Best earphones for running with iPod?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FJD5IA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

spend the money for a Bose Triport you wont regret it. I have them and absolutely love them.
http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_PRODUCT_PAGE_EVENT&product=tri...

I have some $15 JVC "marshmallow" in-ear ones...the sound quality takes getting used to, but I run 4-5 miles a day and they stay put pretty well.

I would highly recommend the Bang & Olufsen A8's. I'm somewhat of an audiophile and also happen to run about 10 miles a week, so I can understand your situation. The nice thing about the A8's, besides the astounding sound quality that B&O is known for, is that they have a swiveling part that encloses around your ear. Nothing to stick inside your ear canal, and nothing to pinch your ear -- just an adjustable piece that maneuvers over your ear. Sometimes it's easy to forget that that the earphones are even on your ear, but they'll never fall off, that's for sure.

You might resist the $160 price tag -- I did at first -- but they've been worth every penny since I bought them in 2001 and I think they're the best all-around earphone on the market.

Oh, and one other sweet thing about it -- there's a three-year warranty that's nearly unconditional. It covers anything from cables thinning out and falling apart (can happen with all ear phones) to simple mechanical stubbornness or imperfect parts. And if this happens, just go into a B&O store with your receipt and they will give you a brand new pair. Just make sure you buy it from an authorized dealer and not off of eBay -- the B&O A8 is probably the most counterfeited earphone out there.

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=46&bhcp=1

Although I am a Bose fan, those are all too big (around ear, on ear) or look like they'll fall out (the in-ear look the same as my in-ear).

Numi, after reading up on the B&O A8's, those are a definite purchase in my future, however, I just can't justify the $160 on ear phones at the moment. But those are exactly what I've been looking for, so thanks for the suggestion.

For the meantime, there's not some wannabe B&O A8 on the market (for a lesser price) is there?

I happen to be partial to these babies: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-J10-Headphones-Non-Slip-Design/dp/B000092...
when I run. They stay in your ears and are pretty comfy. I don't wear them for much else because I Would rather use Over Ear headphones for my regular music needs, but they are just a great, cheap, headphone made for runnin.

i personally like these sonys a lot for running. the behind the ear designs keeps them in place when running and they are comfortable enough with decent sound and are fairly cheap

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-G42LP-behind-neck/dp/B0002KQUPC/ref=sr_1_...

for everyday use i use the v-moda bass frequency (great phones, great price)
http://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-Bass-Freq-Earbuds-Platinum/dp/B000G00UOU/re...

I would stay away from bose, overpriced for mediocre audio fidelity. more marketing than substance.

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/in-ear-monitor/

btw, if you are jogging in manhattan, I'd recommend behind-the-head open-air headphones. a quality pair will fit snugly and furthermore: 2 problems i have with in ear headphones in the city:

1) too much isolation can be dangerous (extreme ex: some girl died last year crossing the street with her ipod - was completely oblivious)

2) recent studies showed that prolonged use of in ear headphones greatly increased the chance for permanent damage to your hearing and especially in the city withe all the street noise, I find myself turning the vol way past the recommended 60% max

Frieds,

What's the sound quality like in those? The design seems like it would be good for running, but they're only $8 on amazon so I'm suspicious about the sound quality. I'm not looking for anything phenomenal, but I definitely want to be able to hear my music at a fairly high volume.

x13, good point - I've never thought of that. My college town doesn't have hardly any traffic so on my running route I usually have the road to myself and just like to block everything out, but my tunes (i.e. I run with it on max volume all the time). Haven't decided where I'm going to run in NYC yet, but I'll consider dropping the volume so I can hear outside noises.

I don't think there are any true wannabe B&O A8's out there. When I was looking for a pair of earphones, I'd seen and tested a couple dozen of the more "popular" ones and can't say that any of them came close in terms of sound quality or versatility. There are a lot of counterfeit A8's, but B&O themselves don't make a lower tier item. In fact, they can regularly charge in the five-figure range for some of their soundsystems because of how great their quality is, so the A8 being a "low ticket item" for the company, that's why they'll just give you a brand new pair if something goes wrong with yours rather than spending the time to fix them.

Also, someone brought up a point about in-ear earphones being potentially more detrimental to your hearing or isolating too much noise. I agree that these are concerns if you're running outdoors, but most of the ones mentioned on this thread, including the A8's, are not the kind that intrude into the auditory canal. As such, ordinary earphones not noise cancelling or isolating, but you probably wouldn't want them to be if you're running outdoors.

