Want to spend $40 or less - best headphones?

[Frank1991]

I just cannot stand the headphones that came with my 30GB. The sound is poor and they always fall out of my ears. Any suggestions for my budget? I do not want to spend $100+ for some of the ones that I have seen as I am not a hardcore music person. I just want something that is loud, has pretty good sound quality and base and will not fall out of my ear. I was looking at some Sony ear buds like the MDR-51LP. They were about $25, but will the sound quality (for such a cheap price) be much improved over the ones that came with the ipod? Thanks

[Jokieman]

I just cannot stand the headphones that came with my 30GB. The sound is poor and they always fall out of my ears. Any suggestions for my budget? I do not want to spend $100+ for some of the ones that I have seen as I am not a hardcore music person. I just want something that is loud, has pretty good sound quality and base and will not fall out of my ear. I was looking at some Sony ear buds like the MDR-51LP. They were about $25, but will the sound quality (for such a cheap price) be much improved over the ones that came with the ipod? Thanks


The Sony's will fall apart within a few months, I recommend the Creative EP630's for your price point... Unfortunately the CX300's have boosted in price, they're now running $50.00-$60.00 over on Amazon. If you could stretch it I'd recommend those.

[dbdynsty25]

I'd keep a lookout for the Sennheiser CX300s. You can get them under 50 bucks online...check amazon.

[Jackonicko]

Any in-ear phone will sound very different to the standard Apple buds, and the novelty of this will sound 'better' - even with the Sony EX51. All in-ears offer great isolation and give your music an intimacy and immediacy.

But you will soon realise that there are in ear phones and in ear phones, and they differ markedly. The Sony EX51 has awful, bloated, muddy bass (I like powerful bass, but I want more than a crude, toneless thump) and terrible hissy, sibilant highs.

Fortunately, you can do much better, and you can do better for far less than $100.00.

You really need to raise your price. $50 will offer a range of great alternatives - like the CX300 mentioned above, and like V-Moda's Bass Freq. If you're lucky (they don't fit many people) the Apple In Ears aren't bad, sound-wise.

If you really can't spend $50 then you can get slightly better sound than the EX51 with the JVC HA FX55, at a lower price, or the Phillips 5900 (the same price), and there are some new Sennheiser in-ears, too, though I haven't yet tried the latter.

[Aceon6]

Buy 3 sets of Senn MX500s. That will run you $45.

[Frank1991]

Any in-ear phone will sound very different to the standard Apple buds, and the novelty of this will sound 'better' - even with the Sony EX51. All in-ears offer great isolation and give your music an intimacy and immediacy.

But you will soon realise that there are in ear phones and in ear phones, and they differ markedly. The Sony EX51 has awful, bloated, muddy bass (I like powerful bass, but I want more than a crude, toneless thump) and terrible hissy, sibilant highs.

Fortunately, you can do much better, and you can do better for far less than $100.00.

You really need to raise your price. $50 will offer a range of great alternatives - like the CX300 mentioned above, and like V-Moda's Bass Freq. If you're lucky (they don't fit many people) the Apple In Ears aren't bad, sound-wise.

If you really can't spend $50 then you can get slightly better sound than the EX51 with the JVC HA FX55, at a lower price, or the Phillips 5900 (the same price), and there are some new Sennheiser in-ears, too, though I haven't yet tried the latter.


OK - $50 or lower - what is my best bet? Thanks

[Jackonicko]

I think the two best options at $50 are, at the moment, as previously described

"$50 will offer a range of great alternatives - like the CX300 mentioned above, and like V-Moda's Bass Freq."

[frescagod]

I just cannot stand the headphones that came with my 30GB. The sound is poor and they always fall out of my ears. Any suggestions for my budget? I do not want to spend $100+ for some of the ones that I have seen as I am not a hardcore music person. I just want something that is loud, has pretty good sound quality and base and will not fall out of my ear. I was looking at some Sony ear buds like the MDR-51LP. They were about $25, but will the sound quality (for such a cheap price) be much improved over the ones that came with the ipod? Thanks

for the money, the koss ksc75 headphones are the best bargain out there. you can find them for $12 or 13 usually on either radioshack.com or amazon.com.

seriously though, i own shure e4s and just got e500s today, and the koss phones are an absolute steal at $13.

i wouldn't listen to them on the subway though. :cool: