Folks, I’m looking for a simple recommendation here: earbuds that don’t suck. I listen to lots of podcasts (walking to the subway station, running, puttering around the house sometimes) and earbuds are my preferred delivery method. Convenient, light, reasonably comfortable, decent enough sound.
The problem is that every pair of earbuds I get goes out in one bud after no more than a few months. The best I’ve had were V-Modas–they lasted just under a year, and also tended to give me tiny electric shocks. This most recent pair is the worst–a rather ridiculous wood cased model that I got at K-Mart because it was the cheapest thing they had. They made it less than a month.
I’m not sure if the issue is my running, which exposes them to sweat, or what, exactly, but I’d really like to have a pair that’ll last. What have your experiences been, and do you have anything you can recommend?
I never wind the cord tight around anything, though I do wrap it around my hand and itself when I’m not using them. And I don’t want to pay a whole lot… but I paid $100 for the v-modas, and would probably do that again if I had to.
I don’t have any specific recommendations, but first you need to figure out if you want earbuds or in-ear monitors.
Do you want isolation from outside sounds? The term “earbuds” usually refers to earphones that just sit in your outer ear and provide no isolation. The higher-quality earphones tend to be in-ear headphones, aka in-ear monitors or IEMs, that form a seal with your ear canal and block out outside noises. In-ear phones are best if you’re in a noisy environment like an airplane. Of course, you might not want that isolation if you’re out in public, because it makes you oblivious to your surroundings and can be dangerous if you’re crossing streets and whatnot.
There are headphone forums at head-fi.org where you can look for advice, but they’re very active so you may have to wade through tons and tons of discussions to find what you’re looking for.
I have a pair made by Phillips that crank way louder than the ones that came with my iPod. A friend gave them to me after they upgraded to a Bose headset. I really like them.
I tend to listen to my music pumped to 11, but these are too loud even for me. I have to turn it down a bit. The bus driver yelled at me one day to turn it down because it bugged her. I don’t have a model # or anything, but they do have the plastic arm that acts as an ear holder to help hold them on. I really like this as earbuds tend to get yanked out of my ears by catching on a button, collar tab or whatever.
I paid $90 for these Klipsch earbuds a couple of years ago.
They’re the most comfortable earbuds I’ve ever had. They don’t have to be turned way up to get crisp and clear sound. I can wear them for 8 hours straight and my ears are not sore from the fit or the volume.
I’ve been wearing them about 5 hours per week plus I’ve done two motorcycle trips about 3,000 miles each with these earbuds. They’ve held up well.
If you’re looking for noise cancelling performance, they work very well.
You can’t go wrong with Shure earbuds or headphones or miss. I have one pair of Shure’s that’s about 6 years old now, and they’ve been with me hiking, snowboarding, running, bowling, etc. and are still working as if they were brand new. They cost me about $190 back in the day but I liked 'em so much I bought another pair just to keep with my bowling gear.
I can also highly recommend Nuvelli 2882 headphones if you’re using a bluetooth capable device like an iPhone or iPad. I have 2 pairs, one for each device, and I use on the track when walking and running. Have been using them for over 20 months now with no problems.
Missed the edit window but wanted to add: the Nuvelli’s are earbud-like: they have a piece that fits in your ear, but they have the discs to contain their battery and bluetooth components. One thing I really like about them is that they are plenty loud, but not so loud that I can’t hear traffic sounds or nearby voices; I can remain aware of my surroundings when using them.
These sony earbuds are great, esp if you listen to music with a lot of bass. Which I’m assuming you don’t since you use yours mostly for podcasts but I use them for podcasts all the time and am happy with them. Plus they are only about $11.
I use those for music and podcasts, and they are the best I’ve ever tried of the dozen or so earbuds I’ve used. They lasted me a while before one went out (years), and I used them at the gym all the time w/o issue.
Sennheiser has a number of sports-targeted earbuds, that are supposed to hold up fairly well. I had these or something very similar (same design, in other words, not sure if it was the same model number).
They have a couple different styles of “stay in your ear” add-ons. The ones I got looked liked they’d be less annoying than the other styles.
I liked them for going to the gym because they stayed PUT. I actually misplaced them sometime a few months after I got them, but they held up pretty well.
In general: I personally wouldn’t spend a lot of money on earbuds. The damn things simply don’t last, even if they’re a better brand.
And avoid Koss. Koss used to make a very good large-style headset (the kind with the big plug, that would attach to your stereo system), but their earbuds have been crap so far. I’ve never had a pair last more than a month and that’s without abusing them at all.
I do wrap the cord around the body of the iPod, though not especially tightly.
