Looking for Earbuds

shadowane

My crappy ipod earbuds are finally falling apart so I'm looking for new ones. I'm not looking to spend a ton of money since I wear them a lot and lift with them, but I'd like something a bit better that stay in my ears well. Is skullcandy a decent brand? Any suggestions on types from them?

Thanks!

edit: Maybe something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Skullcandy-Titan-S2TTDZ-116-Black-Blue/dp/B004MWI5TA/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1323440738&sr=8-16

TraceofToxin

Skullcandy are fucking awesome. I listen to mine ridiculously loud when I run, and I can't hear people talking if they're within arm's distance.

mts

todays newegg flyer had two sets of senheisser buds
cx 200 @14.99
OCX 880 @39.99

wonderpug

I like Sennheiser a lot, and aside from what mts found at newegg it looks like a bunch of their in-ear earphones are discounted at Amazon right now as well.

If you want a discount option, check out this set from Philips. I bought a pair to leave at work and they're amazing for the price. At $10 a pop you can buy them like candy and not worry about losing or breaking them.

shadowane

Well, it's going to be a present from my parents (though they don't know it yet) so price only matters up to about $40 or so. I'm more looking for quality and durability.

wonderpug

Stick to Sennheiser or Shure, then.

TraceofToxin

I've had my skullcandys for over a year, use them constantly for working out/travel with no issue. My only concern is they have a lot of wire feedback (If you touch the cable you can hear it) if the volume isn't way up, so that probably is a negative for your parents. I doubt they listen to music as loudly as I do (which covers the feedback).

wonderpug

It's a gift from his parents.

The wire feedback thing I think is going to be present on any in-ear headphone.

Etch

Skullcandy is OK, but they can be a bit overpriced for what you get sometimes. Compusa has sales on Klipsh headphones pretty often. I've bought two pairs of them and they are quite wonderful. The ones that have microphones on them are particularly nice when you use your phone for music.

peticanoe

I have a couple-of-years-old pair of Skull Candy ink'd buds or smokin' buds (I got them for $9 at radioshack). They do pick up a lot of cable noise but as wonderpug says, this is likely to be the case with just about all in-ear buds. I would still recommend them, especially if you can get them pretty cheaply as I did.

I've heard good things about Sennheisers as well but have no direct experience with them.

shadowane

Think I'll just go with the ones in my original post after the feedback here. Figure for $23, they've got to be fine. Hell, I used the apple ones that came with my shuffle for like 4 years. These will probably be amazing compared to them.

illig

I use these (MEElectronics M9P) - currently $10 on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/MEElectronics-Headphone-Control-Blackberry-Microphone/dp/B0038W0K20/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1323464189&sr=8-7

good quality, come with lots of earbud types to fit your ear, and a storage zippered container thingy - and at $10 i don't care if if they die once a year, etc. (although i haven't had any issues with cheap quality)

finnith

All the skullcandy headphones I've ever had have always fallen apart after a few months of heavy use. I would buy some Sennheisers but if you got so much mileage out of your iPod headphones you should be fine.

TraceofToxin

finnith wrote:

All the skullcandy headphones I've ever had have always fallen apart after a few months of heavy use. I would buy some Sennheisers but if you got so much mileage out of your iPod headphones you should be fine.

I've had two pairs, both are more grey than white from excessive use. I lost one pair and the second pair still works just fine.

What kind of use caused them to fall apart?

Nappuccino

finnith wrote:

All the skullcandy headphones I've ever had have always fallen apart after a few months of heavy use. I would buy some Sennheisers but if you got so much mileage out of your iPod headphones you should be fine.

This. Skull candies are crap. They've got really muddy, undefined bass and, while they're supposedly working on the build quality but I'm going to wait until I hear consistently good things about them from some respected sources like cnet or what have you.

If you want some cheap IEM, I recommend the JVC Marshmellow headphones.

http://www.amazon.com/JVC-HAFX35S-Marshmallow-headphone-Silver/dp/B0036RDVU0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1323467002&sr=8-3

You can get them for 12 bucks or so (5 bucks on that link). They're well built and have some fairly decent balance and sonic capabilities. Plus the use of the Memory Foam means that they fit comfortably in your ear and never threaten to fall out like the kind that use silicon/rubber.

They have pretty good sound isolation as well.

If you want to spend more money then there are definitely more capable options but for 40 or less (and these are 12 usually) I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better all around set up.

reddog

I've always had problems with SkullCandy. I recently picked up a pair of these and absolutely love them and frankly they sound a lot better than SkullCandy IMO.

http://www.amazon.com/MEElectronics-M9-BK-Hi-Fi-Sound-Isolating-Headphones/dp/B0038W0K1G

finnith

TraceofToxin wrote:

finnith wrote:

All the skullcandy headphones I've ever had have always fallen apart after a few months of heavy use. I would buy some Sennheisers but if you got so much mileage out of your iPod headphones you should be fine.

I've had two pairs, both are more grey than white from excessive use. I lost one pair and the second pair still works just fine.

What kind of use caused them to fall apart?

I have to say that you are the first person I've ever met who's ever defended Skullcandies.

