Earphone/Headphone for casual music listening.

[meanwhile]

Originally Posted by Vip_blast

Is that icemonkey website reliable to purchase from? I never heard of it before. Otherwise shipping costs me quite alot, e.g. for the CHP-2500 on ebay its 20 bucks for the cheapest shipping :/

I understand you guys, but I'm not searching for something flashy, just something not too dull. I'm checking the Audio Technica and the Creative in more in depth now. The Cortex one looks okay to me, but at this price, it must have some more downsides, right? Like build quality or something?

If you check the Amazon reviews, the Cortex is praised for its toughness compared to some well known DJ phones. A lot of the price you pay for any consumer item is mark up and marketing - $200 trainers cost virtually the same as $50 trainers to make. (And are no better for your feet.) And don't get me started on the watch industry. Or fountain pens (people who collect pens seriously widely consider $20 Pelikan "school" pens to have better nibs than $1000 modern Mont Blancs*.)

Pricing can be very strange these days. I don't grudge the cost of my HD25s at all - I think they're around $200 in the US? - but I can understand how someone else might prefer my Superlux 668s ($60-70???) - and my second favourite iems/phones so far have been JVC 51 iems. These are $25 in the US, and EQed right they kick Etymotic's ass.

Bottom line: if I was in the US I'd buy the Cortex phones in a heartbeat!

*Pen nerd bonus: the nib that the cheap Pel's use is actually a copy of one of Mont Blanc's best ever nibs from when it was a pen maker rather than a lifestyle brand - their "folded wing nib"!

Also: consider switching the Clip to Rockbox (plenty of details on this forum.) It's free and battery life jumps up, plus you get more configurability and EQ options.

[CrowdAds]

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by Lagoo56

For neutral IEM's I'd recommend the Soundmagic E10's,which are $35 but worth every single penny. They are a really great pair of balanced in-ear moniters.

I have those too....also make me smile. they are my everyday IEMs because they respond very well to EQ so I can tweak them if I need to. I rarely feel the need to switch based on music content.

[Vip_blast]

I'm searching for the cheapest place where I can get the Cortex. Ebay is not being very price-friendly right now, and I don't any other reliable websites else that does not rape the hell out of me concerning shipping.

[The DarkSide]

The cheapest I can get them is $29.99 here in the USA from IceMonkey.com. I don't know what to say about where your located. But, I will tell you that even with higher S&H, the CHP-2500 is actually worth the extra cost. They really sound FANTASTIC!!!

[Vip_blast]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cortex-CHP-2...item4ab452e372

That's the cheapest I could find, it's $69.41. You guys still think its the best deal?

[IDvsEGO]

hard to say...in our market I don't know if I would pay that. But for you, maybe. what else can you get for the same price?

[Ballog]

Hey Vip_Blast.
I'm from Mauritius too. I have seen from your 2 threads that you are looking for headphones/earphones (I've already post to your Ath-M50 thread).
I have some experience in portable audio gear (I'm not much in cellphones tough).
I have a set of Ath-M50 (130 USD from USA 2.5 yrs ago), Senn PX100, AKG K412p, Koss KSC75, Soundmagic PL50 (I use these for my daily bus commute - great sound and very good isolation - i can enjoy classical, jazz, soundtrack, etc even in a very noisy environment) and recently I've got some great earbuds namely the Blox M2C (these are among the most highly regarded earbuds), they are 50 USD from China.
Don't be turned off by headphones from China - some of the best (if not the best) audiogears (especially mp3 players & headphone amplifiers) are chinese brand (google for iBasso, Hifiman, Fiio etc).
I also own a few headphone amplifiesr (Fiio E11, Littledot MK1+, etc).
You might also be interested in DACs (for your laptop) - I have a Fiio E10.
Recently I also had some Shure in-ears (SE310, E2C).
I don't have much time right now to share more infos with you but I hope I might be some help in the near future (you can email me on ballog**********).

P.S. - you need to decide if you need open or closed headphones and sealed or vented in-ears.
By the way there is a good deal for Koss Pro DJ100 right here in Mauritius (Rs2,800 around 85 USD) - it's a great alternative for Ath-M50 - the price is surprisingly the same as in the United States.

[Ballog]

VIP_Blast I don't how to give you my email on this forum.
I'm just retrying like this - --attempted forum censor workaround removed--(I hope you get it).

[skip252]

Please don't try to circumvent the forum censor. If you do actually post your email address it will probably be made useless by being flooded with spam.

Send a pm by clicking on the member's name and following the prompts.

[Ballog]

Ok thanks for the info (ain't used to posting on forums).