High-quality moderately-priced earbuds???

[Etnier]

I want to buy my kids better-quality earbuds for their iPods- looking for something in the $100.00/pair range. Any suggestions?

[rmx16]

I use Etymotic's ER-6's. Great for IEM or ipods. Only $129

http://www.etymotic.com/

Peace
Rob

[mikelevitt]

I have the etymotic er4p, which are about $250, but they are amazing. Incredibly detailed, my only beef is I would like a bit more low bass. But still, they are way better (and a bit cheaper) than the bose NR headphones that they replaced, both as headphones, and as NR devices. Very comfortable with the foam earpads, and well made.

Just so you know, the etymotic stuff goes in your ear canal, like earplugs, not floating outside like ear buds.

I would highly recommend etymotics....

www.headphone.com

Mike

[joeq]

I tried a pair of Sonys- I forget the model - they were around $60. The bass was massive - I could not believe how much low end was coming from such a tiny thing.

[Etnier]

i guess I should have said "$100/pair or under".

Any ideas?

[mikelevitt]

Yeah,

I kind of lost track of your question in my enthusiasm for etymotics!

Anyway, I've probably had 50 pairs of earbuds, and the only ones I've really liked are the etymotics. But they are a bit much for kids....

Anyway, out of all of the others I've had, here are my impressions.

Sony and Panasonic have all been garbage. The stock apple ipod buds are not bad. My favorite were koss (sound pals? ear pals?) which were about $30. But it's been 10 years since I've bought a pair, so I have no idea if they still make them.

My gut feeling is that they're all pretty bad until you get to the etys..

Mike

[doug_hti]

Originally posted by joeq
I tried a pair of Sonys- I forget the model - they were around $60. The bass was massive - I could not believe how much low end was coming from such a tiny thing.

I have a pair of these. I don't know the model, and they are hard to find. They are about 50 a pair...but the bass build gets really obnoxious after a while, even though for 50 it's hard to beat the pair and they really do isolate well.

For 100, the shure generic ear monitors are good and loud, but they aren't hyped...they are almost mid rangey, but they are enjoyable and can isolate well.... and you need to teach your kids how to monitor on unhyped systems, right

And if the etymotics cheaper model aren't too expensive, i have heard raving things about these from people that have them in comparison to their $800 Future sonics molds.

[Frost]

The Shure E2 is around $100 but you can find them onsale for $80. I modded mine to use the triple flange inserts (usually used on shures higher end E5). They sound great. Comfort is an issue for some, not for me. Check dealmac.com for good pricing.
Frost

[Etnier]

Thanks everyone. I love my daughters- and so I bought the Etymotic's ER-6's.

[STILL]

I think it's safe to say that it's not just you that loves your daughters now......



Oh c'mon......I just said what everyone else was thinking.....you KNOW it's true..........

[Steve Smith]

Well, john, three pretty daughters out of four si not bad...

Good call on going with the better units.. all of the cheaper stuff sounds great as long as you keep telling yourself the price.. as in " well, for XX dollard these sound great.."