Best phones for mini's????

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

At the gym, I use Etymotic's Er-6. They're surprisingly comfortable
and overall have a nice tight sound. They are a little weak at the low
end but otherwise fairly accurate. They fit right inside your ear so
they are good at blocking out other sounds. I wouldn't use them for
jogging, though, they are too good at blocking outside sounds to be
safe to be used outdoors. Also, don't play them too loud because you
can definately fatigue your ears. What's nice about them though, is
that you CAN turn the volume way down. They sound great with the
volume way down and the equalization set to "classical". Read the
insertion instructions! I thought I didn't have to read the
instructions, who doesn't know how to put ear plugs in? I was wrong
though, you really need to get them in right.

On airplanes I like to use Sennheiser's HDC 451-1 Noise-Canceling
Headphones. Very comfortable, nice sound and they fold up for easy
storage. I wouldn't call them the BEST headphones but for $99, they
are very good and very portable.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

On 12 Jun 2005 16:19:20 GMT, Codifus <codifus@optonline.net> wrote:

>> I don't really like earbuds, but is there a absolute BEST headphone to use
>> with those little ipod like gizmos?

>Koss Portapro or Sennheiser PX-100s. They're both cheap enough, around
>$40, but sound great.

I will definitely second these recommendations, having used both.

>The Portapros strength is great bass, but not over-powering.

I thought it's biggest strength is an amazingly clear and lucid midrange
along with actual audible and fairly deep bass. It is not as
comfortable as I'd like and in day to day use has proven fragile - I've
gone through three or four of them. Also, a bit hard to get here in
Victoria BC Canada. Radio Shack used to carry them but stopped. Local
A&B sound store has them from time to time but usually out of stock.

>The PX-100s strength is very detailed high resolution.

I have not noticed any advantage in this regard. The midrange seems
slighly more muddied to me, but I have not done a proper A/B test so my
impressions should be taken with a big grain of salt. More comfortable
to wear and more robust, in my experience, with comparable bass
performance.

Both are better sounding, in my experience, than my pair of Grado
SR-125's, which I find also very uncomfortable to wear for any length of
time.

Both produce decent bass, making it possible to actually hear the organ
pedals on the Saint Seans organ symphony (Eugene Ormandy's version with
E. Power Bigss on the organ, recorded in 1962(!!) which is still my
favorite version and does not double the pedals down an octave, staying
at and above 32Hz).

Anyway, bother are such a huge step above the junk that comes with the
players as to make it impossible to go back, in my experience.

Back when I had my various instances of the Porta-pro I actually had
people stop me on the street and say things like "So you're in on the
secret too, eh?".


Ed Seedhouse,
Victoria, B.C.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Try some Koss KCS 55's. Best kept secret in headphones for mini use.
$20 or so, but sound like more.

Dennis