Best NON-"in the ear" Headphones/Earbuds

[afro_puff]

I love my iPod and I want to get a better set of headphones for them, however, all the 'reference' quality headphones that i have found are the kind that cancel noise (much like apple's in the ear headphones). I don't like this type of headphone, first of all you need to have them squarely in your ear in order to hear bass properly and it also cuts out external sound... something I find quite useful when I am bike riding late at night.

So... are there any headphones that are like the ones that initially come with the ipod, only on a much higher level? Thx in advance.

[trevor]

The best headphones that I have ever heard are Grado RS1s (http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/rs1.htm). They are not noise canceling.

What aspect of the original iPod headphones are you looking to reproduce?

Trevor

[afro_puff]

JESUS CHRIST! Those things are huge man...

I want little ear buds that aren't noise canceling... essentially I want a much better version of the headphones that ship with the iPod. I want to be able to hear ambient noise so I can hear people around me even with the earbuds in. This is for safety reasons because I bike around a lot and when I had noise canceling earbuds (the upgrade that apple sells) I couldn't hear a lot of hazardous things... like automobiles.

[trevor]

Since you don't like in-ear canal headphones, I won't recommend Etymotic (http://www.etymotic.com/) headphones, which are a significant improvement on the in-ear canal phones from Apple.

OK, for ear buds, I'd recommend the Sennheiser MX300, MX400, or MX500. http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/category.asp?transid=cat5

Trevor

[DavidRavenMoon]

I think the Apple ear pods are actually very good... with one exception... they can't handle high volume levels with a lot of bass for too long. Because I travel on the NYC subways every day, and since my hearing isn't as good as it used to be from years on playing loud music in bands, I tend to play my iPod louder than I should... and I've blown out three pairs of ear pods already!

But the only way to get better bass is either with larger over the ear headphones, in-the-ear headphones, or noise canceling headphones.

[afro_puff]

I have read a lot about the Etymotic headphones and really want them, but people go off on how well they shield sound and I do want to maintain a bit of ambience with my headphones. It really just appears that its apple's or nothing because what I read about those Sennheisers is that they are pretty much on the same level as the Apple headphones.

I used the Apple In-Ear headphones and they not only required a snug fit in order to hear any bass at all, which was often painful and annoying, they just silenced too much from the outside world. They sounded good but there were just too many cons for me to keep them. I might have to just try out the Etymotic phones because I hear they have a 30 day return policy.

Thank you for your help!

[trevor]

what I read about those Sennheisers is that they are pretty much on the same level as the Apple headphones.

I couldn't say--you may be right about that. I've never used any Sennheiser earbuds, I just know that I far prefer their headphones in general over any of the Japanese brands, which I dislike for their exaggerated brightness.

The Etymotics are very good sounding, and if you're leaning that way I'd certainly give their 30 day return policy a workout.

Trevor

[carcass]

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