mbarry

I believe that we should have a dedicated thread to the best audio devices, instead of having them spread out everywhere.

In My opinion:

Best Earphones: The "In-Ear Stereo Earbuds (3.5mm Metallic Orange)". It is one of the cheapest high-quality canal-phones I could find. It's sound quality is amazing, and isolates sound quite well. It can be found at DealExtreme.com, and eBay. The cost is about $3-$5 after shipping and tax.



Best Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7. Can't afford this one, but reviews say it is one of the best. The Manusfacturer's suggested retail is $220, but you can find it for $130 easily.

Audio-Technica - Microphones, headphones, wireless microphone systems, noise-cancelling headphones & more : ATH-ANC7 : QuietPoint™ Active Noise-cancelling Headphones

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hotboxx

I use a pair of Skullcandy Smokin' buds, the sound quality is very good. Before I had the Skullcandy's I tried a pair of Creative EP-630 and they were not as good. The price range was the same, Skullcandy 28 Euro, EP-630 35 Euro.

But..........I also have a pair of dealextreme orange in ear plugs from 3.90 USD, and I can confirm that they are very good earplugs for an extremely low price. If you don't want to spend a lot of money these are the best in the market.

mbarry

Which one is better? The Skullcandy, or the Orange Earbuds? If the Skullcandy is better, what about the Creative EP-630 vs the Orange?

DimaMP4

Tried those orange metallic in-ear's, they were decent for their price but cannot compare to the Kanon MD-52

hotboxx

The Skullcandy is the best. The price difference between the DX headset and EP-630 is so huge, that IMO the EP-630 are not worth the extra money.

1) Skullcandy

2) DX orange from 3.90USD

3) EP-630

DusL

Try the Sennheiser MX400 earphones, costing 15 euros.

Perfect alive sounds and good build quality.

hotboxx

DusL: I also tried the Sennheiser MX400, brought them back to the local shop ASAP. I was lucky that Mediamarkt has a easy return policy.

DusL

Lol what was so bad about it?

mbarry

How much do the Kanons cost, and can you get them at Best Buy, Circuit City or other electronic stores, or is it only online ordering?

hotboxx

They did not meet my expectations, and the Skullcandy set did.

mbarry

What's the difference between the PT-850a, and the PT-850b?

SteveMB93

One has an a, the other has a b.

kadajawi

LOL :D

The BEST? Probably something like the Sony Qualia dunno what or the Sennheiser Orpheus (yours for something like $28000 :D). But I'd say the Koss KSC35, KSC50, KSC75, Porta Pro or Sporta Pro are pretty good for their money. The Crossroads MylarOne X3i or so seem to be pretty nice as well, or the Shure, etymotic research etc. models.

Speaker wise... hm, I like Nubert a lot, pretty affordable too. But there are of course better brands out there... for a hefty price tag.

The MX400 are, hm, usable, probably pretty good for earbuds, but the Koss completely beat the hell out of the Senns. They are in entirely different leagues.

mbarry

Bose seems to have a great speaker system, and headphones, but have a huge price tag.

kadajawi

*eek* Bose? Good? Bose may have been good, a few decades ago, but nowadays they produce crap that any better Logitech PC speaker should be able to beat. Not to mention serious HiFi systems. There is a reason why Bose doesn't allow dealers to place their systems close to the competition. You are not allowed to compare Bose to other brands... hm... but why?
And if you disassemble these Bose speakers you will find the use of cheap, inferior materials, something other products of their price range should not have.
Please read intellexual net · m k i v
And yes, I have listened to several Bose systems in stores (which means they should have been properly set up etc. There were Bose sales people running around etc.), and the sound was very, very underwhelming. No chance against my Nubert/NAD system which costs way less. Two Sony (!) speakers (ok, at 1000 € each) hooked up on a set of Vincent mono amps, Vincent CD player and preamp. (IIRC Vincent are rebranded Korsun (chinese brand)), each component costing again 1000 €,
sounded amazing... I think even with less expensive amps the Sonys should completely thrash Bose, and I'm shure other speakers in that price range should do that as well, if they are worth the money.

And Bose headphones... I've tried a pair of them... very flimsy, and the sound quality wasn't that good as well. No clue what their name was. Yes, they were ok, but only if they cut away the last number of the price tag. You could probably say the same about their speakers.

mbarry

Well, my father owns a Quiet Comfort (First Version), and a Lifestyle 50 and I think it sounds pretty good (He used to work at Bose, so he got these things cheap). I have never tested any of the newer models though.

kadajawi

I've listened to one of those Lifestyle models, and personally I think it sounded pretty bad. Ok, not terribly bad, but by far not worth the price tag they have. I think it was a 1500 € set, but the sound quality sounded more like 100-150 €. Have you tried "real" HiFi speakers?

taling hallenthur

You can get an amazing set of headphones for as low as $69. These headphones are Grado SR60 and their sound quality is astonishing.

mbarry

My Targus Headphones are about to die again. I want to get a new set. Any recommendations? Anything under $10 that I can get at a local store will do.

adamL

i prefer to buy one of EP 630 for example they have a good quality and stay a long time instead of buy two or three cheap hearphones on the year.Finally it could be more expensive to buy the cheap because you have to change them often.