Weekend casualty: iPhone headphones
Well, the picture says it all: I’ll need to replace my iPhone headset faster than originally planned. I expected to upgrade for better sound quality in the future, but getting the cord caught on a car over the weekend has sped up the time-table. Maybe you can help me choose. I have to keep my budget reasonable, so I can’t be spending hundreds of dollars here; I’d probably max out around $150 out of pocket.
I do have my $100 Apple Store credit and I also have a $50 Visa Debit Card to my name; the $50 was a rebate from AT&T for one of our family plan phones and it just arrived. Should I go Shure, V-MOTA or something else entirely? If I have to, I’ll sacrifice the microphone in order to get good sound based on my usage. I spend about 95% of the time listening to music vs. 5% of the time actually on a call. Thoughts?
Update: Ironically, the only headphones I have that fit my iPhone right now are the ones from my Zune. Sort of funny if you read this, no? ;)
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shure!!
Hey Kevin,
Shure! There’s simply no contest what-so-ever. My father is an obsessive audiophile and he uses the e5c. I’m very happy with my e3c set…. it offers a truly night and day difference from any standard headset (even ones that claim “noise reduction”). Dad and I compared the e5c and the e3c (listening to a 25mb flac song on a Cowon player — I’m telling you, my dad is serious about his music!) and I could barely tell the difference. In that vein, I’m sure the e2c model is also excellent.
Shure all the way!
Jamie
I picked the V-Moda Duos. Yeah there are other headphones that might fit, but the Moda is the only other one I know of that has the microphone built in for when you want to use that for calls (though it lacks the press-button action the Apple headphones have).
The headphones themselves are metal and have a nice weight and the cords have an almost material feel for them.
Overall I’m really pleased with them.
if you want in ear headphones get the shures. Any will do really, e3c would probably be the best for the price. I personally prefer my bose triport oe, but thats just me.
Shure has a new series out now too, the SE210 model looks really nice. A bit pricier than the E2c’s, a bit less than the E3c’s, I think. Personally I own a set of E2c’s (my second set as the other one met with a cable-related accident) – so I guess buying the same set of earphones twice has to qualify as an endorsement.
Thanks for the quick feedback! I’m leaning towards the Shure SE210 which is in stock at my local Best Buy for $149.99 right now. I have a $20 Best Buy card and I’ll use the $50 Visa card to cut my out-of-pocket expense down to $80. I think I’ll save the $100 Apple Store credit for now, but I could use that on the Shure Music Phone Adapter for $40, which would add a microphone to the SE210s. I’ll miss the controls of the iPhone headset (click to pause, double-click for next track), but I’ll live!
Pop you upside your head. That’s an unnatural act, using those Zbuds!!
You can go get a CHEAP replacement that’ll work with your iPhone right now:
http://www.cobyusa.com/_en/prod_item.php?item=CVE97&pcat=hp&pscat=earphone&pscat2=
Those are Coby. I use them with my cheapjack jWin player. The plug also fits the iPhone. I know this because I used them with an iPhone at the Apple Store. (It was only hours afterward that it hit me: holy cow! It fit!)
Anyway, these are like $4-$6, depending on the store you hit. Plus, they are white.
You might try a the er6i, from this company,they mate the iphone cord with the er6i
http://www.ultimatebuds.com/
that way, you still have the use of the original iphone mic and forward button.
Richard, I saw those on-line and they would probably have been the best of both worlds, but I decided on the SE210s due to my gift cards. I just swung past Best Buy and I’m listening with them now; only $88 out of pocket (after tax). They don’t fit the iPhone natively, but luckily that adapter I ordered last week for a few bucks arrived in the mail today.
“Plus, they are white.”
Mike, surely you’ve seen enough of my videos by now to know that I don’t care about my looks. ;) Besides, the black Shures were $30 less than the white ones.