I think I had a pair of Skullcandy Ink'd headphones. After 6 months or so I started hearing interference in one of the buds and eventually had to replace them with my current Shure SCL2K's (I got them for $40).

How did you take care of your pair of headphones? Ones put in the case will probably last longer than the ones I put in my pocket.

Skeith

Been using a pair of Sennheiser CX300s for a couple years now, finally had to replace them after the wire started getting exposed (don't ask me how it happened, I'm still wondering that myself). $21 right now.

TraceofToxin

finnith wrote:

I have to say that you are the first person I've ever met who's ever defended Skullcandies.

I think I had a pair of Skullcandy Ink'd headphones. After 6 months or so I started hearing interference in one of the buds and eventually had to replace them with my current Shure SCL2K's (I got them for $40).

How did you take care of your pair of headphones? Ones put in the case will probably last longer than the ones I put in my pocket.

That's funny, because my friends and I all use them and love them.

I 'take care' of mine by throwing them in my pocket, my backpack, wherever.

Like I said, they're an off-white/greyish now from all the dirt/sweat. I've definteily ripped them out of my ears by accident moving heavy shit at work and had them bounce all over the place several times.

Maybe I'm just lucky?

To the OP, there's a lot of negative feedback on skullcandys so buy at your own risk. I've had good experiences, my friends have, but a lot of people haven't. Probably a hit or miss product.

billwill

TraceofToxin wrote:

finnith wrote:

I have to say that you are the first person I've ever met who's ever defended Skullcandies.

I think I had a pair of Skullcandy Ink'd headphones. After 6 months or so I started hearing interference in one of the buds and eventually had to replace them with my current Shure SCL2K's (I got them for $40).

How did you take care of your pair of headphones? Ones put in the case will probably last longer than the ones I put in my pocket.

That's funny, because my friends and I all use them and love them.

I 'take care' of mine by throwing them in my pocket, my backpack, wherever.

Like I said, they're an off-white/greyish now from all the dirt/sweat. I've definteily ripped them out of my ears by accident moving heavy shit at work and had them bounce all over the place several times.

Maybe I'm just lucky?

To the OP, there's a lot of negative feedback on skullcandys so buy at your own risk. I've had good experiences, my friends have, but a lot of people haven't. Probably a hit or miss product.

I have SkullCandy Titans that I used every day at work for well over a year. They were ripped out of my ears countless times and they still operate completely fine.

I went through about three different earbuds (all of which broke after a few months of heavy use), and these were by far the most durable.

Effef

Regardless of build quality, all skullcandy products sound like garbage. They are designed to a maximum profit price point and it shows (or rather, sounds). Only beats by dre and Bose are worse about overpricing their trash.

Get yourself some Audio Technica or a good pair of Sennheiser buds and be amazed.

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-Headphones-Rare-earth-Interchangeable-supports/dp/B002B8EK5A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323655990&sr=8-1

billwill

Effef wrote:

Regardless of build quality, all skullcandy products sound like garbage. They are designed to a maximum profit price point and it shows (or rather, sounds). Only beats by dre and Bose are worse about overpricing their trash.

Get yourself some Audio Technica or a good pair of Sennheiser buds and be amazed.

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-Headphones-Rare-earth-Interchangeable-supports/dp/B002B8EK5A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323655990&sr=8-1

I, too, wanted to hate SkullCandy simply because of their name. I've spent a lot of money on headphones, mainly on Audio Technica, but SkullCandy sound perfectly fine for their price point.

Before my Titans, I had a pair of AT in-ear headphones that were about 80 bucks and they sounded like SHIT. The highs were so horrible that I flinched whenever a song that focused on them came on. Plus they died after a month, so...

So no, they don't all sound like garbage. I paid twenty bucks for my Titans and they're perfectly fine at that price point.

Effef

I had that exact same experience but switch the names around.

Audio is very subjective I guess.

Nappuccino

I still highly recommend the JVC Marshmellow as a good entry level earphone.

Way better than the skull candies.

But don't take my word for it http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/jvc-marshmallow-headphones-red/4505-7877_7-33705422.html?tag=mncol;lst;1#reviewPage1

And remember, they are 5 bucks in that link from my earlier post.

Drez

I like Skullcandy a lot.

They aren't that durable, but they are good.

Skoal Cat

I don't find my Skyllcandy in ears comfortable at all

billwill

Basically what this thread is telling you is that everyone has had wildly different experiences with headphones.

Buy whichever one you think looks coolest, really.

Nappuccino

Not really.

Some people are happy with apple's generic ones. That doesn't mean that they are worth buying again because there are objectively better ones to buy.

But people buy the apple ones because they're stylish and branded with a recognizable name.

shadowane

I'll keep everything everyone wrote in mind for sure, but went with the skullcandy ones. They may be overpriced, but they are all of $20. I definitely appreciate the additional info too.

Effef

I don't really like earbuds that much anyway, honestly. Give me a good pair of cans anyday.

Nappuccino

even the Inner Ear ones?

for the price its hard to beat those earbuds assuming the earbuds fit you comfortably