whats a good ipod headphone?

iPod, walkman, headphones, earphones, boomboxes, etc...

Moderator: dogears

IPOD cheap earplug suggestion

Postby asar » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:29 pm

Buy a budget Sennheiser earphone MX250 (P500), MX350(P550) or MX500 (P1,500)
then buy a Ibud silicone plugs http://www.lajo.biz/Xskn/index.asp
i got these iBuds for 400 at greenhills computer arcade (in fromt of virra mall).

Now you have a budget noise isolating earphone without breaking the bank.
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Postby Newbie » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:47 pm

Anybody tried Ultimate Ears or Etymotic? Read they are pretty good too
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Postby indie boi » Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:59 pm

FLAC is indeed the best lossless audio format. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a portable player in the market that supports FLAC or even Monkey Audio.
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Postby maitani » Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:40 pm

Why mess with FLAC when there is Apple Lossless which is not only fully supprted by iTunes (Windows & Mac) but is in no way inferior to FLAC in terms of sound quality?
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Postby dogears » Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:27 pm

question: 'lossless'... no loss from what? :D TIA
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Postby Gino » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:53 pm

How does the Shure E2c compare with the Sennheiser PX200? M thinking of getting Shure but I really like the sound of the PX200. Naagnas lang kasi yung pleather.
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Postby s0n1c » Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:23 pm

hi gino. this is sonic from HCP. I had the chance to listen to my friend's e2c.

plugged directly to a laptop and playing regular cd's, it sounds analytical, thick, and tonality is balanced. it lacks the bass and treble extension compared to japanese brands like audiotechnica, but at least the e2c is not "peaky".

very good for monitoring IMO, but i dont recommend inner-ear heaphones for long term listening. no matter how smooth it is, i find inner-ears fatiguing.
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Postby Gino » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:20 am

Hi Sonic. I sense some disappointment in your review. I figured that much due to its rank in the range. I also read that it has disposable components. This what I am avoiding. I wanted earphones that won't corrode over time. Something for keeps.

The new plugs would be used in my iBOOK while I work and occasionally review ad materials,. So I am not sure how well its output can deliver, enough to warrant purchase of higher models. What do you guys think?
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Postby onedown » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:56 am

gino,

considering the size of the e2c's drivers, i find its over-all sound good. the disposable components you read about are most likely the attachments that are supposed to custumize the fit of the e2c. the e2c is efficient, so i don't think you laptop would have problems driving it.

personally, i would stick with the px200. i just don't find earbuds comfortable.
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Postby rtsyrtsy » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:11 am

maitani wrote:Why mess with FLAC when there is Apple Lossless which is not only fully supprted by iTunes (Windows & Mac) but is in no way inferior to FLAC in terms of sound quality?


I've come across some who profess that FLAC played on Foobar outperforms Apple Lossless played on iTunes.

For me, it's a non-issue...wala akong iPod eh. I went with a Creative muVo since it's AAA powered, sports a display vs. the comparable Shuffle, and has a much better stock ear buds (which I replaced rather quickly anyways! Ha!)

Going back to Apple Lossless vs. FLAC, it can boil down to exactly the same arguments as proprietary vs. open source. Look at products like Slim Devices' Squeezebox for example. The fact that it's open source led to lots of software and functionalities being developed for it vs. say Apple's Airport Express, such as the ability to call playlists from a Wi-Fi enabled PDA. ;) I'm not really that sure how that's done on Apple.

dogears wrote:question: 'lossless'... no loss from what? :D TIA


dogears, no loss from WAV, the format stored in your CDs. Lossless CODECs simply compresses the original file, much like how WinZip works with your Microsoft Office files. Lossy CODECs such as the ubiquitious MP3 format is akin to RAW files being re-encoded into JPEG.

Gino, thanks for pointing out FLAC last December. Your post got me started on this "trek."

s0n1c, I share your sentiments on the Shures' tendency to congest. I have the E4Cs and I run them off my Thinkpad and Creative muVo. My thoery is the puny headphone amps on the laptop and portable player are at fault. I guess this is why some Audio Asylum jumkies recommend the ballsier than usual Rio Karma.

Over the next several days/weeks I'll try using the E4Cs with my X-Cans v2 and share my experience. For now, my PX-100 displaced the E4C for listening straight out of a laptop or portable player in the office. I just arrived from an 8 hour plane ride...the noise isolation of the Shure makes it my choice when on the road.

Perhaps a Total Bithead or Meier's stuff is in order for the E4Cs to have a more permanent place in my kit.

