headphone blahs
Well, i have to say i’m a little disappointed in my Grado SR60 headphones. Yesterday the left ear piece started to buzz, and i think they are shot. I don’t think i can really blame the Grados - my little devilspawnkitty Hime has chewed the cord on it numerous times, and i think she must have chewed one bite too many. The buzz is probably because of that and not any defect or breakage in the mechanics of the left can. Still, it kinda sucks. I guess it’s better she ruin a $70 set of cans than a $200 set of cans.
I’ve blogged here about headphones a number of times - silly, really, you’d think i obsess about them, when the truth is i would be most happy with a set that i could just use and not think about. Having a pair of cans like the Grados was nice (Sarah couldn’t stop laughing when i first put them on, they are really old school looking), but i’m starting to think that i want to go with something a little more portable again. Ever since i lost my ipod headphones (the little crappy earbuds they come with them) i really haven’t had a decent portable pair… at least one i use. Oh, and for the record, my Ipod is and has been completely dead for 8 months. I stopped caring about it a long time ago, and when Sarah was poking around finding out which of the new ones i might like, i discouraged her from getting one from me. I’m disgusted with them, and will never own another one).
If you remember, back before i bought the Grados i did get a pair of Sony MDR- EX71. They actually sound pretty nice, but the are the most god awful awkward and uncomfortable pair of earbuds i’ve ever used. Not the earpiece itself, but the cord - its an asymmetric cord and its so short its only good if you keep an I-pod in your pocket. It comes with an extension cord, but the end result is that you have the weight of the plug and extension cord weighing on the left ear. Take your headphones off and try to just drape them over your neck, and in 5 minutes they are on the floor. I’m using them again because its all i have, now that the Grados are borked. This has got me thinking that maybe i should reconsider a decent pair of earbuds, like a pair of Etymotic Research buds, Ultimate Ears buds, or a pair of nice Sure buds.
I’ve been avoiding these kinds of headphones because i really like to hear what is going on around me as i listen to music, but maybe i’m overlooking the fact that these could still work quite well for me. If any of you have any experience with any of these or any recommendations, i’d be glad to hear them.
I’ve REALLY got to sit down and re-organize my music. 50% of my music collection is not even listed in my itunes right now, and i’ve just been listening to some of the stuff i’ve grabbed and stuck back into the playlist (if you remember, my playlist got borked last month and i’ve been without any music organization since) I guess i just need to take the time to do it.
pirotunes: “Chukhung” from “Substrata” by Biosphere
June 14th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Ha, I just done that about two weeks ago, thank god I’m done with that now. It seemed like I wasn’t getting anywhere.lol. It took me about a week organizing my songs…over 1,900 songs. X_X
Good luck!
PS.Very good work on the lastest issue on Megatokyo. The detail just keeps getting better and better and I’m blown away.VERY good work on the last two frames.
I was speechless.
June 14th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
Heyo,
I just want to let you know that i sympathize where the sony earbuds are concerned. I have tiny ears (I know, weird to think that ears come in sizes…) so I took a while to search out a pair that would be small. I’m really happy that they at least fit, but the cord does drive me nutso. Why wouldn’t they test that somehow and fix it before selling them?
Megatokyo’s been rockin and I’m very pleased with your recent story goodness. Within the jokes and the geek/otaku-culture, megatokyo retains the finest story base of any online comic i know.
Thanks bunches and good luck with your headphones search!
June 14th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Just a heads up on the sony headphones. If they’re like the set I have with an old sony CD player there’s a reason for that funky design.
The Remote. A lot of sony stuff has a remote control that is clipped on (so it doesn’t add weight to the earbud) and the other one just wraps around back. I really like them, unless I use them without the remote then they suck.
June 14th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Not sure how much quality you want in a set of portable cans, but the Koss 75 are quite nice and they clip on the ear so you don’t lose anything that might be going around you. My only gripe is that they clips come off of easily, but I think I saw a new version of them at Boarders a few days back that wouldn’t have the same problem.
