Ear Buds

skrol

Recently I got a Sansa Fuze to listen to music in my office and 'round-about. It sounds really nice with my Denon in ear monitors. However, the Denon's or any other in ear monitor are designed for sound isolation. I know this is usually the goal but it doesn't work when I need to hear some ambient sounds (conversations). I have to keep yanking out my earphone to hear when think someone is talking to me.

Requirements:
* I can't use my speakers because I'll disturb my office mate
* I need to be able to hear when the phone rings or if someone wants to talk to me
* I want to enjoy my music in some resemblance of fidelity
* Price is a factor as things grow legs

I have a pair of old Sony buds that hang in the ear and the ones that came with the Fuze but they don't sound too good. I might consider a pair of Grado SR60 or 80 or Sennheiser open air head phones. However, for something I can throw in my bag easily, I am considering a good sounding pair of (hang in the ear) ear buds. Any suggestions for buds?

Thanks
Stan

John30_30

Sometimes the tips make all the difference, Stan. But Sennheiser makes some of the best bang for $ I've seen, specifically CX300's.

TouchOfEvil

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/multi-iem-review-61-iems-compared-audio-technica-ath-ck100-added-04-23-a-478568/
This link has ALOT of IEMs reviewed in the single thread. You can see what each one does for isolation and so on. Seems you need one with little isolation.
Hopefully this helps ya out a bit.

Zitro

John30_30 wrote: »

Sometimes the tips make all the difference, Stan. But Sennheiser makes some of the best bang for $ I've seen, specifically CX300's.

These are the buds I always use, and I love them for the price. However, they sound insulate pretty well so I don't think they are what you are looking for. Here they are though, $39.95 shipped

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-CX300-B-Earbuds-Black/dp/B000E6G9RI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272166996&sr=8-1

To anyone looking for open-back headphones, these are EXCELLENT for this price, I snagged a pair several months back and I couldn't be happier.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-515-Audiophile-500-Headphones/dp/B0001FTVDG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272167087&sr=1-7