las <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>There seems to be a unanimous opinion that the Etymotic ear plugs are
>the finest you can get and many people believe that they are even
>better than any of the full sized headphones. But at $269.00 (USD),
>there must be a set costing under $100 that some one makes that are
>close??
Nope, not even ;) Seriously...
>$269 seems a kind of outrageous price to me for a set of headphones!
>You can buy a very decent pair of speakers for that price.
Just as you can buy a $3000 pair of speakers that will sound amazingly
better than a $300 pair of speakers, you can buy a $269 set of headphones
that will sound amazingly better than a $50 pair.
I personally owned a pair of Etymotics for a few years, and I can say
that apart from the Sennheiser 580s (full-sized headphones that used to
retail for $300, but are now around $175), I've never heard a pair of
headphones come close to the detail, accuracy, and simply *enjoyable*
sound produced by the Etymotics.
>I made an impulse purchase of a par of Koss ear buds that have these
>soft "rubber" cones that slide over a tube and cost $19.99. I can't
>remember the name They are yellow, black and blue with a mute switch
>(why not a true volume control?). In my opinion they sound really bad
>and are only suitable for spoken word.
Yes, those are "The Plug" -- simply one of the worst headphones on the
market. Headwize has a tutorial for how to improve the sound by replacing
the earbud pads, but even after that they are still not worth the cost of
the new earpads, IMO ;)
>But there must be something out there for about $75 dollars that
>comes close the the $269.00 Etymotics?? NO??
Well, not "close" but there are several that are pretty good. The
consensus is that the next-best earbuds are the Sony 888s, at around US
$75. They don't isolate external sound at all (the Etymotics block
EVERYTHING), but they have very good sound for earbuds.
After the 888s, the "next-best" really depend on your needs. If you need
isolation, the Sony EX-70 (around US $40) are the way to go. They have a
pretty good seal on your ear, and good sound, including impressive bass.
The highs are a bit unbalanced, and for some people the bass is a bit
overemphasized, but nonetheless the sound is quite good. If you do not
need isolation, go with the Sennheiser MX-500 (US $20). These have better
overall sound than the EX-70s, but don't provide the same isolation or
extra bass response.
Apart from the four models listed above, I personally wouldn't buy any
other earbud -- because of their physical limitations, it's difficult to
build an earbud that actually produces good sound.
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