What are the best In-Ear Earphones for upto £150?

[ExsolviteMeFurorHoc]

Hey all, I was wondering if I could get some help on choosing some earphones for around the £100-£120 but i will be willing to go to £150 as my maximum price I would spend.

I currently have the Monster Turbine's and i've been really impressed with the sound quality as it has a good balance of deep bass and decent mids/highs. Although durability has lead me looking elsewhere and my 4th pair of Turbine's within a year has just started to break as they crackle sometimes when the cable is in motion.

So here are the thing's i'm looking for in my new pair in no particular order. Deep Bass. I'm a basshead and although I listen to a wide variety of music, when there's a genre of music with deep bass like rap, gangsta rap, dubstep, drum and bass and jungle, I like the bass to be more prominent. Clarity. Same story as the bass, I have a wide variety of music and when I listen to artists like Alanis Morissette, Bjork and The Cardigans, I want to be able to distinctly pick out each instrument used and hear their voices clearly without overlapping of the 2. Sound Isolation. Although I use earphones for both indoor and outdoor use, I mainly use them for traveling and sound isolation helps block out the noisy tram in the morning and focus on my music, so I'd put that as a priority. Durability. Well having 4 pairs of Monster Turbine's within a year speaks for itself and I'm highly annoyed at that factor. The earphones I had before that were a pair of £45 Denon earphones that lasted a year and a half before breaking. L-Shaped connector. A first few pairs of Monster Turbine's I owned came with a straight connector at which I was also highly annoyed at and when those broke I even specifically requested an L-shaped connector for the next pair. Having an Samsung R1 MP3 player and a Straight type connector really doesn't mix well, so an L-shaped connector is a MUST. Compatibility. Most of the time this isn't an issue, but i've experienced problems in the past with earphones that contain built-in microphones whereby they didn't work with my Samsung R1 or other portable devices. These seemed to work fine with my laptop though, but the majority of the use will be with my Samsung R1 so built-in mic's are a no-go.

Additional things such as Specifications and driver types i'm not fussed about and in terms of specifications, I don't pay attention to them anyway because it's all about how it sounds, not about numbers and figures. In terms of driver type, i've never had anything more than a single dynamic driver, but that doesn't mean i'm willing to try something different, aslong as they give deep bass and clarity, i'd be willing to give anything a try.

I've been looking at a few different types of earphones which have different price ranges and different styles etc and so I'd like some of the abi community's opinion on these to what i'm looking for. These are: Denon AH-C710 reduced to £99.99 from £159.99, Radius HP-TWF11 reduced to £199.99 from £149.99, Shure SE315 reduced to £129.99 from £199.99, Phiaton PS200 reduced to £149.99 from £179.99. Now the other 2 I've been looking at are slightly out of my price range, but I want an opinion of them anyway based on value for money and comparison to the other IEM's. These 2 are: Sony MDR-EX700LP reduced to £159.99 from £219.99, Monster Turbine Pro Gold reduced to £179.99 from £249.99. NOTE all of these prices are taken from iheadphones.co.uk and bear in mind I'm in the UK so i'd have to pay shipping fee's from non-uk based sites.

I hope I've covered everything you guy's need to know, however, if there's any additional info you would like me to provide, just ask and I'll answer. Thankyou for your support.

[aimran]

You can get the Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10 for 141 pounds on Amazon.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Ear...8315910&sr=8-1

[The DarkSide]

OMG!!! Those are HUGE!!!

[aimran]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

OMG!!! Those are HUGE!!!

That's what she said? Anyhow, the TF10 do have triple balanced armature drivers in each earpiece, and that's the reason they are huge. But the SQ is legendary and the cables are very easy to upgrade.

[tienbasse]

Yamaha EPH-100 seem to answer all your resquests: good bass (dynamic micro-driver), clarity (and excellent separation), isolation (5 sizes of double flange tips are provided), durability (aluminium), L-shaped connector, no mic.
And they're currently on sale in the UK (less than £100) instead of £120.

A short review here:
http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66712
More users opinions on Head-Fi as well.

I prefer them over TF10 (better clarity and separation, better mids, better comfort, better isolation) but TF10 are still nice-sounding IEMs, despite the ugly design and the average comfort.

Shure SE315 may be a bit shy on the bass side for your taste, although they are good for the rest. SE215 will have more bass (more like EPH-100).

Sony MDR-EX700LP have shi**y clarity and do not provide decent isolation.

No comment on the others, I didn't test them.

[meanwhile]

I thought the Hippo VB is highly favoured as bass monster?

The £20 JVC FXC51 have excellent bass, btw - worth buying if you need a set of semi-expendibles I rate the sound quality higher in general than Ety HF5s - one they're properly EQed (http://www.head-fi.org/t/576532/fxc5...ine-perfection).

The JVC FX700s are a £300 special import from Japan (don't buy off ebay - lots of fakes!) and are said to be ultimate masters of bass

Between the above there is the FXT90, which is said to be nearly as good as the 700 and which fits in your price range. They're a special import from Japan again, but big deal. There's a good headfi thread on them, including preferred sellers. The general drift is that for bass monsterism FXT90 > EPH 100 >= TF10. (I'm *not* a bass monster, so I just ordered the EPH100, which has its own advantages - but it was a very close thing.) Like the 100 they're dynamic driver - dynamic drivers are usually better at sharp drum noises and similar things btw, and I suspect that whatever you get should have dynamic drivers - but unlike th 100 they're a 2 driver design with a dedicated bass unit. Otoh, the EPH100s are said to be better at isolation.

Oh - and the FXT90s have one of the best value ratings in the famous massive multi-IEM thread Joker did on head-fi. But he hasn't tested the EPH100 yet, and their UK price is unusually non-exploitative!

[The DarkSide]

JVC, XePort, and MeElectronics are all good recommends IMO. They really DO know how to make some good sounding & comfy IEM's.

[aimran]

There's also the Sony MDR-EX600. This apparently has very spacious soundstage.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...pf_rd_i=468294

[varines]

Hi!

What about sennheiser headphones?

IMHO these are really cool and answer your requests

http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/sennhei...ser-cx870.html

- sound quality
- good bass
- durabiliry
- L-shaped connector (I understand you!!!)
- compliable with MP3, iPod, iPhone and portable media players

[sjondenon]

Originally Posted by varines

Hi!

What about sennheiser headphones?

IMHO these are really cool and answer your requests

http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/sennhei...ser-cx870.html

- sound quality
- good bass
- durabiliry
- L-shaped connector (I understand you!!!)
- compliable with MP3, iPod, iPhone and portable media players

had the cx870, they are muddy and do absolutely have no clarity...

[tienbasse]

Originally Posted by aimran

There's also the Sony MDR-EX600. This apparently has very spacious soundstage.

Big no-no for isolation although they are good for the rest.