Good Inexpensive Phones

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

i dont recommend the jvc marshmallows at all.

i bought a pair for $20 and was satisfied at first, but then the foam kept falling from my ears and i had to push it in real deep just so it could stay on, and i could feel the hard plastic under the foam hurting my ears.

also, these things don't last. the foam in-ear pieces need replacing because they get dirty and they lose their foamyness; they don't decompress.

Is it possible to use silicone flanges on the FX33/Marshmallows? Or is the foam stuff fixed, like on the Koss Plugs?

[CrowdAds]

[JDGAFFLIN]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Is it possible to use silicone flanges on the FX33/Marshmallows? Or is the foam stuff fixed, like on the Koss Plugs?

Yes, it's possible. I went and picked up some of the silicone inserts made for the Shure E2c, and they fit perfect. They also seemed to warm the sound up a bit.

[flyingcow]

Koss Sparkplug.
I really like personally, it's got decent isolation and are semi-comfy. They come with foam earpieces. They are 2mm away from in canal status (or so). THey cost less than twenty usually, definintely less than 30.

[bigtreepu]

I don't want to revive an old post here, but I was just wondering if you could do a review for some more expensive 'phones as well. Damn I'm lazy.
If not all is well, thanks for your time in reviewing the sub $30 range.
~Matt

[Niosis]

IMO I think Sennheiser CX300's should be added to the list, considering they are 15 bucks on ebay AUTHENTICALLY. 30 bucks and you get a much less shady seller.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by bigtreepu

I don't want to revive an old post here, but I was just wondering if you could do a review for some more expensive 'phones as well. Damn I'm lazy.
If not all is well, thanks for your time in reviewing the sub $30 range.
~Matt

You could check out the forums over at Head-Fi.org... lots of infos and reviews there. We're not that specialized in phones here on ABi - not enough people daring to try any phones over $10.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Niosis

IMO I think Sennheiser CX300's should be added to the list, considering they are 15 bucks on ebay AUTHENTICALLY. 30 bucks and you get a much less shady seller.

Excellent idea... my heart was bleeding by not mentioning the CX300 in this list. I'm gonna add your eBay suggestion (with a big disclaimer).

[bigtreepu]

Thanks dfkt, I'll go over there and check it out.
The way I look at it, I just bought a ferrari....and it has Kia headphones. So I'm gonna fit it with at LEAST some nice Cadillac headphones, if you follow what I'm saying.
~Matt

[scullyinfurs]

I tried some of the JVC Gumy earbuds the other day, and was really unsatisfied with the sound. Out of the box, they sounded like they were in a box. They sounded a bit muddy, too. Without a lot of work with the custom EQ on my Zen VM, I wasn't able to get decent sound out of them. I've had JVC's before that did sound good, so I haven't given up on them yet.

I tried some Maxell NBHB210 behind the neck phones, from Wal Mart. The first problem I have is that the neck band is way too big for my neck. It kept bumping the collar of my jacket, which would dislodge the earbuds. I couldn't find a way to adjust the neck band so that the earbuds would be comfortable and wouldn't get dislodged... As for the sound, the bass is adequate, not muddy. The treble is a bit too high, and there's some slight static. It can't take much volume before you completely lose the bass and the sound distorts. For me, that was about 18 or 19 on my Zen Vision M, which is pretty loud, but on these, it was louder because of the distortion... The Custom EQ couldn't do a whole lot to take the static or high treble out of the earphones. What these are probably good for are kids, or keeping at the bottom of your backpack for emergencies.

The better your headphones are (better =/= more expensive!), the lower you can keep your volume and still be satisfied with the sound, so finding a good pair of earbuds that I don't have to cram in my ears (Shures) or hope that don't fall out of my ears (Creatives), and don't have to turn the volume way way up for, has been a bit of a quest for me lately!

[JDGAFFLIN]

I tried some of the JVC Gumy earbuds

You tried the wrong JVC's....Try the JVC FX33 Marshmallow...A lot better then the Gummy's. I dont even think the gummy's belong on the list. But the Marshmallows are really a toe-tappin', fun phone to listen to.

[xan K]

nice list! I own two of the phones listed: Sennheiser CX300 and Koss KSC75. The senn IEM's are really great. they're not as inexpensive (I couldn't use the word "cheap") as many others 'cause they cost me 56 bucks but they're worthed every penny. The koss ksc75, to put it simply, are the best under-30-bucks phones ever! nothing can beat them for that price. I've bought 4 myself and friends and relatives always take them from me after falling in love with them. I have to buy another set again.

[JDGAFFLIN]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

i dont recommend the jvc marshmallows at all.

i bought a pair for $20 and was satisfied at first, but then the foam kept falling from my ears and i had to push it in real deep just so it could stay on, and i could feel the hard plastic under the foam hurting my ears.

also, these things don't last. the foam in-ear pieces need replacing because they get dirty and they lose their foamyness; they don't decompress.

Change the foamies with some silicone inserts, and all will be gravy. Plus, it seems to warm up the sound a bit.

[Bourne]

I've got an immitation of CX-300 on ebay from a seller named fly_yan for 13$ shipping included. I am very pleased with the earphone, they sound good enough for me have a pretty good isolation. I wear them in a noisy shop and I can still enjoyed my music without having to crank up the volume too high.

[charlie]

Hi! I have the iM-490S earphones, but I notice that Maximo just released the Maximo iM-290 and iM-390. They are under $30 at the few sites I checked out from the buy page http://www.maximoproducts.com/imetal/buy.html. has anyone tried these? I love my iM-490S when I am at work but they fall out of my ear at the gym. The iM-290's look kind of big. But the iM-390's look cool. Anyone try any of these yet? http://www.maximoproducts.com/imetal/index.html

[hicutey123]

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-EX71S...5142214&sr=8-3

this is what i have.

its okay (i wouldn't really know, since its the only earphones i had own and i had only 1 mp3, bad sound quality though according to some people i meant, i think the mp3 sound quality is okay, but this one makes my mp3 sound better)

also i'm buying a new mp3

iaudio U2(2GB) or iaudio u3 (1GB) can only afford those, lol.
which earphones works well with them(cheap) lol

[Simon]

Hi, I posted in the Headphone thread in the ZVM sub-forum about a pair of CX-300. I've been eying them up for a couple weeks now, even went to The Source to see if they had any in stock ( they didn't, but they would order the Silver ones if for me). I need to be convinced a little more before I go and order the Black ones online. These will be my first pair of IEMs, and first pair of earbud type headphones that I will have purchased separately.
Let the convincing begin!

[JDGAFFLIN]

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=12054

The search engine here is a wonderful thing. It actually works!!!

[oxyg3n]

Has anybody tried these earphones ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Audio-Technica...QQcmdZViewItem

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by oxyg3n

Has anybody tried these earphones ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Audio-Technica...QQcmdZViewItem

They're quite ok, from what I heard - but the CK7 are better.

[Cowon#1]

I just bought the Koss KSC75 at Radio Shack after reading all over the internet that they sound great...but I was really thinking "they can't sound to good for that price and there so ugly and there a Koss"...lol.

Well all I have to say is they sound AWESOME...I can't stop listening to them.....honestly all my other phones are iem's and earbud type so I don't have any experience with bigger phones....but these KSC75's have something that all my iem's don't have...even my Shure E500's don't have this extra something that the KSC75 have.

But when I'm listening to them I get this feeling that I want them to be bigger and more closed in to even have better sound...but there not...I think if these were more closed in they'd be totally awesome.