Hopefully that answers your question. I understand that $160 for a pair of A8's might be stretching your wallet. They're not cheap, that's for sure. But just remember that you'll be very happy with them for a long time, they seem to fit your needs pretty well, and you'll know that they're basically risk-free for three years because of their warranty. It's worth considering that through normal wear and tear, you'll probably run through a couple pairs of earphones during that time anyway, and it all adds up. Difference is that B&O is pretty much hassle-free compared to most other manufacturers. I guess you can look at the A8's as an investment with a high initial cost, but something that's best-in-class and can hold its value for a pretty long time.

by far the best earbuds on the market. puts bose to shame...these stay in your ear no matter what, and the sound quality is phenomenal.

http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Earphones/SEModels/us_pa_SE2...

after reading this thread i started researching new earbuds (need a reason to procrastinate on a friday) and have narrowed it done to the following (cant justify spending $200 on earbuds). anyone have any experience with any of the below and recommendations?

shure e2c
shure se110
ultimate ears super.fi 3
etymotic er-6i

the etymotics are very very good, dont know about the other 3

Etymotics ER-6 are probably your best bet. After that I'd say Shure's are next...they're also good and I think their frequency range is the same but sound reproduction is not as good. Hard to say though. They're all basically in the same tier, and from what I remember, the Shure's sound pretty similar (E2c might be discontinued?). I don't know about Ultimate Ears.

That being said, I still prefer my B&O A8's because I don't like the earbuds that go into my ear canal. If you really want to get a serious pair of in-ear's and are willing to spend a little more, I think the Etymotics ER-4 are considerably better than the ER-6 but will also cost you another $100.

Get either Shure or Sennheiser in-ear headphones. It's a good point that you have to be very careful when wearing them because the noise isolation of freakin good. I'm not sure if I believe they can be harmful to your hearing. I actually think they are better for your hearing, because of noise isolation. You won't need to have the volume as high as on normal headphones. I had regular plugs before and I usually listened at 23-25/30 level. Now with in-ear Sennheisers I listen at 15-16/30 and I can hear it a lot better. I got these, and love them:

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-CX-400-S-in-earportable-headphone/dp/B0...

numi how would you say the B&O compare to the etymotics in terms of sound quality. ive read that they are super comfortable but some people seemed to have gripes with the sound...

I used to have shure e2cs and loved them. The cable got damaged after a couple years and I replaced them with etymotic er-6is just to change it up. Sound quality is about the same when you are sitting still (e.g. at your desk), but I really can't recommend them for running. They have a very thin cable which gets what audiophiles call "the microphone effect"—every time you tap the cable (or it bounces up and down) you get a noticeable "thump"—it's very annoying while running. Also, both of these earphones have serious isolation, which makes them great for the gym or an airplane, but as x13 says, I wouldn't run through NYC with them on.

good question. i think there are a few key factors you really have to consider here.

(1) do you like in-ear earphones or not?
(2) is sound isolation an important factor?
(3) do you prefer a stronger bass or a natural, crisper sound?

if you prefer in-ear earphones and sound isolation important, than you're better off getting etymotic or shure. sound isolation is also a nice feature of in-ear earphones, but not to the extent where i feel like the sound starts feeling somewhat dampened and insulated, which sometimes happens with those so-called noise-cancelling sets. finally, if bass is really important to you, i guess the etymotics have a slight edge, but neither set is worth writing home about with regard to bass. why? because earphones in general do not have bass quality in the same way as most headsets, which are often prohibitively large to go running in.

i myself prefer the A8's. i don't like sticking things in my ear canal so that rules out most in-ear sets. yet the A8's have such a low profile yet durable and sturdy profile, i've never had them fall out of my ears or even worry about them doing so. sound isolation isn't a big deal to me, since if there's background noise that's ambient enough for me to hear even with the volume up, there's probably a good reason that i should be hearing that noise (approaching traffic, fire alarm, PA announcements, etc.). but the thing i like best about the a8's is how natural and how clear they sound. i think it's a reflection of a very good frequency response, which seems to be pretty flat across a wide range (a good thing).

you can't go wrong with either set, but it's just a matter of which fits your needs the most. they're both good in different ways. you've also gotten some great feedback from other posters here, so you should have plenty of information to work with. just remember that a few of us here are probably more particular about audio equipment than others, so what matters to us may not even be that significant to a casual user. they're all pretty good.

i hope this helps!

