dre earbuds? Just get some AKGs or Klipsch.

[kruptah]

Shure's earbuds look decent still. 2year warranty, replaceable cord, etc etc...

Klipsch would be the runner up but in a lower price bracket...

Going to be awhile still before i cop either.

I don't know about those Monster ones. Anything with the word Monster in it throws me off. Reminds me of an energy drink, still.

[unwind]

Personally i don't see anything wrong the monster brand. Their products are high quality and don't sacrifice anything for anything. They are only expensive if you buy their products from expensive retailers. Online you can get their products significantly cheaper. Obviously the name has unfortunately been tainted by dre beats but there's a reason why dre's lil beats aren't called monster lil jamz and vice versa - the jamz aren't a fashion statement - they're a high quality earphone with evidently great durability and sound. I owned a pair of bose in ears before the jamz and before those i used Akg k313's and out of the three the jamz are by far the best.
Take a look at the monster turbine pro's.

If you have £100 or more to spend though i'd go for nothing less than shure, like someone else said the cables are replaceable which is an unrivalled quality imo, plus they are just gaddamn beautiful earphones

[AxeD]

Hm yeah, they f'ed up in the marketing department then. Because I basically think Monster = Dre beats

[Electric_Head]

I have a pair of sennheiser cx300ii.
I'm very happy with them.

I also have a pair of over the ear Beyederynamics DT990.
I don't have any issues with the sens compared to the Beyers in terms of general listening.
They're certainly not for production but I find they give a very good representation of sound.

[ronnikins22]

i just buy a 10 dollar pair and get a new pair every 6 months or so. but recently i bought a pair, idk what their called but they have a biohazard sign on the outside of the buds. i noticed earbuds last a lot longer if you don't roll them up and carry them in your pocket. because i stopped doing that, and i've had this last pair for over a year.

[pompende]

Use over the ear whenever possible putting a sound source near your tympanic membrane is bad news bears

just so you SNH readers can rest easy i want to make it clear that there really is nothing dangerous about using insert earphones / earbuds assuming you have a modicum of common sense.
supra-aural / over-the-ear headphones are capable of producing just as many dB SPL at the eardrum as insert earphones are.
if you "cap" the output on your mp3 player so that the maximum volume is a reasonable, non-painful, level (easily done on an ipod) then you will never do damage to your hearing with the inserts.

as it happens the insert earphones couple to your eardrum very well and can provide a much better signal to noise ratio than any supra-aural earphones. so if you are listening in noise, and using inserts you will listen with the volume such that the dB SPL at your eardrum is lower than it would be if you used supra-aurals in that noise.

[AxeD]

I never heard of s/n ratio, where -by noise- they meant background sounds. Isn't it just the noise the device puts out
compared to the actual signal level?

I agree with the theory though.

[pompende]

s/n ratio as a technical aspect is exactly as you describe. something inherent to the instrument.

but yes, in audiology, we also concern ourselves with signal-to-background noise ratio. this is very important because most hearing loss reduces peoples ability to hear in noise and directional microphones only add like 2 to 4 dB of SNR improvement.

if you are interested, the SNR is determined by simple addition/subtraction if coming from the same source (eg we give a speech-understanding test with varying level of noise) because it is a ratio and dB are exponential.

[badger]

just so you SNH readers can rest easy i want to make it clear that there really is nothing dangerous about using insert earphones / earbuds assuming you have a modicum of common sense.
supra-aural / over-the-ear headphones are capable of producing just as many dB SPL at the eardrum as insert earphones are.
if you "cap" the output on your mp3 player so that the maximum volume is a reasonable, non-painful, level (easily done on an ipod) then you will never do damage to your hearing with the inserts.

as it happens the insert earphones couple to your eardrum very well and can provide a much better signal to noise ratio than any supra-aural earphones. so if you are listening in noise, and using inserts you will listen with the volume such that the dB SPL at your eardrum is lower than it would be if you used supra-aurals in that noise.

as above, in ears are fine if you listen at sensible volumes

i just got some soundmagic e10s after reading lots of favourable reviews, and getting sick of sennheiser cx300s dying all the time and i love them - better than the cx300s imo and still pretty cheap. my only complaint is that i got them in purple and they're dangerously close to pink

[AxeD]

s/n ratio as a technical aspect is exactly as you describe. something inherent to the instrument.

but yes, in audiology, we also concern ourselves with signal-to-background noise ratio. this is very important because most hearing loss reduces peoples ability to hear in noise and directional microphones only add like 2 to 4 dB of SNR improvement.

if you are interested, the SNR is determined by simple addition/subtraction if coming from the same source (eg we give a speech-understanding test with varying level of noise) because it is a ratio and dB are exponential.

