Ear Buds

And canal phones too.  In China.

Tips?  Recommendations?  Brands?  

The ear buds that came with my phone have done sterling service for all of about six months, but I was using them every day and I guess the cables got a bit worn with all the twisting and the shoving into my pockets and so now sound in the left ear drops in and out when I walk. Prior to this, those ear buds were fine.  What I heard through them was the same as what I hear through my PC speaker and woofer setup, so I was content.

Now I'm looking for some replacements.  Today I tried out a pair of cheap canal phones.  They're actually more comfortable than ear buds but these particular ones are shockingly worse in terms of sound.  They have tiny vents at the back of the ear piece and some echo thing is going on--if I cover the vents with my thumbs, the sound is fine, but uncovered the sound goes all big and empty, like listening through a piece of wool.  I saw a former marketing student today and he said, "for 35 yuan you deserve it!"  He thinks 50 yuan is okay for ear buddies.

Whatcha got?  Whaddya recommend?

My favorite earbuds ever were a set of Koss phones. I paid about US $25 for them in a local Wal-Mart. They were by far the most comfortable I ever used...I must have exceptionally petite ear canals because I find most earbuds to be way too big for my ears.
They were pretty durable as well, and gave me great sound.

1 word: SHURE 

I dont know if Id ever dare to buy them, but my son recently had some Beats by Dr Dre...they did sound amazing...bloody expensive though!

I dont know if Id ever dare to buy them, but my son recently had some Beats by Dr Dre...they did sound amazing...bloody expensive though!

I have Beats by Dr. Dre and they are great for me. I have owned Shures in the past but always had problems with fit and I find the cords to be flimsy. Good sound though. Don't buy canals from a street/underground market. Pay a little more and get something decent from an authorized dealer. Fakes can damage your ears. Sennheiser make good head/ear phones at many price points as does Altec Lansing. I use my phone as my mp3 player so a good microphone and playback controls on the line are important to me and worth a little extra dosh for convenience.

Again, a 50rmb pair of ear canals will probably have a slight buzz that you may not hear, and if you wear the canals a lot, will end up damaging your hearing. With a high quality pair, you don't need the sound turned up as high to have good clarity. I use my ear canals everyday for extended periods of time. It makes sense for me to use higher quality ones.

As an employee, I have to recommend Philips.

I just got a new pair of Phillips buds. 450rmb. They work pretty decently.

Subjective experience, day 1:

Not counting the el cheapo local brands, Walmart in my area had only Philips and Sony.  Of the styles and types available, I liked, and bought, two from Philips: a 45 yuan pair of buds and a 100 yuan pair of canal phones.  

The buds are large and (in one ear) uncomfortable, and lack something in the sound.  It's not a lack of bass.  There's muffled thrums and thumps a-plenty.  These buds are in fact louder than the pair I was used to.  What they lack is brightness of sound.  I can't think of a better word.  It's not lack of treble, nor of bass.  It's sparkle.  Brightness.  The sound is hollow.

By contrast, the canal phones are okay.  The sound is closer to what I expect.  It lacks a little, and an audiophile wouldn't accept it, but it's okay, I guess.  The difficulty is I can hear every step I make and every breath I take.  This afternoon I went out to do a Chinese lesson and took an apple with me.  The sounds of my own eating blocked out the mp3 sounds.  Plus, it freaks me out a little to hear the music sound so clear and normal and to not hear very much at all of the surrounds.

So, 145 yuan down and cheapo is not the way to go.  Unfortunately I don't know where to buy better other than online, and I discovered taobao has the replacement sets of the headphones that come with my phone.  (For 25 dollars each.)


Where do you guys buy yours?

In computer cities you'll find shops dedicated to headphones. I don't mean the little parts places, I mean proper stores. The little Apple stores that have been popping up everywhere will have some decent ones including the Dr. Dre's.

Are you still in Yueyang? I don't know the shopping there but it's pretty easy in Changsha.

Yeah, still in Yueyang, and I think my next stop's going to have to be Changsha, maybe that big electronics market across from the train station.  That's the biggest one there, isn't it?


I discovered today that my town isn't too bad for mid-range consumer electronics, but there's really nothing in speciality brands.  Actually, literally nothing.  Kind of interesting, I guess, from some point of view of watching market penetration, or the development of markets or society or something.  Not so great from the point of view of actually buying things, though.

Has anyone ever heard of or used YUiN headphones? 

They cost a bit, but supposedly they're good. 


Those, or Sennheiser MXs of some kind, I'm thinking today.

I'm intrigued by these YUiNs.  I reckon I might buy myself a pair if I ever find myself in the same shop as some.  Meanwhile, Sennheisers.  I found some cheapish MXs today.  I wanted the 580s but found the 370s.  They're tolerable and will do for now.

if you wear the canals a lot, will end up damaging your hearing.

I'm 46. Gigs, rehearsals of my rubbish punk band, ear-phones, using power tools, driving a very noisy old Citroen 2CV for several years.... Yesterday I was in a doctor's surgery discussing my tinnitus and making an appointment for an audiogram. My hearing is only down a little, and it's not a major deal, but take care of them lug-holes! You can't grow another pair (not even if you live near a really dodgy nuclear power station).

Day 1, subjective experience, YUiN PK2:

I purchased some YUiNs online (288 yuan) and they turned up today.  I haven't really tested them properly yet, and I won't know for a while yet whether or not there's any sound issues, but I don't think there will be.  The thing I noticed trying them out just now is, literally, I can't hear anything wrong. I CAN hear where the MP3s are a bit crap (like, a very cool live version of Gave Up by NIN that I got through a website that plucked it bodily from Youtube--it's now clear how much extra hiss there is in the ts and ss sound areas), but with a good mp3, no issues.  On some there seems even to be a better sound definition and differentiation than I'm used to.  They're definitely loud enough too.

Tentative thumbs up!

Day 268, subjective experience, YUiN PK2:

they succumbed to in-the-pocket syndrome. I only ever use headphones when I'm out and walking around. The phone'll be in my front pants pocket and the cabling closest to the jack is never still. Finally, today, some thin wire inside thereabouts separated and the sound dropped out in the right ear. Imma get another pair, I reckon. The sound is good and they fit well. I even put them through the washing machine once by accident and they came out okay.