Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners iPod Earphones

I finally broke down and purchased my 1st iPod, I just got the shuffle to have some tunes when I'm at the gym.
I'm not crazy about the earphones that came with it, they pop out of my ears when I'm on the treadmill, anyone have some suggestions for a better set. Thanks

Entymotics or Shure, for that sort of thing.

I just jumped into it with the Creative Zen. I absolutely love it. I'll be looking for headphones as well. Like Ken said, Shure apparently makes great headphones for portables.

Thanks, I'll check both those.

For exercising iems are not a good choice, that is if ya don't want to hear your own heart beat. Microphonics can be quite annoying with them. I would suggest something like the Koss KSC 75s.

Shows what I know, yet again.

Thanks Rick, the Shure and the Entymotics are nice, but for about 1/10th of the cost I ordered the Koss, which I think will suit my needs.

They will surprise you how good they sound. I've went though a bunch of different phones but always have a set of the 75s around, they are that good.

Careful w/ the usage of the headphones. Shure, Entymotics, Ultimate Ears (I have these) are great sounding headphones, but not for working out. If you work out, then you sweat. That sweat gets in your ears and you can guess the rest. My Ultimates are horrible for workouts. You don't want any type of passive noise cancellation partly because of this. Also, if you're working out and you can't hear background noise, it could be dangerous if you're running outside for example.

For workouts, I like the Sony Sony MDR-EX51LP, $20 on Amazon. They do have the rubber/sweat issue but for $20, you can consider them disposable. The Sony MDR-A35G S2 are nice too, I've used similar and they are more durable with sweat.

I recently splurged on a pair of Shure's. I have to say...wow. My pocketbook hates me, but after using the POS iPod headphones for a few months I have to say I'll never go back.

To echo what oldskoolboarder says, these aren't good for work outs or really any kind of physical activity. Sound isolation is great for airplanes (which is a big reason I went for them) and for shutting out the world in general. For example, my cell phone was blaring a foot from my head and I couldn't hear it.

Hi,

A number of the often overlooked Koss models are very good and very inexpensive--the SportaPros, PortaPros and even the stupid little "Plug"; the latter is OK if you don't shove it in to the ear canal too far. If you do, the bass is overly heavy.

But fit and comfort are crucial with any type of headphone, and what fits one person may not fit another. Ear canals, external ears (pinnae) all vary in size and shape.

Regards,
Alan

Another vote for Shure or Etymotic's here. Though I had a pair of 'Koss The Plug' ones that were like $10 that were pretty good for being so cheap.

I've never had any problems with my Shures getting sweaty & failing.

I have had a pair of E3C's for about 3 years now. They've gone to the gym once or twice a week almost every week the past 2 years. I also wear them when I mow the lawn too, as they not only cut down on the noise but they let me listen to music while I do so. I've never had any problems with them. Great, great headphones.

But no, for things like jogging or bike riding, they're not so good as their purpose is to block out ambient noise.

My wife has a pair of E2C's that she uses at the gym too, and the only problem she's ever had is that one of the wires' insulation cracked. They were under warranty, and Shure replaced them with no questions asked with a brand new set.

I do use the earplug-like foam material tips instead of the rubber ones, so maybe that makes a difference in keeping out the sweat. 'Cuz I sweat a lot.

Another good set of inexpensive headphones you ought to check out are Sennheiser PX-100's. They're standard open-ear headphones. Not the best if it's a loud gym, but great in that they don't block out ambient sounds. Darn good sound quality for not a lot of money.

Broken cables are why I like the Ultimates. I broke one of the wires and you can buy a replacement cable for $20.

My feelings exactly

My sense is that the $100 Shure, Etymotic, Westone, etc. are pretty good but the 200-300 dollar range is much better. Under $50 the KSC75 Koss for about $15. Maybe the Sennheiser PX100s.

Ety 4p/s IEMs were really lacking in bass for me. I have Westone UM2s - pretty good sound.

Triple the recommendation for the over-the-ear Koss phones. They stay put better than headband & ear-bud styles and sound great.

I plan on buying a second pair just as back-up!

The Koss should be here today, I'll let you guys know what I think. Thanks for all the reccomendations, I'm also thinking of getting a second set for non gym listening.

