Hi AdamP88,

Yep, I agree the Koss Plug is bass-heavy, but better too much bass than NO BASS at all--and that's what I get from the Etymotic ER-6i, which makes the siblilant midrange even more annoying. And it doesn't matter how far I jam them into my ears, the bass is still anemic.

I also agree the ER-6i provides greater isolation than the Plug.

A much better and more comfortable, albeit expensive, earbud is the Shure E4c: excellent bass, smooth midrange and nice detailed high end. But it's $300. Then again, so is the other Etymotic model which I haven't tried recently. I assumed that if the $139 ER-6i has a lousy fit to my ear canals, then the costly model won't be any better. Other friends of mine like the expensive Etymotic.

Sonicfox: the first version of the Plug was disappointing and didn't fit my ears. The newer version is much better. Every Sony earbud I've heard is seriously misbalanced, but I certainly have not heard every model so perhaps Sony got one right.

Regards,

Digging up thread...

Anyone have any opinion on closed air headphones? I'm not getting plug style phones, but I do need noise isolation. I'm riding the BART (subway) to work now, and my little Sennheiser PXC250s aren't cutting it. Also, I'll be doing a lot of flying pretty soon. And no, I'm not getting plugs...

I'd like it to be under $100, and I'm looking at these two: Sennheiser HD280 and AKG K 26 P per their Headphone.com descriptions. Anyone else have other ideas (or preferably has checked these out?)

Oh yeah, has anyone ever had any problems with these or other large headphones in a bag with a laptop? (ie drive corruption, etc.) I haven't seen anything like this happen anywhere, but anecdotal evidence is always fun...

In reply to:

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And no, I'm not getting plugs...

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Toupees don't look much better.

Rogaine? I'll try anyth... oh, wait, nevermind, no problems here, never said anything nope nope...

If you like Senns, you're in luck: The 280s are legendary in their isolation capabilities!





......from what I've read.

Sadly, I went to that forum you mentioned... they poopoo'd the Senns (at least in the threads I read) in favor of the AKG K 81 DJ. So I might get those. But I'll look a little deeper into the Senns. Maybe I'll just buy both and return one...

If you visited Head-Fi I should mention that people there tend to fall into the "flavor of the month" spell quite easily. The Senn has an established good reputation - plus it will most likely provide you with better isolation than the AKGs. Sound quality is up for debate, but for the typical noisy BART commute, I'd go for isolation over sound quality (within reason, of course).

Oops, just read your last sentence. Trying both out might work, too.

I'll probably just get the Senns. I've been relatively happy with my PXC250s, but I'm realizing that they're not quite all that I hoped. Plus, my wife's pair broke, so I'm taking the jerk's way out and buying myself something different.

On the other hand, I've been thrilled with my HD570s, which are not particularly good for commuting...

I looked around another site referenced off of those boards, and it was nuts. I left before reading too much, for fear that I would purchase a $4000 set of headphones made of wood. (!)

A lot of the poopooing, if I recall correctly, comes from the unfortunate fact(to some)that the sound reminds a few folks of a Grado influence. But since a Grado-like sound is sorta reminiscent of Axiom.....


(I'm already in trouble....I've fallen for a set made of wood already, but only $700US)

I"ve had both the Senn 570s and the 280s. I ended up trading the 570s to a friend and kept the 280s. For my type of music I preferred the closed type. IMO they are a more balanced headphone. I don't know how to explain it other than the music just sounds better to me on the 280s. They will definitely cut out quite a bit of the background noise.