I'll look into that then, thanks.

[wobbles]

Lets all mass-debate

[pompende]

those e10s sound very nice, badge, and look to be a good price.

definitely let us know how they hold up.

[musicandme]

I've been looking for a decent pair to spring for to wear when biking/commuting/working out seeing as I'm tired of all the cheap ones I've owned breaking in <6 months. The Klipsch S4's seem to be exactly what I've been looking for..great reviews for the price. I'm ordering some and will review shortly!

[pandabear]

I have the Sennheiser CX200 as well and got them for $15 OTD on Newegg. It is a lot better than all earbuds I've used (Sony, Philips, Panasonic, blah blah blah) but I use my headphones more often even when I'm out. I use it mainly when I sleep.

[AxeD]

I use it mainly when I sleep.

Might aswel use a stick of butter then

[pkay]

just so you SNH readers can rest easy i want to make it clear that there really is nothing dangerous about using insert earphones / earbuds assuming you have a modicum of common sense.
supra-aural / over-the-ear headphones are capable of producing just as many dB SPL at the eardrum as insert earphones are.
if you "cap" the output on your mp3 player so that the maximum volume is a reasonable, non-painful, level (easily done on an ipod) then you will never do damage to your hearing with the inserts.

as it happens the insert earphones couple to your eardrum very well and can provide a much better signal to noise ratio than any supra-aural earphones. so if you are listening in noise, and using inserts you will listen with the volume such that the dB SPL at your eardrum is lower than it would be if you used supra-aurals in that noise.

as above, in ears are fine if you listen at sensible volumes

i just got some soundmagic e10s after reading lots of favourable reviews, and getting sick of sennheiser cx300s dying all the time and i love them - better than the cx300s imo and still pretty cheap. my only complaint is that i got them in purple and they're dangerously close to pink

From djing 15 years and a fairly active dnb touring career Ive had my ears drained about 2 dozen times (about once every 6 months) my Otolaryngologist has said specifically not to use buds longer than 20 minutes at a time if at all. Also told me to use the outter ear ear plugs. He explained that much like a speaker when your ear receives sound it emits and pushes air. If you block the canal it can do damage especially at higher volumes. Earbuds also push wax deeper in your ear which can effect your hearing levels when it comes to build up. My girlfriend listened to her iPod 8 hours a day at work and she had a ball about the size of a large pea of wax pulled out of her ear last year.

I'm guessing your average Joe could use then and have no adverse reactions... But given the frequencies and volumes lost of us here are listening to, it makes sense for us all to take care of our ears as they are important.

That's why most of us use ear plugs and should likely observe all precautions we can

[pompende]

well you should certainly follow the advice of your doctor.

however, other people do not need to follow advice given specifically for you.
you clearly have some sort of middle ear or Eustachian tube disorder that is being exacerbated by travel (I assume you fly sometimes during the touring? if so, i suggest buying EarPlanes at walgreens/cvs)

i would advise listening to music at a reasonable levels at all times. you don't need to listen at loud levels at home. save your ears up for the club nights.
the best way to enjoy music while keeping the number of dB at the level of your eardrum to a reasonable level is to minimize background noise. this is best achieved by listening with insert earphones or circum-aural earphones (the big, big ones that fit foam all the way around your ear... you need to look on the package for dB of noise isolation, you want 30 to 40...there seem to be a lot of cheap "imitators" on the market).

here's a hypothetical example:
60 dB SPL at your eardum using inserts: everything is clear and you can hear every detail in the song you are listening to.
60 dB SPL at your eardum using over-the-ear: there is now 20 - 30 dB more background noise in your ear canal. you can no longer hear the sub and hi-hats clearly. you increase the volume to restore clarity, producing 70 dB SPL at the eardrum.

afaik, best practice for performers is the use of full-shell in-ear monitors (noise attenuation + wireless feed from soundboard) unless contra-indicated by outer or middle ear disorder.
as you mention, the ER musicians plugs are a more affordable alternative. i have the er-25s and i think they're awesome.
please ask your otolaryngologist about using earplugs, though, because of his concern over the combination of loud sounds in your ear and having your ear canal occluded. the sound is loud enough in a rave to move your middle-ear bones via vibration of the skull and that means the eardrum will also be moving.

as for the wax: yes putting something in your ear will push cerumen past the isthmus into the bony portion of the ear canal where it will harden and sit. i did that to myself with q-tips (at that point in life using koss porta-pros, not inserts ;p) years ago, so i clean my ears regularly now. you can use a washcloth around your index finger after showers and once every 2-3 months use cerumenolytic ear drops and rinse 10x times with warm water administered via oral syringe.