Good Inexpensive Phones

[dfkt]

For the price the KSC75 sure are hard to beat. There's the Yuin G2A for a bit more money, and they look a lot nicer as well (but have more fragile clips without wire inside the plastic - can be swapped for KSC75 clips). The Pioneer SE-EX9 should be good too, but hard to get hold of.

This might be a good read for you: Best Clip-Ons

[CrowdAds]

[geocab]

Those Pioneers sound like something I would have jumped on had they been available. Too bad.

I think I'll just stick with the KSC-75's for now. I can get 3 pairs for the price of the G2As and the reviews I read don't make them sound like a night and day difference and I already know I like the SQ of the 75's.

Thanks for that link.

[Marvin the Martian]

@ geocab.....for the price of shipping them to Koss, you can take advantage of the lifetime warranty.....whether or not that is cost-effective or not, I don't know....just a thought.

[geocab]

Oh, I forgot they had a lifetime warranty! I no longer have a box and I doubt I kept the receipt since they were so cheap though.

[Marvin the Martian]

I don't think I have my receipt either anymore....lol. I bought 2 pair over a year ago, when they were on clearance at "The Shack" (Radio Shack) for $5.74 apiece. Mine still work fine, but the pair I've mostly used, I'm starting to notice the cable is stiffening up.

[Disguise]

@ geocab, have you looked at the sennheiser MX-85 sports? the twist-to-fit system holds your earphones very good at their place, i use them for running (1/2 marathons) and biking and everyday use as well. And they sound nice for the price (€40)

[weedalin]

Originally Posted by Disguise

@ geocab, have you looked at the sennheiser MX-85 sports? the twist-to-fit system holds your earphones very good at their place, i use them for running (1/2 marathons) and biking and everyday use as well. And they sound nice for the price (€40)

But is the extra 30 dollars worth the (usually) stellar Sennheiser sound? I'm not quite sure, since the KSC-75's already sound amazing for 30 dollars cheaper.

[dfkt]

I somewhat doubt those MX-85 are in the same league as the KSC-75. They're just earbuds, after all, with a way smaller driver than the Koss.

[musicyay]

Which of those would most likely stay in place if you did some cycling (or any other "light" activity)?!

Im not too keen to try out IEMs because from what I've read the most important thing is a good seal and I could imagine it takes a while to get that back in place if the IEMs loosened in your ear.

[GreatZen]

Having no other immediate options after a stewardess magically destroyed my UE Super Fi 5s over the weekend, I wandered into Wally's looking for something under $30 to tide me over and replace my last set of "high risk" ear canals I use for headphone unhealthy activities.

I picked up a pair of Altec Lansing MHP136 Muzx ear canals. My first impression in that they have balanced but muddy output in all ranges with moderate hiss but an oddly resonant sound, as if all sound had been passed through a long air tube. The mids/low trebs are the only range even vaguely describable as "crisp" and the bass output is moderate at best with inaccurate reproduction. High trebs are especially poorly reproduced but there is no hint of tinnyness.

Subtleties like the tinkling rattle of chains on a snare drum hit are totally undetectable and voices are left almost entirely void of timbre and emotion. The crisp notes of a banjo might as well be played on a high cello. Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra might as well be the same voice.

Still, they are much, much better than your average pair of ComesWithMyPlayer and they can occasionally be found in the under $15 range when on sale. I definitely wouldn't pay more than $15 for them.

[GreatZen]

I can heartily recommend Skullcandy Ink'd, not particularly because of their excellent audio, but because at $14.95 MSRP and occasional availability in the $8-10 range, I haven't heard anything even vaguely as good as these under $20.

The build quality is lackluster at best and the metal screens that protect the driver look ready to jump out and scratch your eardrum at a moment's notice. However, the clarity is exceptional for ear canals in this range, although there is a distinct lack of fullness to the sound and a tremendous lack of low bass.

These phones are also very small and have that going for them as well.

For the price, by far the best in class that I've heard particularly if you like clear reproduction over other sound qualities.

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by GreatZen

...SNIPPED...headphone unhealthy activities...

Just wanted to say I love this turn of phrase...

What exactly happened to your SuperFi? Not bring up a fresh wound...

[GreatZen]

A crazy freak accident.

