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  • Affectionate-Bed-980 - Thursday, December 24, 2009 - link

    In 2004 I bought my first iPod. I went to the iPod Touch and 3GS later on. I have stock iPod headphones.

    Today I pulled them out.

    In 2004, I bought Sony Fontopia earbuds. After reading this review I though they were BOMB. I went through 3 years of college swearing these were amazing and laughed at stock iPod earbuds.

    I pulled those out.

    In 2007, I switched to Super.Fi 5 Pros. These totally woke me up that I was listening to crap.

    In 2009, I jumped on the Amazon Triple.Fi 10 $99 deal. I had been watching these ever since I got the Super.Fis and my friend showed me his Shure SE530 which he upgraded to from Super.Fis. I was amazed by the ~$400 price range of earbuds.

    Today I put these 4 together.

    After using my Triple.Fis for 3 days, I concluded they are excellent across the board. Excellent separation, isolation, and very crisp sounds. The bass is bassy yet clear. The mids are a step above the Super.Fis, and even the highs are excellent.

    The Super.Fis quite frankly sound FLAT. I'm glad I can still hear every instrument with my SF5Pros, but honestly, it's not as isolated as the Triple.Fis.

    The Sony Fontopias? I laughed out loud. I haven't used these since 2007. I was like "And I called this music for 3 years of my life?" Everything was muddled. Blurred together. Bass was bassier than my SF5Pros but BOOMY... meaning you can't make out the individual instruments well. It's just thumping. Low quality bass. I suppose people enjoy this and "bassy" to them usually means "oooh awesome quality!"

    The stock iPhone 3GS earbuds? Even worse. I nearly threw up. I tried for 30 minutes to use my Sony Fontopias to tell myself "THIS IS MUSIC." I wanted to retry my Triple.Fis and be amazed yet again. I couldn't keep the Fontopias on. They were just too bad.

    This is like moving from a camera phone to a point & shoot, then to an enthusiasts P&S/entry SLR, and finally to a full frame SLR with a high end lens...
  • S0me1X - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link

    I love my ER4Ps :)

    Its one of the bet bargains in portable headphones.
    The SR60 is a very poor choice for portable use (I have MS1, which is pretty much same as a SR125) because it does not isolate at all.

    Shure E2c would be your best buy for sub-$100 portable headphones.
  • Davieblue - Friday, July 10, 2015 - link

    If you're really lookin for some great earbuds check out the jaybird freedom sprints - better yet, the jaybird bluebuds (a bit more expensive) you can read more about the differences between them here http://www.pricenfees.com/best-bluetooth-headphone... . I own the sprints, my wife loves the bluebuds. As far as sound quality goes, I think they're pretty similar, so it was never worth the extra money for me to upgrade. She notices a difference though.. either way, both are a big upgrade from the standard apple in-ear headphones.
  • xand - Monday, June 7, 2004 - link

    Do also consider the Sharp HP 33md. (which run about the same, $40)

    I must say that i've heard neither of these, but I do have a pair of Er4Ps. The Sharp phones are a tad more comfortable, and provide far more acoustic impact while costing about a fifth. They predictably resolve less detail though.

    I would consider them broadly comparable to a Grado SR60, and for pure portable use, superior on grounds of the noise isolation provided.
  • sammie - Monday, June 7, 2004 - link

    Err, is what I just read is true? Sony MDR-EX71LP is selling at $29.99?! Is there a possibility that you mean Sony MDR-EX51LP?

    some history :
    4 years ago (2000), I was in HK looking for a MDR-ED2xx earphone (predecessor of MDR-ED21LP)when i stumbled into a weird looking earphone, the MDR-EX70. Just to be sure, i bought 2 earphones, when i got home, I plugged in the ED2xx first, checked if there's any problem, the bass is clear, the sound is nice, test run it in 3 hrs playing different music from classical to jazz, RnB to bass bumping music (lost in bass, bass syndicate, etc.), Pop to heavy metal, etc etc just to condition the earphone. The only problem i have with earphones is that your ears start to sore after 2~3 hours stucked on the ears. After a day of conditioning the ED2xx. I opened the package of EX70, at first I thought I just waste my money on this earphone, but after I plugged it in on my ear. only expression... WOW. I was very very very very very satisfied, It's the first time that I've heard something like this on a earphone, you can hear the wholeness / clarity of the bass just like there's a subwoofer attached to your ear, something like enclosed 12" subwoofer of a car. And another good thing i liked about the earphone is that I've been wearing it for more than 10 hours and cannot feel any pain on my ear. Then I put the ED2x back on it's original package, and now, it's on my shelf acumulating dust :P. My first EX70 failed on me when left earpiece was attacked by red fire ants...yes...that damn ant bit me inside the ear. So i have no choice but to buy another one, since the earphone isn't sold here in my area, I asked my friend who was at HK to buy me another one, but he told me he can't find it anywhere except on a shop that sold it at a much higher price, and they only have 2 left. So I ask him to buy the 2 for me, after testing, I can agree with what GokieKS experience, the bass / treble issue of what you read in reviews are also true on EX70, not all EX70 are made the same, out of the 2 units, 1 was sounded a little bit off, when you listen to any song with a strong bass, your might get a headache of the strong bass the earphone produces. The other one, was better than the original one, the treble is much better, but the bass is the same. When E888 was first released, my friend bought one, i tried it for a week, and my comment was, nice overall clarity, but lacks bass, I cannot hear the low bass of some songs i used to play with my EX70. Then last year, EX71 was out on the market, I also bought one thinking that i must sound better than my EX70 which in turn was different, my EX70 sounded better than the EX71, which forces me to sell it to my friend who cannot find any EX70, hehehe.

