Help: In-ear Headphones for Under £50 - Buying Advice

[andylaw31]

Hi there,

I'm currently looking at replacing my Sennheiser MX560s that I've had for about four years. I'm looking for a pair of in-ear headphones for under £50 and sound quality is my main concern. I had the impression that Sennheiser were the best bet in terms of brand, but after searching around the web I'm now not so sure; I've come up with a rather large list of recommendations from various sites.

The following have cropped in as suggestions (I tried to limit my searches to posts from the last year where possible):

Brainwavz M2
Digital Silence DS101-A
Jays a-JAYS Four
Jays a-JAYS One+
Jays a-JAYS Three
Klipsch Image S3
MEElectronics SP51P
Nocs NS200
Plantronics BackBeat 903+
Sennheiser CX300-II Precision
Sennheiser CX310 Originals
Sennheiser OCX 880
Skullcandy 50/50
SoundMagic E10
SoundMagic E30
V-Moda Remix Remote

Further Information

I mainly use my headphones walking to and from various places - at home I play my music out loud - and occasionally sitting down in public places, but never whilst exercising.

The genre I listen to most is Hip Hop, but not necessarily modern popular Hip Hop, more like a mix of The Roots, OutKast, Erykah Badu, Speech Debelle and classics like A Tribe Called Quest - occasionally Eminem and similar. I also listen to a fair bit of Funk and Jazz (e.g. Maceo Parker or Herbie Hancock), experimental stuff like Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz (also Q-Tip's 'Kamaal The Abstract' album), a little bit of Dance / Disco (e.g. Chic), Soul (e.g. John Legend and some laid back stuff like Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz.



So, can anyone offer me any advice as to which are going to be the best out of these, or am I missing a better one for under £50?

Thanks in advance,
Andy

[CrowdAds]

[nathang]

Without having heard them myself, I can say that SoundMagic's E10 and E30 are often highly praised around here. There are also "official" ABI reviews of each model:

http://anythingbutipod.com/2011/08/s...ic-e10-review/
http://anythingbutipod.com/2011/11/s...ic-e30-review/

I'd try them myself if I didn't have issues with in-ear headphones in general.

I briefly sampled the V-Moda Remix and found its bass too bloated and is midrange too recessed for my liking. Its soundstage seemed a bit too internalized as well.

Skullcandy, in general, is not a brand that's looked upon fondly in the audiophile community. They tend to be overpriced fashion-over-function designs that don't have audio quality that's up to the level of their price ranges. Hugely bloated bass seems to be their general goal in that area.