The flight attendant was walking down the center aisle (towards the aft of the plane) and the pocket of her apron snagged on the 3.5mm plug which was plugged into the airplane's audio jack on the armrest. As she continued walking, it yanked the plug clean off of the 3.5mm post.

I'll post a picture of the carnage when I get a chance. I can probably solder on a new cable but 1) I don't want to alter the evidence until AFTER the nice folks at Continental reimburse me and 2) I have no idea what the hell the wire are! It's a pair of clear wire IEMs and I have no clue (yet) what's +/-.

The drivers, thankfully, are entirely unharmed.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by GreatZen

... For the price, by far the best in class that I've heard particularly if you like clear reproduction over other sound qualities.

Can you please provide others that you compared them with in order to make this "best in class" statement?

[GreatZen]

[GreatZen]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

Can you please provide others that you compared them with in order to make this "best in class" statement?

Sure. When I get home, I'll throw a list together. On the way out the door from work right now.

[GreatZen]

Sorry it took so long, I'm an hour commute from home and when I got here, there was a squirrel stuck in my bird feeder who I had to free!

First, I realize that they are Skullcandy Ink'd and not riots, MSRP $19.99, available on amazon for $10 in a variety of colors. I will edit original post.

In the under $20 range:
-Wal-Mart Koss $8 pair (formerly <$5). Terrible.
-Wal-Mart JVCs with pointy foam tips, also under $10. Less terrible than the Koss.
-Sony MDR EX32 I really enjoyed this pair at this price point. As with most Sony's I've owned they had absolutely nothing notable about them. Either good or bad. Very small, were durable, got massacred by a cat. Sad times.

In the $20-40 range (ear canal first):
-Sony MDR EX36V (two pairs, one purchased in S Korea, one in US if it matters) enjoy the small size and unremarkable audio. There's not a lot bad to say about the sound quality of these, but that's the only good thing you can say. They have no real Plus attribute
-Sony MDR EX?? They were the last gen of the current EX55 As totally unremarkable as the EX36V... except bigger and slightly more durable.
-Sony MDR EX33 Ugh.
-Sennheiser MX400 (earbud) Very "full" sound. Not good reproduction. Hated the feel with and without foam.
-Sony MDR-J10 (over the ear earbuddish) Were my exercise listeners of choice for a while until the super light EX32s replaced them. Might dig these up again now that I think about it. Mediocre but not painful reproduction, as with all Sony in this price point. Bought these in Berlin to replace a set of JVC over-the-ears that fell into the leftover olive oil in a can of Tuna while backpacking through Europe. Ugh.
-The JVCs mentioned above. NO idea about the model number.

Two pairs of different creative ear buds I can barely recall. Certainly not well enough to make sound comparisons and I was listening to those on a muvo with crappily encoded mp3 tracks anyway.

I also have a pair of UE Super Fi 5 Pros, and a Plantronics Gamecon 777.

Typically, I listen to high quality WMA or FLAC on a Cowon D2 or listen on PC through the breakout box on my Creative X-Fi Elite Pro (with adapters of course). I also listen to Rhapsody a lot and the files are usually of good enough quality to far exceed the capacity of headphones in this price range.

[The DarkSide]

dbi Pro-700, around $40.00 delivered from ebay. The normally go for $179.99 from dbi (I emailed the company) and the sound AMAZING. I swapped the stock rubber/foam pads for the DT770 velour pads, and DAMN - are they fantastic.

[The Larch]

The m9 in ear phones are a good budget phone. I liked them quite a bit for a lower priced phone much better than most of the stuff you get at walmart and the like for 20 to 30 bucks. The bass is a little bloated and the fine detail can get a bit lost but these sound quite nice me thinks.
here is my video review:

You Tube

You Tube

[Flyordie]

Originally Posted by The Larch

The m9 in ear phones are a good budget phone. I liked them quite a bit for a lower priced phone much better than most of the stuff you get at walmart and the like for 20 to 30 bucks. The bass is a little bloated and the fine detail can get a bit lost but these sound quite nice me thinks.
here is my video review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0FODBjNQpc

I am going to have to recommend the MEElectronics M6 series. Customer Service is good, they usually respond same day. The mids on the M6 are where it shines. Lows are "eh". Bass is perfect. They aren't Bass heavy as some would presume but they can be made bass heavy given the right equalizer setting.

They also fit great to a point.