My getting a pair of Shure SE310s is why I ended up upgrading my HT. They spoiled my ears. My SE310s still sound a tad better than my Axiom/Outlaw combo but I now listen to music much more than before.

Hahaha! Same thing happened to me. Same headphones. It's a conspiracy I tell you.

UPS just delivered my Koss KSC75 Headphones, for $16.00 these are a great buy, not only do they sound great but they are extremely comfortable. Thanks again everyone!

Glad ya like them.

If any of you go fishing you know how dreadfully boring it can be sometimes. Well, last weekend me, my buddy, and his wife, headed on up to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to get in some trout fishing. I felt this would be a good opportunity to get some use out of my iPod I got for Christmas. Also, I kinda parlayed this as an excuse to buy some quality headphones to replace the stock ones.

Armed with my $50 credit from Amazon for my HD-DVD player I commenced with the research. I ended up getting a pair of Shure SE310s. I was a little leery seeing as how this was my first foray into noise-canceling phones and worried about comfort.

When I first tried out the Shures, I was disappointed--very anemic sounding. I remember reading here that to get good bass you need a good seal. I went through a few of the replacement buds and found the large foamy ones worked best. A little bit of determination and experimenting pays of with these guys.

With the phones properly seated in my ear, the Shures really came to life. I think the most striking thing about these is the balance between bass and treble. Nothing seems to be accentuated to an annoying degree. There is a great amount of detail in the midrange and the bass is just right--not too boomy and not too thin.

I cannot stress, though, how important it is to take the time to properly fit these to your ears! As far as comfort goes, I probably went a good two hours of continuous listening and felt no discomfort in my ear canal.

It was immensely satisfying to be out in the middle of a lake leisurely casting a lure into the water with a soundtrack to accompany me. Not to mention the noise canceling effects allowed me to miss the sound of my buddy farting in the dawn.




Ah, vacation!

Beautiful pic, where's the fish?

I only caught one fish! It was miserably hot up there. Nothing was biting.

that is some nice water for wakeboarding...

I prefer to slalom when the water gets that flat.

Very nice picture Sean, what lake is that?

So does my father in law actually

Crowley Lake. Not the most picturesque of lakes in the Sierras, but nice nonetheless. Not a whole lotta trees around it. Just up the road is Convict Lake, which is in a current commercial. I can't remember what for, though, but it's similar to my picture--someone's legs reclining in the lake with the mountains as a backdrop.

I had the same experience with my Shures. Disappointed until I tried the other ear buds included. Now I love them.

Fishing boring?
You must be a bait chucker. I used to be too. In fact, I gave up fishing for a while out of boredom. Then a friend taught me to fly fish and now I enjoy it more than ever. You are always busy, you get to enjoy the whole river instead of just your favorite hole and casting truly is an art form that I will always be striving to get better at.

Of course, if you live by lakes, you kind of have to do what works for the area.

Yup, I just toss the line in the water and kick back. It's alright, I enjoy taking naps. Really, I wouldn't call fishing a passion. My buddy, on the other hand, is die hard about it.

I might like it better if I took up fly fishing. Many years ago, we gave up on the lakes because of high winds and tried fishing in the streams. I really liked that. I lost a lot of tackle, but I loved hiking around and working the current.

Absolutely. I actually go fly fishing for the outdoor experience and the relaxation way more than for the fish themselves. I release almost every fish I catch unless injured. That is the other nice thing about fly fishing, they normally don't gulp and swallow a fly like they do bait so almost 99% of every fish is releasable. I'm not a big fan of eating trout but I'll eat it if I can't release it. I absolutely suck at catching the few salmon left in our rivers. Although they are tasty, I'm not much of a threat.

Oh, and to stay on topic, I have never caught a fish wearing Grado earphones so I don't recommend this brand if you plan on diving.

I'm not much of a trout eater myself. Probably why I'm not crazy about fishing for them. I do find them a bit more tasty when they have pink meat, as opposed to the white meat.

Trout are yummy!

My only experience trout fishing was as a youth when camping in the north Georgia mountains. It was fun, but I have to admit that the only reason I caught any fish was because I was downstream from the hatchery when the fish were released.

"When I first tried out the Shures, I was disappointed--very anemic sounding. I remember reading here that to get good bass you need a good seal."

