Best earbuds/earphones


Trying to take the show on the road and I'm wondering what earbuds you found to be the best. I bought a pair of UltimateEars TripleFI 10 which have been highly touted and they sound terrible. I guess it has something to do with the seal but none of the sizes work for me. No bass at all and very bright. $30 Skullcandy my wife has sound tons better so it is odd. I doubt the UE's are that bad, just do not work for me.

Any suggestions on a good set?
richard_stacy

Showing 6 responses by richard_stacy

HelloFi...Many thanks for the reply. I have not tried a different amp because I am searching for a portable solution. These will mainly be used with my Droid playing 320kbs mp3 or flac so I am limited. I do realize this is not a great source for fidelity but I think it can be decent for travel/workout/dog walks etc. When at home, the big rig is my source of magic and no phones are needed.

My rationale for not blaming the source for the UE's shortcomings was the comparison to the Skullcandy.

I will begin my quest with your suggestions. Thanks again...
Loomis...Thats a pretty good idea, no I had not. It certainly makes physical sense that they would sound better. I would have to see whats out there and try some on. I would be concerned that they would be bulky and limiting but I am open to it for sure, thanks!
Great suggestions guys, thanks so much.

I was having a hard time sleeping last night and started thinking about this thread for some odd reason. I was laughing inside...what the heck...this is such an odd curse to have. 99% of the population are perfectly happy listening to their mp3's through standard earbuds but no...not me. I need to spend tons of money and days/weeks of my life trying to find the "right" ones. Then more hours/days finding the right file converter, then the best file type, then enough storage to accommodate and so on...I guess it beats collecting ceramic horsey figurines....maybe...

So anyway...I spent some time reading about Etymotic and those look pretty interesting. Maybe the 6i? I am going to see if there is a store that carries them around here.

For kicks, I went to Bestbuy and the only "highend" phones they had were Monster Turbine. I bought them knowing I could take them back and they sound worse than the UE. Again, no bass at all and super bright. So far, the cheap Skullcandy are still better! The Monster did have a very fancy case and binder and you can supposedly take a hammer to them, not sure why....
Once again, great stuff.

Hellofi...Sounds like the P version is what I am looking for. I think I read that those are sold at the Apple store so I may try to run out there although they may not carry the ER4 being more of a higher end piece. There are a ton on Ebay but prolly to big a risk.

Pk...I had not heard of that brand but will research them as well. Thank you.
Hmmm...Mrk's comments have me a bit concerned about the Ety because those issues are exactly what I did not like about the UE and Turbine. Zero musicality and even less bass. I am not so much concerned about the controls because the Droid does most of that stuff on its own (switches call/ring to earphones, pause etc). All you iphone folks should check one out! You also can choose a variety of players with different features as well as file formats. I can go on and on about all the benefits of the Droid vs Iphone but way off topic...Back to the phones...I can only assume that the reason is the UE are designed for better sources vs portable players. Mrk were the Ety's you are referring to the ones they designed for portable players or the hifi ones?
Update...

Like all things audio, I started and could not stop. I did finally find a way to get a seal with the UE's but found them to me muddy and loaded in the mids. This seems odd to me as all the reviews I have read suggest that they are ultra clear to the point of being bright and etchy. Not so inside my head. So on to the Etymotic HF2...again, very hard time finding a seal but eventually found the rounded little foam tips to work, not the comply but the funny circle looking ones. These buds were the clearest, most detailed I have heard yet and close to what I think I am searching for. The big issue was the lack of bass...total lack of bass. So on to the Westone 3...only tips that seal for me were the large Xmas tree type and they seal well. These are a very comfortable design and are sort of a cross between the UE and Ety in sound. I prolly can live with them but the bumped up mids bother me, similar to the UE. They also lack the clarity and air of the ETY. So on to the Etymotic ER4P...these are in transit to me now and I am hoping they are the ones for me. From what I liked about the HF2, they should be. My wish is for a little more bass without the exaggerated midrange. I am looking forward to it!

Another interesting point about this whole thing is just how good the player in the Moto Droid can sound. With these good buds, it certainly sounds close to a decent HiFi rig and in some ways better. This came as a pleasant surprise.

Thanks for all that offered input. It was a strong jumpstart for my search.