    Regarding the sound quality between Apple and EX70, I still like the sound of EX70, but comfort wise, apple's are much lighter, but quality over a little improvement in comfort, well... I choose sound quality.

    For other higher quality brands like Sennheiser, Etymotic, and Shure, well what can i say, there's only a handful of people i knew willing to pay for a headphone worth $99 or more, well even $49.99 (EX71) is way too much for other people. Most of them might as well invest there money on home entertainment system or car audio system rather on headphone, what I usually see people hear is using those cheap bundled earphone or some of them will buy those $7 earphones.

    My next "prospect" is Sony's MDR-EX51, lower price but do the sound quality differs that much? hmmmmmm anyone there already bought and tried one?
  • djao - Saturday, June 5, 2004 - link

    #10 - Nobody is objecting to the choice of headphones you used in the review. I think #5 is bothered more by the phrase "best pair of in-ear headphones" than the choice of which headphones you reviewed. The problem is that "best" kind of implies "best at any price" instead of the intended meaning of "best for the majority of our readers."

    #6 states rightly that 99% of the population does not want to spend over $100 on earplugs. But I think some perspective is in order here -- #5 already mentioned the ATI x800, and I'm absolutely sure that 99% of the population will never buy such an expensive video card either.

    Of course, this site does largely target gamers, so the focus on gaming hardware is to be expected. By and large I did appreciate this review. Thanks Andrew!
  • araczynski - Friday, June 4, 2004 - link

    i haven't used earphones in years, my daily music/mp3 dosage comes from the HD unit in my car which i use to/from work and anytime else i'm driving...anyway, nice article for a change (from the constant drooling over what intel/amd is cra*ping out their a*s).

    at the least i can now recommend something to my little brother who i just bought a portable mp3 player for.
  • Koing - Friday, June 4, 2004 - link

    I really liked my Sony 888's. Great sound imo. I didn't want the ones with the bits sticking in your ear at the time. The Bass Boost things. I'm not so in to the ones that are meant to be plugged in to your ears like this. Too bass heavy for me.

    AndrewKu if still have the Apple's or any other in ear headphone push them just a bit harder towards your ear. The bass is richer and more full now. I suspect the Sony's go further in to your ear. This is probably what they wanted by this like in your review.

    Koing
  • AndrewKu - Friday, June 4, 2004 - link

    I think GokieKS explains our reasoning best. Most people don't want to spend over 40 dollars on headphones if they don't have to, minus the audio enthusiasts. So this article was really for the majority, in a sense.

    #8 - The articles using a US Quarter were written all about the same time. A few readers have already suggested using something else to compare the size of the unit, and we will make sure we use something else in the future.

    #9 - I should have mentioned that in the review. For those curious, cleaning your ears really helps maintain sound quality and keeps your in-ear headphones free from becoming gross to handle. Sony states that their in-ear headphones fittings can be cleaned with a soft detergent, and I assume that Apple's has the same cleaning instructions.
  • Falco. - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    i have the sonys.. and love them .. although i didn't pay the 40 bucks US ( 70 cdn )for them, i payed about 80cdn with tax, and would gladly do it again ... the bass is great, and once my ears got used to the " ear plug " design, i found them quite comfortable, even with long hrs of usage ( 7-10 hrs) while playing games during the night hrs ( the 11pm to 8 am time frame)

    my only suggestion.. ( and this may seem a bit gross to some, but it WILL be a part of owning them ) if any one gets these.. keep your ears clean and wax free.. at times.. the wax does block the little whole in the center and can cause the earphone to seem to be a lower volume then the other, at first, i thought the left head phone screwed up and was broken, after taking them back the to local sony store and showing them , they exchanged those for the present ones i have now.. it happend again, and after comparing the left and right, i found out this was the problem ...

    either way.. great headphones, been using them for prob a good 10 months now ...
  • JonB - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    While I rarely listen with headphones, I do notice one thing. There have been a few articles recently that use a U.S. Quarter as the size comparison. I know that there are a lot of non-US members, so I checked to see how big a Euro coin was compared to a Quarter.

    And - a US Quarter is just smaller than a 2 Euro coin and just larger than a 1 Euro coin.

