Ear Buds (earbuds?)

[DJPoLo]

Got the iPod. Need the in-the-ear speakers.

I don't care for the ones that came with the iPod. They don't fit my ears well at all.

I'd like something that seals better and has big, phat BASS.

Any suggestions?

-Chet

[Shooter Grrl]

Shure Ec2 or Ec3 - depending on your budget. I have the EC2's and LOVE THEM!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?ty...d=1108126143955

[diehli]

Sony EX-71s. Available at Best Buy.

[outerlimits]

save yer money-get griffin technology's earjams. well worth the small price, if you want some bass...

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/earjams/index.php

[Rikarin]

shure ones are ok for me. It needs technique to make it work. Serious! If you don't push the buds aaaaaaal the way, it sounds crappy. No base at all.

It seals quite well. It comes with form earplug with hole in it where sound comes into your ears.

[smokshwn]

When you find a pair of buds you like and then have Jim Shanahan make a pair of plugs for you. You will love the sound improvement.

[shred]

I like the Sony's that stick all the way in your ear canal. Your friends won't want to try them, but they seal like earplugs, which on planes or anywhere noisy, is a godsend. Skip the noise-cancelling version-- there's not much need.

[George]

Shure's all the way. Rika has it right about needing to push them all the way in to make em' rock. You also need to push them with some real amp power too!

Use iTunes to apply EQ to songs. Set the EQ to lower gain and add bass heavily. Then push the playback volume at the iPod or notebook. That will get ya' good bass at medium volume. Want real volume, get a preamp. The Griffin Pods are a step in the right direction, but a hefty inline pre-amp and the Shure ear buds are the real hot setup.

Radio Shack makes a great little preamp that will drive up to 3 sets of headphones and supplies a fixed 10x gain with low impedance drive capability (that means it will get real, real loud). It will drive pretty much anything and allows some mondo gain before clipping on the Shure earbud systems. Pushing the stock ear plugs like this will blow them out so be warned!

I add heavy bass in the iTunes EQ panel and apply it to all songs before they get pushed out to an iPod. Then I set the output volume real low to get very little of my gain from the playback device and let the Radio Shack preamp add it's 10x gain and high current drive capability to the mix after the headphone jack. Amazing difference! It adds another item to the mix, but the gain in bass and volume before distortion is well worth it.

The biggest obstacle to deep clean bass is the fact that iPod and PowerBook/iBook audio out amplifiers will distort if not driven right (most any consumer device with a headphone out actually). They can only get so loud and once they overload, say goodbye to real audio quality at any gain setting, let alone hefty bass response. It takes lotsa' drive power to get real deep bass at high volume. These devices are really not capable of that kinda' push and need some augmentation to provgide the real loud, deep bass aftermarket transducers are capable of.

Edited March 9, 2006 by George

[n2ipsc]

Got the iPod. Need the in-the-ear speakers.

I don't care for the ones that came with the iPod. They don't fit my ears well at all.

I'd like something that seals better and has big, phat BASS.

Any suggestions?

-Chet

Check THESE out...

[George]

Check THESE out...

Pretty much the same as the Shure E3C ear bud but with some gold bling on them for about the same price. They also don't go as deep into the ear canal so they are harder to get the seal that gives you the REAL bass response. The Shure's go deeper into the ear canal and seal easier and stay in place better once sealed. The 5EB's are not really the equivalent of the Shure E3C but sell at similar price. The E3C has a wider freqency response (15hz-20khz vs 20hx-16khz) and weighs a tad more too, which says to me there is more driver mass in it. The Shure has a 115db/mw sensitivity rating while he 5EB is rated at 119db/mw. This says the 5EB's will get louder with the same input voltage but conversely, this also means less maximum volume/drive capabilityat the top end which makes the Shure’s the winner of the louder contest when a lot of real drive power is available. The sensitivity difference might make the 5EB a better choice where the amplifier driving them is wimpier (think iPod and computer audio jack here) so even though the Shure is the better unit technically, the 5EB will be louder before distortion in actual usage for most folks ears.

[DJPoLo]

save yer money-get griffin technology's earjams. well worth the small price, if you want some bass...

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/earjams/index.php

Well, I got some Griffin EarJams in the mail today. A HUGE improvement in fit and bass over the Apple earphones alone (although they didn't fit on my first generation iPod's earphones). Mids and treble seem to be sacraficed a bit but I'll see if I can fix that in the EQ.

I'd like to do a head-to-head (pun intended) comparison between these and the Shures.

-Chet