need new ear buds

A

AznAnarchy99

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
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my standard senheisser ear buds that come with the h320 blew. I need some good replacement ear buds that wont blow, have great quality, and isnt too expensive. it has to be ear buds cause i use them to listen in class =P
 
any performance difference between the mx500 and the mx550? and i cant find the mx550 anywhere in US retailer sites.. and all of the sites that have the mx500 slap me with a 13 dollar shipping fee.. totalling around 30 bucks for 12 dollar speakers -_-
 
www.amazon.com/unicef/

MX500... ASIN: B00004Z0BO

Price: $15.14

Toss in a $9.99 CD for free shipping.

5 out of 5 stars Sweet Wispers, April 28, 2005

Reviewer: "dude" (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

I am a new addict to the world of higher end home audio. At home, I have a Rotel 1070 integrated amp and a set of Vanderstein 2 CE Signature speakers. But before I could afford this, my passion for audio was quenched by headphones. You really get about 10x's the cost effectiveness by going the headphone route. I've owned about 15 sets in my lifetime not including the crappy ones that came with my portable mp3/cd players. The good ones I've owned are a myriad of Sony full-size, Grado SR-80's, and 4 pairs of Sennheisers. The high end Sennheiser 600's, the midrange Sennheiser 497, the portable Sennheisser PX-100, and now, the MX-500's.

Of all of my headphones, I am most impressed with the Sennheiser 600's for their EXACT sound. However, bad recordings sound horrible, MP3's are unlistenable on these headphones due to the corruption of mp3 compression. My second choice is these MX-500's. I'm not saying that they sound better than the the others in my collection, but it's close enough. More importantly, they're comfortable, portable, and forgiving.

First the bad: The MX-500's have horrible bass compared to headphones, and is on the lower half of good earbuds. Any Sony Fontopia's with their Turbo bass circuits will blow these out of the water in terms of bass. Hip-Hop booty music, techno, and dance music all seem to lack something with these headphones. There is simply no thumb. These earbuds don't even attempt to hit any notes in the lowest region. If there's a 30 Hz signal, it will simply be inaudible on these. Bass Guitar even sounds slightly muted. The cord is a bit short at 3 feet. And the plug is L shaped as opposed to the straight plug. When the cord is so short, that extra inch actually matters. And at first glance, the build quality of the actual plastic ear pieces feel a bit cheap compared to the higher end Fontopias (the one with the velvety texture).

The Good is GREAT! Imaging is outstanding. The soundstage is very upfront; you are in the front row of the stage. These earbuds make voices sound amazing. While most earbuds make words sound very abrupt and cut off, these earbuds make the voices roll off so gradually. Imagine hearing a sweet wisper of someone singing in your ear - You know the sound when people go from one word to another? Those sweet aspirations of air that comes with the ups and downs of each word in a sentence? When I close my eyes, it feels like my ears ARE the microphone in a soundproof studio with the artist. To top off the sound there is an ingenius volume control that somehow is immune to accidental touch. And for $13 dollars? My fontopias were $60 and they don't beat these. I'd even take these over the very uncomfortable Sennheiser HD 497's straight up. I bought two just for myself. That's how happy I am with them.

UPDATE:
I've also recently purchased the Sennheiser MX550s. Comparing the two, I'd say the 550's sound more like fontopias. More range, but lack that smooth midrange. The build quality on the MX550's is slightly better using a metal grill cover instead of the plastic. Notable also is the I shaped connector instead of the L shaped connector. The included case on the MX550 is designed poorly, the mechanism to roll and unroll the cord simply doesn't work. The MX550s are also much easier to drive. The MX550's play much louder at the same volume setting. But for $25 dollars, they're only marginally better than the 500's, but in some ways worse (sonically speaking). Save yourself the money and get the MX500's.
Click to expand...
 
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Panasonic RP-HJE50 $20 amazon etc.

Formerly import from Audiocubes for $40+

Sound blows away Sony MDR-EX5/7 series.
Awesome cheaper alternative to the Sharp MD33.
These are semi-canalphones. They don't go in deep, but go in easy and feel extremely comfortable. They also isolate very well. No leakage, and you'll cancel a lot of outside noise too. They especially excel with acoustics and rock music imo.
 
i've had my sharp md33s for almost 2 years now. and i love them so much!
 
Just ordered some Shure E3Cs, will say how they sound in a few days.
Edit: Nevermind- they were expensive as hell ~$200

 
molson3530 said:
Just ordered some Shure E3Cs, will say how they sound in a few days.
Edit: Nevermind- they were expensive as hell ~$200
Click to expand...
So... You just ordered them, but didnt because they cost too much? :confused:

BTW, you can find them much cheaper at Ebay...
 
I have had the sony EX-71s, and many other earbuds.

The best earbuds BY FAR are Shure or Etymotics. You can get a nice pair of Shure E2Cs for about $60 on ebay.

I bought mine a little over a year ago for about $90. It was the best $90 Ive ever spent. These buds blew away my Grado SR80s in sound quality. They really isolate the noise, which is extremely nice on an airplane or whenever you just want to chill and just listen to music ;)

I really reccomend the E2cs, or Ive heard the E3cs or E5cs are ever better, but pricier. Ebay price is about $120 for the E3cs.

-scott
 
vamp said:
Panasonic RP-HJE50 $20 amazon etc.

Formerly import from Audiocubes for $40+

Sound blows away Sony MDR-EX5/7 series.
Awesome cheaper alternative to the Sharp MD33.
These are semi-canalphones. They don't go in deep, but go in easy and feel extremely comfortable. They also isolate very well. No leakage, and you'll cancel a lot of outside noise too. They especially excel with acoustics and rock music imo.
Click to expand...

Just ordered them, cant wait to get them next week and break them in. :cool:
 
saturnine2 said:
So... You just ordered them, but didnt because they cost too much? :confused:

BTW, you can find them much cheaper at Ebay...
Click to expand...

No, I got them but I didn't notice in the original post that they were looking for a relatively inexpensive set. Also, I got them directly from Shure so that I can return them if I don't like them.

 
shure is sure tempting but expensive.. how are the mx500s compared to the sonys and sharps?
 
not sure it's a fair comparison, not that i could do it anyway as I've only heard the sharps, but the senns are earbuds and the sony's and sharps are canalphones.
I read alot at headfi before i got the sharps and they were pretty consistantly recommended over the sony 71's and that panasonics, which isn't REALLY fair cause the panas are less than 1/2 the price.
 
i got a few pairs of sennheiser mx300's for free a while back and they sound pretty good for some cheap headphones, they are tons better than the ones that came with my dell DJ
 
ear cannal phones stay in your ear better and doesnt leak sound as much? thats useful in class :p
 
AznAnarchy99 said:
ear cannal phones stay in your ear better and doesnt leak sound as much? thats useful in class :p
Click to expand...
Yep, that's why I ordered my E3Cs.
 
AznAnarchy99 said:
shure is sure tempting but expensive.. how are the mx500s compared to the sonys and sharps?
Click to expand...


Shure E2cs are worth it for ~60-70 on ebay

great earbuds
 
Just thought I'd post a run-up comment on the Panasonic RP-HJE50...

Got them today much earlier than expected. I opened up the package and what did I find? The right side bud's cord is about half the length of the left side's! I'm a little pissed to be honest....

Now, as far sound goes, they sound great. Realistic lows, good highs, and vocals are very nice and clear. Now, there is the static that people have been commenting on, but once you start listening to music, theres no reason to care.

I'm torn about sending them back. They still sit comfortably while listening, and I love the sound so much... I might not send in for replacements, but I don't know...
 
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