    Close enough that you could use either coin.
  • TheAudit - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    Good article.
  • GokieKS - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    "How can there be a review that is attempting to find "the best pair of in-ear headphones" without at least mentioning the two most well-known audiophile-quality in-ear headphone manufacturers, Etymotic and Shure?!? I know the article explains why they chose those headphones (they are easy to find)...but this is kind of like reviewing two $50 video cards and not even mentioning the type of performance you might get if you were to spend the money for something like an ATI X800."

    Well, the article is actually titled searching for "decent" headphones, which these do qualify (though a bit questionable in the case of the Apple pair). And whereas the difference in performance between a GF4 MX and a Radeon X800 can easily be quantified by benchmark numbers, it's MUCH MUCH harder to give a good reason on how one pair of headphones is other than another - audiophiles have the specific terms in which they like to describe certain aspects of sound quality, but for the majority of people, they mean absolutely nothing.

    Not to mention 99% of the population would be unwilling to spend $100 or more on earplugs.

    ~KS
  • Scrith - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    This is very strange (especially for Anandtech). How can there be a review that is attempting to find "the best pair of in-ear headphones" without at least mentioning the two most well-known audiophile-quality in-ear headphone manufacturers, Etymotic and Shure?!? I know the article explains why they chose those headphones (they are easy to find)...but this is kind of like reviewing two $50 video cards and not even mentioning the type of performance you might get if you were to spend the money for something like an ATI X800.

    I suggest that those interested in the best in-ear headphones (or standard headphones, for that matter) check out a store such as www.headphone.com or do some research at the headphone forum at www.head-fi.org.

    Still, it's good to see a review with an emphasis on audio here at Anandtech.
  • wassup4u2 - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    How does the sound quality of these compare with larger, "headband" headphones with 30mm drivers? I have a pair of Sony MDR-G54LP and was wondering how their sound quality would compare.
  • GokieKS - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    "Does anyone have an idea how these headphones compare to Sony's MDR-E888's?"

    In terms of comfort, they're leagues ahead. In terms of sound quality...well, depends on the kind of music, really. They're better rock 'n roll headphones, but if you're into say, classical or jazz, I'd say the E888s are probably the better choice.

    ~KS
  • quorm - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    Does anyone have an idea how these headphones compare to Sony's MDR-E888's?
  • GokieKS - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link

    As a semi-audiophile, let me start off by saying that, IMO, the Apple earbuds are completely not worth the money. They look nice, yeah, and allows the wearer to retain the "I've got an iPod and I want everyone to know about it" aspect of the stock (even crappier) earbuds while getting somewhat better sound, but that's about as far as their pros go. Sound quality is average at best, but it's a horrible value, but hey, it's an Apple product. =P (I'd like to mention that I'm actually a very big fan of most of Apple's hardware, but I'm under no illusion that they're the best bang for the buck.)

    The EX71s, on the other hand, are altogether more intersting. I've had two pairs of it - the first of which I imported from Japan about a year and a half ago, when they were sold here. I wanted a short-cord set of earbuds (my PCDP has a LCD corded remote), which meant I basically had to import. The EX71s were just introduced and coming off the usually-positive reviews of its predecessor, the EX70s, I figured it'd be a good choice. The Japanese models come in two colors, and I picked white, as at that point in time, I was fully expecting to get an iPod in the future, and I did want the color to match if possible (I've ended up getting an iRiver iHP-120, but that's a story for another time). With shipping, it costed nearly $60, but I felt they were worth the money - they sounded better than any earbuds I've ever used up until that point does, and the next step up would've been the Shure E2Cs, which cost quite a bit more.

    After that, as the EX71s were introduced in the US, I read more and more discussions about them on various forums, and the common issues many people (OK, audiophiles/headphone junkies) have with them is the bloated bass and muddy treble, and many saying the Sennheiser MX400/MX500s were better. I was a bit surprised, as though the bass response is indeed a lot stronger than one would expect, I felt they were much better than the Sennheisers (though quite a bit more expensive as well).

    Anyway, about a month ago, my pair failed on me - no sound from the right channel at all. I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised (in my rather expansive experience, Sony products have been paragons of excellence in design, but not reliability). I needed a pair of easily put-in/taken-out earbuds, which ruled out high-end offerings like those by Etymotic (though the sound quality on those are, by all indication, amazing and absolutely worth the cost). So what did I do? Order another pair of the EX71s, this time black and off Amazon ($30 at the time). Other than the color and the fact it comes with a plastic box to hold the extension cord/whatever else instead of the small (MD sized) pouch like the Japanese version, it looks identical.

    How they sounded, on the other hand, was a wholely different story. The bass/treble complaint that others had became clear as day. I tried breaking them in, to no avail - the bass, especially, is still overwhelming, to the point where it actually hurts my ears at times (my music repertoire doesn't include much in the way of heavy bass).

    I have no good explanation for this, but I will say that whereas I once recommended the EX71s without reservation, I can no longer do the same - only to those who like/can stand the bass.

    ~KS

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