June 14th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Oh forgot to add, they have a no questions asked life time warranty policy, so if your cat
June 14th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
The Bang & Olufsen Earphones are great (they’re just called Earphones on their web site). They snug around your ear so they don’t fall out, and you can decide how tight/deep into your ear you want them to be. They’re pricey, but they do sound nice. They don’t have strong bass (many in-ear things do have heavy bass), but the sound is fairly uncoloured. One gripe is that you have to learn how to put them on, but you get over that soon enough
You can go to your local Apple Store and find them, and they probably have them on display to try out. I find that they sound better than my iPod though…
June 15th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Fred,
What you need is a pair of Koss KSC-35s - http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^sc^KSC35 - get them direct from Koss here for $30. I’ve been using my pair for work, portable and some other sundry duty since 2000. They are the most comfortable pair I’ve ever worn, and they sound fantastic. Not as refined as my Grado SR-80 (I keep those in my desktop rig at home, with my Presonus HP4 headphone amp), but much better than any Sony or any other “big box” store brand cans I’ve listened to, with really incredible bottom end, especially given how light and small they are (not to mention they are open backed, too). Probably perfect for your listening tastes.
Enjoy,
Kensai
June 15th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
i use koss pro3aa. they’re big and they block out all sound around me, which is great for concentrating on drawing or working
plenty of bass, also.
June 15th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
A friend of mine has the Sure e2c’s which are about $100. He swears by them and believes them to sound beautiful. Sure also makes the e3c which is a step above I beleive. Sure makes some pretty good equipment all around. You probably can’t go wrong with them.
June 15th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
A quick fix to your problems with the Sony earbuds is to take a crocodile clip or something similar, and use it to fix the cord to the collar of your shirt at the right length to allow for head movement, then run the extension cord down to a pocket.
It works just so long as you don’t catch them while moving fast and rip the rubber bits off to send them flying or leave them stuck in your ear.
June 15th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
I generally use full closed headphones, at the moment I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 202 headphones; cost me about NZ$70, nice slim design and brilliant sound quality. I gave up on using the earbuds which sit in the ear canal, because my ear canals are different sizes for one thing, and for another, I have a talent for losing the silicone things that you put on them.
June 15th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
I generally use full closed headphones, at the moment I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 202 headphones; cost me about NZ$70, nice slim design and brilliant sound quality. I gave up on using the earbuds which sit in the ear canal, because my ear canals are different sizes for one thing, and for another, I have a talent for losing the silicone things that you put on them.
June 15th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
I generally use full closed headphones, at the moment I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 202 headphones; cost me about NZ$70, nice slim design and brilliant sound quality. I gave up on using the earbuds which sit in the ear canal, because my ear canals are different sizes for one thing, and for another, I have a talent for losing the silicone things that you put on them.
June 15th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Eh, earbud headphones still let you hear ambient noise, it’s just a matter of setting the volume just right. I usually turn the volume down and bring it up just to where I can hear the music well. I’m sure the other kind of headphones are capable of keeping ambient noise out if the volume’s high enough, too.
I’m not much of an audiophile, cheap headphones are enough for me. If I tried expensive ones I doubt I’d notice the difference.
June 16th, 2006 at 2:59 am
I’ve an old pair of extended bass in your ears Sonys I was given ages ago and I’ve a pair of Sony Noise Canceling buds I paid $100 for flying to Japan with. Both work well. But they make the Sony MDR-NC6 Noise Cancelling Headphones which can be had for $35 to $60 which are old school. Froogle is your friend there.
Folks at work rave about the Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pro White Earphones whose specs are on the Apple Store site. Cheap is good. - Sparks
June 16th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Yes, it’s true. iPods suck. My sister owns one which manages to find a new way to fill me with digust whenever I pick it up. Bad software, inferior sound quality, unreliable, expensive, overcommercialised. If you need an mp3 player I recommend Creative’s Zen range. I own a Zen Micro which sounds great, didn’t cost a bomb and has never let me down. Plus I am a HEAVY user.
June 16th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Tshen2: Thanks for the unhelpful tips. Fred has an iPod, so that’s really the end of that.
As for Fred, I’ll toss in my two cents for a pair of Etymotic ER-6i canal-buds. They’re symmetric and don’t have the short cord of the Sony’s, while still making up for the bit of lacking bass in the iPod’s headphone output while not being unrealistically bassy. They sound fantastic and are a great buy.
And yeah, organization can take some time, but worth it. Just do a little bit each day when you have some free time or are waiting on something to finish, and you’ll be done before you know it. I had to do “the great re-tagging” back when my collection was around 2,000 or so. Now I’ve got 11,000 tracks and by tagging as I went, it’s all impeccably organized. Album art for almost all of it too. Yeah, I’m a bit obsessive about my iTunes library.
June 16th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
I have the Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones. i dont know what i’d do without them. They let me just block everything out and the sound quality is amazing. They’re about $300 each.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
I go through earbud headphones like crazy so I’m leery of spending much money on them. They must make those wires out of single strands of copper atoms because I just look at them too hard and they crack.