Besides the A8's, which of the aforementioned top tier ear phones (I'm fine with in-ear) actually will stay in while you're running?

Some people in this thread have suggested in-ear style headphones that don't have an ear clip or a headband and I just can't fathom how any of these could stay in while running (since my Apple in-ear headphones fell out when running).

The shures or etys will definitely stay in. They go deeper into the ear canal than the apple earphones. As others have mentioned, some people are bothered by that, but you get much better isolation and thus clearer sound.

thanks for the help guys, ended up going with the etymotic er-6i.

if anyone else is looking to buy i think buy.com has the best price

$72.99 ($62.99 with google checkout) with no tax and free s&h

iambateman,

I'll probably pick up a pair of those in the near future, in the meantime, think you would mind writing up a little review after you get yours and go for a run in them?

sure thing keyser, pm me if i forget

I am a bit of an audiophile myself and I use Shure E4Cs. They are excellent, but I wouldn't recommend them to everyone. The biggest reason for this would be that only certain types of music sound good on them. Softer trance, chillout/downtempo, deep house, classical, opera, soft rock, etc. sounds excellent. Anything that needs strong base does not work well at all. They are very strong in the high range and have a brighter sound than most. Also, because the clarity is so high, you will hear all the imperfections in the recording. Thus, anything that is not a FLAC or 320kbs file will not sound that great. Something to consider. They are rather fragile and not too great for running (the microphone effect that AltESV mentioned is very strong).

All that being said, if you really love music and want the best, Shure E4Cs will bring you ultimate satisfaction. They come with 8+ different ear pieces so you can find one to perfectly fit your ear. The quality and crispness of the sound is out of this world.

Numi, I am looking to pick up another pair of earphones that will be more versatile and work better with lower quality recordings. I want something that is not noise-cancelling as sometimes people ask me for something at work and I can't hear them. Your A8s sound pretty promising, how well do they play different kinds of music - what specific genres/types of sound do they play the best? What quality recordings do you usually listen to?

Thanks a lot!

They don't make E4Cs anymore but if you are interested here is the direct successor model from Shure -

http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Earphones/SEModels/us_pa_se4...

I didn't buy the A8's with a specific genre of music in mind, as I listen to a wide range of music (hip-hop, classical, classic rock). I thought compared to a lot of the earphones in the $90-100 price range, the A8 had a superior frequency response and less distortion at different ends of the ranges. I think that certain earphones try to overcompensate with a stronger bass since earphones inherently don't have that much power at lower frequencies compared to headphones, but this ends up distorting the sound at other ranges of the spectrum. I think that if bass is really important to you, then some of the other earphones might be better, but I think the sound reproduction and clarity on the A8's are definitely superior to most of the other earphones in the lower price range mentioned in this thread, and are also pretty competitive with the Etymotic ER-4 but maybe not quite as good.

Hope this helps!

Numi,

Thanks for the info. Do you ever go on headfi.org? I recently discovered it and have really learned a lot. I came to realize that the problems that I was having with my E4Cs were mostly caused by the Ipod Classic they were paired with. I tried my girlfriend's 5.5g Ipod and the sound is so much warmer and deeper. I hate that tingy bright sound that the Ipod Classic has, with its exaggerated and piercing high notes. I plan on picking up a Sony A818, which is supposed to have stellar sound quality and eventually upgrade my IEMs to Shure SE530s.

One funny word solved all my running headphone problems- EarFuze. You buy a DIY kit with earphones and silicone putty and viola! you've got custom earphones that don't fall out. I go for a run and never think about my earphones. These things will amaze you. Seriously, this debate would be over if you knew what they are like. Sound quality is pretty good and comfort is great, but the fact that they stay in with unbelievable retention is what makes them outstanding. EarFuze price was only like $30 shipped. I'd can't recommend these enough cause theres just no drawbacks to them when you're running.

www.earfuze.com

Yeha, oasising, I know of that site -- it's a good one. and yeah, I definitely agree that the audio system that you use can have an impact on the audio quality, irrespective of the headphones that you use. I used to have an iPod classic and I remember experiencing the issue you described, too.

Best headphones on the market are the Shure SE530 Sound-Isolating Earphones but those are for the SUPER INTENSE music junkie. Myfriend who is in a rock band and DJ's at a local bar has them, i listened onmy new iPod and it was amazing- but these arefor the rich kids- his family has a sh*tload of money- the phones cost like $450. But they don'tfall out, are in-ear, and isolation is phenomenal. http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID...

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