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Posted by Romy the Cat on
07-28-2015
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fiogf49gjkf0d As the life nowadays runs in a very different schedule then
it was years back I recently discovered a new invention of mankind – those little
headphones that can be connected to phone. God, they turn out make the commune
in work in public transportation so much more fun. Two years ago I discovered
that right next to my house there is something so call bus stop and that bus
run from my home to downtown (where most of my clients are). I did not use it
for at least 20 years and now I like quite a lot.
In the bus and in subway I am listening mostly podcast and sometime
music. Let not to go to discussion about the quality of the source - it is what
it is – crap. Still, to a great degree the quality of experience greatly
moderated by those miniature ear buds, comfort of wearing it, quality of mic when
I use phone and the actual sound they produce.
Over the time I used all possible ear buds from $2.99 to $150.
I need to admit that none of them were what I liked but still the difference in
experience was huge. I heard that there are very expensive over $1000 earbuds
and they high-end audio people play to them but I have zero interest in them. The
reason is that I have two beloved and mean Cats that literally convert own existance
into search the distraction of headphones. I tray do not even bring them home
but one way or another the Cats get them and as a result an average life expectancy
of mini headphones in our house is 3-7 days.
So, naturally I am looking a great sounding phone that sit
in ear very comfortable and that cost no more than $15, preferably under $10,
the phone that I can buy 5-6 a month.
The Cat
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Posted by scooter on
07-29-2015
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fiogf49gjkf0d Ha! Maybe I can help. I lived in Tokyo for a few years and tried to find the "perfect" commuting earbuds. Tokyo's "Best Buy" type electronics stores are huge and typically stock 100s of different models. There are also two large headphone specialty stores. So it was the best place in the world for some sampling. In Boston I think the little store in the Harvard Square Garage and the little store that fixed your Yamaha B2 stock a few (half-dozen) earbuds, but you need to check before traveling.
I also commuted in those very noisy and very poorly maintained buses in Boston (the "new" ones). And my commute in Tokyo included walking on busy streets, subways and (less noisy) buses.
First off, I would like to think that the technological development of earbuds and headphones is still in its infancy; that means sound reproduction is not all that great yet. I am a bit reluctant to recommend any products but you asked so I outline two options I consider enjoyable, well-engineered and cheap:
I was looking for a decent balance among: 0) sound "quality" and 1) sound insulation of outside noise and 2) a bass bump that helps compensate for outside transportation noise and 3) decent durability and 4) low "microphonics" so the cables are not irritatingly noisy when you walk or just move around the desk.
==> My best $20 commuting earbud is the sennheiser cx-150. You can still find it online for sale in the US for around $20-30. The CX-213 looks identical but published "specs" may be slightly different (I suspect they may be just relabeled and priced up a few dollars). The CX1.00 looks to be the replacement and both physical design and characteristics have changed a bit. The cx-150 has virtually no irritating "microphonics." After 6 years of abuse, my cx-150 are still working perfectly; however the 1/8" jack became unglued from the rubber housing so is a bit sloppy when removing from the phone jack and will die someday. I tried hot glue but that failed quickly. I also lost the original rubber tips and replaced them with foamy "comply" tips; see below. OEM replacement rubber tips are available for about $25 (!)
==> My favorite commuting earbud is the JVC HA-FX850. The bass bump can sometimes drive you bonkers at home but I am 100% sure the JVC team was commuting in Tokyo during the tuning phase. It is about $250 at Amazon. I don't know if it is available in brick-and-mortar stores in the US. Cable has some irritating microphonics and is pretty short, but the included alligator clip connected to my shirt collar eliminate all microphonics for me. This is the one piece of audio equipment I really enjoy using. But your cat may also enjoy eating at the exotic wood frame, soft rubber cable, and leather storage box. Very robust industrial engineering and cable is easy to replace. Don't be distracted by similar JVC models.
FYI -a couple of commuter comments with respect to "outside sound isolation" and "microphonics" (irritating noise cables seem to make when you are walking or just move at desk). I guess some types of "cable materials" are noisy and some types of "gaskets" are noisy; the trick is getting a good combination of the two.
I think earbuds can have a few basic types of "gaskets" that connect to your ears:
a) hard plastic is good for walking or jogging as it doesn't seem to communicate irritating cable sound. It provides lousy "outside sound isolation" and can be irritating in windy conditions. The sound can be quite airy but also lack bass. Typical for those free white i-phone headphones but also used in some high-quality earbuds.
b) Thick foamy tips like the "Comply" brand. They do a good job of "outside sound isolation" but provide a big bass bump and kill airyness (however you define that). Can be quite microphonic. If your bus is really noisy, this might be a good idea.
c) Soft rubber gaskets are a compromise between the hard plastic and thick foamy and generally best solution combining commuter & audio goals for me.
The Sennhiesers provide a few sizes of the c) soft rubber gaskets. The JVC comes with both b) thick foamy compy-type tips and a few sizes of the c) soft rubber gaskets.
Also, there are some of those heavy-metal ear monitors (some are custom made for your ears) which can provide poor to excellent noise isolation. They often have several drivers and what we can call primitive crossovers. Never heard one that sounded right, but maybe they work better with a custom ear mold.
Finally, there is also a case for using noise-reduction headphones, but they are big and sound quality is generally a second priority. The noise-reduction earbuds are worthless as the noise reduction technology works better at low frequencies that earbuds just don't excel at. On-ear noise reduction headphones rest on your ears and those hurt after time. Over-ear noise reduction headphones are the most effective and most comfortable in my experience. Like or hate Bose, the new Bose noise cancellation phones have the best noise-cancellation algorithm by a wide margin. The previous generation is very close and a lot cheaper. But for very noisy environments, the Bose provides a very good combination of noise cancellation, sound quality, comfort and price. For quiet environments, look elsewhere.
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Posted by Romy the Cat on
07-30-2015
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fiogf49gjkf0d scooter, thanks you. That was very nice of you. Last two my Cats eat 3 paid of headphones and
I just do not feel it worthy for me to get anything fancier then a few dollars
for commuting purpose. After trying some of the buds (thankfully my Cats let me
to do it fast) I stay nowadays with AmazonBasics Sport buds. They do have OK
sound but they are $18, which I feel a bit too expensive if I need to buy them frequently.
Those little monsters are incredibly capable. No then do not chew the headphone
but they chew the cables. I have a large collection of headphones with cut
wires. I did try to fix a few but if it was $7-$8 then I would not even bother
myself. I do think that there are plenty of OK sounding buds on $20 but I can personally
testify that there is a lot of very badly sounding phones in $5 range. I do not
think that it has to be the case. I do not listen the only Savage Lovecast and
I do listen some music sometimes. The Amazon headphone are OK but I wish they
were chipper.
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Posted by Paul S on
10-19-2022
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I've had lots of down time for a while now, and I just saw the old IEM (in-ear monitor/earbud) post while mining the site. I already posted that I got a Crane CC2E radio, mostly to listen to nighttime re-broadcasts of the local symphony orchestra. I bought Panasonic ErgoFit IEMs for something like $12, including "free shipping". The radio has very useful tone controls, and the cheap earbuds have not-too-annoying sound. With any earbuds, the fit is VERY important to sound profile, and bad cables can ruin everything if they are microphonic and/or they are antennae. These IEMs come with small, medium, and large rubber "gaskets" for the part that goes in one's ear. I use the smallest gasket. I got the later version of the ErgoFits, with "deeper LF output". My expectations were not high, and they have been exceeded.
Best regards,
Paul S
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