Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello, I've broken another pair of headphones and I'm looking for a new pair of in-ear ones.

I'd say I'd only want to pay 15 quid but I may be tempted to go up to 20 if im persuaded.

I was thinking of getting the sennheiser CX300's for 15 from play.com, and noticed someone were selling CX 500's for the same price but its from a playtrader. I've heard fakes of these headphones are pretty common so I'd imagine a price that cheap for them would be fakes.

Anyone know any good sites for headphones, or know where i can get a legit pair of CX500's for 20 quid? Or the CX300's for cheaper than £15?

£12.99 CX-300s on Play.com. White, though. £14.99 if you want black.

Wow, they're the CX300-IIs too, which is what I have... although I paid £40 for mine! I'm half tempted to order myself a pair so I have some spare at that price.

As an alternative: http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/537599/klipsch-image-x1-noise-isolating-ea

Yoink!

You can get a pair of Creative Labs EP630 headphones from Amazon for £6.60:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0009G6FQI/

I know someone with a pair and they're virtually identical to my CX300s, but with a straight headphone plug instead of an L-shaped one and the headphone cords are the same length (whereas the CX300s have one longer than the other).

I've went for a gamble on those klipsch ones. The pair I've just broken were a model or two above them creative ones.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-EP-830-Noise-Isolating-Earphones/dp/B00166YWIS/ref=pd_cp_ce_2

I just fancied trying some new ones.

I'm afraid I can't help you, but Rhino Mocks kicks ass!

Am I derailing this thread right?

Just got me klipsch X1s and I have to say they shit on the creative ones, they were meant to be around and argued to be better than the cx300s. But I can't say having never tried the sennheisers.

That's what I have. They're Dell basically, leftovers from the XPS laptops. Mine came in a lovely little velvet bag with Dell on, spare rubber bits and all sorts. I paid £4.99 from ebay delivered.

And, well, they're just as good as any in ear headphones really.

My Shure SE210s disagree.

Fair enough. I don't like any in ear headphones though. I hate putting things in my ears. Prefer a nice big set of cans.

I only got some in ear ones for the lovely little mp3 player Kalmar sent me. Which reminds me. I must charge that.

Which is better - noise-isolating (where they fit snugly in/around your ear and block out noise) or noise-cancelling (where they have a battery and electronically cancel out external noise)?

I listen on the tube and find I have to put the volume up to maximum to be able to hear over the noise of the train. As soon as the train stops I realise how loud this actually is - can't be good for one's hearing, so I'm after better headphones - hence the above question.

cancelling I would have thought. Doc? where are you?

We need scientific fact !

Indeed! Although, I'll settle for anecdotal evidence based on personal experience.

I think the "in canal" ones would be good for this, since they work like an earplug, and they do work well for noisy environments.

I don't really have any experience with good sound cancelling ones though.

My Sennheiser CX-300s cancel enough noise out for me. So much that I can't actually hear anything when no music is playing.

When I'm travelling anywhere I prefer isolating. See when the battery on your ipod goes flat, it's still easy to ignore the inevitably obnoxious folk that surround you.

Cheers chaps. JC, I think that first site you linked to might be a little out-of-date, as it appears you can get in-ear noise-cancelling headphones. e.g. I'm intrigued by these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Ericsson-H ... 693&sr=1-1

But as it says they're powered by phones, I guess you need a Sony Ericsson phone...

Re CX-300s - are these better than the (cheaper) CX-400s? And how do CX-500s compare?

I notice they've now gone up to 75 quid

Can still be had for the same price on Amazon marketplace though.

Play.com random pricing shenanigans. They are only £30 in Currys!

Not reading this thread

I've no experience with noise cancelling, but they seem like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut to me. Unless you violently object to in-ear-canal phones, I'd suggest noise isolating ones.

Note that I cannot stand traditonal in-ear phones that hook around the tragus; I find them very uncomfortable, whereas I can wear canalphone style headphones for hours without discomfort. I've had a few over the years, including the Sennheiser CX-300s, some Panasonic ones at home, and the Goldring GX-200s I'm listening to right now. I'd say the Goldrings sound the best, although all three sound pretty good.

Noise cancelling ones wouldn't work on the tube. They cancel constant background noise (like server fans or aircraft jets) very well, but don't drown out incidental noise like trains, traffic or people talking.

I've gone shooting in noise cancelling ear mufflers. They were ace.

CX-300s £14.99
CX-400s £9.99
CX-500s £19.99

I'm tempted by the CX-500s, but the customer reviews are a tad mixed.

This sounds like a profanisaurus entry.

I wouldn't trust any of the playtraders for headphones mind.

Ah, I hadn't noticed they were playtrade prices, sorry. Are they likely to be dodgy bootlegs then?

Ah, but they work differently: they isolate all sound and let noises through that are under a certain volume and pitch.
Background noise cancelling ones play the 'opposite' of the constant noise you are hearing.

I think it would be hard to make sure they were legit, when I checked the reviews before when I was looking for a pair. there was always a few reviews which thought they were fake.

I know. I just wanted to point out they were ace.

I always preferred the 'passive' (if you like) ear defenders. There's something about the active ones I disliked (not just the price, either).

And then the beardy bloke in the white coat said "hey you, stop looking at my Carol's conundrum", pulled a Sinclair lightgun and went "chk chk boom".

What the living fuck are you on about?

I think he's getting a bit excited about the prospect of getting a games computer + lightgun for christmas for shooting Mr Chris's face off. With.

For.

Welcome to May 2009:

Can't fucking wait!

Great. We're talking about earphones and noise cancelling. What the living fuck are you on about?

Welcome to the internet.......

Completely agree. I 'lost' my Sennheiser's for a while about a month ago and had to use the iPhone pack-in ones. They hurt like hell after about an hour. I wore my CX-300s pretty much non-stop on the flight from London to LA with no issues whatsoever.

My current headphones are a plantronics headset. Because I look like I'm on a conference call rather than pissing about on the internet and listnin' to choons.

Methinks you should perhaps put the Christmas Sherry down.

It doesn't seem to matter what earphones/buds I get none of them seem to want to stop in my ears properly especially if I run or go skateboarding, but even just walking around they work loose and drop out. The last set I bought because they had four different sizes of rubbery things but none of them made it any better. Anyone else had this problem and come up with any solutions?

Yeah, stop moving around.

I used to have that problem, but then I used an earshrinking machine and now it's all gravy.

Do you have old-man-rubbery-ears, or something?

Mostly I do, but those times aren't the ones when I want earphones.

I don't think so, but they apparently aren't the same shape as everyone else's.