Hi St_PatGuy,

I've been following this thread and I can never resist a bad pun. . .I know you "caught" good bass with your Shure's (with a good seal) but did you catch bass--of the Smallmouth or Largemouth variety? (Maybe they don't have them in that lake. It's what I used to catch when I fished in Georgian Bay, on the East side of Lake Huron.)

I agree on the pink flesh of trout having more flavor. It's why salmon and Artic Char are for me the most flavorful fish of any (not that I've eaten all species of fish. . .).

Regards,

Alan

Amie and the admins, this pops up on my screen when I click on my trout post:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 311296 bytes) in /data/www/axiomaudio/axiomaudio.com/www/boards/templates/compile/%%5C^5CA^5CA730F8%%post_side.tpl.php on line 241

---

Just FYI, don't want anyone to miss out on the riveting details of my fishing adventures as a youth.

As I am computer illiterate, it just struck me that this may be a problem on my end rather than yours. Anyhow, everything's working now, so maybe the moth flew out of the computer.

PHP would be running on the web server, not on your client, though.

I just grabbed the V-Moda Vibes....outstanding...sound quality...the bass is crisp with no distortion when you have the ipod cranked up....and they do stay in, even when running. They run from $60 to $80, but are worth it.

Awesome, looks like a father's day gift request... or better yet, a to: me, from: me gift.

Skull Candy Titan Chromes, for Shure.

To get a good bass, you need a good seal (or a good polar bear)...LOL...

There are nowadyas plenty of IEM models that will work for workout, Klipsch recently released like 5 models, Sleek released another, very good BTW, and of course the classics we all know, UE, Westone Shure, Etys, etc...But those tend to be expensive, and you will hate to ruin them.
I agree with Alan, Koss for a cheap alternative, is unbeatable, also they carry lifetime warranty, you break them you send them back to them with $6.00 for the shipping back, and get a new pair...simply as that...I like the Portapros a lot...have two pairs around, along with other IEM and some good full size headphones...

For $15, these these were a light year improvement over what came with the iPod.

No longer listed on skullcandy site, but the package said 20-20k freq response.

Scott

That was one of the reasons I went with the Ultimates as well. I was killing time at Denver airport a few weeks ago and spent an hour auditioning the canalphones down to the Shure E4c and the Ultimate Ear Super fi 5 pro. Both great phones though I preferred the greater sensitivity and bass response of the Ultimates which lets you play an iPod at lower volume than the Shure, hence lower distortion and longer battery time on the iPod . I later read this interesting article on both. Not that it mattered but the author also preferred the Ultimates.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/1105/canalearphones.htm

Thanks for the tip, Scott! Found them here in Canada for $12.99 at "The Source". (Formerly Radio Shack) They play deeper and cleaner than the iPod OEM buds - but take that with a grain of salt, as I haven't done a double blind taste test yet..........

Hands down, these are the best IEMs for under $20 and even for some twice their price. I thought nothing could beat the JVC Marshmallows at this price range, but these are a winner.

Skullcandy Titan Chromes are going for $45 at Circuit City. They hit way out of their price class.

It's funny - I was avoiding the entire line because of the brand name. I figured they were all about hip marketing to teens, and not sound quality. I mean, how could anything that cheap, with a name like "Skullcandy" actually sound decent?

I know, Shawn. I used to have the Smokin' Buds and those sounded terrible, plus they stopped working in less than a month. So, I was skeptical that these Ink'd would be any better, but for the price, I thought I'd give them a try. I think it must have been "accidental" that they came out with a good product which is not overpriced.

You guys answered the question I was going to ask about the Smokin' Buds, Amazon has a pair of white ones that I was looking at for $20.00, but they also are selling the Titans for $44.95. If the Titans are that good I think I'll pick up a set.

Nice, I could always use another set . I going to check them out.

For the Ink'd and the Titans, has anyone used them who can comment how well they stay in your ears while working out? My experiene is that you can find buds that stay in well but are so tight they hurt, OR they're comfortable but fall out as soon as you start to jog. I'm looking for the happy medium!

Thanks in advance.

Jason

Without a doubt they will stay in with vigorous activity. For example, I got up, did a 30 foot brisk jog over to my beer fridge, and low and behold - they stayed in!!!

My Shure in-canal set are also saving me money as they have been letting me put off buying a new muffler for my lawn tractor. They make excellent ear plugs to keep the engine noise down and I can listen to music while I do the lawn.