Anyone here with inputs on how the Headroom stuff compare vs. Jan Meier's? Stuff like the Grace 902 is still a bit too rich for me at this time. :(
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Postby Gino » Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:40 am

Rtsyrtsy, I share your sentiments on flac vs apple m4a lossless and the unavoidable lackluster performance of cans played on potentially limiting audio output devices of players and laptops.

For now, I am auditioning in-ear phones on music recorded in Apple m4a lossless and music cd playback in my iBook. Hopefully, I'll determine the limits of my sound and not not pay a cent more for performance I cannot hear.
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Postby dogears » Sat Jan 14, 2006 11:56 am

thanks rtsy,
dogears, no loss from WAV, the format stored in your CDs. Lossless CODECs simply compresses the original file, much like how WinZip works with your Microsoft Office files. Lossy CODECs such as the ubiquitious MP3 format is akin to RAW files being re-encoded into JPEG.


:)
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Postby JackD201 » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:00 pm

dogears wrote:thanks rtsy,
dogears, no loss from WAV, the format stored in your CDs. Lossless CODECs simply compresses the original file, much like how WinZip works with your Microsoft Office files. Lossy CODECs such as the ubiquitious MP3 format is akin to RAW files being re-encoded into JPEG.


:)


Hi Doggie, to be more specific AFA Apple Lossless vs. CD here goes the quickie but techie answer to the question

"HOW CAN IT BE LOSSLESS WHILE SHRINKING THE FILE?

In a sense it isn't really compression at all. The public has become so used to the term they just used it anyway. On a CD files are not WAV or AIFF per se they are CD. In a CD the data is recorded 5 times on many different tracks as there are actually more than 2 tracks in a CD. This is so kung magasgas yung disc, the player using the error correction code will seek out one of the other four pieces of data elsewhere on the disc. With AAC the data is recorded over less than 5 times hence shrinking the number of bytes used. You see, the error correction is used prior to ripping and since you don't get scratches on a hard drive or flash memory that data is redundant. When burning AACs to CD then the bits are sent 5x again all over the CDR so a CDP can play it.

So. Is AAC lossless in terms of sound quality? Yes pretty much. Is FLAC? I just heard about it now so I haven't a clue. If it uses the same scheme then theoretically it should be. How it can be better being lossless too. I can't in a theoretical sense understand if AAC is already practically indistinguishable from an original rip.

BTW Nice body to go with the ears :D
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Postby [L]es » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:33 pm

ot: rtsyrtsy.. you might want to try musepack.. it's SUPPOSED to be transparent at standard and has the same size of a comparable bitrate .mp3. it's what me and a some friends are using and we're pretty happy with v1.14. haven't tried 1.15 cause the beta had some tonality problems.. :)
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Postby [L]es » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:36 pm

jackd: ripping a few of my cds to aac revealed that it wasn't as transparent as musepack.. the highs were kinda rolled off. this is with a not so recent version (most probably itunes of mid last year). dunno if they fixed it by now :)
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Postby bayonic » Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:38 pm

still on the topic of headphones for Ipods ...

does anyone else have this problem ?

when i plug in my Sennheiser PX200 directly to my Ipod , it intermittently pauses pag nagagalaw yung headphone plug... parang maluwag seguro and i think Ipod has this feature that pauses the song when the headphone plug is removed .
when using other earphones or when using the Ipod remote cable ... wala naman problema.

thanks in advance
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Postby JackD201 » Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:40 pm

Hi Les, I noticed the exact same thing even with the newest version of iTunes. Somehow though Keith and i agree that it is is less sharp. I wonder if it is just a case of the lack of transport related mechanical jitter because the same thing occurs when comparing say a clamped or stable mechanism transport with a run of the mill transport run into an identical DAC. Too bad we are not in any position to empirically confirm this.
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Postby JackD201 » Sat Jan 14, 2006 5:44 pm

Bayonic, The remote has another contact ring. What might be happening is that due to the length of your headphone's jack, your headphone acting as a microphone is transmitting a signal to the remote contact point that looks to the pod as the pause command.

That's my guess anyway.
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Postby Gino » Sat Jan 14, 2006 11:56 pm

Been playing around with Toast Titanium and it can export to AAC, AIFF, WAV, FLAC etc. As soon as I decide on better earphones, I can start evaluation. Hopefully the laptop is capable enough to reveal differences if any.
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Sennheiser CX 300

Postby Guest » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:24 am

Meron na bang ganito dito?

CX 300 silver

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CX 300 black

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