Sort of Apple related. . .

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board2death986

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 13, 2005
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So I've grown tired / run down my pair of apple earbuds that came with my iPhone 4 and I've wanted to shop around for something new but haven't been able to find something that is somewhat close to what I like.

Here's a basic rundown of features I would like to see:
- Threaded cabling (dam you tangled mess of wires that ALWAYS results from putting them in my pocket!)
- Inline controls for playback, microphone, and apple compatible volume control***
- Secure fitting earbuds

I've found items amongst the interwebs that incorporate at least 2 of these features but not all three. I was close to purchasing the Marshall Minor Earphones but I really would prefer to have volume control on the wire since I commonly have to adjust volume levels at work to adjust to machinery, conversation, etc.

If any one knows of any earbuds on that market that have these qualities that would be AWESOME as I don't think I'm going to run to the Apple store and burn another $30 on their branded POS.
 
Well, threaded cabling, I'm not sure if you can find that anywhere. My solution is to have a headphone case that allows me to wind the earbuds.

In any case, you mention not wanting to buy $30 Apple headphones. You also didn't mention a price. You seem cost conscious, but if you're interested in excellent audio and the features you mentioned you could always buy Shure SE115m+.

They have the mic, they're made by an excellent manufacturer known for audio fidelity, they have the inline remote.
 
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skull candy ink'd, seriously

awesome audio quality, 3 sets of rubber ear buds, LIFETIME warranty or 50% off coupon, and inline mic/remote I've used with my iphone 3g / 4

and retail around 20$ or maybe even 10 at TJ Max
 
Patman said:
skull candy ink'd, seriously
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No. He’s asking for something of decent quality.

OP, you’re better off asking this in the Audio forum, or over at Head-Fi. Once they get over the fact that you want to listen to an iDevice, they’ll help you out.
 
In that case I can recommend something from V-moda. Their main business is earbuds and I just bought their full over-ear set, great quality and warranty support.
 
Patman said:
In that case I can recommend something from V-moda. Their main business is earbuds and I just bought their full over-ear set, great quality and warranty support.
Click to expand...

The scary thing is, I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.
 
Those Klipsch headphones tsp posted aren't bad at all and are likely the closest that's out there to what you want (at least that I've been exposed too, and i've got dozens of pairs of consumer grade headphones). That said, you'll pay $130 bucks for them.


I'm sure lurking somewhere around here is an Audiophile who's cringing at our recommendations, truth be told many can't differentiate sound quality properly.

It's partly the reason why we haven't really seen a higher fidelity portable music format like Flac take hold in any of the online music retailers.


Either way a good set with a case will likely fill your needs. Let us know what you end up picking up : )
 
I say go to head-fi.org. They will be able to tell you easily. They have helped me buy a number of headphoes and all their suggestions are right on. And you can trust anything they say is quality (unlike skull candy or beats)
 
muzzle79 said:
I'm sure lurking somewhere around here is an Audiophile who's cringing at our recommendations, truth be told many can't differentiate sound quality properly.
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The Shure and Klipsch recommendations ARE audiophile solutions… well, part of. They’d also recommend a portable amp like the FiiO E5, and maybe switching music players altogether.

And “people can’t differentiate sound quality” is a bit of a fallacy. Most people have never heard high quality music, and consider a song to sound good if they can hear the lyrics. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be able discern additional sound when listening to a lossless encode on decent equipment, it just means they don’t know/care/understand what bitrate is and what rate is acceptable, and it means they don’t see a need to upgrade past their $10 earbuds.

It's partly the reason why we haven't really seen a higher fidelity portable music format like Flac take hold in any of the online music retailers.
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I’d blame the RIAA for that. The attitude is that if people want to buy higher quality, they should buy the CD.
 
The reason for FLAC not being on portables has nothing to do with DRM, licensing, or other such concerns - nothing stops people from encoding their own CDs or audio files as they require.

The reason for FLAC not being on portables has everything to do with a) space on the devices which until a few years ago wasn't really up to the task, b) most people can't really hear any difference between a FLAC file and a somewhat decently encoded lossy version of the same content like mp3 or aac, and c) no online music retailer is going to offer FLAC as an option since it's so much larger.

No, FLAC doesn't support DRM or licensing but that's not the primary reason it's not on portables.

I would second the recommendation for the Klipsch iPhone/iPod touch capable IEMs, they are truly some wonderful devices for the price, with simply outstanding sound quality above and beyond most anything - note carefully that I did just say most anything out there that's even remotely close to the price.
 
I think the OP would be better off, for now at least, buying some earphones that fit his criteria rather than buying a quality set. And if he ever does buy a quality set, for the love of any higher power, be happy with 'em and don't look for "better". It's a nasty road and I've been down it. It is funny for those that are into the whole audiophilia thing, but someone and their skullcandies happens to be happier with their earphones than someone with their LiveWires. I hate skullcandy headphones, but you know you're doing something right as a brand when your consumers wear your logo on every article of clothing. Those people are happy and proud.

I'm Ultrasone, but don't have the branded briefs!
 
Lots of good recommendations. The Zagg is almost a perfect fit to my needs but the "volume slider" instead of apple compatible buttons makes me worry a bit since that type of device usually fails over time. Klipsche Image S5i also falls close, but I also have an iPod Classic (yea yea I know) and there are some who are saying it isn't compatible.

As far as better music players out there that can handle the sheer amount of media in a similar sized package the way an iPod can? Please do tell (this is in no way a challenge, I'm honestly curious)
 
Terpfen said:
No. He’s asking for something of decent quality.

OP, you’re better off asking this in the Audio forum, or over at Head-Fi. Once they get over the fact that you want to listen to an iDevice, they’ll help you out.
Click to expand...

This.
 
Head-fi is about information overload, even has a neat review section.
 
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