With earbuds, I personally feel that there’s a general upper limit threshold of value. Earbuds can only be so good, and after a point, you’re wasting your money. Either they short out anyway with wear, or it gets to a point where you’re not going to notice much difference in sound quality.
What LawMonkey wants is something which has good enough construction that–considering his running, which probably involves putting them in and taking them out frequently–it won’t short out so soon. And that’s a question of the housing and how well the wiring is built into them. He hasn’t said anything about sound quality, but I also personally feel that there a low-end threshold for that, too.
LawMonkey, I suspect that the wear and tear you put on them will require at least something going for around $5 to $10 on Ebay, for something that will have good enough sound quality. These will short out in a couple months of heavy wear and tear, but at this price, you can probably get a year’s supply for $40. But don’t spend more than that per unit, because even the expensive ones will short out anyway, and the quality of sound difference probably won’t be noticeable. Whatever you do, don’t go to an electronics store, because you’re paying mostly for the brand name. This is not some kind of highly sophisticated piece of technology, though they’d have you believe that so you’ll pay more for nothing.
Yes, or you lose them, or accidentally slam them in your car door, or whatever. It makes more sense to pay less and have extras on hand.
I use a bluetooth stereo headset to listen to music and podcasts on my Blackberry. I hate wires hanging down, which I am always snagging, yanking the earbuds out of my ears. I hate that.
guizot, I think there’s one more variable in earbud quality that constitutes value, namely comfort.
I’ve had the low end Skullcandy that had poor sound and I was relieved to take them out of my ears at the end of the day because they were very uncomfortable in my ears.
I really don’t have much experience with other low end earbuds.
The difference in comfort from Skullcandy to better quality (and more expensive) earbuds was night and day. So far the better quality earbuds have proven themselves as more durable and longer lasting too. Worth the extra money in my estimation.
These are the headphones I own. Contrary to that sticker price, I buy them at Radio Shack for closer to 18, maybe as low as 15 with a sale. I then ADD ON the extended warranty for like, 5 bucks, knowing full well I will go through plenty of flexi-jacks in the life of my headphones. They’re just a structurally weak point of the headphones, and they’re so rock bottom cheap to produce that I’ve yet to see a low end headphone maker with incentive to fix this design flaw.
These Sony base model earbuds sound AMAZING. I listen to a LOT of classical music; if I’m listening to metal or rap or something with a lot of bass, it’s going through the car stereo anyway, so like you I suspect, I have more need of quality on the treble end. This is where “high end” earbuds have failed me in the past; it’s a lot bass, and even tweaking with the presets doesn’t get that unnatural thumping to go away. These ones sound NORMAL to me; as good as the ones that come with my iPod, only sturdier. The next best ones I’ve heard are bose headphones which are exponentially more expensive.
Like I said: extended warranty. This is the only time when RadioShack Guy gets that extra comission off of me (well, also cordless phone batteries), because they WILL eventually die, and you get three free replaces over two years. So four earbuds for 25 bucks or so. Sounds good to me!
I mostly listen to audiobooks, so sound quality isn’t all that important. I’ve given up trying to find earbuds that won’t break, and have settled on very cheap ones so that I don’t care when they do break. These generally last me two or three month, and the sound isn’t terrible:
If you’ve never ordered from dealextreme before, shipping is free, but it’s located in Hong Kong, so it takes a while. I’ve always (eventally) gotten what I ordered.
I personally hate the kind of ear buds that are simply a big flat round disc. They cause so much pain that I can’t wear them for more than 10 minutes.
I absolutely love my JVC Air Cushion In Ear Monitor buds. They vanish in my ear to the point where I can’t tell they are there, they have decent sound, and above all are cheap ($17!!!). A caveat, I use my buds in situations where perfect fidelity isn’t a high priority, for example, when I’m working out.
Edit: Another bonus of the IEM design is that the actual volume being put forth from the buds is much lower and you get a lot of noise isolation. I often wear these in bed at night to listen to music and my wife laying next to me cannot hear them, even if I crank the volume. In return, I can’t hear her yelling at me. Works out great!
JVC Marshmallows: audio quality isn’t great, but it’s passable. They’re exceedingly comfortable, because the in-ear part is covered with a sort of memory foam. You squish the foam down, stick in your ear, and it swells back up to seal. Really good audio isolation. They’re the best “super cheap” earbuds I’ve ever used, coming in somewhere around $15-20.
Skullcandy Titans: don’t let the name fool you, these aren’t cheapo throwaways like most Skullcandies. They have durable, solid-feeling metal casings and comfy rubber earpieces. The audio quality is the best I’ve ever heard from headphones under $100. I’ve been told they’re a little bassy…but that suits my tastes. Available between $40-50.
Neither of these are “audiophile” grade, but they’re absolutely “regular human who likes good-sounding music” grade.