I do need to try some noise-canceling ones though for yard work…. recommendations noted.
On the strip: I think I’m going to actually not read the strip for a week so I can read 3 or 4 strips at once — though the latest was very dramatic, it left a seriously bad taste in my mouth that probably wouldn’t be there if I could immediately move to the next strip and get some context. So…. I’ll avert my eyes for a few strips and then read them in one setting
June 19th, 2006 at 3:17 am
I know nothing of headphones…so I’ll stick to what I do know. Which is:
I -love- the latest strip. Piro’s expression, the pacing and panel set up…all stellar. Wow! Poor Piro but at least he stuck up for himself. Still…I bet this will be awfully depressing for him.
I can’t wait until Wednesday.
Or Monday when I hope to go pick up MT vol 4…if it isn’t sold out already. ^_^
June 19th, 2006 at 5:57 am
If your biggest complaint about the Sony’s is the weight of the extension, try what I do: use an ID clip to clip the plug to your shirt/collar. Weight strain relieved! (Use one with a retractor to add a little ‘give’). Also, when you take them out, try looping the ends over each other, like starting a knot. Not as likely to fall off your shoulders like that. (That little trick I got from wearing corded earplugs for work).
June 21st, 2006 at 2:30 am
Oh - if you bring your busted original iPod headphones in to the nearest Apple store - talk to a genius and see if you can get it swapped out.
Ultimate Ear make a pair of Extended Bass in ear ones that are about $200 …
Peace and Love
June 21st, 2006 at 6:41 pm
I use the ‘PMX 40′ from Sennheiser. They do a good job for me and the sound good too.
Keep on!
Dom
June 21st, 2006 at 8:11 pm
I’m quite a bit of an audiophile, or an amateur audio producer, although i have a tattered shoestring of a budget. My fav phones are a pair of Sony MDR-A34L ultralights that i’ve had for about 5 years. They have a light headband, so your head (and not your ears) supports the weight, and they fold up to pocket size. You can get em at Sonystyle for $20. My only complaint is that the cord is only 4′ long…it’s a bit of a stretch from my computer chair to the Soundcraft Compact 10 mixer at my right side.
What I’d really like to get is a pair of Sennheiser HD-280’s, someday when I have nothing better to spend my money on…
8 -)
Spott
June 21st, 2006 at 11:36 pm
For your money, here’s my suggestions:
For over the ear style, non-noise canceling, I suggest the Sennheiser HD280’s. I’ve used them as my monitoring headphones for a few years now when I mix live sound, and sound great when the house is pushing 100db+, and are have a great sound even when I’m recording. They have a tight bass, great high end, and are comfortable. A bit weighty, but fantastic sound, and a nice, long cord. Others to consider are Koss, such as the UR29’s (what I use for when I travel). Best thing with Koss is their lifetime warrenty, which they have stuck to when I’ve needed repair (yea, never let your younger brother borrow your nice, new headphones on any sort of trip).
For actual in-canal headphones, I do suggest Shure (not Sure) e2, e3 or e4 headphones. There really is no difference between the e3c and the e3, and likewise for the e4’s. As with the e2’s and up, you can use different size inserts to fit your ear. I do not suggest using the foam inserts. They tend to be less comfortable, leak a lot of low end, and eventually slide out of your ear. The rubber inserts are a little odd at first, but they make a better seal, last longer, and then give you a better low end response.
If you really want to go all-out, I suggest going to Sennsaphonics and get a pair of molded ear pieces.
Etymonic and Ultimate Ears are also good, but your best bet is to try them out if you can. Numbers and such can only tell you so much. Visit a Guitar Center possibly. To order them, go through a music vendor such as Full Compass or Musicians Friend, or direct if you can.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:39 pm
It’s hard to find good headphones. The ones that are really portable (like the iPod ones… >.<) fall out of my ears all the time.
I too need to buy new ones. And the right ear piece out of my big old school ones fell off… and is pretty much useless now.
I have so much music on my iTunes, I have almost 2,000 songs. I haven’t gone through them and rated them or put them into the folder things in a while… It’s probably a good idea to go through that stuff once in a while.
I don’t think that iPods are worth the money that people pay. They’re also stereotyped… to me anyway. XD
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:05 am
1)headphones aren’t stuffed until an earbud isn’t working or they’ve come apart
2)you’re obsessed with headphones? i’ve gone through six sets in the last six months