Well, I'm finally sick of the iPod earbuds. Mostly from discomfort (especially if I try to use them at night with my head on a pillow!) but sound quality is hardly anything to write home about. I've heard some recommendations for Shure's E2Cs and I'm just wondering if they'd be a good choice for me. Noise reduction is a plus, but sound quality and comfort are my main concerns. Durability would be a big plus, as I'd rather not carry around that case they come in if I can just use the wind-wires-around-iPod approach. I did get to demo them for about five seconds somewhere where the sales guy was lying through his teeth (he said that he was talking to me when I was wearing them and it was too immersive and noise reduction to hear him, but I didn't have them in my ears right and could hear everything else), but from the little I could tell they sounded pretty good and seemed comfortable for not having them in correctly. Just wondering if they'd be the best choice given a budget around $100 or so. I'm open to any other options except anything by Sony, since they're on my universal sh*tlist. Something available at a Best Buy or Circuit City would be somewhat preferable but definately not a requirement. Any advice would be great
I've got the Etymotic Research ER6i and they're amazing in terms of isolation. I was wearing them walking through the streets of DC (probably not the smartest thing to do) and someone damn near tackled me out of the road because an ambulance was behind me with it's sirens on and I couldn't hear a thing. The day I got them my brother said he was pounding on my door and I had no idea until he slipped a note under the door. I find them quite comfortable and they sound great. The bass is a little lacking but it doesn't really bother me. I really needed total isolation and that's what I got. I got mine about a year ago for $118 from amazon but I've seen them as low as $89. They also look nice since they're white and match the iPod itself. The only down side is that no matter how well you think you clean your ears, the ear pieces eventually get kinda gross, though they pop right off and you can order new ones cheap from ER.
I've also got the original er-6s, had them for a few years. It depends on how you wear them... if you find yourself constantly taking your earbuds on and off, it can become a hastle... also, they don't sound fantastic when only one ear is in, which I see a lot of those ipod people doing. They sound fantastic and do an excellent job at sealing away pretty much all external noise. According to the user manual, the temperature rises in your ear due to the seal with the earbud, which can cause earwax to melt... when this happens my ears kinda start to tickle. Other than that they've been fairly comfortable, so keep your ears squeaky clean and it shouldn't be a problem. Seeing your a z-5500 user I think you'll be satisfied.
Funnily enough, there's this one frequency that my iBuds handle better than the z-5500's. About halfway into "You" by Evanescence, there's this fairly high pitched part that causes what sounds like some sort of resonance-based distortion (rather than just sucking at highs and being flat-out distorted, since there's no problem with higher highs). Same thing happens where I work (video store) if I put in Star Wars to show on the TVs - when Obi-Wan is turning off the tractor beam in the death star, the TVs rattle to hell when it's making that wonky wherrrrrow noise. Kind of annoying, since I can't figure out what the heck is resonating and thus deal with it (thought it may have been the cloth grills, but apparently not). Oh well. That or something freaky is going on with my DDL encoding. Anyways.... I typically have both buds in, but pull one out if I need to talk to somene. Depends what I'm doing, really. I hope to get a new bike in the next couple weeks, so something that's not going to completely isolate out traffic and get me killed would probably be a safer bet. Though cops where I live are really wierd, just today I saw one going with the lights to pull someone over but no siren, and it's not the first I've heard of it happening. Then again, biking with an iPod in the pocket isn't especially comfortable, but a makeshift water bottle adapter-holder probably isn't a great solution either. I tend to get that earwax problem with the stock ipod buds after a while, so I'm used to it. Can't say I love it, but it's certainly less of a problem than that 'tab' (technical term, that one) part of my ear that kinda keeps the bud in place starts to get pretty sore if I have them in for a while or if they're not seated *just* right. I'm thinking that I may try the e2c's first just since I can pick them up locally, and if I'm not happy then I'll try to snag one of those ER sets off ebay or something. Unless anyone has a reason not to do this - in the case of audio products, I definately want to try before I buy (or be able to return if they suck when that's not an option), and buying online makes that a lot more of a hassle.
Don't get E2Cs unless you're really serious about isolation (and then the ER6i has more) and don't care about comfort. If you only want a reasonable amount of isolation rather than an underwater-feeling of muffled silence, and comfort with it, I recommend Creative EP630s. Far cheaper, and better sound quality.
i have a par of e4s. they;re really quite nice... butt hen kinda not in the same league as the e2cs...
